Have you been wondering whether to commit to a daily cycle commute but not sure whether you should? Well here are five reasons to say yes and cycle to work!
1) It’s dead time – use it!
Standing on a crowded train with your face nestling in a stranger’s armpit may not be your thing. Staring aimlessly through the rain-streaked windows of the bus, dreading that morning meeting could be time better spent…
Instead of wasting that time why not use it to get fitter? You could be out in that rain putting yourself through a world of pain instead!
Why complacently inhale your fellow passengers’ farts when you could fill your lungs with a heady mix of diesel and soot, and feel the life-assuring patter of rain, small stones and fragments of dog faeces against your grimacing face!
2) You can become a YouTube star!
If it’s not on the web it never happened – right? And this is never truer than on the commute to work. Not least because everybody – yes everybody – is trying to kill you, and you need to document this on your YouTube channel. Don’t worry – you can edit the point where you questioned the taxi driver’s eyesight/parentage and just show the bit where he punched you in the face as you were explaining the ‘1-metre rule’.
Following posting this the comments section will become an all out western-style bar brawl where everyone can come and land a punch. Common topics will be:
- Cyclists should not be on the road
- Cyclists should not be on the pavement (or the sidewalk for that matter)
- All car drivers are fat lazy ****s
- Cyclists shouldn’t ride two abreast as it’s illegal, followed by
- Actually, according to Rule 66 of the Highway Code states that cyclists……
- *%#$ #@*&!!!…
3) You’ll arrive full of energy
A poor nights sleep followed by a strugglesome commute on public transport can start the day off on a major low.
Well Carpe Diem! Cycle to work and you can arrive with energy coursing through your veins. However, this could be because of the three double-caffeinated gels you consumed en-route; or it could be due to the adrenal overload from the absolute terror of running the gauntlet of several near death experiences.
Either way though you’ll arrive primed and ready for a day of pro-active, blue-sky-thinking! Your eyes will blaze with confidence as you gurn and dribble like a meth-addled lunatic.
4) You’ll live longer – probably
Dr Lynn Cherkas of King’s College London says that regular exercise significantly lowers ‘cardiovascular disease, Type II diabetes, all types of cancer, high blood pressure and obesity.’
Brilliant! You can now drink more beer and eat more ice cream!
But what about the danger from all those trucks that pass you on the way to work? Trucks driven by barely sentient beings who last slept several countries ago, and who’s interaction with the world is nothing more than a conditioned response to varying levels of vending machine coffee. Drivers who’s only decision-making process is merely a Pavlovian reflex to different coloured lights. And then there’s all the pollution, the soot, the smog… …every breath like that of a wheezing smoker.
But not to worry – facts to the rescue!
According to a Dutch study in 2010, the years of life added by being fitter, on average, exceed the average years lost due to other ‘mishaps’. On average it’s still better to cycle than not! We’re good to go!
5) It’s cheaper – kind of
A season ticket for the train can be quite expensive. Compare this to the one-off investment in a trusty workhorse and you’re quids-in – right?
Yes, that’s true, if that’s where it ends. But you soon may tire of that rather pedestrian looking hybrid (eugh). So maybe titanium would be better – light and durable. And maybe better clothing for the commute – more weatherproof…
Before you know it you’re fully skin suited with an aero helmet and tri-spoke as you clip-clop out of the garage in your kangeroo-skin cycling shoes, ready for your 3-mile commute across the park…
