Cycling While Pregnant

Peterx

Apart from Susie's book you will not find many (any?) health professionals advising anything other than extreme caution for a pregnant woman. This is understandable from their point of view.

As a randomer on the internet I would say to keep up the cycling until it gets either physically or mentally uncomfortable I would say.

I don't know what bike you use but if it's a road bike and gets uncomfortable a mountain bike might give you another few weeks as it's more upright.

And congratulations

harr

Probably not an issue from a medical point of view my wife continued until she was about 5 months gone she got too tired after that but still continued to power walk, jog and swim...her doctor never had an issue with any excerise she done.
The only issue I would see would be getting knocked off your bike , Dublin is not most bike friendly city in the world....oh and don't worry about what other people think of you if you feel ok and are up to it I certainly wouldn't worry about other road users opinions.

fuzzycycle

Thanks guys,

I have a road bike, Giant Rapid2. I love my bike. I also have a KTM Hybird that I started on, but it's very heavy. Maybe if I get too uncomfortable on the road bike I can switch to that?

mirrorwall14 - I've no idea what blood type I am but I think I'm just pretty standard because I'm sure last time I was pregnant they would have told me if I had unusual blood type. Thanks for advice.

ford2600

fuzzycycle wrote: »

Thanks Ford2600 also for your advise - they sound like amazing women!!

Thank you for the antidote thread!

Oh and stopping caring so much what "people" might think.

You have your head screwed on you'll be fine

fuzzycycle

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind and maybe try not to focus on other people - but thye can be very unfriendly in Dublin City Centre - so thats enough, I'll stop now! Thanks

Taxuser1

fuzzycycle wrote: »

Sorry Taxuser1, maybe I shouldn't have posted here. Wouldn't have considered it a medical condition, but I could be wrong? Maybe I'll wait for mods to confirm? Apologies if I've posted something I shoudn't have (am new to this).

Thanks

no need to apologise to me ! I wish you a fantastic pregnancy. Some will have gone through this with their partners and will know that its a worrying time for all sides !

i'd be risk averse though and unlike some here, would deem it a medical condition i.e. you go to a consultant, you take their advice and nature then takes care of the rest.

so I was only saying, that they should be your only guide to this. Not anyone here.

fuzzycycle

I know, but your most likely right. thanks a million for your advise. I will be attending GP within next couple of weeks and speak with him about it. Really, if he says I cant, then I'll have no choice

fuzzycycle

I know, but your most likely right. thanks a million for your advise. I will be attending GP within next couple of weeks and speak with him about it. Really, if he says I cant, then I'll have no choice

I'll end up like all the other stress heads that drive to work... oh God I'll be a nightmare to live with!!

Bloggsie

fuzzycycle wrote: »

Sorry Taxuser1, maybe I shouldn't have posted here. Wouldn't have considered it a medical condition, but I could be wrong? Maybe I'll wait for mods to confirm? Apologies if I've posted something I shoudn't have (am new to this).

Thanks

pregnancy is not an illness, its a blessing, feel free to ignore my 1st reply, do what you feel happiest, as per gadetra, those who judge you are not worth bothering about!

smacl

Taxuser1 wrote: »

i'd be risk averse though and unlike some here, would deem it a medical condition.

Each to their own, but I think you'd find many midwives would disparage the notion that pregnancy is a medical condition much the same way a geriatrician would consider growing old a medical condition.

Taxuser1

Bloggsie wrote: »

pregnancy is not an illness, its a blessing, feel free to ignore my 1st reply, do what you feel happiest, as per gadetra, those who judge you are not worth bothering about!

I never said it was an "illness" - I said medical condition.

wuzziwig

I absolutely would keep cycling while pregnant unless my doctor told me otherwise. I'd imagine it will get uncomfortable later on but keep at it for as long as you feel comfortable. I ran until I was 8 months pregnant on my first. Couldn't run much on my second or third as I had SPD. I now cycle and if I was pregnant I'd certainly keep doing it for as long as I could.
As for people judging, fu€k them. What do you care what they think?

Bloggsie

Taxuser1 wrote: »

I never said it was an "illness" - I said medical condition.

excuse me Taxuser1, to quote the song, sung by Ella Fitzgerald & Billie Holliday, Let's Call The Whole Thing Off. you say tomato, I say tomahto!

NamelessPhil

If you think people judge you while pregnant, wait until you're towing your offspring around in a child trailer attached to the back of the bike! That really makes people hoik up their judgey pants. I might add I found my own generation of women to be the worst critics, grandparents and fathers were far more supportive.

I had no loss of balance when cycling while pregnant, the only problem I had is when my bump brushed off the tip of my saddle when I climbed onto the bike. When I became mildly anaemic in the second trimester I became slightly breathless but the that was easily fixed by iron tablets. From . behind I didn't look pregnant at all, only when you saw me from the side. I developed mild SPD and cycling was far more comfortable than walking. The bus journey took me an hour and half including walking, the bike journey took me 30 minutes.

