Bike to Work

When we lived in Charleston, it was very easy to bike around. Since we lived right downtown, I could bike to work in about 5 minutes. Moving to Greenwood this became a seemingly much bigger task. After all, it was Five. Whole. Miles. With Big Hills. to my wonderful job. (Well, at least one big hill.)

All winter long I talked about how I should bike to work. Then I'd just hit snooze one extra time and drive. For the last three weeks, though, I've biked to work at least one day. This has been great, and I think I'd like to try to keep this up.

1. Instead of waking up early to go run, I can still sleep in a little and get my exercise in two chunks of time - on my way to work, and on my way home.

2. It saves gas. We don't have to drive around our little town a ton, but I'm still using less gas by biking.

3. I feel much cooler by biking to work.

But here are some good tips for biking:

• Wear a helmet! All the time! This is especially important for parents since you need to model good behavior to your children. There is nothing that bothers me as a physician more (other than maybe smoking) than seeing people on their bicycle without a helmet. Even if you're just going a little way. People get serious, life-ending head injuries from falling off a bike.
  
• Obey all traffic laws.
• If there is a smaller street with less traffic that you can ride down, take that instead of the busier road, even if it's a little longer.
• Avoid riding in the dark, or wear something reflective. So everyone can see you.
• Use arm signals to let cars know when you are turning.
  
• If you are a driver and you drive by a biker, slow down!
  

Biking definitely works for me.