Here is an interesting info graphic I came across today while browsing some internet message boards. If you find this as striking, go ahead and share this with your friends and family – I know I will. The part that I find most interesting is the portion that displays the obesity problem in relation to the percentage of trips made by bikes in various countries. It is no surprise to me that in Europe, the obesity problem is lower and the cycling rate is higher – Europe is better equipped for road cycling simply because the streets are usually poorly equipped for cars. This, however, doesn’t give Americans an excuse to not ride their bikes often. Just because the roads here are well equipped for cars, doesn’t mean that we need to use them for cars all of the time, or even some of the time.<br/><br/>
<br/><br/>If you have been following me lately, you will know that I am currently training my body for long bike rides to commute to work, get the groceries, and so on. Currently, I am at 10 miles but I could probably push 20 miles before I get too tired. This is just enough for me to get to work from the future apartment we will be living in. You can be sure, that come February, I will be commuting by bike into Parkland from Tacoma. Since I’ve started this adventure, just over 10 days ago, I have even more energy than usual and my leg muscles are rock solid. This is in comparison to me over one year ago at this time, when I was over 280 pounds and could barely make it up the stairs to my apartment without keeling over. Since then, a good healthy diet has helped me shed the excess and now I am hoping cycling and my good diet will help me shed the rest of my extra weight. To say that I have never felt this good about myself is an understatement – I feel freakin’ fantastic, I have energy for days.<br/><br/>You can make this change in your life too, it really isn’t difficult. I burn hundreds of calories in just 10 miles of cycling, and I am getting faster and more efficient every day. If you have any questions, or would like some advice, please ask by leaving a comment on this blog entry.
Published on December 19, 2011 by Stephen
I think that one problem that America also needs to address is that many of its streets are convenient for cars, but inconvenient for bikes. Biking in a busy street is a bit terrifying, and I find that when I do it, I hold up a lot of traffic and it’s easy to get hit by a car that is moving much faster. I live in a city that also forbids biking on sidewalks to protect pedestrians, even though the injury that a pedestrian would get from getting hit by a bike is much less severe than an injury that a biker would get from getting hit by a car.
However, when I biked in Santa Monica, CA for a bit on their bike lanes, it was wonderful. I felt safe, and it made my trip fast. Santa Monica has bike lanes on on their major roads.
I completely understand the scary part. My city doesn’t have a lot of bicycle infrastructure either, but some of the major roads do. The side streets aren’t busy, so usually it’s not a huge issue.
Hopefully cycling lanes will catch on, because for the less aggressive cyclist, they’re a godsend.