Get Fit… Save Money… Save the World! That’s what the voices in my head were saying!
Looking in the mirror over the Christmas holiday I realised that I’m a little softer round the middle than I used to be… No longer the trim 18 year old who could eat and drink what I wanted without worrying about the calories! The scales were decidedly north of where I wanted them to be!
My wife and I had tried the gym before our little boy was born, and the thought of going back to it and spending an hour at a time and ££ per month really didn’t appeal!
I live just less 4 miles away from my office and the relatively short distance got me thinking that I could cycle it in not much more time than it took me to drive it!
With this thought in mind I borrowed my brother in laws mountain bike with the plan of starting to cycle to work in the new year… January came and was very cold, wet and windy.. Not the time to start to ride to work.. February pretty much the same.. cold wet and by mid March I’d realised I was making excuses not to ride to work..
So I made a pact with myself… March 16th was D-Day.. (or C-Day in my case) I packed my holdall with my Trousers, Shirt, Tie and Shoes and donned my Jeans, T-Shirt, Fleece, Gloves and Beany Hat.. and I was off.. to a shaky start initially… 40 minutes later I was sitting at my desk, a little out of breath, slightly redder in the face.. but I’d made it!
That week I managed 2 out of 5 days… and since then I’ve been cycling as often as I can.. Admittedly, there are days when I need to bring the car in, but I try to cycle at least twice a week. I’ve since given my brother in law his mountain bike back and have an old cheap ‘commuter’ style bike, with a comfy saddle and mudguards and a rack on the back… It’s a lot more comfortable and easier to ride that the mountain bike!
As my fitness levels are increasing I find that I’m not as ‘glowing’ as I was when I first started cycling… I can walk out of the front door of the house and be sitting at my desk 30 minutes later, (sometimes it can take 20 minutes to do the same journey in the car!) According to the NHS Website Cycling for 30 minutes will burn about 300 calories!
I’ve worked out that my 8 miles driving a day, at an average of 35mpg will cost me about £1 per day. So every time I ride to work I put a pound in my piggy bank! And my 8 mile journey by bike, twice a week for a year will save 0.24 tonnes of CO2 (taken from www.jpmorganclimatecare.com)
So, by cycling to work, I can get fit, save money, and save the world!