Cycling

A bicycle is a elegant machine, a piece of art that has the world’s most advanced engine, the human body and is controlled by the world’s most sophisticated computer, the human brain. It can be fueeld by anything from beer to brussel sprouts. And if that doesn’t make you want to get out and pedal, here are some more reasons to put away your car keys and start carrying a U lock.

Cycling reduces the risk of a number serious health conditions.

A good heart is the key to healthy life. When you cycle the blood supply to your body is increased as well as your heart rate. It is because of this that heart diseases are reduced greatly reduced. Risk of High blood pressure, diabetes is reduced, as are cholesterol levels in the blood and the chances of heart attack or stroke due to blood clotts.

Cycling helps in burning excess fats resulting in weight loss. New full-time bicycle commuters can expect to lose an average 13 pounds their first year of cycling if they maintain the same eating habits.

Cycling provides arobic exercise without the pounding of your knees and feet of jogging or running.

Cyclists actually absorb lower levels of pollutants from traffic fumes than car drivers.

Bicycling gives you more fresh air than a sauna and you can still sweat and clean your pores.

Cycling fits into our busy, modern lifestyles. There is no need to find extra time to exercise. Instead of spending time stuck in a car or bus, you spend it on the bike. Apart from the bicycle itself and perhaps a helmet no other equipment or special is needed.

You simply start to use a bike when you would have otherwise have gone by car, bus, train or on foot.How much you ride depends on your fitness and your lifestyle. You can start off by using the bike to pop a few hundred yards down the road to the coffee shop or the post office,

Then gradually increase the distance and in a few weeks your aerobic fitness will have improved and you will be able to ride for miles. Soon you will choose to go leisure cycling and cover 30-50 miles a day.

84% of all trips in the US are made by car. 1% by bicycle.

The average US car burns 650 gallons of gas per year. A bike burns 0 and bikes don’t drip brake fluid, anti-freeze, or transmission fluid which ends up in our water supply. 3/4 of all trips are under 10 miles, a easily bikeable distance.

Cycling reduces road wear , the demand for new roads, the demand for parking lots and the paving of the earth with asphalt and concrete.

It reduces noise pollution — even without a muffler bikes are quiet, creating a quieter community.

Cycling saves the rainforest, because bicycles use less rubber for tires than cars.

It saves wildlife by reducing road kill.

Cycling is an inexpensive form of transportation…no taxes, no gasoline, no insurance, no parking. no liscenses. It is usually easier to park a bike than it is a car, and it is certainly less expensive. The cost of cycling after the purchase of a bicycle ( $250- $2,000 ) is about 4 cents a mile, compared to .45 to $1.25 for a car. Cycling may also save money by reducing the wear on your automobile. Short trips by car burn more fuel per gallon and harder on brakes than long trips.

Cycling can have positive effects on how you feel too. Cycling, just like other forms of exercise, is known to release endorphins, which one of my cycling friends calls “happy hormones” . They create pleasure in you and thus wash away the bad moods. It is because of this that one feel relaxed and refreshed even after a workout. Cycling is known for relieving stress, depression and the symptoms of PMS

Cycling makes you more aware of your environment. Mark Twain wrote about ridin a bicycle;” I had been familar with that street for years and had always supposed it was dead level; but it was not, as the bicycle now informed me….the bicycle notices a rise where your untrained eye would not observe one; it notices any decline which water will run down.”

I love biking for getting me outdoors, exploring new places and for the relationships that it has heplped me form.

Progress doesn’t necessarily mean replacing human labor with machines. Bicycling is a great activity to do with family and friends and cycling in your neighborhood is a great way to meet your neighbors and build community. It is therapeutic for the mind and spirit — is fun and can make you happy. It can be the wind in your sails, your personal sense of hyper-drive.