Bicycling Articles of Interest

Target Your Heart

Exercise is the best medicine for reducing the risk of heart disease, helping control diabetes, and helping reach weight loss goals faster. In fact, research suggests that just 30 minutes aerobic exercise per day, five days a week, can help you reach your goals.

One traditional way of getting the most from your exercise is by using your heart rate to set and maintain a proper pace. By measuring your initial heart rate level and setting a target heart rate zone, you can keep from tiring too quickly, or conversely, putting yourself at risk of an injury.

Understanding your Target Heart Rate Zone allows you to burn off calories quickly and safely. The American Heart Association recommends working out at a Target Heart Rate Zone between 60% and 80% of your maximum heart rate. A beginner should stay in the 60% range while an intermediate exerciser should strive for 70% to 75% of his or her maximum. Advanced users can push for the 80% range. This range also works if you're doing a short workout.

One of the easiest ways to track your heart rate is by using a heart rate monitor. These monitors use a chest strap to monitor your heart beats and send this signal to a watch that provides you with real-time feedback so you can reach your exercise goals more consistently.

Note: Check with your doctor before starting any new exercise program. A few high blood pressure medications lower the maximum heart rate and thus the target zone rate. If you're taking such medicine, call your physician to find out if you need to use a lower target heart rate.

Translated into calories burned, here is a chart that estimates calories burned per hour while cycling.

Bike Paths... Can Demand Outpace Rising Costs?

Bike paths seem the perfect solution to encouraging suburban cycling. Bike paths are often constructed on unused railroad beds, so they tend to be on flat to rolling terrain, and often connect major destination points - just as the rail lines had. These paths are scenic and quiet, but most importantly they are safe. Not having to compete with cars and trucks for lane space means you can finally share a ride with your kids.

Unfortunately, it seems that as the popularity of bike paths has grown, the time and costs to construct these bike paths are growing even faster. Here in Massachusetts, they just opened the first 6-mile section of a new rail trail called the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail. Located west of Boston, it will eventually connect miles of bucolic countryside and beautiful suburban towns. However, getting this first section constructed was not easy or cheap. The first section of this trail took 25 years to complete, and when completed costs for this rail trail are expected to approach $1 million per mile. As more and more towns consider these rail trail and similar multi-use path projects, they certainly must be wondering why it took 25 years, and questioning how they can justify costs of nearly $1 million per mile.

Want to go for a Bike Ride? Great, Everyone in the Car.

Like many of you - I have a house in the suburbs with a garage full of bikes, but no safe places to ride with my family. If I want to ride with my kids, I have to load the bikes in a car and drive them upwards of an hour to get to a trailhead. Which is why converting unused railroad lines to create multi-use paths seems like a great solution. The land is already cleared, hardened, and grated for proper drainage. And in many cases (at least here in MA), the land is own by the highway department, so it is deeded to the Rail Trail organization at no cost. Best of all, the cost of removing the rails and ties is more than offset by the sale price of the rails. Recent estimates put the value of the rails and ties at about $100K per mile. So theoretically before constructions starts, you've starting with a surplus. Ah-ah. Not so fast...

Get Ready for a Long Haul

As stated earlier, the Bruce Freeman trail took 25 years to complete phase 1. Twenty-five years is likely more than a quarter of most of our lives. In fact, Bruce Freeman, the founder of the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail project didn't live to see it open. And just to keep this timetable in perspective, in the 25 years following 1956 when President Dwight Eisenhower initiated a federally funded program to create a national interstate highway system, we had over 200,000 miles of highways constructed. Also by comparison, this same railroad line that the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail resides on (the Old Colony Railroad line) was initially constructed in less than 18 months. So certainly some of this has to do with political will and prioritization, but it has even more to do with cost.

Public Service or Public Works Project?

Here in MA, the funding for the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail project was controlled by the MA Highway Department, which seems sadly ironic. This means the same contractors who build the state's highways and bridges are also building the bike path. It seems hard to believe that these contractors with their enormous overhead and massive infrastructure are the best companies to work on these projects. In fact, since the funds for projects like this are government controlled funds, you have to question whether rail trails are seen as public service projects, or as public works projects. In other words, does the government department controlling the funds believe the primary benefactors of the project are the contractors or the general public? When I was a kid, my boy scout troop would have built the same trail over a summer just to earn merit badges. Instead, these projects have become big business for a short list of state contractors.

With this said, state governments are not the only ones slowing down this process and building up its costs. Then you have a long list of lawyers, environmental studies, engineering assessments, politicians, abutters and due process to contend with. All of which I understand need to be part of the process. But let's keep this in perspective. Do they really think a path used by mom's pushing strollers, joggers and weekend cyclists will have more environmental impact than diesel fed locomotives hauling everything from livestock to industrial waste? Do abutters really feel their property is worth more next to a railroad than a bike path? In fact, national studies have proven that properties on and close to bike paths sell for a higher value than similar homes in towns without these paths. In towns that have bike paths now, the bike path has become a defining characteristic of the town; a centerpiece of its culture and priority.

