Conference noted::bicycle

    	I would say your obstetrician should definitely answer this
    	question. He/She may have some very strong ideas about
    	riding while pregnant.
    
    	Scott 

    I could swear this has been discussed before in this file but cannot
    find the note.  Some women have cycled till the next to lest minute.
    
    ed

A woman cyclist-friend has had two children.  The first was born in September,
and she rode until the the seventh month of her pregnancy, when her doctor,
who'd been unhappy about her riding, ordered her to stop.  Her second child
was born in May.  She didn't ride at all in that pregnancy.

-David Buffo

    My wife rode through her pregnancy.  The key is to keep the heart rate
    down, not going over 130 +/-.  Gearing down is really important.  A heart
    monitor really helped.
    
    I believe early in the pregnancy is a greater risk, her physician
    wasn't too excited about exercise until after 3 mos.
    
    steve

My wife did not ride at all during either of her two pregnancies. 

My own personal feelings (and my wife's to a certain extent) are 
that the major risk here is not exercise, but unfortunate 
accidents. Even the most hard core riders in this file have 
contributed to the "Share Your Worst Crash" note. None of these 
crashes were planned......

My wife's approach was to take up a vigorous walking program. She 
walked every evening up until the day before my kids were born.

Muscle tone and strength are very beneficial to the mother during 
delivery, so I strongly support a good exercise program. However, 
one needs to weigh the risks versus the benefits pragmatically. 
That is what my wife and I did, and we decided to put off biking 
for a short period of time. The risks of causing injury to the 
mother and child for the sake of riding just didn't make sense.

Just my 2�,

JC

    A friend of mine, Margo Webber, had her first baby last year. She's
    a top local triathlete, and rode her bicycle daily during pregnancy 
    until delivery day. She even entered a few races while pregnant, though 
    she did monitor her heartrate and I believe she kept it around 150.
    
    Mark

    I believe that as long as she isn't starting to ride now then you
    should continue to ride. There is always the risk of a crash though
    and I would assume this might be a bit tough on both her and the
    baby. As far as exertion level goes I swim on a swim team and my
    coach is about 7 months (give or take a couple) and she is still
    beating some of the guys (we tell her its the extra bouancy) but
    she is cautious about her pulse rate.
    To wrap it all up its unfourtunate that cycling IS a sport where
    you can damage yourself quite easily in a fall but if your wife
    is like alot of us and HAS TO RIDE then so be it. If she can 
    pick up on another activity to keep her stamina even better I'd
    say to try swimming its very safe (if she can swim) it does wonders
    for muscle tone, and (this one's for the both of you!!) in the latter
    months when its HOT the water is always COOL it also offers a great
    way to "take the weight off your feet" (you had to know I'd plug
    swimming ;-) )
    
    Congrats,
    Eric

My wife rode her bike until delivery of our baby. She is no race rider, though,
and after a recent trip to the US we had the impresseion that riding bikes is
not as dangerous in Germany as it is in the US. Mostly because car drivers
are more used to riders and take a little bit more care about them. Sure, there
is always a risk of an accident, but you have this risk driving a car, too. We
felt the risk of biking having any negative influence was not higher during
most of the preganancy.

Riding was a good exercise for her (driving isn't), but she certainly didn't 
push it too hard. She did what she liked and had a good feeling when to stop 
(sometimes she had to walk her bike up the hill).

She was very careful for the last two months because she feared riding (esp.
if you run into potholes) might start labor. But when the estimated day came
nearer, she picked up riding again ('nothing wrong when it starts now').

We even went to the doctor together with our tandem - three days after our
son's ETA. He was born 5 days after that, and I think it was our last bike
trip before delivery. But we both enjoyed it.

My opinion is: As long as the doctor has no major concerns (reasons please, not
only bad feelings about biking in general) and as long as the woman enjoys it
and listens what her body tells her to do or to leave, I don't see any reason
not to keep biking.

Don't know if there is a relation - our son, now 21 mts old, enjoys biking in
his baby seat _a_lot_!

Regards, 
          Hartmut

The first 3 hours of my life were spent sleeping in a handlebar bag
going across Iowa.
	
	~Mike

Are you saying that not only did your mother deliver you out on the road, but
that she then continued to ride for 3 MORE HOURS AFTERWARD?!? 

(Holy handlebars, Batman!!!)

    I had both my babies in April, so I was seriously pregnant during the
    winter.  Even though I wasn't doing any road riding, I rode my wind
    trainer till the last minute each time.  My first baby was a C-Section,
    and the doctor was ready to send me home after 2 days, and said it was
    due to being in such good shape.
    
    I rode a fair amount during the early part of each pregnancy (including
    a double metric just after I found out I was pregnant the first time,
    and Pan Mass the second time).  It's important to avoid overheating,
    especially during the first couple of months, and it's always important
    to keep an eye on your heart rate.  I rode time trials all summer each
    time, and watched my time get slower and slower and sloooower!  It was
    kind of frustrating, especially since I wasn't ready to tell anybody
    the reason yet, but I figured it was better not to push.
    
    The biggest problem I found in the early months was finding the energy
    to ride.  Most days I would have been just as happy to take a nap
    instead.
    
    My advice to her would be to keep at it as long as she's comfortable,
    but listen to her body and not overdo it.
    
    And congratulations!!
    
    Kathy