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This summer, I stopped buying bus passes and told myself that I was just going to bike everywhere, both to save money and get in some great conditioning this summer.  I quickly became a huge fan of biking as a form of transportation.  If you were to do a cost/benefits analysis of this, there are basically no costs.  There are no cons here.

            First off, biking is fantastic exercise.  I am like to jog every day and began making myself do my daily biking to work and back in addition to my running.  I was pretty tired somedays, but as the summer wore on I found my body could handle more and more, more than I ever would have given myself credit for.  On my best day, I ran 5 miles and biked about 37 miles around town.  Another day, I ran 4 miles, biked about 30 miles, and worked at my physically demanding job that night.  I probably wasn’t the fastest cyclist that night as I staggered home from work, but I still did it.

            Another great thing about cycling is that it intrinsically varies your workouts.  Your destination may be far away.  It may be hilly.  It may be windy.  You never know, but no matter what it is you’re going to have to deal with it.  And you’ll be surprised how your body can come through in the clutch when you don’t have a choice.  Tired?  Hungry?  Ten miles from home?  Sorry.  If you want to get home, your body’s going to have to perform. 

            Cycling as transportation has benefits not just for you, but for your community.  Most communities are starting to develop bike lanes on the road and bike racks on their busses.  The more people start utilizing these services, the more city governments will go even further, and truly bike-friendly cities would be an awesome thing.  More people would probably jump on the bandwagon when they saw how safe and easy it is.  More cyclists equals less cars on the road.  Less cars on the road means less car exhaust.  Less cars on the road means less money spent putting gas in the tanks (I have bought gas maybe 5 times this summer, and have gone for over 40 days at a time without putting gas in my car).  Less cars on the road means less wear and tear on the road, slowing down the frequency of roadwork and perhaps one day decreasing taxes.  Less miles on your car means less wear and tear on your, fewer oil changes, and no money spent on parking, which adds up to more money for other things.

            You don’t have to be a cycling expert or a contender for the Tour de France to get started with this.  A decent bike with a comfortable seat, and a backpack or some saddlebags is pretty much all you need to get going if you plan on going to work or running errands.  A good cycling store or someone who can help you change flats is helpful too.  The best pieces of advice I can give you for biking in traffic are:

            -Make eye contact with drivers to ensure they see you, especially when making left turns or coming out of driveways or sidestreets.  Does it feel weird to stare people down all the time?  Yes.  Do I care?  No.  I’d rather been weird than dead, and I’ll probably never see these people again anyway so who cares?

            -Do not wear headphones while biking in traffic.

            -Do not wear headphones while biking in traffic.

            -Do not wear headphones while biking in traffic.  Deafening yourself to the traffic around you is pretty much the dumbest thing you can do.  I usually listening to music when I go running or lifting too, but I’m not in traffic.  Trust me, you are much less protected than people in cars and you need to hear what’s going on around you.

            -Invest in blinking electric lights you can mount on the front and back of your bike for riding at night.  That one red reflector on the back of your bike is not enough.  I used to think these were stupid and then one night last summer I was driving around and I saw some people biking without lights and I absolutely could not believe how hard it was to see them.  I went out and bought some immediately.

            So get to it!  I became a fan immediately and am already a little sad that cycling season is coming to a close.  Wisconsin winters are not kind to those of us that like to travel on two tires, but I already have big plans for some fun bike trips for next summer.

~JK