During my bicycle commute home on Thursday afternoon, I rolled past the 2,000 mile mark.  2,000 miles of bicycling back and forth to work since January 1st, 2009.  As a result of this milestone, I thought I’d pause and reflect for a moment.

My primary reason for bicycle commuting, as I’ve said on more than one occasion, is to maintain and improve my physical fitness.  Bicycle commuting has truly made that happen.  It ensures I get between 4-6 hours of cardiovascular exercise every week – exercise that’s almost never monotonous.  I’ve lost about 9lbs this year and am working hard to continue that trend (with a little help by reducing my obsession with sweet tea).

While physical fitness may be my primary motivator, I simply can’t ignore the additional benefits that come from using my bicycle to commute to work 2-3 times a week:

• Lower auto insurance premiums since I’m driving fewer miles in my pickup truck.
• Leaving my Ford F-150 in the garage for 2,000 miles has saved me from purchasing about 154 gallons of gasoline.
• Using an average gasoline price of $2.30, that’s about $350 that never left my wallet. 
• I’ve prevented about 1.4 tons of vehicle emissions out of the atmosphere.

These benefits are a testament to the bicycle’s efficiency as a truly viable means of transportation.  Consider going on your own two-wheeled adventure to work, the grocery store, a movie, etc. – there’s a darn good chance that if you do it once, you might just find that two-wheeled, human-powered transportation becomes a healthy addiction!