Moderate exercise works as well as strenuous workouts

Moderate exercise works as well as strenuous workouts
By JOE MILLER McClatchy Newspapers
Published: Monday, August 27, 2007

RALEIGH, N.C. - Bike shop owner Kevin Coggins wasn't surprised by a study released this month by the Duke University Medical Center, which showed that not only is moderate exercise good, in some instances it may be even better than more vigorous workouts. His cash register has been telling him as much for the past two years.
In the '90s, everyone wanted a mountain bike to go powering through forests on narrow trails, bunny-hopping downed logs and grinding through gardens of rock.
During Lance Armstrong's reign over the Tour de France, from 1999 to 2005, everyone wanted to capture the road bike experience, pedaling for miles and miles.
What's selling today?
Hybrids, that mix of road and mountain bike made for a more recreational, "round-the-neighborhood-and-down-the-greenway-with-the-kids experience".

"Moderate exercise is as good as strenuous exercise," says Coggins, who once raced bikes and has owned The Spin Cycle in Cary, N.C., since the mid-1990s. "I totally agree with that."
So does a portion of the study by researchers at Duke, who found that low-intensity exercise "dramatically lowered" triglyceride levels. Trigly-cerides are those pesky particles that lug fat around the body. Reducing their numbers can reduce the risk of both heart disease and diabetes.
The Duke study joins a growing body of evidence suggesting that you don't have to ride 2,200 miles around France to enjoy good health. Regular rides through the neighborhood will do just fine....read the rest of the article here

SET FREE (The One Days HK 1 of 3)

Lamma Island is a tranquil place in Hong Kong, if you ever get there ( 40mins in ferry from Central to Yung Shue Wan -Banyan Tree Bay)), stop for some green tea or dofu fan at a daipai dong on the way to the Power Station Beach... this small clip is just that, with a message about life and play we need to heed occasionally ..

enjoy this and enjoy life.

cheers all

One World Two Wheels - A Trek Commitment

(from Trek USA...ride a bike , its the greenest thing you can do to help the earth and your community's health.)

A Trek Commitment
Trek Dealers are working to get people to ride their bikes and make a more bike friendly world, one mile at a time.

We all know the world has some problems; gas is expensive and cars pollute, the roads are congested and humans are getting bigger.

And not in a good way.

Luckily, there is a solution to these problems. A solution that burns calories, not gas. It doesn't waste fuel sitting in traffic. Something that could even bring communities closer together.

The solution is the bicycle.

With 40% of non-work related car trips being taken being two miles or less, what would happen if more people took the short trips on their bike?

What if more communities had a "Safe Routes to Schools" plan so kids could ride to school safely?

What would the world be like with more bicycle friendly communities?Imagine arriving at work fresh instead of frazzled. Parking within feet of the building!

Your kids getting exercise to and from school. Better still, commuting by bike IS exercising! And there are no carbon emissions from burning calories.We all can ride and we have only one planet.

Trek and Trek dealers challenge you to join us in making the world a more bike friendly place.

You can start by riding your bike. It's the greenest thing you can do to help the earth.

on yer bike !,

and please be Visible, Predictable and Legal.

Killed after 20,000klm Ride around Australia

from the Adelaide Advetiser/Sunday Mail

( this is touching story & a plea to help find the lost diary of Leszeka Wereszka, lost near Nimmitabel in NSW... Leszeka was killed in South Australia when hit by a truck 70klm from his final destination on his journey around Australia)

