Be happy. Bike more.

Still waiting for my 100 mm fat tire wheels, but here is some motivation to bike more often...


Five reasons to bike your drive:
1. The average person loses 13 pounds their first year of commuting by bike.
2. 40% of all car trips in the U.S. are made within 2 miles of home.
3. 60% of the pollution created by autos happens in the first few minutes of operation, before pollution control devices can work effectively.
4. Just 3 hours of biking per week can reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke by 50%.
5. The U.S. could save 462 million gallons of gas a year by boosting bicycle trips just half a percentage point: from 1% to 1.5% of all trips.


More than half of all Americans live less than five miles from where they work according to Bicycling magazine.


· Only 1.67% of Americans commute by bicycle, while in Japan, 15% commute by bicycle
· About 12 bicycles can be parked in the space required for one automobile.
· Traffic jams in the 29 major cities cost commuters an estimated $24.3 billion each year.
· There are approximately 139 million automobiles in the United States, while the number of bicycles in the U.S. is estimated to be about 103 million.
· One hundred bicycles can be produced for the same energy and resources it takes to build one medium-sized automobile.
· The average cost of a new car in the U.S. is $13,532, while the average cost of a new bicycle in the U.S. is $385.
· The average number of barrels of oil consumed daily in the United States is 17 million and driving consumes 43% of those barrels of oil.
· Industrial world cities typically use at least one third of their land for roads and parking lots for motor vehicles.
· Commuting by bicycle produces zero pollution.
· On average, the commute to work accounts for only one out of five auto trips taken by drivers each day.
· Trips per day by purpose break down this way:
     - Home to work = 1.27 trips per day
     - Shopping = .98 trips per day
     - Other personal business = 1.17 trips per day
     - Social and recreational = .99 trips per day
· Average miles per trip by purpose
     - Home to work = 11.0 miles per trip
     - Shopping = 5.1 miles per trip
     - Other personal business = 7.4 miles per trip
     - Social and recreational = 11.8 miles per trip
· For a comparison on true cost savings, consider that you can drive your car to the grocery store and spend 35 cents for a bar of soap, adding 7 cents for the gas, or you can ride your bike to the corner convenience store and pay 41 cents, actually saving a penny and getting some exercise at the same time.
· The number of bicycle commuters doubled between 1983 and 1990, according to the Bicycle Institute of America.
· In China, bicycles outnumber cars 250 to 1.

1. Bicycling is good for the economy.
   • The U.S. bicycle industry sold $5.6 billion in bicycles and equipment (retail value) in 2009. National Bicycle Dealers Association
   • Bicycle-related economic activity provides $90 million and 850-1150 jobs for the city of Portland, OR. Alta Planning Design
2. It's time to get kids riding. In just one U.S. generation:
   • The percentage of kids who walk or bike to school has dropped from 50% to 15%. Safe Routes to School
   • Childhood obesity has tripled. Centers for Disease Control
3. Biking can help you live longer.
   • Bicycling for transportation can reduce mortality by 35 to 40%. Matthews et al., Andersen et al.
   • A study of 2,400 adults found that those who biked to work were fitter, leaner, less likely to be obese, and had better triglyceride, blood pressure, and insulin levels than those who didn't bike commute to work. Gordon-Larsen et al.
4. Riding a bike is cheaper than driving a car.
   • On a round-trip commute of 10 miles, bicyclists save roughly $10 daily and spare the air 10 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. Commute Solutions, Emissions calculations They also burn 360 calories! SmartTrips
   • The average American househould spends more than $8,600 per year on owning and driving their cars. (It costs about $300 a year to maintain a bike.) U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics;Moritz, 1997
5. Bicycle commuting beats sitting in traffic.
   • Each U.S. rush-hour auto commuter spends an average of 36 hours a year stuck in traffic. Texas Transportation Institute
   • This costs the U.S. more than $87 billion in lost productivity and wasted fuel. Texas Transportation Institute