Start with a mile

As bike people in a famously car-centric city, there are many frustrations and obstacles to biking we must face from time to time. We won’t go into those here. But one such obstacle that often goes unmentioned is the difficulty of getting your friends and family to ride a bike. After all, if there are four of you in a group going to a restaurant or shopping or wherever, but one of you doesn’t bike, that will probably mean all four of you get in a car.

Driving is the lowest common denominator of transportation in most of the United States. This is as frustrating as it is unnecessary. Now, are we saying everyone can bike everywhere everyday? No. What we’re saying is that many car trips could just as easily (if not more easily) be bike rides. Here are some statistics to back up this assertion…

• In Europe, 70% of trips under 1 mile are taken on foot, bike or transit, while 30% of those trips are taken in a car; in the U.S., those percentages flip. Source.

• In the U.S., almost 30% of ALL trips taken are under 1 mile. Source.

• Biking one mile at a very modest 8.5 mph takes about 5 minutes.

• On average, a person can bike 3 times as fast as walking… with less exertion.

So you see… we drive too much…even when we don’t have to… and we don’t even save that much time doing it.

Now, are we saying you should shame your friends and family members into riding by calling them lazy or impatient? Absolutely not. What we’re saying is, try telling them, “Start with a mile.” It’s way easier to convince someone to do something easy than something difficult, right? A 10-15 mile bike ride might be intimidating to someone who’s not used to doing it. But a one-mile bike ride? Easy-peasy! You’d be surprised at how many of your everyday destinations are within a mile of your house or job.

It’s no surprise that we at Bike BR think riding bikes is super fun and beneficial. We think others who are willing to try will agree. And the more there are of us on the roads, the safer we all are. So next time you’re trying to urge someone to start biking, start small and start with a mile.

And if they’re up for it, turn that mile into two. We’re willing to bet they’d be game.

Cheers!