Congratulations on your pregnancy, check with your medical team and happy cycling.

CramCycle

My workmate cycled up until 8 months. Never found it an issue and no one commented on her to the point that she relayed it, and she would relay quite alot about the manners of people while commuting.

Harrybelafonte

fuzzycycle wrote: »

Thanks Harrybelafonte - I already have a 4 year old so I do get that & know what people can be like about parenting. I will definitely get that book, thanks. I was just hoping to get from cyclists their opinion on whether they think it's unsafe to do so.

Forgive my presumption.

CelticRambler

You'd have to have one hell of a "tumble" off the bike for things to go wrong. In the olden days, some unmarried pregnant women would throw themselves down the stairs in an attempt to become "unpregnant" and it rarely worked. Foetuses are well protected from external knocks; "ordinary" emotional stress is much worse, so if cycling is part of your daily stress-relief, keep it up as long as possible.

Fian

Don't forget that your labour, pregnancy and infant will all benefit from having a healthy, de-stressed and fit mother. Exercise carries benefits as well as risks. Especially now that the typical mother is older than would have been the case before contraception was invented.

Ok there is inevitably some risk inherent in cycling, but there is also risk inherent in walking, eating, driving and living. You can't give them all up! Pregnant, not sick, as has been noted earlier in this thread.

congratulations!

eeeee

fuzzycycle wrote: »

I know, but your most likely right. thanks a million for your advise. I will be attending GP within next couple of weeks and speak with him about it. Really, if he says I cant, then I'll have no choice

Read Susie's book, some docs are more exercise friendly and understanding/up to date with current research than others, who are super conservative.
I think she flipped up her stem as the bump got in the way.

ETA: It's actually horrendous how little research is done in this area, given the HUGE numbers of people it affects. I guess the ethical issues would be pretty huge. There have been studies done on female athletes as far as I know.

SteelyD

Hi Fuzzy

I created an account just to join this discussion - you're not the only lurker!

I'm currently 15 weeks pregnant and have no plans to stop cycling until / unless I'm uncomfortable doing it, and I'm hoping that will be a long time off.

At the moment my commute is pretty short (<15 minutes) so I could easily walk it if I wanted to, but I prefer cycling. Then I'm out for decent rides a few times a week on the road bike or mountain bike.
I'm a competent and confident city anyway, including in traffic in the city, my cycling skills aren't going to change because I'm pregnant. If my balance does start to change, then I'll decide if I need to rethink it - but that will be my decision, not anybody else's. On the mountain bike I'm a relatively cautious rider anyway, I generally am aiming not to fall, so that doesn't change. I imagine I might get more worried at some point and want to change what I do, and if that happens, that's fine with me - I'm going to go with how I feel.

Of course there's a risk that I'll fall or get hit, but that risk is there anyway. And yes, it could have disastrous consequences....but something disastrous could happen walking, or in the car, or stepping off the bus. It's impossible to rank activities by risk, because comprehensive data just doesn't exist.


You mentioned that if your GP says not to, you won't - fair enough if you trust them, but are you sure they actually know what's best? As somebody mentioned already, there is really very little good empirical evidence about effects of exercise in pregnancy (on either the mother or the baby), as it is basically very difficult to conduct decent studies. Of the evidence out there, the vast majority reports either beneficial effects for the mother, possibly-beneficial effects for the child, or no effect whatsoever - i.e. there is really not any strong evidence suggesting negative effects. The proviso to all of that is that of the (not very broad) range of research, most of it reports studies of low-moderate intensity exercise, often home-based, or group classes (basically because most of the time they are reporting trials in which inactive women were being encouraged to become more active). There's really very little on high intensity exercise, long duration, or competitive.

The knock-on effect of the scarcity of research is that the guidelines which GPs and other healthcare professionals have are vague and generally cautious - not because there is evidence to say more intense exercise is dangerous, but rather because there isn't evidence to say that it is safe! So someone might tell you to keep your heart rate below 140 or ensure you can still hold a conversation....because they don't know what else to say, there's just no decent evidence.


I'll get off my soap-box! For me, in the absence of good guidelines which are based on decent evidence from well-designed studies, then I'm confident in evaluating the available evidence and potential risk myself, and making up my own mind. Cycling and my other training keeps me physically fit, but is also crucial for my general mental health and happiness! And I'm convinced that's as important as all the many other things we're told to do and not do when pregnant :-p

mr spuckler

hey OP, not read through the thread so could be repeating or contradicting other posters!

my wife gave birth to our first in february (yay!!). she like you had cycled to work for years and didn't want to stop cycling. she expected her GP (seemingly quite conservative guy) to recommend against it but he was very encouraging.

he basically told her not to push herself too hard, to obviously be extra careful regarding potential obstacles / causes of falls and to judge it for herself based on how she felt. after all you know your body best! this was the only regular exercise she was getting so she was desperate to hold onto it.

she had also expected to stop after 7 months, before christmas, but was able to cycle up to mid january (so about 35-36 weeks) before she felt any real discomfort. as an FYI her consultant in holles st was also more than happy for her to keep it up. her commute was about 9k each way, fwiw.

best of luck with everything

fat bloke

Imo the physical and mental health benefits of the exercise of cycling FAR FAR outweigh any risk or dangers.
Keep pedalling for both of your sakes. My wife cycled in and out of town to work daily for both pregnancies for as long as she physically could, and when it became too much for her, I bought her a motorbike, and later a 49cc scooter!
The trauma of daily Dublin bussing it is far worse!

