Reduce Your Carbon Footprint and Stay Fit by Cycling! It’s Greener to Use a Human Powered Bicycle and Leave the Car Behind

A Bicycle Built for One
Many people own a bike and use mainly for getting exercise-filled recreation. And biking is great exercise; much easier on the joints than jogging. But why not use cycling trips in a more practical way, to make not only you, but the earth healthier?

Most car trips are single-occupancy gas guzzlers, with a lone driver using tremendous amounts of energy to get from here to there. Bikes are perfect transportation for one person, and especially handy as a green way to cover short distances. In contrast, brief trips in the car, burn a disproportionately large amount of fuel, since they get you to your destination before the engine has a change to warm up and run efficiently.

Save Carbon and Go Green on Short Trips

Biking is an earth-friendly means of practical travel still unfortunately used by very few people. But the number of cyclists is growing, as are the numbers of bike paths, racks and other related items of necessity for those looking to reduce their car travel.

Cycling is Healthy, More Natural and Extremely Economical

With the cost of auto fuel skyrocketing, there is now all the more reason to hop on your bike. The expense of purchasing a good new or used bike, and the safety equipment to go with it, can be quickly recouped through the money that cyclists save by not driving. Bikes need no gasoline, no oil changes, no insurance and their upkeep is nowhere near as costly auto maintenance and repairs.

Increase Eco-Friendly Awareness on Longer Journeys

If you have to travel some distance, or don’t want to get all sweaty biking to work, why not compromise and split the distance between public transportation and cycling? Most city buses have bike racks to accommodate cyclists. You may find that a short bike trip to a convenient bus stop makes taking the bus all the more convenient. And when you are riding the bus, you can relax or even get a jump on some of your work while you let the bus driver worry about the traffic.

Do you do a significant amount of your traveling by bike? Have you found effective ways to combine public transportation and cycling? Please comment and share your green journeys.