Bike month is coming. Here we go again!

Next month is National Bike Month.  Inside bike month is Bike Week (May 16-20), and Bike to Work Day (Friday 20 May).  It is also the month of the Ride of Silence, (Wednesday 18 May.)  It’s always the 3^rd Wednesday in May.  It’s appropriate to use May as the center for all of this.  By mid-May, the weather across the entire continental United States is usually mild enough to permit almost anyone to ride a bike with little extra preparation.  (For more info on Bike month, Bike Week, and Bike to Work Day follow the link to League of American Bicyclists.  For additional info on the Ride of Silence please follow this link.)

Long time readers will be well aware that I am a strong proponent of vehicular cycling and utility cycling. 

Definitions follow.  If you’ve read me for a while, you might want to skip down to the next paragraph.  Vehicular Cycling means simply, riding a bicycle on the road, as the operator of a vehicle.  In other words, a cyclist behaves according to the rules of the road, and asserts a presence on the road, just as any other vehicle operator.  The term utility cycling takes a little more explanation.  People tend to get hung up on bicycle commuting.  While commuting, riding to and from the workplace by bike, is certainly good, it is only one form of utility cycling.  In the broader sense, utility cycling refers to using the bicycle for any utilitarian purpose.  In other words, it is using the bicycle instead of a car for any purpose that one might ordinarily use the car for.  Grocery shopping, pharmacy, odd errands, all come to mind.

As a preparation for the upcoming celebration of Bike Month, I’d like to shift the emphasis from commuting to utility.  Let’s start with one odd statistic.  In the U.S. the typical vehicular trip is five miles, with a single occupant, and five pounds of cargo.

Now, please reflect on that statistic for a moment.  While you’re at it, think back over the last week.  Where and how did you drive?  Of course, most folks went back and forth to work about five times in the week.  But what else did you do with a car?  A trip to the Post Office?  A run to the video rental store?  Possibly a quick trip to the grocery and pharmacy?  For most drivers, about half of the weekly mileage is composed of these short trips.

Now let’s pose a question.  What would happen if you used your bike for just one of those trips per day?

First off, the obvious:  You would keep the car parked and do 35 miles less in it.  With today’s gas prices, that amounts to a typical savings of more than $5.00.

It would take you about a half hour for each of those trips.  That’s at a comfortable leisurely pace.

You would have added three and a half hours of good, gentle, cardiovascular exercise to your week.

You would have no trouble parking.

You would enjoy some exercise, get some fresh air, and likely see something interesting.

By the time you include parking, gas, un-parking, return trip home, storing the car, etc., the time used is just about the same, and possibly even shorter.  And it’s a lot more fun than sitting in a car and just vegging out in traffic.

Contest?  I’m thinking of proposing a bit of a contest.  Let’s think along these lines.  Number of Utility miles in May.  Or possibly, we could consider the Number of Utility trips in May.  Or some combination of both?  Please don’t be bashful.  Weigh in on this.  I’d like to hear from my readers and friends on the idea.