Ride Your Damn Bike (It's Good For You... And The Planet!)
During the 200 years since its invention, the bicycle's popularity has ebbed and flowed. For almost a century, we've suffered the unforeseen consequences of a car-consumed culture. But now, because of a global pandemic, the transformative power of the bike is starting to take hold.
I think most of us have intuitively known the benefits of cycling for years. But now, we’re at a crux in human history. Never before have we experienced so many converging problems: the climate crisis, social and economic inequality, cultural trauma, and the transportation clusterfuck.
Can we unlock the bicycle as a simple, and often overlooked, solution for many of our challenges? A better future is possible. There are almost endless benefits of why you should ride a bike, but here's a bunch of my personal favourites:
Improve Your Physical And Mental Health
It might be an obvious one, but riding a bike goes beyond just keeping in shape. Keeping your muscles strong, improving overall stamina and activating the benefits of aerobic exercise are really just the tip of the iceberg.
There’s a stack of evidence that shows cycling can help to improve cholesterol levels and therefore cardiovascular health, reduce the risk of diabetes and even the risk of certain types of cancer (1). It also strengthens your immune system and research has found cyclists who commute to work take fewer sick days (2).
Beyond the physical health of your body, cycling also improves mental function (3), boosts brain power related to being sharper and more productive, and releases stress. Through an increase in endorphins—those feel-good chemicals that are released when we exercise— and a reduction of the stress hormone cortisol, riding a bike is also a great way to ease overall depression and anxiety (4).
As it helps improve overall mental health, cycling can be an effective part of treatment plans for all kinds of mental health issues and trauma. And in addition to improving our self-esteem and helping us find our agency, riding a bike also allows us to access that illusive flow state more regularly and improve our creativity. Can’t argue with that!
Care For The Environment
As you’ve probably heard; cycling is one of the greenest transportation options out there. Not just a toy to ride in the woods, the bicycle is a fantastic tool for treading lighter on the Earth. Over half of our daily trips in a car are under 4.8 kilometres—around 15 minutes on a bike at an average pace (5). Imagine if we took just one of these trips by bike; we would save around 150g of carbon emissions per kilometre (6).
If you’re commuting by bicycle, not only will you get all those great health benefits, but if you’re in a city, you’re likely to be 40% faster than in a vehicle (7). For congested cities, the advantages of bicycles are enormous; twenty bicycles can be parked in the same space as a single car! And before you say bikes are another extractive industry, it only takes around 5% of the materials and energy to make a car to make a bike—and the bike produces zero emissions or air pollution (8).
As well as allowing us to breathe cleaner air through reduced emissions in city and town centres, surprisingly, cyclists are also exposed to less air pollution when commuting in traffic than drivers (9)!
Riding a bike gives us an opportunity to slow down and tune into nature. Noticing more of the environment around us, especially when off-road riding, we connect with our surroundings. This connection to nature means we are more likely to protect it—and let’s face it, the climate crisis needs all of us. As well as being a “green” activity, this connection can prompt us to care about climate change in other aspects of our lives, improving overall climate action, and the well-being of the planet (and ourselves).
Build Community
Cycling—in whatever form you choose—isn’t only a tool for individual lifestyle choices and recreation. The social connections and interactions we gain from riding with our friends, joining cycling clubs, and even that friendly hello from another rider on the trail, not only improves our mental health but the overall quality of our lives.
Connecting with others through cycling provides a foundation for stronger friendships and breaking down social barriers. All over the world in all kinds of cultures, cycling groups are smashing stereotypes and encouraging others to get on a bicycle.
In certain places in the Middle East, this means levelling the playing field and improving gender equality—not only for riding a bike but in freedom of movement, access to jobs, education, social connections and more. In the developing world, a bicycle can be the difference between a child going to school and getting an education, or not. Without access to fundamentals like education, access to employment, healthcare and more, people stay stuck in a cycle of poverty and disparity. A bicycle has the opportunity to change this.
Turns out, cycling is more than just railing berms. So if you only do one thing—ride. Join the movement. Unlock your #EngineInside.
Footnote: This article was originally written for Anthill Films in the lead-up to our new doc The Engine Inside. All photos by crew on location.
The Engine Inside is a new feature-length documentary from Anthill Films that tells the story of six everyday people from all over the globe who reveal the unique power of the bicycle to change lives and build a better world. Through the character’s actions, we uncover the bicycle’s true potential, learning that in the face of our seemingly insurmountable global challenges, hope lies in the simple act of riding our bikes.
References:
https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/latest-news/benefits-of-cycling-334144
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(18)30227-X/fulltext
https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/cycling-better-mode-transport
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/12/small-silent-commute-revolution/
https://www.bikeradar.com/advice/fitness-and-training/30-great-benefits-of-cycling/
