Riding bicycles: A life on two-wheels is a life well lived, not only for personal health reasons, but for your community and the environment.

With longer and warmer days, you have no excuse not to get on a bike. Need some inspiration? Here are 17 reasons riding bicycles is oh so good for you.

1. You don’t need a bicycle

Ok, so this one isn’t true for everyone, but if you live in a city with a bike share program than it is.

2. If you do need a bicycle, you get the joy of choosing a beautiful one

From vintage to new, there are a whole lot of gorgeous bikes out there. Consider this your excuse to do some good window bike shopping.

3. You get to work out without actually having to go work out

Cycling is essentially a daily dose of exercise for lazy people. Bored with the gym? Just start biking to work everyday. That daily action of pedaling is quite good for you, and you’re going somewhere in the process.

4. Bicycles make you look good

Seriously, is there anything more attractive than someone on a bicycle?

5. The government will pay you

Commute to work? You can get up to $20 a month for your bike-related expenses.

6. Riding bicycles will save you money

A daily round-trip commute of 10 miles saves you about $10… per day. And trading your car for a bicycle can save you up to $8,000 a year. Think of all the organic smoothies you could buy.

7. You actually inhale more bad air in your car than on your bike

So forget the “I don’t want to inhale exhaust” argument, because as it turns out drivers are more susceptible to all the bad things in the air than those on their bicycles.

8. You’ll immediately go up three levels in your “cool factor”

“I rode here” sounds so much better than “I sat in traffic for half an hour to get here.”

9. It gives you a new way to explore new places

Bikes and travel go hand in hand. In most major metropolises you can track down a bike tour; the perfect way to get to know a new city.

10. Cycling alleviates stress

Think of cycling as a daily form of meditation.

11. You don’t have to commit to biking far

40 percent of all trips by car are under 3 miles. That is totally bike-able.

12. Farmers market vegetables look better in a bike basket than in the trunk of your car

They were grown outside, don’t they at least deserve an invigorating ride home back to your kitchen? Consider yourself a culinary cyclist.

13. You lower your risk of breast cancer

It’s true, women who bike 30 minutes or more a day actually have a lower risk of breast cancer.

14. Cycling is an act of female empowerment

As Susan B. Anthony once said, “Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel…the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood.”

15. Riding helps improve cycling infrastructure

If more people ride, more cities will be motivated to put in bike lanes and other infrastructure that helps support bike culture, so be a part of the solution.

16. Driving makes you fat

No really, it does. Cycling however, does not. But you will get stronger thighs and calves, and that’s nice.

17. It makes you smile

Get on a bicycle and see what I am talking about.

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Image: Anna Brones

The post 17 Reasons We Should All be Riding Bicycles appeared first on EcoSalon.

It’s no news that cycling is good for you.

It gets you outside. It keeps you out of your car, which means fewer emissions. It brings you into a community of people. It makes you active. Above all, the simple act of biking often is a recipe for feeling good: try cycling on a sunny afternoon without breaking a smile.

Cycling isn’t just a choice to being greener or healthier; it’s a lifestyle, a thing that, if you’re luck, truly gets incorporated into your everyday.

But to start riding, you need a bicycle.

Look no further than Papillionaire, a Melbourne-based, women-led company that recently brought their operations to the U.S., starting with a shop in Brooklyn. Their Dutch-style bikes are sleek and simple, the kind of bicycle you want to ride and want to be seen on.

It’s not just any bike company. Papillionaire’s goal is making cycling easy and accessible to all, especially the one demographic that often gets left out: women. For a variety of reasons, females are a minority in the traditional cycling market. Given cycling’s benefits, and the fact that women who bike 30 minutes a day have a lower risk of breast cancer, that’s something that needs to change.

Don’t believe that there’s a market for women’s focused bike products? Papillionaire is run with women in mind, and the company’s attitude has helped them bring in a predominantly female customer base – in Australia it’s 80 percent and in the US it’s 60-70 percent. In both places that’s a significant number, and as they grow, we can hope that the female interest in cycling does as well.

Their bicycles are drool-worthy–the kind of thing you want to take out for a spin the second you see them. And that’s how a good bike should be. If you aren’t inspired to ride it, you won’t use it.

