I ride my bike to work everyday, I live in Cambridge and it takes the same amount of time as it does a car, sometimes it is faster because you can weave through the traffic or cross the parks. It is very liberating.
I know a lot of the Americans in the local area don't like having to share the road with these cyclists, but if you saw many of the cycle paths, you would see why we ride on the street. Also I find that because I cycle I have become a better driver. I can picture what a cyclist might do to get across to take a right turn at the next street and so on.
I wish that more Americans would cycle, you should see the faces that my friends back home pulled when I told them that we were downsizing to one car and I would walk or cycle to work. I don't think the US is built to enable people to do that but we are saving over a thousand pounds a year this way and I get the exercise benefits and don't pay for parking!
I have recently found a article that says that nearly 70% of Americans' car trips are less than two miles long. If they replace half of those trips (when the weather is nice) with biking they will create a net societal health benefit of "$3.5 billion per year from the increase in air quality and $3.8 billion in savings from smaller health care costs associated with better fitness and fewer mortalities from a decreased rate of car accidents." If that doesn't get your mind rolling, what will? Americans are being impacted by the obesity epidemic and here is a good place to start.
I have recently found a article that says that nearly 70% of Americans' car trips are less than two miles long. If they replace half of those trips (when the weather is nice) with biking they will create a net societal health benefit of "$3.5 billion per year from the increase in air quality and $3.8 billion in savings from smaller health care costs associated with better fitness and fewer mortalities from a decreased rate of car accidents." If that doesn't get your mind rolling, what will? Americans are being impacted by the obesity epidemic and here is a good place to start.
I hope that if you live in a local village such as Mildenhall, Newmarket or Bury St Edmunds that allows you to cycle that you will. If you are like me you are a bit unsure of what you are doing on the road, contact your local council or bikeability and you can take a few courses to get you up and running and negotiating traffic.
Lessons are only £5 per hour. They can curtail it to your ability but more importantly make your journey safer. I find it easier to travel by bike as you get the best of both worlds, riding on some sidewalks and some streets. You don't get caught up in traffic and you get fit!
Check out the website for more information.
All the Best!
American to Britain