Why Bike to Work?

When is the last time you smelled the honeysuckle in springtime during your morning commute? Or pulled into the parking lot with a big smile plastered across your face, pumped with endorphins and ideas? Or lost weight just by going back and forth to work every day? 

Likely never, if you slide behind the wheel of a metal box and fight the freeway each morning. But what if one day you left the car in the driveway and rode a bike instead? 

You’d actually look forward to going to work, says Larry Bennett, an underwriter for KMUW public radio. “ I arrive at work with a great attitude because I get to hear the birds sing in the morning and I get a close look at flowers in people’s yards along my bicycling route.  I arrive home in the evening with a great attitude because I get to work off the stress of the day by pedaling as hard and fast as I want.,” he says. Though he’s been making the 14 mile round trip through Wichita’s College Hill district. “ I ride a bike to work during three of the four seasons and sometimes even on a warm day in winter.  My commute is rarely boring since the same route looks and feels different with each season.  But every commute in a car is pretty much the same regardless of the time of year.” 

A WORLD OF BENEFITS 

Just as your first bike was a vehicle for freedom from parental hand-holding, your first bike commute will be a giant leap toward freedom from the rat race. As you kiss your dependence on cars, gasoline, and traffic reports goodbye, you will improve your health, your household, and maybe even the world at large. 

According to the latest census figures, we Americans spend almost an hour a day on our daily commute. Tack onto that the 30 hours a year we spend stuck in snarled traffic (a figure highway experts warn could quadruple in coming decades); then figure in our daily errand-driving miles— that have more than doubled since 1969—and we practically live in our bucket seats. 

If you spent even some of that daily drive time pedaling instead, the rewards would be: 

• A BETTER BODY Most weeks, seven out of 10 of us fail to get the minimum recommended 30 minutes of activity per day—partly because many of us have to fight traffic to get to the gym. The result: More than 60% of Americans are overweight or obese, and rates of obesity-related diseases such as diabetes are soaring. Ride your bike to work, and you no longer need to make time to exercise. 

Rack up just 3 hours of riding time a week, and you can slash your risk of heart disease and stroke in half. Plus, you’ll lose the gut and lovehandles—no diet required. Consult your doctor whenever starting any new physical activity. 

• MORE MONEY The average annual price of keeping an automobile running: at least $3,000. The cost of running a bike for a year: less than $300. The joy of saving more than two grand this year: priceless. 

• CLEAN AIR The number of communities that will fall out of compliance with the Clean Air Act is expected to triple within a decade. Motorized vehicles are responsible for 70% of the carbon monoxide, 45% of the nitrogen dioxide, and 34% of the hydrocarbons people produce. Riding a bike is a simple way to improve the environment. 

JOIN THE MOVEMENT 

If the benefits of bike commuting appeal to you, now is the perfect time to start. As the government frets over an increasingly sedentary population and more Americans awaken to the rewards of riding their bike to work and for daily errands, communities and industries are responding. 

Through the efforts of groups like The League of American Bicyclists, their Bicycle Friendly Communities Campaign and their work on the Safe Routes to School initiative, towns and cities across the U.S. are striving to be more bike and pedestrian friendly by instituting bike lanes, wider shoulders, and Share the Road signage. 

Bike companies are responding by manufacturing bikes designed especially for commuters. These new rides are comfortable, easy to pedal, require minimum maintenance, and can be purchased for less than the average car payment. 

The League of American Bicyclist has designated Friday May 15 national Bike to Work day. Start-Thinking is encouraging individuals in the Wichita community to Bike to Work. Bike to Work is annual event that is part of Bike Month.

– Material reprint with permission from The League of American Bicyclist