If you’re not in Brooklyn, you can track down one of their dealers around the U.S. and also shop Papillionaire online, and even order a bike and get it sent straight to your doorstep.

Intrigued? Here is a selection of what Papillionaire has to offer:

Images: Papillionaire

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So many microbrews…so little time.

Two of Portland’s favorite pastimes? Beers and bikes, which is why it makes sense that the two would come together in a guidebook, intended not just for tourists but locals with an affinity for exploring the wide world of microbrews on two wheels. Hop in the Saddle is just that guidebook.

Whereas most guidebooks focus simply on destinations, Hop in the Saddle is just as much about how to get there as what to do when you arrive.

“Cycling is the best way to explore any city. You’re out in the open instead of being hidden inside a vehicle where you can’t interact as directly with the world around you. On a bike you notice things like which plants are blooming at certain times of the year and the rainbow knee-high socks of the rider in front of you. In Portland, you’re smelling coffee roasting and beer brewing as you ride. You’re hearing urban chickens. On a bike you get a real sense of the way a city’s designed and what matters to the people who live there,” says author Lucy Burningham.

With a focus on local drink culture, the guidebook is also an exploration of a thriving beer scene.

“Portland has 51 breweries within city limits, more than any other city in the world, which means there’s plenty of beer being made in every corner of town. Beer drinkers have plenty of choices when it comes to finding fresh, locally brewed beer. And this is a town that celebrates quality and innovation. Brewers are constantly using new ingredients and methods to make surprising, thought-provoking beers. As a beer writer, there’s never a dull moment,” says Burningham.

Combining insider knowledge of the city’s best tasting rooms, where to find rare bottles and which top chefs have a secret beer stash with detailed bike routes and maps, this is the kind of guidebook that will certainly make other velo and hop aficionados jealous.

Images: Hop in the Saddle

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Life on two wheels.

Best friends Amanda Coen and Kestrel Jenkins on their bikes, awaiting the ferry’s arrival to take them to the Annual Polo Match on Governor’s Island. They happened to see Bill Cunningham just after this photo was taken. Amanda asked him if she could snap a shot of him and he obliged. Kestrel’s jaw was practically hitting the pavement in awe and after Cunningham snapped his own photo of her.

On the Move documents our life on two wheels. Have your own On the Move worthy photo? Send it our way! Email pictures to contact@ecosalon.com.

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A round-up of what we’re reading right now. 

Running red lights on a bicycle is illegal, but is it ethical? Here’s someone that says yes. [Via New York Times]

What century are we living in? A new study reveals that U.S. doctors are using non-FDA approved steroids to prevent lesbianism in fetuses. [Via Queerty]

Self-doubt, worry and fear, all things you don’t need in life. [Via Elephant Journal]

Can we blame our brain for our food cravings? Maybe a little bit. [Via Greatist]

Go to this school in Louisiana and you might get kicked out for being pregnant. [Via Mother Jones]

If only Nancy Drew had a cell phone in her day, she would have been texting up a storm. [Via The Hairpin]

In the Los Angeles area, 10 women are truly changing things up. [Via Forbes]

Carla Bruni is getting her own statue… as a working woman. [Via The Frisky]

Image: Jeffrey Beall

The post Link Love: Steroids to Prevent Lesbianism, Getting Kicked Out of School for Being Pregnant and Running Red Lights on a Bike appeared first on EcoSalon.

Does cycle chic help or hinder the movement?

I agree in many respects with the tenets of Copenhagen Cycle Chic, brainchild of marketing professional Mikael Colville-Andersen, which he promotes on his blog of the same name as well as in speaking tours around the world. A post from 2009 sums up his mission well: You don’t need special clothes to bicycle in, you just need to look in your own closet. Demonstrating that bicycling can suit your existing lifestyle and that there is no need to spend a lot of money or force yourself into some kind of athletic or rugged mold, is one of the goals of my forthcoming book, Everyday Bicycling.

