This Friday, May 15, is National Bike-to-Work Day, one of many events scheduled to celebrate Bike Month. SELF magazine is celebrating National Bike Month by showing how bicycling can slim you down, save you money and safeguard the environment. Whether it’s the best in biking gear or pointers on proper positioning, SELF gets your gears in motion in time for Bike-to-Work day on May 15. 3 reasons to push pedals 1. You'll slim down. Have fun, burn fat: Biking at a moderate to vigorous pace inside and outside the gym zaps about 500 calories per hour, says Pete McCall, an exercise physiologist for the American Council on Exercise in San Diego. Leaner legs and a firmer butt are also benefits of biking—ride on! 2. You'll fatten your wallet. It costs roughly $8,115 a year to own a car, reports the American Automobile Association in Heathrow, Florida. A bike's annual setback is $263. 3. You'll reduce your carbon footprint. Fuel for thought: If you bike to work three days a week, you'll save about 38 gallons of gas per year, says Heather Stephenson, cofounder of IdealBite.com, a website that offers daily tips on green living. For more info on biking to work, including the 411 on biking to work and road safety, read the rest of the article. Since finally learning how to ride a bike, I've become quite a fan of cycling. I take Spinning classes, hit the bike trail on the weekend and have a standing weekly bike-and-dine date with a friend during warm weather. I've never ridden my bike to work, mostly because I live 10 miles or so from the office and would need to ride on some pretty busy roads and steep hills during high-traffic times. I hope to someday have the confidence to ride my bike to work (my city is not a very bike-friendly place) on a regular basis. Until then, I'll stick with riding my bike to run errands on the weekends. How about you? Will you ride your bike to work on Friday? Do you ride your bike to run errands or take short trips? |
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