Bikes, Fitness, and Adventures Through Pregnancy and Beyond

“Nine months in, nine months out” goes the saying. I’m not sure exactly what it means – I think it’s a social media thing? But I do know my baby turned 9 months recently, and it feels darn good to have had as much time back in my own body as he spent inside it.

Today I beat my pre-pregnancy personal best time on my local bike route, a hilly 10 miles with 2000 feet of climb from my front door. Granted I never really rode for time back then, that’s a newer experiment. But the point is I’m feeling great physically, almost better than ever in some ways (emphasis on some). And I’m nine months postpartum and 40 years old.

Don’t worry if this doesn’t sound like your kind of topic. I don’t plan to write much else about it here. I’m not one of those women who looks back on pregnancy fondly and wants to relive it! At this point I’d rather pretend it never happened (except for the baby of course). 😅

But I do want to publish this article here because I spent a decade wrestling with the question of whether to have a kid, and concerns about losing my fitness, physical wellbeing, and favorite activities were a major factor. Having made it safely to the other side I want to share my experience in hopes of helping other outdoor-loving, physically active women who are considering pregnancy.

This post is available ad-free on my Exploring Wild Patreon community, where I also share bikepacking guidance, trip planning support, and member-focused writing not available here. Join us!

Exercise and Adventures in Pregnancy

Fear is a powerful motivator. I went into pregnancy terrified of losing my favorite activities and determined to stay as active as possible.

I had a medically uncomplicated pregnancy, and to be clear, unfortunately not everyone is so lucky. I had my share of annoying, sometimes soul-sucking discomforts – mild nausea, bad heartburn, brutal insomnia, many months of rib pain – but no real limits on activity besides my own energy and motivation.

So I did what I could. I rode my bike through late second trimester, only stopping because it was no longer fun and winter was coming anyway. I hiked and walked a lot on the hilly roads and trails near my house. I lifted weights throughout, adjusting movements and loads to suit the day’s challenges. In the last couple months I kept moving with easy indoor rides on our trainer, swimming when I could, and lots of yoga and mobility work.

As for multiday adventures, it was admittedly a pretty boring period. The highlight was a 4-day backpacking trip on Catalina Island at 18 weeks with my husband, just enough to get that “I’m still me, doing things I love” feeling. My biggest issues were related to the discomforts of tent sleeping. I chose Catalina Island for its easy bail-out opportunities (not needed) and intermittent restaurant stops (much appreciated). It was not an easy hike, very steep in places, and I was more tired than usual. And yes, my husband carried more of the weight in his pack. But overall I finished feeling strong and proud.

I did technically bikepack very early in pregnancy, shortly after finding out around 5 weeks, in California’s Lost Sierra. But that was the last time. Right before that I did a tough little backpacking loop in the Wind River Range including a scrambly off-trail pass at 12,000 feet.

If you know how pregnancy weeks are counted, you know that’s just barely far enough to get a positive pregnancy test. I could already feel increased metabolic demands, especially at altitude, but the real challenges had not yet begun. The trips were already planned when we found out, and rather than cancel them I modified the routes to be a bit easier and less committing.

I can’t say I recommend these kinds of trips, especially the high pass in the Winds, in early pregnancy. There isn’t really any data to support the fear of miscarriage that weighed on my mind during those trips, but there also isn’t any data to refute it. I relied on my fitness and endurance experience to keep my effort level steady and my energy reserves topped up, but there are no guarantees in the backcountry.

Riding Bikes While Pregnant

Biking in pregnancy was an exercise in adapting – both my riding and my expectations.

First, there’s the issue of safety and risk of a crash. This is something everyone should decide for themselves, because the risk of placental abruption – leading to loss of the pregnancy – is real and scary. This was not an easy pregnancy to achieve and at my age I was definitely concerned about the risk, but what was I supposed to do, sit inside for nine months? Riding a bike is so second-nature to me that I felt comfortable continuing. It felt safer than driving a car.

I did modify my routes though. I stopped all challenging trail riding pretty much immediately, and any road riding with much traffic. I’m lucky to have very low-traffic (though hilly) roads near my house, and some very mellow trails and flat roads with good bike lanes within driving distance. Those became my staples.

The other issue was comfort. This went through various phases, but a big one was pressure on my bladder. I was almost constantly uncomfortable while biking, and constantly scanning the roadside for possible bathroom break spots.

Cardiovascular capacity was also a big factor. If you’ve never been pregnant you might be surprised at how early the shortness of breath kicks in! I hear this has something to do with progesterone in the early stages. Later it’s about having an actual baby in the space where your lungs should be, and hauling an extra 20+ pounds of weight.

In any case, I eventually got so out of breath on steep climbs that it just wasn’t fun anymore. Steep climbs are the only climbs near my house, so that’s when I finally stopped riding outdoors. I did some indoor rides on the trainer after that, but even those were uncomfortable, so I didn’t push it.

