Some random facts on cycling

[geoff m]

-On a bicycle you can travel up to 1037kms on the energy equivalent of a single litre of petrol.
-On a bicycle you can expect to be as fit as an average person ten years younger, if you cycle regularly.
-On a bicycle you weigh about six times more than your vehicle. With a car your vehicle weighs around twenty times more than you do.
-On a bicycle you provide a motor - your heart - which improves it's own strength and efficiency - and even it's working life - the more it is used.
-On a bicycle you use up fewer watts of energy than a car consumes simply to power it's lighting system for the same distance.
-On a bicycle you protect yourself against the 'Western Diseases' of heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity and stress.
-On a bicycle you consume a fiftieth of the oxygen consumed by a motor vehicle, and expel no pollutants.
-On a bicycle you can travel four times faster than you can walk using the same amount of energy.
-On a bicycle you can have your cake and eat it. A moderate half-hour each-way commute will burn eight calories a minute equivalent of 11kg of fat in a year.
-On a bicycle you are faster, friendlier and more free than any other vehicle in city traffic.
-When time travel is measured from door to door for trips up to 5km on congested roads, bicycles are generally faster than any other mode of transport. People do not factor in walking to or from the car or bus stop.
Around half of car trips in our major cities are less than 5km - In fact 40% are less than 3km (7-8min bike ride.)
-Most state and many local governments are working to improve conditions for the bicycle riders, making it easier and safer to get around on bicycles.
-Bicycles have outsold cars for the past six years in Australia, with sales of more than a million bikes per year for three years in a row.
-Driving 4km less a day reduces driving by 1460km a year - and cuts greenhouse gas by 3358kg and running costs by $876 for an average medium car (RACV figures).

Courtesy of: http://www.bicyclerecycling.com/

For more information visit http://www.bicyclensw.org.au