Why use a bicycle for getting about?

Lots of people ride their bikes for lots of different reasons. Here are a few that might persuade you to do it too:

First of all it is good for your body as riding a bike offers many health benefits. Here are just a few:

Cycling

• increases the fitness of your heart
• increases your strength
• increases your balance and flexibility
• increases your endurance and stamina
• increases the calories that your body burns

Cycling can be done by people of all ages, from childhood up even through the adult years when achy joints don't allow for more stressful exercise like jogging. It is also a much better exercise than is jogging. I have yet to hear of someone who after having ridden his bike had a heart attack. However, I have encountered more than one case where joggers, returning to their cars after having gone for a run in a Park, suffered a major cardiac arrest. In a number of cases those were, though in their forties, fitness instructors for the military and the police.

Secondly it is good for your state of mind

Riding a bike is proven to be a stress releaser. Regardless of if you are riding purely for pleasure or for a specific purpose, such as going to the shops or to school or to work, you will arrive at your destination feeling relaxed, energized and happier about the world and yourself. Unless you have ridden in the traffic in London or New York, I am sure. Cycle road range is known too.

Plus, being out on your bike is just flat-out fun. The more time you spend on two wheels, the harder it is to really take yourself too seriously. The kid comes out again, Ye haw!

Thirdly it is good for your community

Being out on your bike is good for the people around you as well. You are able to go the places you want to go and yet you put one less car on the road.

You do not bring with you the noise that a car generates and are actually able to interaction with people as you move. One of the reason that I do recommend cycling also for the likes of police officers and park and countryside rangers.

From my bike I can wave to a neighbor, say hi to a kid, smell someone’s dinner cooking and be a warm and friendly human presence on the streets, and as a community officer approachable by those around me.

Also, and this is quite a significant fact: operating a bicycling does not harm the environment. There is no polluting exhaust released, no oil or gas consumed; the energy and materials used to make one automobile could be used to create a hundred bicycles.

Another factor if simply convenience

There is an undeniable convenience factor you’ll discover when riding a bike. You do not need to worry about parking spaces and whether you have to pay for them or not. Traffic jams also are irrelevant to you as a cyclist, as are congestion charges, as the one introduced in London.

Cars, certainly, I admit, make better time on longer trips but you will find that for many shorter trips, or trips through heavy traffic, that you can travel just as fast or even faster by bike than you can in the car. I have been there and done it. In fact, I must admit that I do not own a motor car or any other motor vehicle so I am biased, maybe, but I have whizzed past long line of cars again and again and have arrived at the destination much earlier than did they.

Another reason to bike is for your wallet

It costs at least between 30 and 40 pence per mile to operate a car, depending on the vehicle. This is based on expenses like gas, oil, maintenance, etc., that go up when you drive more. And with the current increase in the price of oil this cost is likely to rise even further over time. This figure does not include the other, more hidden, costs of vehicle ownership such as road tax, MOT and insurance; let's not even talk of depreciation of the vehicle itself. These factors make the actual per mile cost to operate a car much higher.

When you ride your bike, you are doing a lot of good things, many of which are for the benefit of others, the environment, etc. But in the end, the one who benefits the most is you, through better health, peace of mind, increased confidence and self-reliance.

So get that bike out and get cycling. You may not, on your own, save the world in the process, but you may just be having lots of fun trying!

© Michael Smith (Veshengro), March 2008
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ACT TravelWise Event alert

ACT TravelWise in association with Brighton and Hove City Council is organising a Masterclass supported by Sustrans and Cycling England; Promoting Cycling to Employees.

This Masterclass is hosted by Cycle Demonstration Town Brighton and Hove City Council at Hove Town Hall on May 20th, and is designed to illustrate the best practice examples of how cycling can be promoted to employees.

During the day many of the pertinent issues that surround cycle promotion will be covered, such as health implications, cycle promotion to hard to reach communities, infrastructure design, and there will be case studies presented by large and small employers from the private and public sectors.

Keynote presentations will include Philip Darnton, Chairman of Cycling England, who will talk about the current and future plans for cycle promotion. We will also hear from the member for the Environment at Brighton and Hove City as to why the city sees cycling as important, and ACT TravelWise Director, Rose McArthur will chair the day and present her experience of promoting cycling through a Travel Plan.

For more information and to book a place please see the attached programme, or call Rory on 020 7348 1970

With a new Spring cycling season set to get underway ACT TravelWise is also running a competition with Evans Cycles Ride2Work and Dahon.

For your chance to win two state of the art folding bikes for your organisation for pool bikes, and a year's free membership of ACT TravelWise, email a photo & caption of someone where you work commuting without a car, or car sharing to:

competition@acttravelwise.org

Remember to send your name, role, company, contact details & the total number of staff with your caption.

Competition details can be seen on: www.acttravelwise.org/competition

ACT TravelWise members are requested to please email details of this competition to all employers in their regions, particularly ones who are just starting or interested in travel planning.
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Britain’s Mushrooming Bicycling Boom

Since the year 2001 there has, apparently, been a 40% increase in Brits who regularly cycle.

Around 3.2 million British adults today regularly cycle compared to 2001 when the figure was only about 2.3 million. In fact, more people are now cycling regularly than participating regularly in football, golf, jogging or athletics or any other form of sports. For 1.2 million people cycling represents their only sporting activity, that is 30% more than in 2001.

According to a report of the 3.2 million regular cyclists, 1.5 million also use their bicycles as a method of transport, almost 20% more than in 2001.

According to Transport for London, the Tour de France's legacy to London was a 10.5% per cent increase in the number of people cycling on the UK capital's major roads in the six months April-September 2007, compared to the same period for 2006. That created an estimated 48,000 more cycle journeys everyday.

The biggest problem in the United Kingdom as far as cycling for business and pleasure is concerned is the lack of proper facilities for cyclists, that is to say, the lack of proper cycle paths.

James Smythe, head of British Market Research Bureau - Sport, said: "It seems adults are getting the message about cycling's health and transport benefits outweighing the risks."

“Cycle use rose throughout 2007 but not because of any shiny new infrastructure, not because of any huge financial commitment from central Government and not because of any sudden advertising campaign telling people to get on their bikes, and most definitely not because of fair weather, usually said to be the key factor for cycle use in the UK. Cycle use is up because the time is right.”

I do not think it is just a case of “the time is right” but also, and especially, a case of “gas is dear”, with over $8.50 per US gallon of gasoline. For an Imperial gallon, which is a wee bit more than a US gallon, the price is over $10. It is, therefore, no wonder that those that can are going over to cycles as means of transport, for public transport, as in buses, tube and trains, is far too expensive. (I shall be talking about trains and their prices shortly).

In fact if the British govt really wanted to do something about the environmental impact of all the cars and all that it would (1) make public transport nigh on free, including long-distance train travel and (2) do away with the 14% import duty on bikes, followed by 17.5% VAT. But that, I assume, would be far too advanced and novel an idea.

© Michael Smith (Veshengro), March 2008

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