Here she is going to work bright and early. Note the precautionary ultra-safe hear-me-coming after-market race can (exhaust)

https://youtu.be/VdvodhLIN_E

nak

Pregnancy didn't stop this woman!

Raam

My missus (centre shot) is pregnant in this pic but didn't know it



Bedford 2-Day, with then junior World Champ, Lucy Garner.

She gave up racing when she found out but continued cycling right up till the end.

Baron Kurtz

Rollerskates or skooter ftw!:). You'll look cool too. Don't take this advice - I just had a picture in my head!

tomasrojo

It's pretty common to cycle while pregnant in a few European countries.

If your doctor tells you not to on medical grounds, you probably shouldn't. If your doctor tells you not to because cycling is "so dangerous", you may be in a better position to judge how dangerous cycling is. Most doctors haven't a clue what everyday cycling is actually like. If your route routinely results in close passes and near-misses, that would be a worry. If it's hassle-free, it wouldn't, I suppose.

Something here about cycling while pregnant anyway:
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/green-living-blog/2010/may/21/pregnant-cyclists

(I tend to discount advice from Mikael Colville-Andersen, not because he's necessarily wrong, but I think in general he doesn't care whether what he's saying is actually true.)

fuzzycycle

Hi Guys,

Just checking back in now and can't believe the feedback that everyone has given. Thanks so much. It's great to hear all the different opinions and advice that people have taken the time to post here.

Thanks again.

From what I've read here, the overwhelming feeling I'm getting from cyclist is that I should continue with what I'm doing, until either A) I'm advised by my GP not to on medical grounds or my body is telling me to stop.

So, I've decided that’s what I'm going to do. I will be seeing my GP in the next week or 2, discuss this with him and tell him my plans. He may say I shouldn't but unless he says for medical reasons, as opposed to just being pregnant, my intention will be just to continue how I go, carefully.

I cycled in today with no issues, I don't feel any different at the moment but obviously that will change. Am looking forward to cycle home now that the sun has come out and continuing like this for as long as possible.

SteelyD, I was delighted to read your post! 15 weeks and still cycling with no issues, that's fantastic. We should set up a pregnant cyclists group! Now that would be a sight to see!

I cannot name everyone because I'll be here forever, but to all the guys who told me about themselves, friends, their wives, girlfriends cycling while pregnant, thanks for that because it's really reassuring that I'm not the only one! (Mr spuckler, Fian, CelticRambler, Harrybelafonte, CramCycle, hope I've not left anyone out.)

Fat bloke, I reckon my husband would do the same, he is forever telling me to get a scooter for winter months, but I love the bike too much! Great video!

Raam, great pic of the Mrs! Show's it's possible regardless of being pregnant.

tomasrojo - I totally agree with you in relation to stopping for medical grounds, lets hope I don't have to consider that.

Nak - great pic, I'll have to get a few of those tops.

Baron Kurtz, believe it or not i have rollerblades and a scooter! But I imagine that the commute into work would take a hell of a lot longer using either of those modes of transport. I've seen quite a few people on scooters going to work lately, next year, everyone will be doing it!

So, thanks again to everyone. This has been really helpful and reassuring for me and I really do appreciate everyone taking the time to advise me, considering it was my first post on the forum (despite reading it for the past number of years!!!)

I'll keep this thread up to date with my progress (hopefully - in 5 months’ time I'll still be cycling).

Wish me luck!!!

mr spuckler

Cee-Jay-Cee

Jep Gambardella wrote: »

OP is pregnant, not sick or injured. I don't see any problem with the thread at present.

Appears one rule for some and a different for others.

I asked for people's views about cycling following a vasectomy which is neither an injury or illness yet the thread was locked immediately despite my assertion I was not seeking medical advice and purely others experiences. I asked the moderator who closed the thread to reopen it and was refused.

I'm sorry for derailing the thread but a little bit of consistency from the moderators is required in this forum.

Beasty

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

Appears one rule for some and a different for others.

I asked for people's views about cycling following a vasectomy which is neither an injury or illness yet the thread was locked immediately despite my assertion I was not seeking medical advice and purely others experiences. I asked the moderator who closed the thread to reopen it and was refused.

I'm sorry for derailing the thread but a little bit of consistency from the moderators is required in this forum.

If you have a problem with or questions about modding, take it to PM - never raise it in-thread.