Why bike?
Commuting by bicycle offers numerous benefits, including the following:
Save some cash
An average of $1,500 to $2,000 per year on the cost of gas
Help the environment
The combustion of a gallon of gas puts out about 25 pounds of carbon dioxide. If the average person biked to work or shopping once every two weeks instead of driving, we could prevent the pollution of close to one billion gallons of gasoline from entering the atmosphere every year (League of American Bicyclists)
Improve your health and well-being
Active transportation is one of the most time-efficient ways to combine low-impact and low-cost, regular exercise activity with your everyday routine. It’s one of the best ways to reduce your risk of health problems such as stroke, heart attack, some cancers, depression, diabetes, obesity and arthritis. If you don’t have time to work out, commute and get your work out in.
- A person loses an average of 13 lbs. in the first year of commuting by bike (League of American Bicyclists).
- For a 150-lb woman, bicycling at less than 10 miles per hour, burns about 300 calories in 60 minutes.
- Bicycling just 20 miles per week reduces women’s risk of heart disease by 50%.
- Active commuting – biking and walking – reduces women’s risk of cardiovascular disease by 13% (compared to 9% for men).
- Women with an active commute of just 30 minutes were half as likely to suffer heart failure as women who didn’t have an active commute.