Unfortunately, instead of sticking to this inclusive and welcoming message, Colville-Andersen takes every opportunity to instead police what people choose to wear, and in an alarmingly gendered manner. Dare to take issue, and he’ll draw the line even more starkly, dismissively accusing you of factionalism, in prose peppered with ad hominem attacks (try it, you’ll see). It’s a tone reminiscent of that of the hardcore proponents of vehicular cycling; good common sense ideas presented in an extreme and exclusionary manner.

Helmets and technical cycling clothes, are particular targets. In the annals of Cycle Chic, to wear these things is more than a fashion faux pas, it’s socially irresponsible; a tacit endorsement of “profiteering” and a “Culture of Fear” — two of the catch phrases of which Colville-Andersen’s writing almost entirely consists.

Much of this fashion policing is directed, explicitly or implicitly, at women. “Bike advocacy in high heels” is another frequently heard catch phrase, a term which can perhaps best be understood by reading the Cycle Chic Manifesto(which comes with the slippery disclaimer that it is only partly serious): “I embrace my responsibility to contribute visually to a more aesthetically pleasing urban landscape” is one pledge, followed by “I am aware that my mere prescence in said urban landscape will inspire others without me being labelled as a ‘bicycle activist’.” Obviously these pledges could be and surely are taken to heart by both men and women, but I will submit that according to the blog’s FAQ, females apparently make up the majority of its audience, and second, that there is not exactly a rich cultural tradition of men admonishing other men to shut up and look pretty, or be seen rather than heard, or to arrange their public lives so as to be aesthetically pleasing.

Historically, in fact, Cycle Chic was all about men leering at women. It’s described by its founder in an early interview as being literally about women as aesthetic objects:

“Danish and European women just happen to be stylish. It’s elegant, it’s classy. It’s Europe. And, I’m a man. I enjoy looking at aesthetically pleasing women. If I lived in a forest, I’d probably take pictures of the nicest trees.”

The inimitable Bikeyface has drawn the best response (used here with permission):

Colville-Andersen’s reply to this cartoon sadly illustrates some of the problems that arise in defining and critiquing his movement.

I think in part the divide between Cycle Chic’s purported message and its actual one is in the idea of what is, or should be “normal.” After all, it was perfectly normal for decades for women to value themselves and be valued for their appearance and to achieve social acceptance by catering to the aesthetic demands of male onlookers.

The world is a little more complicated now — at least it is in the United States. I recognize that gender politics in Denmark might vary, but here it is beyond tone deaf to assume that realizing you can bike without wearing Lycra is the only barrier to women embracing bicycling. In my observation, people do a pretty good job figuring that out on their own. We do, however, suffer some major economic and social barriers, from unequal division of paid and unpaid labor, to the consequences of antiquated maternity and paternity leave laws, to outright discrimination and double standards both socially and in the workplace. Barriers to bicycling are far more complicated than knowing you can bike in high heels; if that were all there was to it, we wouldn’t need a guy in Europe to come point out the solution.

Among the many who have embraced the idea (and name) of Cycle Chic for its basic tenets, not all have also taken on the tone and prejudices of its founder. It’s been a pleasure in the last few years to meet several devotees of the philosophy who have crafted it into something empowering, playful, and fun, rejecting some of the more extreme stances of the original. These folks hardly invented the practice of everyday bicycling, but they have injected a certain costumey flair into U.S. bike culture that strikes a chord with a range of people who might not otherwise get excited about cycling. This appeal is culturally specific, however, and that culture is difficult, in the U.S., to separate from the bummer stereotype of elitism. I don’t think that’s a reason not to dress chic on a bike; I do think it’s foolish to claim that it’s the highest form of advocacy in a cultural and economic situation where bicycling is falsely viewed, and subsequently de-funded, as an upper class leisure activity.

I hypothesize that Cycle Chic’s true message and appeal is at its base, at least in North America, that it seeks to normalize a gendered code of conduct that, sadly, still holds considerable appeal among both sexes. Its message is that bicycling can be a means of, rather than a barrier to, conforming to a certain set of standards of gender and class stereotypes. Access to these standards is far from universal.

