There’s one rule for 30 Days of Biking: “We ride our bikes. every. friggin. day.”  That’s it.

30 Days of Biking is being organized by Patrick Stephenson and a few others, and is happening April 1 to April 30. They’re based in Minnesota, but people in other areas are joining up, too.  All you have to do is ride your bike once a day, and tweet about it using the hashtag #30daysofbiking.  Yes, it’s a Twitter thing, but I don’t see any reason why non-Tweeters can’t still ride.

Rides of any length count. You don’t have to commute by bike or go completely car-free.  Just ride once a day.

What’s the point? The organizers just want to get more people out enjoying their bikes.  But I’ve got some other great reasons.

  1. Exercise. We all need it. The USDA recommends 60 minutes of exercise daily to maintain good health! You can use your bicycle to get at least 10-15 minutes of that done, right?
  2. Stress relief. Riding a bike is fun. It will cheer you up, and you will want to do it more! Also, exercise is an excellent stress reliever. Exercise actually reduces stress hormones like cortisol.
  3. Family/friends time. Bicycling is a great activity to do with other people, and kids love it. You can ride around the neighborhood, or to a destination, like a park.
  4. It’s good for the environment. If you can replace even one car trip a week with a bike trip, you’ll be helping to reduce emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases. Riding to work is a great choice, but this could also be a trip to the store, or dropping the kids off at school, or going to visit family and friends by bike.
  5. Saving energy. Most of our energy for driving cars and for powering our homes and businesses comes from fossil fuels, which are a finite, non-renewable resource. So again, if you can replace even one car trip a week with a bike trip, you’ll help save fuel resources for when we really need them.
  6. Meeting your neighbors. When you’re not inside a glass and metal box, you can easily wave to people, say hello, even stop and chat.  Bicycling fosters interaction with others! Or, you can ride on by if you’re feeling introverted. The choice is yours.
  7. It’s easy. Seriously. You’re not up for bike commute challenges? That’s fine! You can do this one. Bike once a day. Around the block is enough.

So, who’s in? Go to http://30daysofbiking.com to find out more; send an @reply to @patiomensch on Twitter to officially sign up. Or just leave a comment here if you don’t tweet.  I’ll do some check-in posts in April so that everyone can share their experiences. Or, blog about it yourself and I will link to your post(s). And…go!

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