Takers Matters into Your Own Hands

If you have 25 years to waste, don't read this last section. The only viable alternative to government funded, bureaucratically driven projects is to take matters into your own hands. Skip the public funding option, and look for ways to make yours a community service project - using local groups, businesses, volunteers and donations to make it happen. Use your town meetings to showcase plans and get it on the ballot. Nothing gets people thinking about something faster than when they have to vote on it. Form a committee of like-minded people who can reach out to local businesses and canvass neighborhoods to find support and donations. If so, perhaps the project you start will actually get completed while you are still young enough to use it.

Need resources, information and materials to support your cause? Try some of the links below for tons of reference materials:

Bruce Freeman Rail Trail - Studies of existing and proposed Trails and More... http://brucefreemanrailtrail.org/trail_plans/rail_trail_studies.html#proposed

Rails-to-Trails Conservancy - http://www.railstotrails.org/index.html

Bikes Belong Coalition - http://www.bikesbelong.org/

Spring Forward: Myths and Facts About Daylight Savings

For many cyclists, Daylight Savings is the unofficial start to the riding season. More daylight means more time for riding, especially for commuters who prefer the warmth and safety of natural light. And this year, Daylight Savings started earlier than ever. It's as if someone wants us to spend more time on our bikes. However, truth be told, Daylight Savings was not created for cyclists. But if not for cyclists, where did it begin and why?

Daylight Savings has many myths to it origins. My informal survey revealed that most believe that Daylight Savings was started to help farmers in the US have more time to work their fields. Not true. Others believed that the primary purpose of Daylight Savings was to reduce energy consumption. Wrong again. In truth, Daylight Savings was first suggested to promote summertime leisure activities, not reduce energy consumption. Here are some interesting facts about Daylight Savings:

• Daylight savings was first proposed in 1905 by Englishman William Willett because he wanted more time to play golf and pursue other outdoor leisure activities in the summer
• To popularize this idea, proponents argued that Daylight Savings would reduce evening usage of incandescent lighting - the primary use of electricity
• Daylight Savings was first instituted in the US in 1918 during WWI, but was repealed after the war in 1919, only to be reinstated during WWII, but again repealed afterward
• Daylight Savings has now been used in the US continuously since 1966
• Daylight Savings was disliked by farmers
• Arizona and Hawaii are the only two US states that don't observe Daylight Savings

Although the US has been observing Daylight Savings continuously for over 40 years, it has not been without controversy. Countless energy usage studies have been performed, as recently as 2008, to measure the effects on energy usage during Daylight Savings. The results have been mixed; many studies have even showed higher energy usage during daylight savings due to rising cooling costs during daylight hours. Similar results were found on studies studies related to Daylight Savings and public safety. These studies have showed no significant reductions in traffic accidents, violent crimes or fires during Daylight Savings periods.

In fact, there is a growing population opposed to Daylight Savings. Opponents argue that it causes unneccesary complexity on computer systems, potentially affecting medical services, transportation and business operations, as well as other incoveniences to individuals and businesses.

What about William Willett's original ideas for increased health benefits by providing us with more time to spend outside enjoying healthy activies away from work? Unfortunately, studies on individual health have been contradictory as well. Although many studies have shown increased time spent on leisure and exercise during Daylight Saving, these studies have also cited the risks associated with longer daylight hours, including increased exposure to dangerous UV rays, effects on eyesight, and disruptions to sleep patterns.

With unclear benefits from Daylight Savings, you might wonder why we still obseve it. Some opponents claim it is partly political, citing the mid-1980's when the Daylight Savings was controversially extended due to the backing of retailers (who benefit from having more time for consumers to shop), and a pair of Idaho senators who believed it would help fast food restaurants sell more french fries made from Idaho potatoes. Other opponents call it Daylight Slaving Time, suggesting it only benefits businesses and employers.

So who does benefit from Daylight Savings? This year, I hopes it's cyclists.

Healthy Workers are More Productive

Starting and maintaining an active lifestyle is a passion businesses need to share with their employees. And with good reason: active employees are happier, healthier, and often more productive. A healthy work environment improves productivity, decreases turnover and absenteeism, and reduces health-care costs. Here are some stats:

• Healthy employees took 9 times fewer sick days than workers with poor health
• The healthiest employees were nearly 3 times more productive than those with poorer heath (Australasian Business Intelligence)
• Fit workers make 60% fewer errors on jobs involving concentration and short-term memory (Swedish researcher)
• Vigorous exercise (such as cycling to work) improved mental alertness and productivity for four to five hours afterwards (New England Journal of Medicine)
• Employees who exercised as infrequently as once a week reduced their average number of sick days in half-from more than 10 days in the previous year to less than five sick days (Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine)

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Can Bicycling Save Your Life?

Did you know that just 3 hours of bicycling per week can reduce a person's risk of heart disease and stroke by 50%? (according to the League of American Bicyclists) Plus, moderate bicycling can burn about 600 calories per hour for a person weighing 150 pounds. A person who is out of shape and weighs more will burn even more calories per hour.

Been away from bicycle riding for a while? No problem; your proficiency comes back quickly. Why do you think they say "it's just like riding a bike!" This is one of the reasons there are more bicyclists in the US than skiers, golfers and tennis players combined (National Sporting Goods Association).

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