Unlike road cycling, where your arms get a free ride, mountain biking conditions your upper body. The bikes are designed with gears so low you feel as if you're popping wheelies all the way up those impossible climbs. Your arms and legs share the effort, resulting in a full-body workout. If you're skeptical, try lifting weights the morning after a workout on your mountain bike. You'll feel how hard your upper body worked on the bike.
Mountain bikes are sturdier than road bikes.
If, like me, you enjoy the solitude of the backcountry or the freedom of riding roads without cars, then off-road riding is for you. Many cyclists who don't want to ride city streets can enjoy riding on forest service roads. These bicycles can withstand years of puddles, bumps, potholes, stones, curbs and mud, so you'll be able to spend less time worrying about mechanical breakdowns and more time enjoying the ride. Edmund R. Burke, Ph.D., is a professor and director of the exercise science program at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. He has written or been editor of 16 books including Cycling Stronger and Health and Physiology of Cycling.