National Ride to Work Day

ridetowork.jpgDid you cycle to work today? I did. 🙂

It’s National Ride to Work Day in Australia.

The day is heavily promoted by Bicycle Victoria and has yet to make a real impact on this side of the country but I’m happy to support anything that encourages cycling.

Here in the west we have BikeWeek much earlier in the year and that’s generally when the local population is encouraged to dust off their bicycles and get riding.

According to the National Ride to Work Day website, there are many reasons to get on your bike.

Here are some great reasons to give riding to work a go.

1. Health – feel great and reduce your likelihood of suffering from obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
2. Save money – reduce the costs associated with driving to work or catching public transport.
3. Help the environment – reduce your greenhouse gas emissions.
4. Everyone is doing it! – avoid traffic jams and commuter congestion by joining the bike riders

I reckon they’re only just scratching the surface. There are dozens more reasons to use two wheeled transportation.

Are you a cyclist? Why do you ride?



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About the author

Rodney Olsen

Rodney is a husband, father, cyclist, blogger and podcaster from Perth Western Australia.

He previously worked in radio for about 25 years but these days he spends his time at Compassion Australia, working towards releasing children from poverty in Jesus' name.

The views he expresses here are his own.

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7 Comments

  • Oh yeah. I love to ride to work. My current commute is about 8 miles (13 km) and takes me past Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.

    It takes me no longer to ride than catch the Tube or overland train, including showering.

    There is a whole bunch of riders negotiating the traffic and everyone rides very safely.

    If you are not riding to work – then get it out and dust it off.

    Cheers,
    Nigel

    BTW – I was infected with the cycling bug years ago when I got involved with a couple of BfB rides in the South West of WA.

  • I would so love to do this. However, there are no shower facilities available to me once I would arrive at work. And since it is always crazy hot where I live, I would always need that shower year round.

  • You know I like to ride over here in the US. It’s the end of summer so I don’t have near as many bugs stuck on my teeth since I smile while I ride! HA!

    Take care!
    Geo.

  • That sounds like an amazing commute, Nigel.

    So did we meet when you were doing those BFB rides? Was it when my brother was BFB Coordinator or was Wendy in charge? Or even when I was the WA BFB Coordinator?

  • I know just what you mean, Jeff.

    I’m very fortunate to have shower facilities at work. Our radio station is about to move to a new building and it also has a shower so I’ll still be able to ride. 🙂

  • Geo, I love the way that you don’t only ride for your own benefit, you ride for others too.

    We’re about to launch into summer so there’s plenty of good cycling weather on the way over the next few months.

  • I ride every day. It’s the quickest way to get to work and I wouldn’t get any exercise otherwise. I love having that half an hour in the morning and the evening to just cruise along having a bit of time to myself to think. It’s a kind of bicycle meditation!

    I also find that I arrive at work feeling happy and ready to work. When I catch the bus or drive the car I arrive at work feeling tired and unenthusiastic.

    Hope you can come and ride with us here in Sydney some day Rodney. We run the Sydney Body Art Ride each year here in February to raise funds for the Children’s Cancer Institute of Australia and promote bicycle commuting. I reckon it would make a great story for your radio show.

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