By Mark Cramer, retiree, cycling advocate, regular contributor to  Freewheeling France   22 percent of the net growth in U.S. bike trips from 1995-2009 is by people ages 60-79. Their biking quadrupled in those 14 years, the fastest growth of any demographic. During the past 17 years I’ve been cycling on a regular basis. As I’ve aged (I’m 72 now), I have observed an increasing population of senior cyclers around me, especially in France, my home base. Recently in Paris I presented a slide show on Cycling in Bolivia. The canyon city of La Paz, Bolivia, where I live for six weeks each year, is 12,000 feet above sea level, has no bike lanes and if you find a rare flat street, it’s never going where you need it to. Given the challenge of cycling in an area with sometimes many thousand foot variations in altitude, I expected a younger crowd to attend the presentation. Instead, the audience was comprised mainly of seniors. Mingling with them I learned that their retirements are e

JUST FOR YOUR INFORMATION The University of Colorado Boulder study has buried the myth that electric bike users are “cheating”, demonstrating that riders do indeed get an “effective workout” and the  associated health benefits  associated with pedal powered bikes. Published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology, the findings lent weight to a decision on whether or not to allow electric bikes on bike paths in the city of Boulder, which partially funded the study alongside the National Institutes of Health. Pete’s Electric Bikes, Republic Cycles and nutrition label  Skratch Labs  also donated to the funding. In delivering the study, researchers recruited a pool of twenty sedentary commuters, conducting tests of their overall health, blood glucose regulation and fitness. These commuters were then asked to shift their transport to work to the e-Bike fleet, using a speed and intensity setting of their choice for a minimum of 40 minutes three times per week. Each wore a heart mo

For decades, smoking was one of the leading causes of cancer, but that's about to change. Obesity will likely claim the lead spot as the principal cause of 10 different types of cancer within the next decade. Cancer once seen as a disease of old age -- now increasingly being diagnosed up to to two decades earlier than in the past. Fortunately, researchers are also starting to recognize the  power of lifestyle changes  over drug prescriptions. It's been well documented by experts that  exercise  was such a 'potent' force against cancer that it should be prescribed as part of disease treatment, and at the top of the list is CYCLING! Recent studies continue to shed light on how everyday cycling is not only good for our cardiovascular health but also a way to save billions in health care costs. While everyday cycling is starting to be recognized as a low-impact form of exercise there remains resistance to accepting riding a bike as a form of preventive health car

Susan B. Anthony said, "cycling did more to emancipate women than anything else in the world." By Natalie Angier, July 13, 2015 On May 10, 1884, midway through his 48th year, Samuel L. Clemens reluctantly “confessed to age” by wearing glasses for the first time. That same day, the celebrated writer better known as Mark Twain sought to reclaim his youth by mounting a bicycle for the first time. Only one of these first tries succeeded. “The spectacles,” Twain later recalled, “stayed on.” Bodily contusions notwithstanding, Twain promoted the new sport of cycling with characteristic rhubarb tartness. “Get a bicycle,” he urged readers. “You will not regret it, if you live.” Over the next decade, millions of Americans of all ages, trades and visual acuities would heed the pedaler’s cry. They would not only live, but would learn to stay majestically, propulsively upright, too. They would start cycling clubs, collect cycling paraphernalia, compose cycling

A city known for some of the world's worst traffic jams is getting a radical pedestrian makeover. by Adele Peters staff writer at Co.Exist who focuses on sustainable design.  Dublin ranks just under Los Angeles for having some of the worst traffic jams in the world. The problem is predicted to get worse as the city quickly grows—somehow, it will have to squeeze in 20% more commuters over the next decade. That's why the city is now deciding to make a radical shift: It wants to ban cars from several major downtown streets. Right now, pedestrians don’t have it easy. "Dublin has a compact city center, but we don't give enough priority to pedestrians or cyclists," says Ciarán Cuffe, chair of the city council's transport committee. "All too often those who walk are left waiting at crossings while cars whizz past for minutes on end." In the proposed plan, the city wants to route cars around the city center, and turn major streets into car-free plazas

U.S. cities are already seeing the impact of when cyclists are given a separated place to ride. The National Institute for Transportation and Communities looked at bike traffic on nine U.S. roads after cycletracks were added. Across the board bike traffic grew, ranging from 21 to 171 percent.  The economic benefits are also being felt by many businesses, who were skeptical in the beginning to adding separated roadways just for bikes. READ >>

Research found that those who sit the most have a 50 percent greater risk of all-cause mortality—in fact, chronic sitting has a mortality rate similar to smoking, increasing your rate of lung cancer by more than 50 percent! Risk for uterine and colon cancer also increases by 66 and 30 percent respectively.  The reason for this increased cancer risk is thought to be linked to biochemical changes that occur when you sit, such as alterations in hormones, metabolic dysfunction, leptin dysfunction, and inflammation—all of which promote cancer. Your risk for anxiety and depression also rises right along with hours spent in your chair. Part of the reason why all of this may seem so surprising is that we've become so accustomed to sitting in chairs that we've failed to realize that doing so might be seriously problematic. The cause and effect are quite clear. And so is the remedy. In short, exercise is one of the “golden tickets” to preventing disease and slowing the aging p