For anyone wanting to bike while pregnant, I suggest:

• A comfortable bike with more upright posture (raise your bars if you can)
• Plenty of water and ALL THE SNACKS
• Routes that make you feel safe and confident
• Routes with frequent pee break spots
• Taking it one ride at a time. Some days I felt awful and thought I was done, then tried again and felt better a week later.

Postpartum Recovery and Rebuilding

I knew birth would be gnarly and recovery would be slow, but nothing could fully prepare me. I had a mostly uncomplicated delivery of a smaller-than-average baby, and I’m told my progress has been relatively fast. But my recovery still felt SO SLOW, especially in the beginning.

It’s strange to stay active and feel good late into pregnancy, and then feel like your body has completely fallen apart after delivery. I felt lighter and more comfortable in many ways, but far less stable and capable. A pregnant body changes slowly and can be strong in its own way, but the sudden deflation of birth leaves all the core and pelvic floor muscles majorly lacking in structural integrity.

I spent those early weeks doing a lot of breathing exercises and deep core connection work. I walked, but not too far or things felt funny. Over the weeks and months I progressed my core work using online videos (I liked Nourish Move Love on YouTube) and started adding low weight high rep strength moves back in. By the time I finally got in to see a pelvic floor PT, she assessed my core and said I was fine to progress to a more normal routine.

It’s been a very gradual process but I’m now back to working out like I used to, aiming for progressive overload on barbell, dumbbell, and kettlebell exercises with plenty of core and yoga mixed in. My cardiovascular fitness actually came back sooner, but strength and stability didn’t start to really come together until the 6 month mark. After that, progress has been pretty quick. I feel thankful for my years of working out in various ways and all the experience that helped me navigate the process intuitively.

As for biking, it came back way faster than expected. In my 4th month postpartum I started back up with short rides. By the end of my 5th month I was doing rides with 3k feet of climb on dirt roads, which is about as much as I have time for anyway. And it’s still getting better. I guess pregnancy really is an endurance event!

Better Than Before?

During late-night bouts of pregnancy insomnia I used to scour Reddit’s r/fitpregnancy for hope. I was never convinced by the comments that said “A couple years later I’m actually fitter than ever.” Could that really be true for people who were fairly fit going in? Was this just internalization of some great conspiracy to convince women we should sacrifice our physical wellbeing for the good of the species?

Well, maybe it is, and maybe I too have been drinking the Kool Aid. Because I’m going to say it: nine months after having a baby, in several important ways my body is already functioning better than before. All that focused core rehab work, and the body awareness that came from starting “from scratch,” were actually a golden opportunity.

I’ve struggled with muscle imbalances and asymmetries in various physical activities for over a decade. While rehabbing my core I noticed some left-right differences in my obliques (extra weak on the left) and also my adductors (weak on the right, medial hamstring especially). I’ve been working on these in a focused way and I’m finally actually making progress! I’m not back to my pre-pregnancy weights for some lifts, but in others I’m actually ahead and the movements feel smoother and stronger.

There’s definitely something to be said for starting from scratch and building back up, especially if done mindfully. Every athlete has their weaknesses and imbalances, and postpartum recovery gave me the chance to exchange my old problems for new ones. Progress?

There’s also something to be said for being stubborn AF and extremely motivated to regain parts of myself that I wasn’t happy about losing.

On Motivation

An athlete at any level understands the relationship between performance and motivation. We’re only as strong or fast or fit as we feel motivated to be. And that was another concern of mine.

One of my least favorite forms of backhanded encouragement about becoming a parent went something like “It’s true, you won’t be able to do many of the things you love for awhile. But you won’t care because your priorities will completely change anyway.”

To me this sounded like a threat, and maybe also an insult. Being in my late thirties, I’d had a LOT of time to craft my priorities and identity as an adult. Cycling and bikepacking, adventurous travel, endurance sports, being active outdoors… These weren’t just “things I do for fun” like partying on the weekend or watching TV or whatever else people morn when they become parents. They were ways of life, forms of personal identity I had worked very hard for and woven into my life’s trajectory. The thought of losing them without missing them sounded like complete erasure of my favorite parts of myself.

So I clung to my interests throughout pregnancy like my life depended on it. I rode my bike, lifted weights, hiked and backpacked. I would have gone bikepacking had the seasons aligned better with the phase when I was less uncomfortable on the bike. Instead, while spending too much time indoors during winter I built the seeds of bikepackbaggregator.com, vicariously nerding out on all the cool bikepacking gear I didn’t currently have a use for.

When the baby came, of course everything fell apart. Through the haze of early motherhood, so hard to understand unless you’ve been there yourself, I simply put one foot in front of the other and got through the days and nights. Bikepacking was the last thing on my mind.

But one day a few months in, I looked up and my brain and body were almost sort of functioning again. I wanted to do things, the things I like doing! What a surprise! I can’t say it’s been easy, but I started to grab little bits of focused time to work on my projects and extend my workouts, nourishing both brain and body.

