Cycling while Pregnant

 Not something I'm ever likely to do I admit, I particularly like this...

I also expected that at some point I just wouldn’t want to bike anymore, but as my belly grew it became much more comfortable to bike than walk.

via Girls and Bicycles


I've never really thought about it along those lines, but for many people who have trouble walking, cycling can be a means of getting about normally. I know on the occasions I've had back or leg muscle injuries it has rarely stopped me cycling even when I could barely stand up straight to get on the bike.

Tax Incentives for Cyclists

The UK has the Cycle to Work Scheme which I have used twice now to purchase bikes, keeping about £900 out of the grasping hands of the tax man and in my pocket. However as with so many things velo related our near neighbours have taken it a step further, the Netherlands and Belgium in particular give tax relief on cycling to work

Netherlands

Bicycles - The employer is allowed to provide a tax free payment for commuting by bike of again €0.18/km (23 US cents). Employers are also allowed to provide employees with a new bike, but only once every three years. The value of this bicycle is treated as income, but if ite is used for commuting, the value of the bike is fixed at €68 ($US89) for tax purposes. This applies to bikes up to a maximum value of €749 ($US976). Employers may also providebike accessories (e.g. maintenance, clothing locks etc.), this is tax free up to a value of €250 ($US326).

 Tax treatment of employer commuting support: an international review

Belgium 

In Belgium, companies and public organisations are likewise allowed to pay their employees when cycling to work with an amount of 0.20 € per kilometre per day (no more than 15 kilometres a day). The supplement is tax free for the employees and the employers get tax credit for the expense.

Tax incentives for bike commuting

Commuting distances
We can see on table 7 that 20% of commutes are under 2 miles and 46% are under 5 miles. Of those 12% of car commutes are under 2 miles and 40% of car commutes are under 5 miles.
Commuting and business travel factsheet tables – April 2011 (XLS – 211 KB)

Table 11 says average occupancy is 1.2, so many people could change modes without affecting travel partners.

We'll go for a middle ground of 3 miles because it is roughly the length of my commute. Cycling 3 miles is achievable for most people I reckon. 5 miles is perfectly doable by many. At these sort of distances people are probably travelling on 20/30/40mph roads, a fair bit of stopping and starting, a three mile commute might take 7 minutes by car or up to 14 minutes by bike. It might be 100% longer, but the nominal difference is only 7 minutes.

The marginal cost of the commute by car is petrol + depreciation due to increased mileage + some wear and tear, nicely estimated here. I think due to higher costs of motoring in the UK than US we will convert he numbers to pence without adjusting for exchange rate. So marginal cost per mile is £0.23. 3 miles, twice a day for 222 days a year = £306

Belgium's tax incentive of  0.20 € per kilometre equals £0.27 per mile = £360

So the toal incentive is equal to £666 per year, less £100 for a pair of tyres and a service.

I wonder how many would change mode for £566 per year?

Giving up your car

I have a confession to make. I'm a petrolhead, and not just a little one, I can bore the hell out of you with facts like Lancia Deltas used the same indicator stalks as Ferrari F40s. C'était un rendez-vous is faked and I can prove it. And you should never, ever turn off the traction control in a Smart car on a wet roundabout.

It all started when I was about 8, one lazy Sunday morning I was up early and watched some foreign bloke win a race in a bright yellow car, his name was Senna and the car was a Lotus.

A few years later my heart was broken when he died one terrible weekend in Italy.

But I still loved Formula One, I even had another dead hero, Bernd Rosemeyer, he died in 1938 in Germany

Throughout this time I was still too young to drive myself and so like most young chaps I had a bike. I had several in fact. I loved them, I rode them everywhere. I rode them right up to the day before I took possession of my first car. My dad was a bit of a cyclist and every July we watched the TdF highlights of an evening. Alongside my poster of Senna I had one of a Peugeot Triathlon and watching Greg Lemond power through Paris like a locomotive was one of the most exciting moments ever.

Eventually though when I was old enough I passed my driving test, bought a car and from that day cycling took a back seat for a few years, it never left entirely but was definitely overshadowed.

Then, when I was old enough I bought my dream car, well, of all my dream cars, the only one I am ever likely to be able to afford, a Lotus Elise. What a beauty, what a car! The noise of the sports exhaust, the exquisite balance and handling.

Such a shame that there is almost nowhere to enjoy it and so it spent most of its time in the garage, usually just coming out for a cruise around town. Only once or twice did I ever really experience its wonders on a B-road. It didn't take long for the realisation to set in. Too much car in too small a country. Too expensive, too frustrating, too likely to end up in court or a grave. She sold very quickly, to a man from Belgium who had once taken part in LeMans.

And I bought this.

At this point I had already been cycling again for a few years and i picked up this CX as a commuter bike, a job it does very well (note to self, buy some mudguards).

The moral of the tale? I'm a cyclist, I love cycling and bicycles but I also love cars, fast cars, on the ragged edge, I think I'll buy a go-kart. I have no kids and live 6 miles from work, perhaps giving up my car was easy because of my circumstances. Before I did it I was sure I would have to replace it pretty quickly, but I just never got around to it. Now the idea of dropping several grand on an item I have very little need for that would also severely increase my exposure to liability, seems stupid at best. Giving up motoring has been liberating, no bills, no responsibility, pumping up for the day with a brisk ride in to work and winding down with a thoughtful ride home. Life just seems better.

Get behind the bike #3

Continuing our series, another great reason to get behind the bike, legs of steel.

Get behind the bike #2

Continuing our series, today we bring to you another good reason to get behind the bike.

Bikes don't kill people...

 although very occasionally cyclists die while travelling – they’re not being killed by bikes.

Own the Road - Cyclists Live Longer

An interesting thought, it brings to mind the gun lobby, guns don't kill people, people kill people. Imagine for a moment nobody was ever killed while riding a bike, but every year a hundred people were killed by nutters walking in to gyms and shooting people using exercise bikes. Two things would happen; exercise bikes would become rather unpopular; nobody would blame exercise bikes for the deaths.

Though, what if our killer gave a warning? Get off the exercise bike or I'll shoot you! But our stubborn little cyclist refuses to budge. Are they now liable for their own death?

Let's move the scene, our little gym bunny plonks their bike down in the middle of a shooting range, jumps on and starts pedalling away. The gun club members know the bike is there, but that's okay, they are all trained, experienced, licenced firearms users, they can shoot past it at the targets without fear of killing anyone. Until they get a bit tired or complacent, or just plain lazy.

It's fair to say cyclists can be dumb, some of them can be real effing idiotic, but very few are so dumb as to be responsible for their own demise. The motorist is the party allowed the responsibility and the privilege of driving a potentially hazardous item around the roads and ultimately it is their actions that decide if someone lives or dies.

A new cycling campaign

For too long cycling has often been viewed as po-faced, miserable, drudgery. Panting along on a grey hybrid in the pissing rain from home to work, praying you make it alive because it seems like every motorist is out to kill you. Well, no more I say! Today we adopt a practice that the mad men of motor manufacturing learnt many moons ago, sex sells.

Motorists, we aren't the enemy, we are you, just a thinner, sexier you with better bums. For too long car manufacturers have been deceiving you that your car will make you look sexier, it won't, you can't take your car to bed with you, once between the sheets, what have you got? A pale flabby backside and a belly. Fear not, help is at hand because you can bring to the bedroom the trim waist, firm bum and shapely leg that a regular few miles on a bike will give you.

Motorists, get behind the bike!