The Therapeutic Power of Riding a Bike

There is an old idea that bikers are generally happy people - not necessarily because their lives are easier, but because they seem to know how to live in the moment. 

Part of that may simply be personality. Motorcycles attract people who value freedom, adventure and independence. But interestingly, many aspects of the biker lifestyle overlap with things psychology associates with better mental well-being: focus, flow, meaningful activity, mastery and social connection.

A motorcycle is not therapy.

But riding one can sometimes feel therapeutic.

Your brain on two wheels

Anyone who rides knows the feeling.

You can leave home with twenty problems spinning around your head. Then the engine starts.

Clutch. Gear. Corner. Traffic. Road surface. Wind.

Suddenly there is much less space in your mind for yesterday.

A study published in Brain Research used portable EEG equipment to examine riders while they rode motorcycles, drove cars and remained stationary. During motorcycle riding, researchers observed increased sensory processing, visual attention and awareness of changes in the environment.

Riding did not simply make participants relaxed.

It made them focused.

The researchers suggested that the sustained attention required by riding may temporarily pull mental resources away from everyday stressors.

Some people call this “meditation at sixty miles per hour.” Scientifically, that comparison is too strong, but the idea contains some truth: both meditation and riding force attention toward the present moment.

On a motorcycle, mindfulness becomes practical.

You are here because you need to be here.