May is Bike Month!

Each year in May, we celebrate bikes and the healthy lifestyle they promote. We recognize the benefits all over Wichita! For the 2023 calendar of events and more check out the Bike Month ICT Website and Facebook page.

New for 2023!

Bike to Work Day Challenge:
● Use the Bike to Work Day Tool Kit to organize your BTWD event(s)
● Share this information with your employees
● Signup and participate in the BTWD challenge and win the 2023 Golden Pedal Award which will be awarded to the business that has the highest average miles ridden to work the week of May15th-19th (awarded at the Friday, May 19th luncheon at BWW)
● Host a breakfast for those employees that ride to work that day
● Bike as a group to the BTWD lunch at Bike Walk Wichita’s facilities at 325 N. St Francis Street. Free Jimmy John’s sandwiches and chips..

Be the hero of your workplace and introduce bicycling into your culture. Because…..

Happy Employees Are Productive Employees!

Bike Wichita Because…

It’s Fun

• Time with family & friends
• Relive childhood
• Refresh — feel the breeze
• Reduce stress
  
  

It’s Healthy

• Increased fitness
• Weight loss
• Heart benefits
• Reduced stress
  
  

It’s Smart

• Save money
• Keep the air clean
• Reduce your carbon footprint
  
  

LOCAL RESOURCES
Bike Walk Wichita
KDOT, Bicycling
Bicycling in Wichita

NATIONAL RESOURCES
Advocacy Advance
League of American Bicyclist
People for Bikes
The Building Blocks of a Bicycle Friendly Community

Bike Month is in May!

Each year in May, we celebrate bikes and the healthy lifestyle they promote. We recognize the benefits all over Wichita!

Why Bike?

In communities across the nation, there is a growing need and responsibility to provide options that allow people to bike more often, to bike to more places, and to feel safe while doing so. The benefits of riding a bicycle — whether for utilitarian or recreational purposes — can be expressed in terms of improved environmental and personal health, reduced traffic congestion, enhanced quality of life, and economic rewards.

Five Benefits of Bicycling

For Your Body

Riding a bike offers many health benefits:

• increased cardiovascular fitness
• increased strength
• increased balance and flexibility
• increased endurance and stamina
• increased calories burned

For Your State of Mind

Riding a bike is a proven stress releaser, and it can be done by people of all ages. Regardless of if you are riding purely for pleasure or for a specific purpose, you will arrive at your destination feeling relaxed, energized and happier about the world and yourself.

Plus, being out on your bike is just flat-out fun. The more time you spend on two wheels, the harder it is to take yourself too seriously.

For Your Community

Being out on your bike is good for the people around you as well. You are able to go the places you want to go, and you put one less car on the road.

You don’t bring with you the noise that a car generates and you are actually able to interact with people as you move. From my bike, I can wave to a neighbor, say hi to a kid, smell someone’s dinner cooking and be a warm and friendly human presence on the streets.

Operating a bicycling does not harm the environment. There is no polluting exhaust released and no oil or gas consumed. And the energy and materials used to manufacture one automobile could be used to created 100 bikes.

For Convenience

There is an undeniable convenience factor you’ll discover when riding a bike. Front row parking spaces are guaranteed no matter where you go. Traffic jams become irrelevant.

Though cars will certainly make better time on long trips, you’ll find for many short trips or through heavy traffic, you can travel just as fast or faster on your bike.

Have you ever been to a massive festival or concert in a park somewhere — the type of event that draws so many people that just getting there is a problem? Going in on a bike is a perfect solution. Zip in. Zip out. You don’t have to get there hours early to get a parking spot or park miles away from the event. And you won’t have to wait hours in traffic to get out once it’s over.

For Your Pocketbook

It costs between 20 and 30 cents per mile to operate a car, depending on the vehicle. This is based on expenses like gas, oil, maintenance, etc., that go up when you drive more. This figure doesn’t include the hidden costs of vehicle ownership like depreciation, taxes, and insurance. These factors make the actual per-mile cost to operate a car much higher.

When you start multiplying cost per mile to operate a car by the distance you ride, you can easily calculate how much money you’ll save by riding a bike.

For example, my daily round trip commute is 16 miles. If I do that just twice a week, I will save over $400 in operating costs alone in the course of a year. (16 miles x 2 trips per week x 52 weeks x .25 cents per mile.)

And if you would otherwise have to pay for parking, tolls, and the like, don’t forget to factor those in too. It can add up quickly.

Ride For You

When you ride your bike, you are doing a lot of good things, many of which are for the benefit of others. But ultimately, the one who benefits the most is you — through better health, peace of mind, increased confidence and self-reliance, heck, even through a fatter bank account.

So for all these reasons, get out there on your bike today. Even if you don’t save the world in the process, you’ll still have fun trying!