(The final photo of Leszeka Wereska taken two hours befor he was killed by a truck whilst riding his bike on an epic journey around Australia)

by: KATE KYRIACOU
August 19, 2007 12:15am
THIS is the final photo of a triumphant Leszek Wereszka - two hours before his death on the final leg of a dream ride around Australia.
The Polish-born German tourist had just 70km left of a six-month, 20,000km ride around Australia when he was hit and killed by a passing truck on Port Wakefield Rd on Monday.
His Adelaide relatives said they want to share his inspirational journey with others and hoped his death would prompt motorists to take more care around cyclists.
"We are just hoping one thing – we want to make drivers aware of cyclists on the road," his Adelaide cousin Janusz Wereszka said.
"If this can save even one life, then it is worth it. Maybe one day someone can finish his journey – he only had 70km left.
"Maybe something will be done now to make it safer for cyclists on our roads because right now his death is just so senseless."
Mr Wereszka, 49, studied English for a year before travelling to Adelaide, where he lived for three months while readying for his trip.
He set off on February 3, leaving Adelaide and touring the Great Ocean Rd before cycling on to Melbourne, through the Blue Mountains, Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane, Cairns, Cape Tribulation, Katherine, Darwin and along the West Australian coastline.
He had cycled across the Nullarbor and through SA's west when he was killed on his final leg to Adelaide.
But family friend George Gorski said Mr Wereszka left behind a precious gift – diaries of his trip and hundreds of photographs.
"It is not important that he died," he said. "What is important is how he died – he died doing what he loved. He found his way on this journey. He reconciled himself with his life and he left these wonderful diaries behind."
His journal entries – written in Polish – refer frequently to his beloved daughter Ania, 27, and talk of his safety concerns while cycling on the open roads.
"We strongly believe his achievements and his amazing endurance deserve to be recognised and remembered," Mr Gorski said.
"He made hundreds of friends around Australia on his travels. He was quite an adventurous man with a very cheeky sense of humour.
"We were all waiting for him to come back so we could hear all his stories from the road – but obviously that never happened.
"We know he fell in love with the Australian countryside and he spoke often of camping on the side of the road and watching the shooting stars. He would wake up with the lizards and the snakes, and the dingoes."
Mr Gorski said Mr Wereszka separated from his wife 10 years ago and had spent the past few years getting to know Ania again.
"I know his greatest regret would be that he never had a chance to tell his daughter how much he loved her," he said.
"He had so much time to think on the road and he really learnt the importance of family.
"He missed her so much and always worried about her. He was so very proud of Ania."
Cousin-in-law Barbara Wereszka said she cherished the three months he lived in their Onkaparinga Hills home.
"He was such a beautiful man, always smiling, always happy," she said. "He loved all the animals here and gave them new names – even my chickens."
In his diary entries, Mr Wereszka often questioned the trip that had brought him so far from his family.
"What is this all about? Where will this road lead me at the end?" he wrote while touring the Wombeyan Caves in early March.
"It seems like I am always choosing the wrong direction.
"I realised today how much I am missing all of you – but enough of that. I had death in my eyes today as I rode downhill wondering if my brakes would hold out a bit longer, but in the end they still managed to work."
Other entries showed his cheeky personality:
March 9, 2007, Black Springs:
I am in a place with many caves and holes in the ground. Today a driver purposely splashed me with water from the side of the road as he went past.
March 19, 2007, Booti Booti National Park:
I'm worried that I am not eating enough. I am losing too much weight. In truth, I am only managing one meal a day. As soon as I can I will stop at a fish and chips shop.
March 31, 2007, Noosa Heads:In Port Pirie, Mr Wereszka reflected on whether the momentous journey had changed him as a person.
By the end of each day I am trying to find a place to stay for the night. The first caravan park I went to was $22.50 per night. It's not cheap. I still have a bit of daylight left so maybe the next caravan park will be cheaper. At the next place a horrible looking woman told me the price was $25. I knew there was one more caravan park I could get to but when I got there the price was $26!

