Riding is VERY athletic if you do enough of it. I was a runner before I began seriously riding. (Not a super runner, but I ran about 25 miles a week.) When I started riding, I LOST weight-- like 20 pounds. It's so cool-- how often do you get to do something that is actually healthy and love it like it is UNhealthy? It's like my chocolate truffles had the nutrition of wheat bread and eggplant or something!