By Diane Jenks, The OutSPOKEn Cyclist
May is National Bike Month and there are many planned activities such as bike your local park, bike to school and bike to work days.
So, how about doing something that might just turn into a habit, such as bike to the grocery store or bike to the pharmacy or bike to the library? And, if you’re still working, you might even want to bike to your office.
Even though we’re being encouraged to keep our distance from one another and stay at home longer, we’re also being told that going outside for exercise and recreation is a good thing. There are additional encouraging factors at work here — our air is cleaner, our streets are less congested, and people are being much kinder to one another — all great reasons to continue to ride instead of drive.
Consider this fact: most daily trips are less than 3 miles from your home. Biking at only 10 miles per hour, you can easily ride that distance in 15 or 20 minutes! With the addition of a front basket or a rear rack, a set of clip-on grocery bags, a kickstand, and a sturdy lock, your bicycle can be the first line of choice for short-distance errands.
Start with a destination in mind — let’s say the post office. Think about the route that will get you there most safely and conveniently, especially if you aren’t used to riding in traffic (yet.) Most post offices actually have bike racks, so you can lock up your bike and go get your mail or buy stamps. Then, retrace your route back home and see how much time it took.
As you become more confident, you can use your bicycle more often. And, if you have an eBike, even the hills won’t bother you with a full load.
Which brings me to loading your bike for grocery shopping. You can actually carry quite a bit on a bicycle; but, you have to think about balancing the load you buy. One way I have helped people who are taking a self-contained bicycle trip is to put their bags on the bike and then weight them with books and ride around for a while. That way, you get to “feel” what it’s like to have a load on the back of the bike and will gain confidence in carrying things such as eggs or beer!
If you begin to see the benefits of using your bicycle for transportation, you can also begin to see the need to look to your local government and planning departments to request things such as pubic bike racks, better signage for riders and walkers, and the need to acknowledge the rights of others on the roads besides drivers.
Last item here: Please ride safely — meaning, you have all the same rights on the road as a car; it also means you have all the same rules to follow. Use hand signals, stop at stop signs, and traffic lights, and be a good cycling citizen.
