After attending the May is Bike Month kick off press conference and ride last Saturday, I rushed home to register and log my bicycling miles online. I found the May is Bike Month website to be quick and easy. It also has a lot of cool features like commuter clubs, an employer directory, programs for schools, and you can even challenge a friend! If you live in the Sacramento region, please visit www.mayisbikemonth.com and help make this a Million Mile May.
I especially appreciate the May is Bike Month effort because it encourages people to actually use their bikes to commute and get things done. Since America’s love affair with the automobile and subsequent addiction to cheap oil, bikes are often marginalized as mere toys that are used only for exercise and recreation. Most folks just don’t seem to recognize bicycles and tricycles as tools that can be used to move people and things from point A to point B.
A great example of this destructive mindset is when some people learn about Pedego Electric Bikes, they ignorantly blurt out, “doesn’t that defeat the whole purpose of riding a bike?” Absolutely not! There are many health benefits to riding, but its not all just about breaking a sweat. Sometimes you want a workout, and sometimes you just want to get where you are going quickly in comfort and style.
I commute ten miles each day from Howe Park to Old Sacramento. On a regular bike it takes about 45 minutes plus an additional 10 minutes to go to the gym for a shower. On a Pedego Electric Bike, it only takes 30 minutes and I can go straight to work without a shower. The electric motor helps the Pedego better serve its purpose, which is getting me to work.
It is my position that Pedego Electric Bikes help address some of the major objections that everyday people have to bicycle commuting including safety, hills, distance, health reasons, knee problems, aging, or the inconvenience of having to shower and change at work. Furthermore, if everyday people start looking at all bicycles and tricycle as transportation tools rather than recreation and fitness toys, then the Sacramento region could easily log a Multi-Million Mile May!
