One of my passions is the pursuit of health. I practice medicine and write this column to share this passion with you. Just as our food choices impact our personal, community and planetary health, how you get to the place where you make these choices--the grocery store or farmers market, can impact these three areas of health, too. Which leads to another passion of mine, transportation cycling.
In the US, most of bicycle for sport, fitness or recreation, not as a means of transportation. US bicycles are built for sport. Notice how cyclists dress like Lance Armstrong. Yet, do you ever see anyone dress like Danica Patrick or Kyle Busch to drive their car? That’s the point. Most of us drive our cars to get places, but rarely consider riding a bike. And why would we? Most of us aren’t comfortable on a typical US bike. Leaning forward isn’t easy for most of us over 40, let alone bearing your body weight on your crotch.
It doesn’t have to be this way. In places like the Netherlands bicycles are designed for transport. Called Dutch Bikes, they are designed for a comfortable smooth ride in street clothes with room to carry parcels while keeping the rider clean. The bike is ridden upright, Mary Poppins-style, with your weight on your sits bones, not on your tender parts up front. Bags called panniers and sturdy baskets hold whatever you need to carry. The chain, brakes and gear shifter are enclosed. This along with fenders keep you clean in all kinds of weather.
I couldn’t find this kind of bike in Kansas City, so my Velorbis Dannebrog arrived in August from Denmark, via My Dutch Bike of San Francisco. My 50th birthday present, I call it my mid-life cri-cycle. It’s a beauty, bright red, and the most comfortable bike I’ve ever ridden. It leaves simply no excuse in my mind for not riding a bike, as long as you have two legs that move. I ride four miles each way to work, dressed in my work clothes, along a lovely back street route between my home in Brookside and my office in Prairie Village. I carry my briefcase on the rear rack and my lunch on the hook along side the rear rack. The front basket, when it arrives, will hold up to 35 pounds of cargo. My spandex bike shorts haven’t seen the light of day since my Velorbis arrived.
I’m finally getting an amount of exercise that makes me feel good. My husband notices the spring in my step and smile on my face. I’ve lost some inches if not a few pounds.
I look forward to the day when bike shops everywhere will offer these bicycles. Now that I have the right bike, I easily choose my Velorbis over my car for short trips to places like the Brookside Farmers Market and my local Hy-Vee. By encouraging transportation cycling, Kansas City can easily reach its goal of becoming a Platinum Level Bicycle Friendly Community and shed its reputation as one of the fattest cities in the nation. What a great thing to do for our personal, community and planetary health!
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