Category Archives: Article

According to Treehugger and TheCelebrityCafe IKEA is giving 12,400 bikes to their US employees. The bikes, devoid of the IKEA logo, are “designed specifically for IKEA workers.” Let’s just hope that these bikes stay together better then my IKEA shelves. IKEA did send out some interesting facts with their press release.

• Bicycling is an excellent cardio-vascular exercise, which promotes heart health. Just like in any other aerobic workout, bicycling makes your heart pump harder. Also blood circulation increases and eventually, your resting heart rate will decrease. (Helium.com; Benefits of Bicycling by Erich Rosenberger M.D.)• On average, commuting 10 miles a day by bike in 30 minutes, instead of driving a car burns 110,250 calories (keeping off 30 pounds of fat each year). (Sources: Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, RailstoTrails.org, Fitsugar.com, Adultbicycling.com

• Cycling just 20 miles a week can help reduce the risk of coronary heart disease by 50%. (Sources: Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, RailstoTrails.org, Fitsugar.com, Adultbicycling.com

• Countries with the highest levels of cycling and walking generally have the lowest obesity rates. (Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia)
For Sustainable living, bicycling also has many benefits.

• Bicycling reduces polluting emissions. A short, four mile round trip by a bike keeps about 15 pounds of pollutants out of the air we breathe. (WorldWatch Institute, www.bicyclinginfo.org)

• In 2001 walking and bicycling accounted for 23 billion miles traveled, worth billions of dollars in fuel savings alone. (Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia)

• In one year, riding a bike versus owning and driving a car will save an individual $8,000 in gasoline and general car maintenance and insurance costs. (Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia)

Sources: thecelebritycafe.com and treehugger.com

Written by Chris Belsole

Expensive road bikes? carbon frames? Is it worth spending upwards of 1500 dollars on a bike just for getting around? What does it mean to the average commuter? Apparently not a whole lot.

In a new study by Dr. Jeremy Groves, an “anaesthetist at Chesterfield Royal Hospital and self-confessed cycling fan,” he asserts that the commuting time between a commute with a carbon fiber bicycle verses the commuting time with a steel frame is about the same. The big part of this was that he spent 1000 euro, about 1326.70 US Dollars, and only 50 euro, about 66.33 US Dollars, on the steel framed bike.

The best part is the conclusion that he comes up with, “A lighter bicycle did not lead to a detectable difference in commuting time. Cyclists may find it more cost effective to reduce their own weight rather than to purchase a lighter bicycle.”

You can find the study link here [via: BBC News]

Written by Chris Belsole

You heard right! Copenhagen is building a network of bike highways. It would stand to reason that one of the most bike-friendly cities in the world has a bike path congestion problem. As I type these words I can’t help but feel jealous at the fact that they have these problems.

“… Roehl [the Copenhagen municipality’s bicycle programme manager] is not content with making life easier for Copenhagen’s inner-city cyclists: he wants to get suburbanites out of their cars and onto two wheels as well.

His goal is to hike the percentage of suburban commuters cycling to and from the city from the 37 percent it is today to over 50 percent by 2015.

Within the city, 55 percent of all commuters already travel by bike, according to the municipality.

Copenhagen’s bike highways of tomorrow will be dotted with pit stops where it will be possible to pump up tyres, fix a chain and have a drink of water, Roehl says.

And synchronised traffic lights prioritising bicycles over cars will bring riders from the suburbs into Copenhagen “quickly and safely,” he says.”

Written by Chris Belsole

Breakfast, the most important meal of the day or something more? At the Capital Region Healthy Communities Coalition they believe that breakast leads to greater chances for education and lower diciplinary problems.

Do all kids eat breakfast? In New York State it is mandatory that all schools serve a USDA approved breakfast; although not all schools do. Not all children eat breakfast even if it is offered at the school. In fact even the majority of the children who get free or reduced priced lunches don’t take advantage of the free breakfast.

So how do you get children to eat breakfast? Because children “eat with their eyes” the food must look apealing. Also there is something called stealth nutrition where you use tatics like low sodium chips or whole wheat pancakes to give children a healthier meal.

So what can we do as bicyclists to help these children get a proper breakfast? One thing that could be done is plan and get cities to put signs up for “safe routs” to schools as well as plan and run daily bicycling rides to schools so that children don’t have to wait for the buses and end up missing the time for a school breakfast.

For more information go to the Capital Region Healthy Communities Coalition website.

Written by Chris Belsole