DR. DAVID Bowering talks about one aspect of biking that may not be immediately apparent.
“The more people that bike, the safer it gets,” he says.
That's because the more people that do bike, their visibility increases as does awareness on the part of motorists.
And as more people bike, the more governments will do to provide bike lanes and other methods to make two-wheeled travel safer and more efficient.
Bowering advocates people setting personal goals of, for example, reducing their use of an automobile by 20 per cent over the course of a year.
“The automobile is the unrecognized disease agent of modern times,” he said in pointing out that it's simply too easy to use a car and avoid walking or cycling to get from one place to another.
Bowering's comments come just before Bike to Work Week, May 28-June 3, in which people are being encouraged to take their bike to work at least once.
Bowering himself has a late-1980s Giant that's been reconditioned and regularly bikes to his job as the Northern Health Authority's Northwest Medical Health Officer.
Doug Quibell, the health authority's manager in charge of public health protection in the region, will also be cycling to work next week.
He emphasizes the healthy aspects of cycling to increase or maintain a level of physical fitness and also to reduce stress.
“If you don't use it, you're going to lose it,” says Quibell of the benefits of exercise.
He notes that 150 minutes of exercise a week is considered the standard to keep a body in good physical condition and that biking is one way to meet that commitment.
Quibell's list of conditions which can arise because of a sedentary lifestyle include risk of premature death, heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, some cancers, Type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis and obesity.
More information on Bike to Work Week can be found at www.biketowork.ca.
Members of Terrace city council will be doing their part by cycling to the next council meeting which is May 28.