Tag Archives: cycle

Cyclists live longer – so get on your bike!

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London: Bike Week, the UK’s biggest mass participation cycling event, is this year challenging families to get out of their cars, step away from the TV and get on their bikes. The call to action is ‘Free the Family’ and rediscover how much fun you can have together on a bike.

From Bristol to Belfast and Edinburgh to Eastbourne, thousands of free cycling events will provide the opportunity for everyone from total novices to passionate cyclists to get on their bikes. This year’s focus on the family means there will be children’s rides, free bike safety checks and advice on getting started.

Andre Curtis, Manager at Bike Week said; “Plenty of parents have forgotten how much fun cycling was as a child. This year’s Bike Week will help to revive those memories and encourage families to spend quality family time together, have fun and get fit at the same time. We hope that taking part in a Bike Week event will act as a catalyst for people to cycle more regularly and enjoy the long term benefits of a healthier lifestyle.”

Why not join the 500,000 people who came along last year? To find out what is taking place in your local area, visit www.bikeweek.org.ukand enter your postcode. If you’d like to take part but don’t have a bike – this shouldn’t stop you – you can simply search for your nearest bike rental outlet on the website. All participants get the chance to win a Center Parcs family holiday – giving another reason to get on your bike!

For further information, or if you’d like to organise your own event, log on to www.bikeweek.org.uk or phone 0845 612 0661 (within UK)

Five reasons to get on your bike:

1. Cyclists live on average at least two years longer than non-cyclists and their fitness levels are equivalent to being ten years younger – so forget nip and tuck, think pedal and push!

2. Cycling is the ultimate family activity; it’s healthy, fun and encourages children to be independent.

3.Twenty minutes of gentle cycling burns up to 100 calories, so if you cycle to work, you’ll be able to have that afternoon treat without feeling an inch of guilt!

4. Studies show that car drivers are exposed to five times as much polluted air than cyclists, making cycling good for the environment, as well as your health

5. In a rush? Cycling is often much quicker than public transport or taking the car – even better, you won’t spend a penny on public transport, road tax, parking, MOT or fuel.

Bike Week will run from 14-22 June 2008
Bike Week is one of the UK’s biggest annual promotions of cycling and provides a national umbrella for locally organised events and activities up and down the country.

Bike Week began as a grass-roots organisation in 1923 and receives funding from the Department for Transport, Cycling England, Transport for London, Northern Ireland Executive, The Welsh Assembly Government and The Scottish Government. Bike Week also receives funding from the cycle industry via Bike Hub.

The partners that run Bike Week are drawn from the whole cycling community including the cycle industry, Cycling England and Cycling Scotland, Sustrans, CTC and Cycle Campaign Network. More information can be found at www.bikeweek.org.uk

Loose weight, get fit – get on your bike

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Fed up with overcrowded public transport or bored of sitting in traffic?Why not ride to work and reap the benefits?

Evans Cycles, the UK’s largest specialist cycle retailer, gives you a few reasons why cycling to work could be more beneficial to you than you think.

The list of why cycling is better is endless. It’s clear that by bike you’re more environmentally friendly, save time and money especially through the busy streets of the countries major cities. With the government announcing a £140 million cycling plan for the next three years, it is going to make travelling by bike so much easier.

Cycling is low intensity and as hard as you want it to be. You can choose a long or short route depending on how confident you feel and what you want to achieve. If you don’t like revealing all at the swimming pool, or find that running is too intense then cycling can beat all that. Steady pace cycling burns fat and has the added value of taking you from A to B.

“Cycling to work has many more health benefits than you think” says Claire Beaumont, Evans Cycles’ fitness expert. ”We all think of it as an alternative mode of transport but the workout you get from riding helps keep you fit without realising it and is so much better for your wellbeing especially this time of year when everyone is coughing and sneezing on public transport”.

Can help weight loss

When you cycle a simple bit of mathematics happens, you eat food to put energy in the body, you then burn energy from food to power your body to cycle. There is then a negative energy intake and you lose weight, or if you didn’t want to slim down then it means you can have an extra cream cake at the weekend!

Feel better

What is also great about cycling is that although your using energy and tire the body in the long term the feeling of well being will make you feel more energised because exercise takes you out of your daily routine, helps you focus on what your body is doing and take you away from things happening from day to day.

Defence against Coughs and Colds

A regular bit of cycling is a way to boost your immune system, after moderate exercise of about an hour your body will recognise this and release more bacteria fighting cells into the blood stream over time the levels of cells from the immune system will rise to a new baseline which means the body becomes more effective at fighting infection compared to someone who is sedentary.

How Much?

Government guidelines recommend that adults should to at least 30 minutes of activity everyday and cycling is an easy way to get this recommendation into your daily routine. Ideally 1 hour of cycling is great for your body it doesn’t have to be strenuous and not done all in one block, how about a cycle to the shops.

No gym fees

A decent bike, that won’t fall apart after a month of riding, will set you back about £300. Mountain bikes, road bikes, hybrid or folding bikes are now more affordable than ever. £30 gets you a comfortable, lightweight helmet that passes all relevant safety standards. Waterproof jackets with reflective strips that combine comfort, practicality and safety start from around £50. With winter gloves from around £20 you can have all the gear you need to get started for around £400, that’s usually less than a year’s gym membership!

Web: www.evanscycles.com