There’s never been a better time to switch to the bike for your commute. Cities across the world are installing pop-up bike lanes to help with journeys as restrictions on normal life are eased and governments and local authorities are finally seeing what we’ve known all along – bike is best.
If you’ve picked up a bike for exercise recently then converting to a bike commuter is the next obvious step. Here’s five reasons to choose bike.
Imagine if your daily commutes could be as much fun as your leisure rides? With a bike ride to look forward to at the start and end of a working day. Zip past traffic, take secret shortcuts, go the scenic way home – commuting will no longer feel like a chore. You’ll arrive fresher and get home with a smile on your face.
Free fitness. In your first few weeks of riding you’ll spot a few tell tale sign. A bit of an increase in appetite, then that your legs feel a bit buffer than usual and a trip to scales will give you a pleasant surprize. It’s like you’re sleepjogging. Fitness gains, without the pain of forcing your self to the gym.
Save money. The thought of buying a bike and some kit to get you started can feel a bit spendy to begin with, but if you jot down the costs of your travel pass, fuel and all of the hidden costs of driving a car and compare the two, you’ll be pleasantly surprized.
It is way, way easier than you think. The hills will get easier and you’ll get rained on a lot less than you think, even here in Scotland. We’re based in Livingston and get around 190 days with rain a year, but that doesn’t mean we get rained on for 380 commutes – far from it.
Rethink. Contemplating your commute in distances can be a bit off putting, so think about minutes rather than miles or kilometres. Five miles might sound like a lot, but 25 minutes riding sounds pretty easy, right? Some local authorities are using the same idea for their cycle routes using minutes rather than distances. For the geeks, there’s some tools out there to help you calculate riding times too - Travel Time Map.