"All that thinking but I am almost 50 years old and my life is just beginning!" he wrote.
"Could you wish for anything more than 50 years of childhood? Ha ha, I don't think so.
"But at least I have grown up and gotten to the point where I know who I want to be.
"I want to be a good man – there aren't many of them around."
In his final entry, Mr Wereszka wrote of his exhaustion after so many days on the road.
"I arrived at the camping place," he wrote the day before his death.
"I arrive at 6.30pm just as it becomes dark.
"I was so tired and cold and I look horrible. You can barely move your hands by the end of the day and it is hard to even get off the bike.
"But I survived again. Tomorrow is Adelaide.
"I promised my beloved bike that if we finish this trip we are great. Ha ha ha."
Mr Wereszka lost one of his diaries at a visitor information booth in Nimmitabel, NSW. If anyone finds the journal, written in Polish, please contact the Sunday Mail on (08) 8206 2720.

Bicycles - the World's Transport - Inclusion or Elitism

great summary here by BikeLoveJones on what "bike culture"is about in many places and how it is construed, and miscontrued .

check it out at http://bikelovejones.livejournal.com/48127.html

Rooman: Bikes Belong In Traffic - SFPD Training Video

Rooman: Bikes Belong In Traffic - SFPD Training Video

Bikes Belong In Traffic - SFPD Training Video

Excellent video from SFPD.
Law Officers across the world ( especially NYC) take notice. This is the NEWS!!, bicycles are legal traffic, they belong on the road, and safety begins with the right attitude from all road users about sharing the roadwa. I demands divers of cars being considerate and non threatening and riders being visible, legal and predictable.

Riding a bike is very important to our modern society and its needs.
Get behind this folks...it is the new black of transport, lifestyle and social choices.

More bicycles are sold in Australia each eyar now than cars. Is that saying something to you...HELLO... its not going away...

On yer Bike

When numbers count-Cycling Copenhagen - 200% tax on Cars

From Crank My Chain in Portland - cool clip of Danish people riding their bicycles - when numbers matter in a Medieval city where cars arnt allowed in the inner areas, now that makes sense. Streets lined with bicycles, happy fit people, in rain sleet or snow... no softies there...good music too... great edits ... Sköl

Modal Shift - The Transport future of Australian Communities

Given the right conditions, says the Cycling Promotion Fund, potential for bike riding in Melbourne is enormous. Almost two thirds of all trips in Melbourne are under five kilometres.

"Many of these short car trips could comfortably be completed by bicycle," says program director Rosemarie Speidel.
"We're at this stage now where we want to accommodate bikes without infringing on cars, but if you want to get more people riding bicycles to achieve modal shift then you are going to have to give preferential treatment to bicycles."

According to Cycling Promotion Fund, contrary to popular belief, cycling has not been a long-standing 'tradition' in many northern European countries such as Netherlands and Denmark.

By the 1960s, many European cities and towns were overun by cars , causing pollution and congestion.

In response State and Local governments began the process of providing alternatives to car use, through innovative transport policy.
A carrot and stick approach of restricting car use, whilst simultaneously improving bicycle infrastructure bought new life to many cities. In Amsterdam and Copenhagen, both these cities report 20-30% of all trips are now conducted by bicycle.



In Northern Europe cycling is now common despite weather conditions of frequent rain, and snow. Austraia's climate is far more favourable yet our cycling rate is considerably lower.



Successful tranport strategies recognise that building more roads is a poor solution to congestion and pollution problems.
Sensible transport policy focuses on moving people not cars. The most efficient , equitable and healthy transport modes are cycling and walking, yet they receive only a small fraction of the funding provided for car based infrastructure. Moreover as petrol prices continue to rise, Australia's car dependent communities will be placed in anextremely vulnerable position.

Even the USA, traditionally viewed as the home of 'car is king' culture, is starting to invest billions of dollars in walking and cycling facillities, with the adoption and reauthorisation of the State Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transport Act. (SAFETEA-LU), and growing support for Safe Routes to School programs and non-motorised transport projects.



Despite strongly imbalanced funding, bicycle culture is beginning to take hold in Australia. ABS data shows Australians purchased more bikes than cars for each of the last 5 years.

The evidence from Australia and overseas is clear - car culture can be changed when people are provided with other options. They are willing to reduce their car use and cycle more when provided with the supportive environment. With the emerging issues of congestion, obesity, climate change and spiralling fuel prices, there has never been a better time to challenge car culture through investment in cycling encouragement programs.

