I’m five months pregnant and am still riding my bicycle, but I’m starting to feel a little tentative about it. Some people say you can ride until you give birth. Is it safe for me to keep cycling?
You’re right to feel somewhat tentative about cycling during your fifth month of pregnancy. Your body is beginning to alter in shape — your enlarging abdomen is throwing your weight forward, and your center of gravity no longer runs straight down your spine. As a result, you have to make all kinds of muscle and joint adjustments, particularly in your pelvic area, to remain steady.
Whether or not you continue to cycle depends upon how fit and confident you are. In my pregnancy posts, I write that a fit woman can continue with exercises like swimming and cycling up until the seventh month if she feels okay about it and doesn’t get out of breath. However, she should stop when she starts to become nervous or when her ob/gyn advises against it.
Some doctors recommend stopping at around the 24th week or even earlier, depending upon your past obstetric history. Any exercise where you have to sit on a saddle must be discontinued after 28 weeks because it’s difficult to keep your balance and because of pressure on the uterus. Since you are feeling a little uncertain, I think you should follow your instincts and stop cycling.