For my next focus I want to research something that I have only really recently discovered, but have come to love: riding my bike. Because I have been doing it pretty much every day for the past couple months I figured it would be easier to fit my project around it, rather than go for a ride and then have to work on something totally removed from the subject matter. I want to focus on all aspects of the subject, but have a close focus on the rides that I do and where my cycling has taken me. I think my research will be largely visual, mainly photography, with statistics and background research where appropriate. So to start with below are a few quick statistics that I have discovered through the internet.
When discussing cycling the one thing people will jump straight to these days is 'Health and Safety'. It seems we live in world of health and safety precautions and even breathing has its own risk factor. However the statistics I have discovered dismiss any theories that cycling is more dangerous than driving and reinforce the idea of it being an activity that reduces obesity rates and should be enjoyed world wide. Below are 13 facts I found interesting.
1. Regular cyclists enjoy a fitness level equal to that of a person ten years younger.
2. Lance Armstrong burns about 1000 calories an hour in the Tour de France, going about 80 miles a day at an average of 24 mph.
3. A reasonably fit female cyclist, riding on a flat road at 18 miles per hour for an hour, and weighing 125-pounds, would burn 555 calories.
4. Cycling at least twenty miles a week reduces the risk of heart disease to less than half that for non-cyclists who take no other exercise.
5. If one third of all short car journeys were made by bike, national heart disease rates would fall by between 5 and 10 percent.
6. The average UK resident spends about 9 days a year in a car.
7. A typical train commuter spends £12 a day (£5 on the train journey, £2 on coffee and snack, and £5 on lunch) and a typical road commuter £14 per day (average 17 miles @ 40p per mile, £2 coffee and snack and £5 lunch) or £30 per day in London if the £8 congestion charge and £8 parking fee are included. Potential savings of cycling to work, and bypassing the cappuccino bar could be between £1,152 and £2,880 per year.
8. Regular cyclists have a similar annual risk of road death to regular motorists. In the UK, there is roughly one death per 20,000 years regular driving or cycling. In the rest of Europe, the annual death risk is lower for cyclists.
9. Gardening is more risky than cycling! An Australian survey found 5 percent of gardeners but only 4 percent of cyclists requiring medical care for an activity related injury in the survey period.
10. The Copenhagen Study (2000) concluded that those who did not cycle to work experienced a 39 percent higher mortality rate than those who didn’t.
11. The single most important tool to increase the number of people who are physically active is improved conditions for walking and cycling.
12. The more people who cycle, the safer it becomes for each cyclists. According to the Jacobsen’s Growth Rule, if the amount of cycling doubles, the risk per cyclist falls by 34 percent. If cycling halves, the risk per cyclist increases by 52 percent.
13. In 1999 8.2% of cyclists were observed wearing helmets, which increased to 9.5% in 2002. This increase was again due to the number of adults wearing cycle helmets. The wearing rate for children actually decreased.
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