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Fun and health benefits increase the number of cyclists

By Josh Wardini

Cycling is no longer a simple act of just pedaling down a long road, it is now being revamped to improve the user’s experience. The sport has been around since the 19th century, but once the news about the fun and health benefits of cycling gained popularity, the number of cyclists began to rise significantly.

…cycling doesn’t require a lot of equipment and for around $500 you could get a really good bike!

The average cyclist realizes with time that getting involved in frequent cycling translates to an ‘addiction’ of some sort. In other words, there’s hardly a cyclist who gets into the euphoria of cycling who quits. Best of all, cycling doesn’t require a lot of equipment and for around $500 you could get a really good bike!

Image: Chris Barbalis

There’s a school of thought that says “cycling is perhaps the most efficient route to getting around the world”. Well, we can attest to the fact that cycling at medium or low speeds requires just as much energy as walking does. This means that, provided you cycle within the low to medium speed range, it doesn’t take away unusual amounts of energy from your body. Then again, the faster you go, the more energy you use up. This is one reason why cycling is fast becoming an effective way to keep fit and healthy.

‘… cycling at medium or low speeds requires just as much energy as walking does.’

For instance, it has been tested and proven that when you cycle for about 30 kilometers (which translates to 3 hours of riding at moderate speed) every week, the risk of developing a stroke or a heart disease reduces significantly by 50%. More so, women who cycle or walk for 30 minutes daily have lower chances of getting breast cancer than those who don’t.

Image: Louis Lo

According to recent studies, cycling to work instead of taking the bus or a car will help a person lose about 13 pounds in a year. And if you, as an adult, would love to have the fitness of someone 15 years younger than you, then you should get involved in cycling. Like we mentioned earlier, cycling grew more popular as more people realized the health benefits that come with riding a bike.

When it comes to safety, history says that about 75% of fatal accidents involving head injuries that led to the cyclists’ death happened to people who had no helmets on. Statistics also reveal that helmets provide an 85% chance that head injuries will not occur during a bike crash.

‘… about 75% of fatal accidents involving head injuries that led to the cyclists’ death happened to people who had no helmets on.’

Click on the image above to see the infographic or visit all-you-need-to-know-about-cycling

Now, you know all that space we give up at parking lots and residential areas just because we need to park a car, a truck, or a bigger vehicle, don’t you? Well, say you owned a bicycle instead. You can park up to 15 bikes in a space meant for parking just one car!

Say all Canadians were to increase their cycling to the equivalent of 2% of urban trips, they’d save whopping 300 million liters of gas every year. Let’s not even get started on how much reduction in CO2 emissions that would entail. We are not saying you should sell off your trucks and cars, or ditch the train rides. Definitely no. But when it comes to saving some money and protecting the environment, the standing ovation goes to the bikes.Images: courtesy of Josh Wardini

Read also: Westmount’s safe cycling ambassadors