Bike commuting can be an excellent way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance local air quality, even for shorter commutes.
Bike commuting requires some planning, but anyone of any fitness level can manage it successfully. Selecting an ideal bike from your local bicycle store and getting advice from experts about the right type of ride for you will help make commuting simpler and less taxing than ever!
1. Health Benefits
Commuting by bike can be an invigorating and healthy way to start your day, and planning out your route before beginning can ensure you know the limitations and any hazards along the way.
By choosing to ride your bicycle instead of driving or taking public transit, you are lessening your environmental impact by cutting back on harmful chemicals and pollutants that pollute air quality, road construction costs are reduced significantly and runoff water entering groundwater is also significantly decreased.
Many new bike commuters need to adjust their wardrobe and work habits in order to feel at ease while biking to and from work, such as wearing more casual clothing and keeping an extra set of clothing at work in case of rain or mechanical problems.
2. Environment Benefits
Biking can be an environmentally-friendly way to get around, avoid stressful traffic jams and provide exercise all at the same time. Biking to work can also help the planet as it produces zero harmful emissions or carbon dioxide and saves fuel costs!
Biking uses far fewer natural resources than cars, helping reduce noise pollution that disrupts wildlife and affects humans alike. Furthermore, cycling reduces demand for roads and parking lots, as more people opt to ride bicycles as part of their commute to work.
3. Saving Money
Traffic jams and packed buses and trains can leave us exhausted before our day even starts, but bike commuting provides an alternative method that not only avoids this congestion but helps the environment at the same time.
Biking to work can save money too. It is much less costly than owning and maintaining a car, paying gas fees and parking fees and parking permits, not to mention taking advantage of commuter benefits such as transit passes, tokens, farecards or vouchers and/or parking credits.
Bike commuting not only burns calories – the exact number varies based on weight and speed – but it’s also proven effective at improving blood pressure, insulin levels, triglyceride levels and mood. Bike riding can even become social if friends or co-workers join you on the ride!
4. Social Benefits
Bike commuting often receives an unfavorable press. Fans can give the impression that utilitarian cycling requires grim determination and an enormous tolerance for danger, driver abuse, and frigid temperatures.
As commuters make the switch, they discover physical and emotional rewards: reduced fuel costs and parking fees, greater fitness gains from walking more, reduced calories stored for storage purposes, and decreased stress levels.
To maximize the benefits of bike commuting, riders should select a safe route that utilizes sidewalks and bike lanes if available. Maps or online route planners may assist cyclists in planning their routes; also remembering that bikes are vehicles on the road which must abide by traffic laws as do motor vehicle drivers.
5. Safety Benefits
One of the biggest reasons people avoid biking to work is due to fear or perceived risks; but, with proper planning and dedication cycling can be both safe and fulfilling.
An important element of biking safely is remaining aware of your surroundings and following traffic laws. Planning ahead ensures you arrive at work without too much rush-hour congestion, which could save precious minutes during rush hour commute times.
Bike route planners can be invaluable tools in your quest for bike-friendly routes, providing useful information such as traffic conditions, weather reports and elevation changes. Before embarking upon your first ride to work by bicycle, it is wise to practice running your new route on the weekend as this will familiarize yourself with it and reduce stress during that first journey.