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Save on Gas by Biking to Work
By Paul Strand
CBN NewsCBN.com –PORTLAND, Oregon- If you're sick of paying too much at the pump, there is one radical solution: dump your four wheels for two.
As a bicycle commuter for the last 30 years, I’ll tell you why it may be a lot easier – and more beneficial than you think – to bike to work.
Several things keep most people from even considering bike commuting. They think it's too hard, too slow, too unsafe, and too impractical.
But a city like Portland, Ore. can convince you otherwise. Nationwide, about one out of every 200 people bikes to work. In Portland, it's six out of 200 – a rate 600 percent higher than the national average.
Scott Bricker, a full-time professional biking advocate, is so comfy with two-wheeling, he pedals around the town in his suit.
"We have about 170 miles of bike lanes,” Bricker said. “We have, I think, 70 miles of bike paths, and about 30 miles of low-traffic bicycle streets or bicycle boulevards."
He said that with Portland's reputation as the best biking city in the nation, people are actually moving there just so they can live a two-wheel lifestyle.
"A lot of young people have come to Portland specifically because they care about bicycling – they want that kind of lifestyle,” Bricker explained. “And so, in the last decade, bicycling has tripled in Portland,"
As the city's bike coordinator, Roger Geller hopes to keep pushing that number higher. He bikes three miles to work in downtown Portland, both for practical reasons and because it's fun.
Geller said it stems from "a desire to not be stuck in traffic, a desire to not spend money on gas."
He finds it so easy, he does it in his every day work clothes.
"I'm able to ride at a slow, no-sweat pace,” he said, “and it takes me less than 20 minutes to get to work."
Gregg Everhart prefers wearing actual bike clothes for her daily commute, "so I keep work clothes in the office,” she said. “I keep work shoes as well, because sometimes your feet can get rather wet."
There she labors to expand the network of paths and trails that let Portlanders bike, walk and jog separate from cars and trucks.
Dan Burton uses one of those trails to bike 20 miles round-trip to his office every day.
"Getting out, getting your blood pumping...makes me feel great,” Burton said. ”And I have all kinds of energy when I get to work."
Dan Burton happens to be my cousin, and unbeknownst to each other, decades ago, he started doing his 20-mile commute on the West Coast, while I started doing my 22-mile daily ride on the East Coast.
But is the biking lifestyle safe?
Somewhere around 700 to 800 Americans die bicycling during a normal year. More than 90 percent of those accidents are caused by collisions with cars or trucks.
But about half of those are avoidable – they involve people biking at night without lights. A recent study also showed that during an hour of biking, compared to an hour of driving, people in cars are twice as likely to be killed in an accident as are people on bikes.
But things to concentrate on are the benefits of biking, which one study showed outweigh the risks by about 20 to one.
Biking 30 minutes a day meets the daily exercise requirements for healthy living and fights obesity.
I'm also saving a lot of money biking instead of driving. For instance, the average car costs about $7,000 a year to own and operate. Biking costs just about $120. So I'm saving around $500 a month.
Most families spend more than six weeks a year working to pay their car expenses. Just one day of work covers the costs for a year of biking.
"No extra car payment, no two-car insurance, so we must be saving a lot," Burton said.
You might be able to actually get to work faster pedaling. The average speed for cars in an urban area is about 13 miles per hour. Many cyclists go 12 to 15 miles per hour.
And, in cities like Portland, which hold annual contests that pit cars, buses and bikes against each other, “the cyclist always wins," said Geller.
There's also the environmental benefit. For instance, for every four miles I bicycle instead of drive, I'm keeping 15 pounds of pollutants out of the atmosphere.
So let's say you're convinced. Now you need the right stuff.
First, go to a good bike shop to get your bike. Those cheap ones at big department stores aren't safe or sturdy enough for daily commuting.
Then you must decide whether you want to buy a road bike with thin tires, a thin, hard seat, and fold over handlebars to go really fast, or what's recommended for beginners by bike expert and owner of six Portland-area bike shops, Jay Graves. He recommends a hybrid bicycle, which basically takes the idea of a mountain bike and modifies it to make it more friendly for riding the roads.
Graves said that a hybrid bike is "very comfortable and stable, with a wider tire than your old-fashioned road bike."
There's also another kind of two-wheelers gaining popularity these days – what Graves calls "comfort bikes." They let the rider sit way low with big, generous handlebars and very wide tires...just the kind of bike for newcomers who might be very uncomfortable with the whole idea of balancing themselves up high on two thin tires.
Graves also recommends a good solid helmet, especially the kind that has a plastic extension hanging down in the back that'll help the helmet grip your head even more securely.
He's also adamant about your need for lights on both the front and rear of your bike. Since rear lights are still a hard-to-see red, he recommends you get the kind that flashes.
Many bikes these days come without fenders, so you might want to have them installed if you don't want rain shooting up off the road on you. These days you can even find incredibly lightweight rear fenders that are little more than a straight piece of easy-to-detach plastic (so you can easily remove it on sure-to-be dry days).
If you're going to be carrying more than a fannie-pack full of items, you'll probably want front or rear bike bags in which to stow that gear. Wearing a backpack will just likely smear your shirt or blouse with a huge patch of sticky sweat.
Graves recommends a handlebar bag if you want instant access to your gear throughout your ride. If you have lots and lots of stuff, you may want to install a rack above your rear wheel and then put across that rack big rear-packs called "panniers." Or if you're carrying a lot less, you can get a rear pack that sits on top of that rack.
These days, manufacturers even sell packs specifically created to haul your laptop computer or your suit!
As for what to wear, Graves advises you layer yourself in clothes that are lightweight and easy to put on or remove as temperatures change, topped by a light windshell.
Bike clothes have been created that mix mesh and material that is specifically created to wick sweat away from your body. They also contain zippered vents that let you increase the air-flow around your body as you warm up.
Seriously consider wearing those clingy bike shorts, because the padding made just for those kind of shorts makes a huge difference on your backside and between your legs.
"You'll be very comfortable with the padding," Graves said.
Padded spandex pants can also be found for the colder seasons.
You'll want bike shoes with a hard sole so your pedals don't dig into your feet, or maybe the kind of shoe that allows you to actually lock your foot to the pedal for maximum power and punch.
Another good thing to buy: booties that zip up right over your shoes and socks if you're going to ride in the rain.
And if you wear long pants, get the cheapie, bright-green leg straps all bike stores sell to keep your pant leg from getting caught in the chain.
Biking doesn't just have to be about you and getting to work. It's also fun, recreational activity for the entire family.
If you can turn your kids into life-long bikers, studies show it will improve their mental agility and they'll actually do better in school. It'll also help them ward off heart disease, obesity and some forms of cancer, as well as improve their immune system.
So why not hop on a bike, and save yourself some gas, some money, the environment, and maybe even your own health?
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