What would get more people cycling?



I see the priorities in these items:-

• Traffic calming with CBD & shopping area speed limits at 30kph, (even innner city congestion levies such as London and Singapore have).


• End of trip facilities, storage and change rooms (new & renovated CBD buildings now must have this, but they must be made available to users not locked away or used as storerooms and garbage lockers as is now the case in observed in several Melb CBD buildings)


• Extensive driver education to raise awareness of bicyclist's use of the roads and relevant road rules


• Improving bicyclist's knowledge, skills and safe cycling behaviour with courses and refresher training in the wider community and amongst workplace and community bicycle user groups (BuGs)


• Use of the Bike BUS for commuting bicyclists.
• Heavy Goods Vehicles have a greater onus in vicinity of vulnerable road users. (eg: suggestion: must steer clear of vulnerable road users and have an absolute liability to reduce speed in vicinity of pedestrians and bicyclists to a max of 30klph in communities and 60 klph on country roads).


• Traffic enforcement regulations that heavily favour pedestrians and bicyclists, with a burden of primary liability on the driver of all motorised vehicles, as is so successfully used in Europe.


• Restrictions on motor vehicle use & limited parking. ( by cost and restrict expansion of parkingstations and closure of many existing stations) - (Note: these are already cash cows to big business and councils, so it is hard to see them co-operating )


• More people riding to their neighborhood shops for local shopping and grocery purchases, cuts demand for parking stations and relates to the reality of the average purchase being made for items that are easily carried in a back pack or basket

Notice, I havnt advocated for heavy infrastructure development or expenditure!.

I say this because it is established that not only are separation facilities expensive, they have limited benefits over the detrimental effect on bicycle and pedestrian behaviour.

Separation like Copenhagen style lanes may reduce riders exposure to vehicles but they also limit the on road experience, many riders thus do not learn how to behave in on road riding situations. Pedestrians are more inclined to enter dedicated bicycle paths and Copenhagen lanes as they are not threatened by the bicycle as opposed to cars. Paths and separation lanes increase the risk of collision at intersecting road junctures with cars as drivers and riders do not have preparedness to look out for each other as they have been separated.

On road painted bicycle lanes force riders into the car door danger zone, and drivers cease to look out for riders as they are no longer in the full traffic lane, drivers thus drive closer to bicycles and faster, putting the rider at higher risk.

Plus, and most important, separation by Copenhagen lanes and paths further widen the expectation between driver and rider in that drivers expect riders to not be on the road at all. Drivers of cars then expect a free run at all times, and claim the road is no place for bicycles when they have a place of their own, no matter how unsafe it is.

Separation creates and exacerbate danger, it doesn't alleviate it.

According to Forester, "Instead of fighting with cars, you cooperate with other drivers, so that you all get home safely. Participating in, cooperating with the traffic system, obeying the same rules of the road as other drivers, acknowledging their rights while claiming your own, that's the key to safe and confident cycling in traffic. Vehicular cycling, so named because you are acting as the driver of a vehicle, just as the traffic laws require, is faster and more enjoyable, so that the plain joy of cycling overrides the annoyance of even heavy traffic.
Cyclists fare best when they act and are treated as drivers of vehicles.
That is the guiding principle that cyclists should recognize and government and society should obey. But government does its best to prevent cyclists from recognizing this principle. Motorists fear that competent cyclists would delay them.

Riders fair best on the roads when they ride as vehicles in a vehicular fashion. "

I go along with that as the fundamental principle that should guide all riding/drving experiences. The age of car monopoly is over. Cars now must be driven differently, if it means slower and with greater onus for liability on the driver so be it.

We owe it to future generations to deliver a vibrant healthy place to live with the prospect of safe and viable transport choices that support health and wellbeing...reducing reliance and abuse of motorcar use and adopting a bicycle and/or walking would go along way towards that!

On yer bike..you will be glad you did