Ladies on a Roll: 10 Reasons I Ride

photo courtesy of Hayley Gaines of Remember When Photography

Have you seen the new report of current data from the league of American bicyclists? It's exciting stuff for girls who ride bicycles! (You can find the full report here.) In the report, they bust 10 myths about girls and bicycles including: 

1. Women Don't Like Bicycles. 82% of American Women have a positive view of bicycles. 

2. Women Aren't Interested in Riding. 47% of potential cyclists in Portland. Ore., who are “Interested but Concerned” about riding a bike are women.

3. Women Don't Bike to Work in Significant Numbers. 1.9 million women regularly commuted to work by bike in 2011. The overall number of women who bike commute grew 56% from 2007 to 2011. 

4. Women Aren't Concerned About Biking in Their Communities. 2/3 of American women agree: “My community would be a better place to live if biking were safer and more comfortable.”

5. Bicycle Riding is Not a Popular Activity Among Women. Bicycle riding ranked #9 out of 47 popular sports for total female participation in 2011, surpassing yoga, tennis, and softball.

Yippee!! I find these new statistics super exciting. I still feel, in my town, that I am part of a small minority of bicyclists, let alone female bicyclist who commute to work or school on two wheels. But these new stats give me hope of that changing over the next few years. On this happy note, I'd figure I'd share with you a few reasons I ride: 

1. It is so much more fun than driving a car. I hate driving. I'll pick riding my bike to the grocery store over driving my car there any day.

2. You're double dipping with your time. During your commute, you're exercising. Yay for multi-tasking. 

3. It's better for the environment. 

4. And better for your wallet. 

5. The wallet thing deserves two points. You save tonnnnnssssss of gas money by biking to work everyday. 

6. Going down a hill feels like you're flying. It's totally worth the uphill. 

7. You never have to look for a parking spot. Or pay for a parking spot, for that matter. 

8. You never have to sit in a traffic jam.

9. You can chalk up any bad hair day to "helmet hair."

10. It's so. much. fun. 

Why do you bike?

Or a better question, why don't you bike? :) 

Happy Monday! 

x M