From: Micha Riemer
To: Yuma Sun – Letters to the Editor
THE HEALTH BENEFITS OF BICYCLING
Here are some health reasons to start riding a bicycle:
- Bicycling is good for the heart. 20 miles a week of bicycle riding improves cardio fitness by 3-7%, and can reduce your coronary heart disease chances by 50%. Danish study of 14 year duration with 30,000 people ages 20-93 found that regular cycling protected people from heart diseases.
- Bicycling is good for muscle conditioning, it builds your muscles especially lower halves of the body. Since it is low impact it can help restore your legs to normal after a join or muscle injury.
- Good for the waistline. Bicycling will burn calories and also increase ones metabolism. And because of this metabolism increase 300 calories an hour will burn after one stops riding.
- Increase lifespan even when adjusted for risks of injury through cycling.
- Bicycling increases your body to learn coordination and balance. Moving both feet around in circles while steering with both hands and your body’s own weight is good practice for one’s coordination skills.
- Cycling is good for mental health. Increased endorphins, generate good mood and reduce stress.
- Cycling is good for the immune system. The exercise could protect the rider for certain kinds of cancer like colon cancer and breath cancer.
- Cycling increases stamina, riders enjoy the exercise so they increase the duration of the ride.
- And lastly cycling lowers the chances of developing type 2 diabetes. In Finland researchers found that 30 minutes per day of bicycling showed a 40% decrease of developing diabetes.
So enjoy your ride knowing your health will benefit.
Micha Riemer
Yuma Region Bicycle Coalition
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From: Micha Riemer
To: Yuma Sun – Letters to the Editor
RIDING AGAINST TRAFFIC
Riding your bicycle against traffic is not only illegal it is unsafe. Telling bike riders “no” is not good enough for those who have been doing it for many years. If you ask them why they ride that way, they tell you that they want to have a chance to move out of the way in the event a motorist does not see them. For this reason, I need to expound on this subject.
- If you are riding facing traffic and a motorist is turning right on a crossroad, the driver is looking to the left so he can make the turn. Why should he look to the right to see you?
- How can a bicyclist make a right turn if he/she is riding on the left side of the road?
- If a bicyclist is riding at a speed of 15 miles per hour against traffic and a motorist is coming towards him/her at a speed of 25 miles an hour and they collide, the impact will be at 40 miles per hour {25+15=40}. If the same collision occurred with the bicyclist riding with the flow of traffic, the impact would be 10 miles an hour. While any accident can be catastrophic, perhaps the injuries to the biker would be less serious. Riding with traffic can also give both the motorist and biker a little more time to react to avoid the collision all together.
- It isn’t possible to read road signs if a biker is riding in the wrong direction.
In summary, a biker riding against traffic can receive a ticket from a police officer. Twenty-five percent of all bicycle accidents occur because the bicycle rider chose to ride against traffic. For more information check this site — www.bicyclinglife.com
Micha Riemer
Yuma Region Bicycle Coalition
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From: Micha Riemer
To: Yuma Sun – Letters to the Editor
BICYCLE HELMETS
Bicycle helmets have been around since 1975. Most helmets protect the cyclist up to the speed of 15 miles per hour. Once the decision to wear a helmet is made, one should pick the right sized helmet to comfortably touch the head all the way around, level and stable. It should be strong enough to resist even violent shakes or hard blows, and stay in place. Visiting a local bike dealer can be beneficial to getting the right helmet for the bike rider.
When I was a kid, I never had a choice of wearing a helmet or not. Bicycle helmets were not available on the market. Today, one does need to consider the option of wearing or not wearing a helmet unless the state law demands that it be worn.
Although wearing a helmet doesn’t protect one against all injuries, studies ([and anecdotal
Evidence) do suggest that many head, skull and brain injuries (many fatal) can be prevented or minimized with helmet use at the time of a crash. For more information, visit the Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute.
I taught bicycle safety as an elective class in a junior high school in California. My students wore their helmets because if they didn’t, they weren’t allowed to be in my class.
For parents, their job is much harder. Some boys and girls will put the helmets on if they are threatened with punishments. Other kids will respond to rewards, like increasing their allowances. Today some helmet manufacturers are aiming to have their helmets look like a Mohawk style, or be nicely colored.
Wearing a helmet is just as important as knowing how to ride safely in or out of traffic. Knowing the rules of the road and following them. The public can promote bicycle safety by supporting legislation for safer roads so children and adults in Yuma can ride throughout the city.
Micha Riemer
Yuma Region Bicycle Coalition
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From: Micha Reiemer
To: Yuma Sun – Letters to the Editor
WHEN I WAS A KID
When I was a kid, all of my friends had bikes. We raced them down the streets and never thought about safety. Our parents yelled and screamed at us when a car approached as we rode.
May is designated as National Bicycle Month, so we at the Yuma Region Bicycle Coalition are doing what our parents did – working to keep bike riders safe by encouraging the county and our local municipalities to create a truly bike-friendly environment.
Bicycle month is a very special time of the year. While it reminds us of our bike-riding days as kids, it also inspires us to ride a bike for recreation, for better health, and to get around town to our workplaces and schools.
The Yuma Region Bicycle Coalition is here for you. We will help you with every need you may have to make bicycling safer – i.e., safer roads in the Yuma region, better maps for bicycles, and safer bicycle laws. The Yuma Region Bicycle Coalition wishes all of you a happy and safe bicycling month – let’s ride.
Micha Riemer
Yuma Region Bicycle Coalition
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From: Micha Riemer
Subject: Bicycle roads for Yuma Az.
MICHELLE OBAMA
Dear Michelle Obama:
I admire your sustained effort to improve the health of the people of the United States through good nutrition, physical activity and overall good health.
With the forgoing in mind we in Yuma need your help. For many years Yuma has tried to develop roads for bicycles, with no success. I like to see the federal government implement a program of matching funds to build such bicycle lanes.
This past year our Foothills Yuma bicycle club of 179 members had our share of accidents due to our inability to share the roads. Every time we in counter an accident our medical system which now includes Obama care suffers.
Secondly I as a former physical educator teacher believe that if we manage to build new bike lanes more adults and children would use them. Thus increasing the health of our citizens.
Thirdly it would generate employment. Yuma being the highest unemployed area in the nation would benefit substantially.
I’d like to thank you for your great efforts that you are pursuing to improve the health of our citizens in the United States the last person to do that was President John Kennedy who was in the white house when our championship team was invited to the white house.
Thank you so much,
Micha Riemer
Yuma Region Bicycling Coalition
