Re discovering the Bicycle

In our present times when we are excessively dependent on cars, piling up excess weight, and falling prey to the epidemic of diabetes and heart disease, the bicycle can roll into our lives as quite a game changer.

There are 5 good reasons why we should take to cycling:

1. For Your Body:  The bicycle has been acclaimed as a great device for working out and keeping you fit. It increases cardiovascular fitness, strength, balance, flexibility, endurance and stamina and is an excellent way to burn the extra calories.

One major advantage that cycling offers over jogging or the tread mill is that being non-weight bearing, it causes less pressure on the ankles and knees in overweight people with creaking joints.

During a fellowship to Germany, my host and friend Dr Winfried Hauser had arranged a bicycle for me and insisted on showing me the countryside on bike. I remember the ordeal of the 1st day when I found myself out of breath after cycling a mere 2 kilometers. Over days and weeks, he kept pushing the distance up and after a month, we were cycling 30 km every evening, exploring farms, hills and villages in the picturesque Saarland. At the end of 3 months, I had shed 8 kg of weight and was at my physical best.

2. For Your State of Mind. Riding a bike is a proven stress buster. Regardless of whether you are riding purely for pleasure or for a specific purpose, you will arrive at your destination feeling relaxed, energized and happier about the world and yourself.

Anyone who has visited Cambridge will tell you how the small university town virtually moves on bicycle. From Nobel laureates and senior-most professors to the fresh university entrant, everyone moves, chats, discusses, ruminates and thinks while biking.

3. For Your Community. Being out on your bike is good for the people around you as well. You are able to go the places you want to go and yet put one less car on the road, with that much less noise, fumes and pollution. And the energy and materials used to manufacture one automobile could be used to create a hundred bikes.

4.  For Convenience. If you have ever been in crowded streets such as in the heart of Varanasi, you will realize the advantage of a 2 wheeler over the car. The cyclist can wiggle out of jams and hold-ups while you could keep sitting in your car for hours, vent your ire on the state of traffic in the city and push up your blood pressure.

5. It is easy on the pocket too.

If reforms are the need of the hour, promoting the use of bicycles over cars should take precedence over all others, and should be done with seriousness and care. The government needs to chip in its bit and ensure that bikers don’t become victims of hit-and –run cases, and that they get suitable facilities such as dedicated lanes and good parking lots. 

As published in HT City ( Hindustan Times) dated 7th October, 2012.