Bike commuting

These days I think twice about getting in my 29-mile-per-gallon wagon and turning on the ignition. Three-dollar-plus-per-gallon gasoline and and the role of carbon emissions in global warming are powerful incentives to find alternate modes of transportation. 

Walking, skating, paddling, and, especially pedaling, are some other ways to go. They are healthier for you, healthier for your wallet, and healthier for the world.

May is National Bike Month and includes National Bike-to-Work Week and Day. The League of American Bicyclists has 50 ways to celebrate bike month.

I've got my own tips on ways to leave your auto. 

Don’t have a bike? Any bike shop can fix that problem. If you can’t afford new, buy used. A bike pays for itself in gas saved, lower healthcare costs, and fun on the weekends.

Don’t have time? This is a tougher one. But in city traffic, a bike is often faster than a car or public transportation. Here’s another way to look at it:. If you drive home from work and go to a gym or go out and run for exercise, you could use that time instead to bike to work.

Too far? There’s almost always a solution for this one. If your commute is really too far, drive your car part way with your bike on a rack, park the car and ride your bike the rest of the journey. This is perfect if your fitness level is an issue. You can build up to greater distances gradually. In lots of places these days buses and commuter trains are set up to carry bikes. If the ones in your area aren’t, get involved and help them change. If your round-trip commute is too long to do by bike every day, cut it in half. Put your bike on your car, and drive to work in the morning. Bike home that night, back to work the next morning, drive home that night. You’ve gotten two great bike rides and cut your driving in half.

Need to dress up for work? Good excuse to change jobs! No? Okay, how about you bring three extra days of work clothes to work on Monday, bike to work Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and take everything home on Friday.

Need to shower? Many workplaces are encouraging their employees to exercise , so ask your boss about getting a shower somewhere. Perhaps there is a gym nearby where you can shower.

Too tired? This is the most common excuse, but really, the “tiredest” people I know are the folks who are overweight and never get any exercise. Most people who exercise regularly have energy to burn. Biking daily is great exercise

Once you start looking at it closely, biking to work might make sense for you. But even if it doesn’t, you can still make biking a part of your life by running local errands on a bike, or planning your weekends and vacations to include some biking.

So May is Bike Month. Of course any month when there isn’t ice on the roadways is an excellent time to get out on your bike. In other words, you don’t have to stop pedaling when June rolls around.