The benefits of off-road cycling are great, especially in wildlife refuges, state parks, or other natural settings. Simply to be away from traffic, electronics and propaganda frees us to experience life out of doors. The benefits of off-road cycling are physical, emotional, and spiritual. On a bicycle, one covers more ground than walking, which allows for added opportunities to notice what we often do not see. I am not a birder, per se, but I always carry binoculars and a camera on my rides. I take my bike out as often as possible.
I ride a Surly Long Haul Trucker, a touring bike, but I use it as if it were a mountain bike or gravel bike. I enjoy cycling off-road here in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge is my favorite place to ride, but I also ride at Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, and the State Parks: Resaca de la Palma State, Estero Llano Grande, and Bentsen. These are places protected from so-called development and the few places to experience an unspoiled environment.
Cycling in parks and refuges allows us to propel ourselves along trails, moving our legs, increasing our heartrates, maneuvering gravel, dirt, grass and ruts, as we notice every bit of the trail. The act of pedaling, exercising, feels good. It is low impact cardio. The bike carries our weight. Our arms and shoulders benefit from the isometrics of maintaining pressure on the handlebars to control the bike on uneven terrain. Aerobic exercise such as cycling, according to Mayo Clinic, positively elevates our moods, strengthens our hearts, and reduces health risks, to name a few benefits.
The first benefit I experience on my bike is emotional. As soon as I start to pedal, I am no longer an aging man, but a boy again. The euphoria I feel while cycling is immediate, and it continues long after my ride ends. The exercise, the sun, the fresh air, the flora and fauna all contribute to a feeling of well-being.
At Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, for instance, I might pedal south on West Lake Trail into the prevailing wind. The air smells of mesquite and fish. The glassy water of Cayo Atascoso laps the shore beside me as, overhead, fluffy white cumulus clouds move northward across a light blue sky. At my approach, a Great Blue Heron squawks and spreads its broad, gray-blue wings as it takes flight low across the water. On the trail ahead, three White-tailed Deer watch me briefly before bounding away, displaying their white tails as they leap. As I maneuver the rutted, grassy trail, I admire a silvery Cenizo (Texas Sage) lush with purple blooms. I pant as I pedal, and I feel great.
I pedal into the wind through thick thornscrub. Everything I see, birds, brush, trees, mammals, reptiles—do whatever is their nature to do. I see a pair of Northern Cardinals foraging on the ground. They fly into the brush at my approach. A Feral Hog trots away. Branches bend to the wind. A Couch’s Kingbird flies from its perch on a snag, snatches an insect from the air and returns to its perch. When I watch the flora and fauna doing what to them comes naturally, my spiritual senses awaken. Briefly, I understand the interconnectedness of all things above me, below me and around me. It’s moments like these that cement the knowing that I am a spiritual being.
The benefits of off-road cycling cover the entire physical, emotional and spiritual spectrum. Feeling good during a bicycle ride, being appreciative of the nature around us and our place within it, lasts long after we dismount from our bikes, even when we return to our electronics, advertising and traffic.
