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During the CityTools beta, I found out that Bob Cauthorn -- the grand poo-bah at CityTools -- rides his bike everywhere in San Francisco, just like me. He turned me on to Cycling Plus magazine from England, which is the best bike mag in the world.
Cycling Plus is expensive and they have a fair amount of (boring to me) racing and gear stuff, but they always have a ton of content about touring, great rides, and cycle activism that's really interesting. If you ride, you should check it out. Most big magazine racks have it.Anyhow, in the February issue, they've got some great stats from England on cycling. Here they are:1Cycling is the 4th most popular sports activity in Great Britain
Among participatory sports, bike are the fourth most popular, after walking (duh!), swimming and gym activities.
Amazingly, cycling came in ahead of soccer (footy, as they call it in England). Cycling Plus calculates that if you factored in commuting and riding exercycles in the gym, it cycling would be number one.
As a commuter myself, the commuting argument I buy, but the gym argument is daft (ooo, more Britslang) because that's just pedaling, it's not cycling for real. Call me a bigot, but pedaling a bike-like object is not the same as getting outdoors on two wheels...
Amazingly, cycling came in ahead of soccer (footy, as they call it in England). Cycling Plus calculates that if you factored in commuting and riding exercycles in the gym, it cycling would be number one.
As a commuter myself, the commuting argument I buy, but the gym argument is daft (ooo, more Britslang) because that's just pedaling, it's not cycling for real. Call me a bigot, but pedaling a bike-like object is not the same as getting outdoors on two wheels...
2London bike ambulances save lives and money
London has bike paramedics who nearly always beat ambulances to the scene of a problem.
Faster care saves lives, simple as that.
And money is saved too. Check this out: one third of the calls the bike paramedics respond to result in canceling the ambulance run. In other words, they were too minor to require transport.
Now, I ask you this: why doesn't San Francisco have bike paramedics?
Sure the hills would slow them down some, but if the dispatch points were placed properly, I'd bet you could get a bike paramedic to any place in SF faster than an ambulance.
Plus, consider what happens when a big earthquake comes and the ambulances can't run because of street chaos. You'd pray for bike paramedics then. Hell, you'd pray for bike paramedics just to save precious ambulance resources for where you really need it.
As far as I know the only people thinking about this are the SF Messengers association, which has its own emergency response team.
Faster care saves lives, simple as that.
And money is saved too. Check this out: one third of the calls the bike paramedics respond to result in canceling the ambulance run. In other words, they were too minor to require transport.
Now, I ask you this: why doesn't San Francisco have bike paramedics?
Sure the hills would slow them down some, but if the dispatch points were placed properly, I'd bet you could get a bike paramedic to any place in SF faster than an ambulance.
Plus, consider what happens when a big earthquake comes and the ambulances can't run because of street chaos. You'd pray for bike paramedics then. Hell, you'd pray for bike paramedics just to save precious ambulance resources for where you really need it.
As far as I know the only people thinking about this are the SF Messengers association, which has its own emergency response team.
3Bikes are MUCH faster than cars in London
Average car speed in London: 7 mph.
Average bike speed in London: 13mph.
Bikes win. Nuff said.
OK, one other thing to say, cyclists are always better looking than people in cars.
Average bike speed in London: 13mph.
Bikes win. Nuff said.
OK, one other thing to say, cyclists are always better looking than people in cars.
43.1 million British adults cycle each month
... and do so at levels sufficient to generate health benefits. That number is not bad, considering it's adults only and the UK population is 60 million.
I wish it was more like 60 milion riding each month...
I wish it was more like 60 milion riding each month...
5Global bike production is growing
There were fewer than 20 million bikes produced in 1950. There were about 60 million produced in 1980 and currently annual global production is around 100 million.
That's a LOT more than auto production, incidentally.
That's a LOT more than auto production, incidentally.
6Cycling in London is good for thehead, the heart and the wallet
... and particularly the wallet. A monthly London zone 1-6 travel card (mass transit) costs about $300. If you commuted by bike, you can save about $4,000 per year.
7The English calorie calculation
In London (which is pretty flat) a 15-minute to and from commute burns enough calories to lose 11lbs a year.
I figure if you have a couple of San Francisco hills to the mix, that number looks more like 70lbs.
I figure if you have a couple of San Francisco hills to the mix, that number looks more like 70lbs.
