We all know that it’s better for us and the environment if we hop on our bikes to commute, especially the short trips we have every day, but it’s always awesome to have some solid numbers on our side too. Check it out…
Active Lifestyle, Advocacy, Bike Europe, Ditch Your Car, Health, International, Pedaling Change
The holiday season is in full force this week, so we thought we’d pull together a couple of photos with people getting festive on their bikes. Whether you’re hitting the road for a morning ride, or carting home groceries for your holiday feast, cheers to those of you out there on your bikes! Happy holidays!
We love all of the bicycle-inspired infographics popping up these days. This one makes it pretty clear: you’re going to save a lot of money and maybe your life by riding your bike to work. A few choice bits we pulled out…
Definitely makes us feel good about hopping on our bikes everyday.
Created by: Healthcare Management Degree
Every Wednesday on Ditch Your Car we’ll be bringing you just another reason to spend more time on two wheels. Be it a photo, a statistic or an inspirational video, we want to keep reminding you about why riding is great!
Last week, the New York Department of Transportation announced that bike commuters have doubled in the last four years — that’s 102 percent — and quadrupled since 2001. Big ups to the Big Apple! Keep on riding!
Have a lane that you love? Send us a photo! You can post it to our Facebook page, shoot us an email at blog[at]ospreypacks[dot]com or upload to our Flickr group and we might just feature it here on our weekly photo feature, Lane Love.
PHOTO via downtownfrombehind
What are we most thankful for when we hop on our bike each morning? We’re thankful for our healthy mind and body that makes it possible to pedal every day. We’re thankful that we ride through the sun and the rain and the snow all year long — living and breathing through each and every season. We’re thankful for the freedom that we feel when we’re riding our bikes — having the fresh air whip by our faces and turn our cheeks pink — that’s a pretty wonderful feeling.
We could go on and on about how grateful we are to be on our bikes and for this bicycle movement as a whole, but here’s a word from blogger and bike advocate Elly Blue over via Grist.org:
In last [month]‘s New York Times, columnist Mark Bittman compiled a list of people and things in the food movement he’s thankful for. The bicycle movement deserves its own list. Here’s a start:
- I’m thankful for the power of bikes to enable people-powered protest movements. Bicycles have been playing a supporting role in the Occupy movement, and seem to be bringing out the best in everyone, whether used byprotesters or police.
- Free bicycles are on the rise, thanks to an international network of bike collectives. Chances are there’s one near you — find out onthis list — where you can build yourself a bike and learn to do your own repairs. Or, to see an economic multiplier at work, donate money, parts, or time to a bike collective that provides free bicycles to teens or adults with low incomes.
- Hooray for fenders! Riding through a light drizzle is a secret pleasure of mine, and if I had to choose between a raincoat and fenders, I’d choose fenders every time. After all, the rain is far cleaner coming down than it is when it’s tossed back up by your tires.
- I love the energy of small cities with big visions. As the giants like New York and Seattle wrangle over relatively small amounts of bike infrastructure, people in smaller cities around the country, from Oklahoma City to Newton, Mass., are seeing the appeal of bicycle transportation — and can have a much quicker road to revising their infrastructure and habits.
- There is a 325-mile continuous paved trail on which you can bike, hike, or ski between Washington, D.C., and Pittsburgh. It’s called the Great Allegheny Passage. How cool is that?
- Let’s hear it for sharrows and bike lanes. Cycling advocates argue fiercely about what kind of bike infrastructure is most effective, but the truth is that every time any kind of bike markings go down it’s a giant, sometimes bright green billboard reminding all of us that bicycles belong on the road.
What are you most thankful about in the bicycle movement?
PHOTO via
Every Wednesday on Ditch Your Car we’ll be bringing you just another reason to spend more time on two wheels. Be it a photo, a statistic or an inspirational video, we want to keep reminding you about why riding is great!
Osprey Bike athlete Joe Schwartz posted this photo from his morning ride on Twitter last week: “Fresh asphalt #lanelove this morning. New bike lane in Vancouver.”
Happy Monday riding to you!
Have a lane that you love? Send us a photo! You can post it to our Facebook page, shoot us an email at blog[at]ospreypacks[dot]com or upload to our Flickr group and we might just feature it here on our weekly photo feature, Lane Love.
We all know the benefits of a good bike ride for our body, but sometimes we forget that our brain needs the workout just as much. We’ve seen a few posts making their way around the internet this week about the benefits of exercise for your brain…
via The New York Times:
Scientists in Ireland recently found that “immediately after the strenuous activity, the cyclists had significantly higher levels of a protein known as brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF, which is known to promote the health of nerve cells… [and is] key to maintaining not just memory but skilled task performance.”
via Copenhagenize:
According to Harvard University professor of medicine, John J. Ratey. The average activity level of people in the industrialized part of the world is 38% of what our body and mind, was developed for. Even if you do the weekly 3-4 hours most governmental health organisations tend to advocate, you do not exceed 50% of what you were born to…
As it turns out, our brain is dependent on a high activity level to function normally. The brain constantly rewires and reroutes connections… The ability to rewire it self is enhanced by an active lifestyle, an essential ability as we grow older and parts of our brain deteriorates, due to presenile dementia, Parkinsons and Alzheimers disease. A high activity level will reduce symptoms, in some cases almost completely, of these age conditioned diseases.
All we know is that we feel awesome after a good, long bike ride… and that’s enough to inspire us to head out for a lunch ride today. How about you?
Every Wednesday on Ditch Your Car we’ll be bringing you just another reason to spend more time on two wheels. Be it a photo, a statistic or an inspirational video, we want to keep reminding you about why riding is great!
PHOTO via The New York Times
