#Cycling to work is a Win Win!

The importance of cycling for your work.

Did you know? On average, people who cycle take at least one less sick day per year than those who don't. This saves the British economy £128,000,000 per year, even with this, the UK currently loses £760,000,000 due to absenteeism. This just goes to show how much more money could be saved if more people cycled. This is of course especially important in the current economic climate! 

At this point you're probably thinking this is great... for my boss, but where's the advantage for me!  Yes, when you start riding to work you will be sweaty, tired and probably cut off by every bus driver and his dog, but that soon changes. After a week you soon learn to avoid being on the inside of a bus as the road narrows, you get fitter so the sweating reduces, and the endorphins released actually get you to work feeling rejuvenated and ready for the day (honest!) and that's got to be better for you than a red bull for sure! Even when you get home, at the end of the day, you'll be relaxed and feeling better for a little ride after a stressful day at work and you'll certainly sleep well! 

More great things about riding to work include. Not getting stuck in traffic. You can judge to the minute how long your commute to work will take as there's no seasonal traffic or wide loads to get stuck behind, and when traffic gets slow you can just ride around it!  There's nothing more satisfying than riding past the cars stuck in traffic, especially when it's nice out and you can adopt the 'smug cycler look'! Obviously it's not just the practical aspects either, let's not forget cycling is a leisure activity so it's fun! Which I'm fairly sure can't be said for driving at rush hour, and I don't think that driving through traffic is done as a hobby/passion at the weekend like road cycling? Or is it!! 

There's more though, I still haven't got to one of the best bits. If you went to RE:SOURCE and bought one of our serviced bikes with our warranty for just £30-£90,  then that's your only outlay, apart from a helmet. So for the cost of a tank of fuel you could commute at the very least all Summer, if not all year, with just the cost of an annual service (£22) and the odd set of brake pads (£5).  WIN WIN! 

Finally I'd Just to summarise all this lovely wonderfulness that cycling to work can offer. 

Good bits

·         It's good for you (check out http://www.bikeweek.org.uk/calculator.php to see how many calories you'd burn!)

·         It's good for your boss

·         It's good for your health

·         It's good for the planet

·         It's energising

·         It's fun and can lead to a great hobby

·         Commuting time is consistent

·         It's cheap

·         It helps you unwind at the end of the day 

Bad bits

·         Some of you aren't doing it yet!

·         It can take a while to get used to your saddle!!  

Give it a go….. 

Daniel Smith

Lead cycle engineer 

Achieve more with the bike hub

#SummerSolsticeChallenge

Take one humble bike engineer...

Add the longest day of the year...

Add a sprinkling of old knackered bikes...

And what do you have....

A crazy idea to see who can ride the furthest on the Summer Solstice, starting at Dawn and finishing at Dusk!

The only problem is.....you've got to do it on a broken bike that has been donated to the Bike Hub....and you've got to repair it before you start!!

Watch this space for more details on how you can take part, sponsor the challenge or simply watch our world of pain!!

#ramblings from #bikehub Dan!

Social networking and what have the romans ever done for us?

The bike scene has changed so much over the years.

Looking back ten years or so I honestly don't know how we knew things were going on, we just knew. You could argue that this word of mouth networking would have excluded people who didn't know other riders in the know, but if it did, I never noticed it.  I felt a lot more in the loop back then.

People would also congregate more based on their hobbies and the trails where much more sociable, because that was where you would go to meet riding buddies and you'd spend half a days ride chatting.  

As a teenager I think all of my friends were riders, largely because if you wanted to ride with other people or race etc you had to spend time with those people to find out what was going on.   Or to be invited out.  Whereas now, you don't need to hang out with riders to hear about the next race or to get invited out on a ride. Now you can just send a message out on face book stating an intention to ride at a set time and place and expect any number of people to meet you. Or you can google your local race series to find out where and when, and worst of all you don't even need to see your buddy to invite them out for a ride, just call them on you mobile phone and arrange it and call them again if your late/lost/not coming. Our kids must wonder how we survived "back in the day".

I'll be honest, I think I'm just being grumpy because I'm now out of the 'social networking' loop. If I was to be objective, nowadays anyone who has an interest in riding and access to a computer can find out what events are going on, join a bike club, or find a forum of local riders and find riding friends, which has got to be great news!  And really there's nothing stopping people making friends on the trail, we just need to try more and if we don't make a million friends each time we go ride, it simply means we'll spend more time actually riding!

Actually come to think of it, social networking and IT is crucial,  without it I wouldn't have found this job, I can now keep up to date with the latest technology, and we can let you guys know what we're up to online.

SO IGNORE MY GRUMPY INITIAL RAMBLINGS!!

ROLL ON THE SOCIAL REVOLUTION AND JOIN US RIDING.

P.S check out our twitter page @ www.twitter.com/#!/CornwallBikeHub

and our web page @ www.thebikehub.org.uk

and our endomondo profile for ride details @ www.endomondo.com/profile/4218543

;) CHEERS BIKEY DAN