10 Biofriendly Reasons to Get Out and Ride a Bike
If you haven’t already heard, May is National Bike Month and, as such, it’s the perfect time to bring up the benefits of riding a bike. Bike riding isn’t just for kids or professional riders. Hoping on a bike and pedaling around town can have numerous health benefits for pretty much anyone at any age. Riding a bike can have environmental benefits, too.
Although not every city has been designed to be bike-friendly, many new cities and towns are including bike lanes, bike paths, hiking trails, green spaces and more as part of their push to be sustainable.
My city has countless bike paths and trails allowing you to pretty much ride from one end of the city to the other. In another local community, which is just being built, they have incorporated a lot of open space and trails/roads which will make it so pedestrians and bicyclists can get around without having to use their vehicles. I’m sure, if you look around your town, you’ll find quite a few areas ideal for biking. If not, speak up and ask your city officials to create some.
Believe it or not, there are even cities around the world going car-free. One of them could be yours!
Biofriendly Reasons You Should Get Out and Ride a Bike
Now let’s get into some of the benefits of bike riding. Here are 10 biofriendly reasons you should get out and ride a bike:
1. Biking Is a Great Family Activity
Biking is something you can not only do on your own, but it’s a great family activity, too. It’s something everyone can be involved in and, if you’re feeling up to it, you can even have each person plan a ride. This way you’ll get to see a number of different sights and go to a variety of places.
2. Riding a Bike Is a Wonderful Form of Exercise
Riding a bike is a simple, but wonderful form of exercise. Instead of walking around town (which you can still do, of course), try hoping on your bike and going for a ride. Riding a bike works all kinds of muscles throughout the body and can be an extremely beneficial full body workout.
3. Bike Riding Improves Strength and Flexibility
Bike riding improves strength and flexibility, especially when you have to ride up hills or long distances. While it may take some time and work at first, the more you ride, the more you’ll see an improvement in your overall health and well-being.
4. When You Ride, You Get Fresh Air
While some people like to hop on their indoor bikes and attend a virtual workout, getting outside to ride your bike is a terrific way to get some fresh air. Indoor air pollution can have quite the negative impact on a person’s health. Getting outside and getting some fresh air is extremely important. Besides, when you’re outdoors, you’ll be able to get a little natural Vitamin D, too.
5. Riding Allows You to Get Outdoors and Connect with Nature
Speaking out getting outdoors, other than walking, riding is one of the simplest ways to get outdoors and connect with nature. You don’t have to just ride along city streets. You can go riding along various bike paths, find a trail through the woods, ride along the hills, ride out by the beach or coastline and more.
6. Riding a Bicycle Produces Less Harmful Emissions
When you ride your bike, you aren’t producing the volume of harmful emissions your vehicle would produce if you were using it instead. Riding a bike requires people power, not any other kind of power or energy. You don’t even need to use renewable energy to ride a bike. This makes riding your bike one of the easiest ways to effectively lower vehicle emissions.
7. You Take a Vehicle Off the Road by Riding Your Bike
Every time you ride your bike, instead of driving, you take a vehicle off the road. Less vehicles on the road means less traffic, less wear and tear on the highways, less pollution and more. You also save money when you opt to ride your bike rather than driving to your intended destination.
8. Riding Is a Fun Way to Explore Your City
While you could get in your car and go for a drive around your city, it’s much more eco-friendly and fun to explore your city by bike. This is one of the numerous reasons big cities have bike-sharing programs for tourists and residents alike. It’s so simple to get on a bike and ride around. You can explore places you never would have gone before, and you don’t even need to worry about trying to find a parking spot.
9. Riding a Bike Lowers Your Monthly Gas Expenses
With gas prices on the rise again, your budget could likely use a hand. If you opt for riding your bike (or walking) more, then you’ll probably see a significant drop in your monthly gas expenses. Plus, the number of repairs and amount of routine maintenance you’ll have to do on your vehicle will be less. It’s a win-win!
10. Bike Riding Is A Good Way to Reduce Stress
Feeling overwhelmed with work? Stressed about your finances or home life? Go for a bike ride. Riding a bike is a good way to reduce stress. Just pedal around, breathe, look at the sights and sounds, and let yourself relax a little. You might even find you’ll have an easier time solving any problems after a bike ride. It has a unique way of clearing your head and helping to reduce anxiety.
Get Your Company Involved
In addition to riding your bike at home and of your own accord, you can also get your business and co-workers involved by encouraging them to participate in Bike to Work week. Bike to Work Week 2022 is from May 16th through May 22nd. Bike to Work Day 2022 is Friday, May 20th.
If you’re interested, you and your family (or friends and co-workers) can also play Bike Month Bingo! Make a game of it all. Here’s a downloadable bingo sheet to get you started.
Take the Time to Get Out and Ride
Whatever your reasons or incentive, we strongly recommend you use National Bike Month as a stepping stone to get you started with riding your bike more often. The next time you need to run some errands, want to visit a local friend or simply want to get outdoors for a bit, #bikethere instead of driving. Maybe you can even figure out how to bike to work. Many buses and trains have spaces where cyclists can put their bikes in between stops, so you can even do a combo trip (if biking there and back isn’t an option).
So, get out there and take advantage of this biofriendly form of transportation. Happy Biking!
Don’t forget to share your biking stories and pictures. We love to see them!
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