Get Fit: 10 reasons to commute

Commuting by bike is fun

Do you remember your first bike as a kid? A bike was speed, independence and adventure. A bike was freedom. If you haven't ridden a bike since those days, you may be surprised that these qualities have not changed. It's every bit as fun as it was as a kid, but many adults have just forgotten how to have fun. We could all use more fun in our lives. Having a little fun each day will make you live longer.

Exercise

In addition to needing more fun in our lives, we Americans need more exercise. Riding your bike to work gives you the opportunity to get some exercise doing something you already have to do anyway. And since bicycling is a fun activity, you'll find yourself wanting to ride more often as your fitness increases.

Efficiency

The bicycle is a highly efficient machine. Using only the power one would expend walking at a casual pace, a cyclist can travel three times faster than a walker. For short trips around town, a bicycle is often as quick or quicker than a car.

Save your car for multi-occupant trips or distances outside your bicycle's range. If you live too far from work, consider having a bicycle at work for short errands around town, or take your bike on the bus and ride part of the way to work.

Less stress

One thing I noticed when I began bicycle commuting is that my stress levels dropped. Once you step away from being in the car every day, you'll begin to realize just how stressful driving a car can be. I'm amazed now when I witness road rage over petty incidents. You've probably heard the joke, "Anyone driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone driving faster than you is a maniac." You just don't encounter this behavior anywhere outside the car. For example, have you ever seen shopping cart rage at the supermarket?

When you take away the safety and anonymity that the enclosed car provides, people are forced to be civil with one another.

Reconnect with your community

You'd be surprised how much you're missing when you zoom through town in an enclosed vehicle. When you slow down, get off the freeway and main thoroughfares, you'll experience your city in a whole new way.

You'll see things that you didn't even know existed.

Save Money

Driving is expensive. Gas prices are averaging close to $3 per gallon right now.

Then there's a car payment, registration, insurance, a drivers license fee, repair, and maintenance. While many of us would have a hard time getting by without a car, we could certainly get by with owning fewer cars or simply driving less. Maybe riding a bicycle will put off that new car purchase.

Bicycles are far cheaper to own and maintain than cars. Drive less, work less, play more.

Save time

As I mentioned earlier, short trips around town on a bicycle are often as quick or quicker than short trips by car. But to fully realize how much time you'll be saving riding a bike, you also have to think of how many hours you'll have to work to pay for driving vs. riding a bike.

Bicycle ownership is fairly inexpensive, so you'll be working fewer hours to keep your bike going. And since you're already getting exercise on your bike, maybe you don't need to hit the gym after work.

Invest the time you save into something that pays high dividends like family and friends.

Self sufficiency

Have you ever stopped to think of where the gas in your car came from? No, I'm not talking about the Chevron station. Before that. The gas in your car most likely started off as oil half way around the world.

Or maybe it was pumped up from beneath the ocean at some dark and stormy northern sea oil platform. From there the oil was transported through a complicated series of pipelines, oil tankers, trains, refineries, trucks, and has traveled thousands of miles before it hits the gas tank of your vehicle.

Relying on my bicycle as my main mode of transportation gives me peace of mind knowing that I will still be able to get around quite easily, regardless of world events.

Reduce pollution

Reducing the number of cars on the road reduces the amount of pollution in the air we breathe. Millions of cars spew their dirty exhaust into the air daily.

Much of this pollution could be done away with if people used their bicycles for short trips. And fewer cars on the road would encourage more people to ride bicycles or walk. Safer roads mean more kids walking or riding bikes to school again.

Not only would we have cleaner air to breathe, we would have much less noise pollution, too.

Riding a bike is quiet and non-polluting, and helps to create a better city to live in.

Riding a bicycle is patriotic

Reducing our country's energy needs provides national security and is patriotic. During World War II, Americans conserved energy and rationed many items to pull through the tough times.

It was a way for all Americans to serve their country, not just the enlisted men and women of the armed forces. Today though, the American way of life seems non-negotiable.

America has had it good for so long, that many of our luxuries now feel like necessities. Giving something up or scaling back feels like an infringement on our freedom, and conservation is labeled radical left-wing environmentalism.

But for a country that imports over half of its oil, using less energy should just be common sense. Ride a bike, serve your country.