Make your bike part of life

Riding your bike is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint. So instead of seeing riding as a weekend exercise option, why not build more riding into your weekly schedule?

• Ride to work, or to the place from which you commute to work.
• Ride to the grocery store or market. A backpack and panniers will enable you to do a decent amount of grocery shopping on your bike.
• Ride to get your errands done. Picking up drycleaning, heading to the post office, going to the doctor, stopping by the bank -- whatever it is you need to do, the bike will make the process quicker and easier.
• Ride to a party. Ride to meet friends for dinner. Ride to the movies.
• Ride instead of relying on public transport to get where you're going. Using public transport is better for the environment than driving everywhere, but riding your bike will reduce your carbon footprint even further. Riding also means you're not stuck to particular public transport routes and gives you more flexibility in terms of trip times.

The other plus? Riding is good for you. Build riding into your daily routine and you'll be doing yourself good, as well as the planet.

Do you use your bike just for pleasure rides, or are you already using it to help you get around?