One day, when I was out for a short walk in the afternoon, I found out that there are actually many people, especially elders, practicing sport, particularly cycling. It made me dwell and I started reconsidering my commute means. The resolution that I have made was biking my way to the university when the pandemic is over.
Now, that we are almost completely free from masks, we finally have a chance to go to work and get back to our routine. But are we as fit as we were before and most importantly, are we ready to practice sports to be physically and mentally healthy?
We are introducing the International Bike Month. Biking is considered to be one of the most pleasant hobbies, which can be practiced every day. A whole week is dedicated to cycling starting from May 16th– May 22th. The third Friday of May is the national bike to work day. This year it is held on May 20th. People all over the world celebrate bike to everywhere week by doing bike challenges and having fun together. In fact, May is the bike month.
Why do people ride bikes?
During the pandemic, the demand for bikes increased all over the world.
The restrictions on movement and social distancing provided a great opportunity for people to start working on themselves and practicing new hobbies. And that’s how the number of biking enthusiasts increased in such a short time.
At first, the concept was about staying fit and healthy, but it slowly became a trend, and people started taking up the hobby.
The bike week was first held back in 1923 in the UK. In fact, biking was always relevant, even in the 1890s. Throughout time, the number of people going to work by bike increased significantly. As of now, the world’s biggest companies such as Amazon, Google, and Microsoft encourage and support their employees to get to work by bike.
Today biking is one of the most eco-friendly and good-for-health hobbies. People celebrate national bike month all over the world and organize national bike challenges.
Armenia
Talking about the streets of Armenia, the first thing that comes to our mind is traffic jams. Every morning we wake up and go to work as early as possible to avoid traffic in order not to be late, and to avoid car accidents.
When it comes to statistics, the number of deaths from car accidents is very high in our country. 2019 was the year with the most car accidents in the last 7 years (2172 accidents). The number of accidents reduced in 2020 thanks to Covid-19 (1554 accidents). But they started to increase in 2021, which is the second after 2019 with the most car accidents in the last 7 years (1920 accidents).
Considering all these facts, going to work by bike is a great solution. There will be no traffic jams, and these two-wheeled means of transportation are very easy to park and to take with you wherever you want to.
The cost of owning a bicycle is far less than the one for owning and utilizing a car. There is no need to pay for the fuel or to take care of it, no need to pay taxes and insurance fees. Owning and actually utilizing a bicycle is eco-friendly and good for your health and others’.
By riding a bicycle, not only going to work costs less but you also reduce air pollution. Think about it; we are practically protecting our country from air pollution. How beautiful it would be to have a city full of bikes instead of the endless lines of cars in the city center. And the air would definitely be fresher. Besides that, the cars emit noises and with the decrease of the number of the cars, some silence will be brought upon our country.
Well, now when all of this sounds quite exciting for helping our country, let’s not forget about our bodies as well. Now seems to be the perfect season to start biking to be fit by summer and also lose weight in a healthy way, without any strict diets.
Physical exercises also help us eat regularly and also freshen our mind and health. Practicing a sport helps relieve stress and improve the immune system. Therefore, it is also good for employers to have physically and mentally healthy workers. As you can notice, there are lots of benefits of cycling to work both for employees and employers.
Now we finally have an affordable way of practicing sports and ensuring physical activity.
Only 3 years ago we couldn’t rent a bike in our country, but it became possible in the summer of 2019. Now we can notice more and more people riding a bike in Yerevan.