Now nine months in I feel more or less like myself, just busier and more tired and with a super cute baby to love on. Yes, I suppose my priorities have changed, but it’s been additive, not a replacement. The old interests are all still there, just with more competition now for my limited time and energy.

Was it some malfunction of maternal instinct that allowed me to keep my identity and my interests? Or is it actually a sexist trope that we expect mothers to lose themselves (and “love every minute of it”) when they have children? I’ve considered both perspectives at times but you can probably guess which way I’m leaning.

The Privilege of a Smooth Recovery

It has to be pointed out, if you aren’t already thinking it: I’m really lucky.

I actually hate using the term luck here. It distracts from the fact that every mom, every parent, deserves the same but often makes do with much less. People shouldn’t have to be “lucky” to have the resources to look after their physical and mental health during one of life’s most challenging transitions.

The ability to take care of my body and mind through this stage of early parenthood comes down to things (mostly) beyond my control:

• A husband who promised to share the parenting load equally and has followed through on that promise.
• A flexible work situation that gave me more control over my time than a typical office job with the USA’s horrendous parental leave policies (or lack thereof).
• A good family support network and access to childcare when we were ready for it.
• A medically uncomplicated pregnancy, delivery, and recovery.

And even with all those advantages, it was still sometimes really, really hard.

Return to Adventuring

“You’ll get your hobbies back eventually” the more optimistic folks assured me. But what does that look like when one’s hobbies involve intense multi-day backcountry adventures and international travel?

Baby was born at a good time of year for summer adventures. By the time he was four months old we felt brave enough to take him car camping. No one slept, but otherwise it was lovely. Car camping was not previously in the category of “adventure” for me, but this time it was challenging enough to count.

A month later we took him backpacking for 4 days in the Sierra Nevada. Now’s the time for hiking, I figured, while he’s small and light and too young for a bike trailer.

It was… humbling, to be honest. Again, no one slept. The logistics, the extra weight, the neverending cycle of feeding and changing and napping on the go… We packed in formula and packed out diapers, and the packs never got any lighter. My husband and I have thru hiked the Arizona Trail, 800 miles in two months with days topping 20 miles. And yet this four day trip, five miles per day (on very rugged trail, granted) nearly crushed us.

Still, just being in the mountains again made me feel like the best version of myself. Being a parent in the mountains made me feel like the best version of my “new self.” Worth it in my opinion, and as far as we can tell our baby loved it.

I’ll always be grateful to the solo backpacker who, encountering us on a stretch of rough trail where some might have questioned the wisdom of our endeavor, simply said “What a lucky baby.”

(Disclaimer: We felt comfortable taking our baby out there because of our extensive backcountry experience. Every parent has to make this decision for themselves, but I would NOT suggest adding a baby to the mix until you’re 100% comfortable managing yourselves out there.)

International travel was another box I really wanted to check. I hadn’t been out of the country since well before pregnancy and I missed the disorienting excitement of getting to know a new place. After much research we settled on Japan, a place with safe and easy travel logistics yet enough cultural novelty to still feel interesting. When baby was 7 months we did his first overseas trip.

The flights were better than expected (he slept), the jet lag far worse. We did city stuff, walked miles every day, navigated labyrinthine metro stations with a stroller, snuck museum visits in during naps, and ate 7-Eleven meals on the sidewalk. We hiked for five days on the rural coast, taking the train each day from our Airbnb to the trailhead. Our baby charmed his way through Japan, a place known for its appreciation of cuteness in many forms. It took two weeks to recover from the sleep deprivation when we got home, but in hindsight, totally worth it.

What Next?

Looking back this all happened painstakingly slowly and also very quickly. Maybe it’s the sleep deprivation, but I already feel like I can barely remember those early months.

Nine months felt like a good milestone to write this post, but I have a feeling the story isn’t over yet. Each month I think “now I feel like myself” and then the next month “Actually now I’m back to normal” … and so on.

I’m making plans for a few bike adventures this year, both with and without baby. His first bike trip, tentatively planned for spring, will involve a trailer and several hundred miles of paved bike path (any guesses where on earth such incredible bike infrastructure can be found?). I hope he likes it! And I hope I still like it, in its new form.

I also hope to ride a couple bikepacking races this summer. I feel good on my day rides but am a little nervous about “racing” again. Do I still have the endurance? What about the mental fortitude? Will I find myself stronger or weaker than before as I pedal alone through the night? Will it feel like a return to an important aspect of myself, or will I wonder why I’m taking time away from my family to spin my legs in circles for days on end? Only one way to find out…

I recently wrote a post about the reasons we go bikepacking through different seasons of life. When I think of bikepacking as a tool, not just an activity, it seems natural to continue through this stage and others to come. Hopefully it will feel “just like riding a bike” as the saying goes, like an old familiar friend who never left. Like being myself.

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Or visit the bikepacking home page for lots more.