Cycling is healthy and safe
HealthCycling is healthy. It's one of the best all round workouts. It's also low impact, so therefore very good for your body. Lots of evidence suggests that cycling helps you look and feel 10 years younger. So, get on your bike! It is good for you and the environment.
Just in case the idea of this sort of outdoor fun doesn't convince you, maybe the following facts will:
* Cycling 4 miles per day halves the risk of heart disease and regular cyclists enjoy fitness equivalent to being 10 years younger.
* Cycling produces no greenhouse gases, and requires less road space than motor vehicles, reducing the need for new roads.
* Cycling burns 300 calories an hour.
* On a bicycle you can travel up to 1037 kilometres on the energy equivalent of a single litre of petrol.
* Twenty bicycles can be parked in the same space taken up by one car.
* Three quarters of all personal journeys are less than 5 miles long - that's half an hour on a bike.
* Cycling produces no greenhouse gases, and requires less road space than motor vehicles, reducing the need for new roads.
* Cycling burns 300 calories an hour.
* On a bicycle you can travel up to 1037 kilometres on the energy equivalent of a single litre of petrol.
* Twenty bicycles can be parked in the same space taken up by one car.
* Three quarters of all personal journeys are less than 5 miles long - that's half an hour on a bike.
Here are a few useful links:
BIKE for your LIFE, Birmingham University
Cycling: Towards Health and Safety, BMA
Why Cycle?, sustrans.org.uk
Cycling - the healthy option, ctc.org.uk
Cycling: Towards Health and Safety, BMA
Why Cycle?, sustrans.org.uk
Cycling - the healthy option, ctc.org.uk
Safety
Cycling is safe, contrary to what you might hear. Unfortunately cycling has had a bad press of late, but not all cyclists jump red lights or cycle on pavements!
Just look at the number of people who cycle these days and how low the accident rates are. In cities like Copenhagen, for example, the number of people being injured each year is dropping year on year. The more people cycle, the safer it becomes!
"We use to have 120 cyclist killed in Copenhagen 12 years ago, now we have 12-15"
That's achieved through changing the road layout, sensible cycle lane design and people's attitudes to cycling.
See this video, Contested Streets - Copenhagen, about cycling in Copenhagen. After 30 years of city planning with cyclists in mind, they have made the roads safer and easier to use for the cyclist.
Think about the amount of miles that people cycle every day compared to how many that are hurt cycling.
"In fact, a bicycle user is seriously injured only once every 500,000 cycling kilometres - and a cycling death occurs only once every 17 million kilometres."
University of Birmingham, BIKE for your LIFE study
With a little planning and will power from everyone any city in the world can become a great place to cycle in. Let's face the facts: most of our journeys could easily be done on bike. We don't need to drag out 2 tonnes of metal when going for a pint of milk.
Security
A simple fact: if a thief wants it, they will get it, so all you can do is deter the ones who don't want it that badly. The same goes for your house, car and phone. So is recomended that you get a cycle insurance to cover for the unlikely event that your bicycle get stolen.
As this short film proves (the Neistat Brothers - bike thief), most people don't see, don't hear, don't speak, when they see something going on that is wrong.
The rule of thumb is to spend around 20% of the value of your bike on a lock and then learn some simple rules how to lock up your bicycle. Then cross your fingers that it will be there when you get back.
Here are some useful links:
Lock Strategy, sheldonbrown.com
Keep your bicycle safe, homeoffice.gov.uk
Cycle Security, cityoflondon.police.uk
Worlds largest FREE register of possession ownership, immobilise.com
Keep your bicycle safe, homeoffice.gov.uk
Cycle Security, cityoflondon.police.uk
Worlds largest FREE register of possession ownership, immobilise.com
