National Bike Month: Biofriendly Benefits of Riding Your Bike

As May is National Bike Month, now is the perfect time to take a look at some of the biofriendly benefits of riding your bike. National Bike Month was started almost six decades ago as a way of enlightening people on the benefits of bike riding, and encouraging them to get out and ride. Since that time people have not only used bicycles as a simple form of exercise and a fun way to get around, but bicycling has also become one of the primary commuting options in countless communities around the world. According to bicycling commuting data from the League of American Bicyclists, bicycling commuting rates in some of the most populated Bicycle Friendly Communities (BFCs) increased as much as 105 percent between 2000 and 2013. This is significantly higher than the 62 percent national bicycle commuting rate average, and the 31 percent average in non-BFCs.

The following graph details the growth of bicycle commuting in some of the most bicycle friendly communities:

Riding Your Bicycle Has Many Biofriendly Benefits

In addition to being able to use your bicycle to commute to and from work, bicycling can have many biofriendly benefits as well. The following are just a few of the biofriendly benefits of riding your bike:

• Bicycling is one of the greenest types of transportation
• No gasoline or fuel is required to power a bicycle, just a little leg work
• Riding your bicycle outdoors gives you a chance to breathe fresh air
• Bike riding is a wonderful way to exercise
• Bicycling is an eco-friendly and inexpensive form of family entertainment
• Riding your bike allows you to enjoy being out in nature
• It takes a lot less energy to build a bicycle than it does to manufacture a motor vehicle
• Most bicycles do not require toxic batteries
• The bicyclist, not the bike, is the only one generating carbon dioxide and emissions from bicycling
• Bicycles do not pollute
• When people opt to ride their bicycles around town, they are more likely to frequent local businesses
• Communities that encourage bicycling are far less polluted than those catering to vehicles
• You can save a lot of “green” (money) by riding your bicycle
• Bike riding is a natural way to improve your health and increase energy levels

Keep this in mind when deciding whether to ride your bicycle or drive your car…for every mile you don’t drive, approximately one pound of CO2 and other harmful pollutants can be saved. Those who are interested in tracking and using the CO2 they saved to help offset their overall carbon emissions can do so by downloading the CO2 Fit app featured on TechCrunch.

Either way, we hope you get out and enjoy all the biofriendly benefits which can be had from riding your bike!

Sources:

The League of American Bicyclists: National Bike Month

BikeLeague.org: Bicycle Commuting Data

Tech Crunch: Why I’m Excited By The New CO2 Fit App, An App To Get The Planet Fit

Family bicycle path ride image by OakleyOriginals and Bicycle by the tree image by Marc Oh! via Flickr Creative Commons license