In order to truly break down barriers to bicycling, it’s necessary to understand what those barriers are; which requires listening to people, rather than mocking them. It will also require, perhaps to the chagrin of Cycle Chic purists, a whole hell of a lot of activism. I don’t know about Denmark, but here in the US there’s a lot of work to be done on multiple fronts of gender parity and cycling policy, from the floors of community bike shops to the halls of Congress. Great things can certainly be achieved while wearing high heels, but never solely by doing so.

I began cycling over a decade ago wearing regular clothes and as an alternative to the bus; in more recent years, I was overjoyed to discover the wonders of the chamois and the technical cycling rain jacket. To get anthropological for a moment, here in the US, cycling for sport is one of the main avenues of entry into bicycling, and there is a vibrant, though hardly mandatory, cross-over between sports and transportation cycling. People who ride bikes in the US fall along a broad spectrum between the two, exploring and code-switching at will. Dressing up to the nines and riding fast across town on a sporty road bike are two of life’s pleasures that I find are best enjoyed jointly. Your experience may, and probably does, vary. To revert to the merely editorial: Anyone who claims that you have to choose sides, or define your style at all, is wrong, and isn’t having as much fun as you.

In summary, Cycle Chic has great potential as a movement, a potential which has been fully realized by many of its fans. It’s unfortunate, therefore, that its founder chooses instead to promote a vision of “normal, mainstream” bicycle transportation that is sexist, exclusive in many North American contexts, and unrealistic as an advocacy strategy.

I have gone to the trouble of making these points at this time, despite feeling that they are fairly obvious and an easy target, and also despite my dread of the dismissive lecturing that is sure to come my way as result, because Colville-Andersen will be headlining the fashion show component of the second National Women’s Bicycling Summit in Long Beach this September (he is also the lead keynote of Pro Walk / Pro Bike immediately prior, sharing the podium with six other men and one woman). It is an interesting time in the US, with bicycling becoming daily more mainstream, though hardly in a unitary or consistent manner, and these events are an opportunity to coordinate strategies for making the bike’s popularity stick. Fashion will surely play a part, among many other forces, and I’m looking forward to the proceedings as an opportunity for — hopefully — constructive dialogue. There’s no reason the conversation shouldn’t start now.

Originally published on Taking the Lane and reprinted with permission.

Image: futureshape

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Life on two wheels.

With 95 miles of bike lanes, Warsaw is full of life on two wheels. The wide Soviet-style streets make for plenty of room for cars and bicycles, and you don’t have to stand on a street corner long before seeing someone ride by. In 2011 the city even hosted the Cycle Messenger World Championships.

Despite a sometimes complicated system of lanes and rough terrain, bicycles are just as much a part of everyday life here as they are in other European cities.

On the Move documents our life on two wheels. Have your own On the Move worthy photo? Send it our way! Email pictures tocontact@ecosalon.com.

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Life on two wheels.

Fatima Lwany is an art director specializing in fashion. Along with biking to work everyday, she is in constant pursuit to reduce her carbon footprint in all aspects of her life.

We just think she’s smokin’ hot.

On the Move documents our life on two wheels. Have your own On the Move worthy photo? Send it our way! Email pictures to contact@ecosalon.com.

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VideoAround the world on two wheels.

Be they humorous or touching, all of these videos are about celebrating life on two wheels, for work, for pleasure, for simplicity, proving that no matter where we are in the world, the bicycle is a beautiful thing.

USA with Euro flare: Le Velo

India + Zambia + Ghana + Guatemala + USA: With My Own Two Wheels

USA: Scrapertown

Ghana: Bikelordz

Scotland: Way Back Home

USA: If I Ride

Canada: Lifecycles

USA: Holstee LIFEcycle

Gambia: Freestyle Cycling

USA: LIFECYCLE: 365 Days in the Life of a Bike in NYC

Slovenia: Making of Orto Bikes

Sweden: Robo-Rainbow

China/USA: The Flying Pigeon

Denmark: Copenhagen: City of Cyclists

South Africa: South African Bicycle Portraits

Australia: Marry Me

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Life on two wheels. 

What’s better than sharing a spin around town? Eva and Mela from Allthatiwant take part in ride-sharing in Cologne, Germany.

On the Move documents our life on two wheels. Have your own On the Move worthy photo? Send it our way! Email pictures to contact@ecosalon.com.

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