- It’s Bike Month! Celebrate Bicycling!
- FABB and others are ready to help you get out and ride.
Although Bike Month events have been canceled, FABB encourages everyone to continue to celebrate the month. Rather than focusing on biking to work, just concentrate on the sheer joy and the many benefits of biking, whether for fun, fitness, and those many short distance errands we all have to make.
Biking is a great antidote to quarantine fatigue because it helps to reduce stress while improving happiness, mental focus, and sleep. It’s perfectly acceptable during the public health emergency to go outside and enjoy the fresh air and sunshine as long as you follow a few precautions to avoid infection.
- Ride alone or only with people you are quarantined with.
- Continue to practice social distancing and remain at least six feet away from others you pass on the road.
- Allow more space than normal when following another rider.
- Plan your routes and avoid activities and weather that might lead to accidents.
Plus, now is a great time to get off crowded shared-used paths and bike on streets and roads where lower traffic volumes allow for safe and comfortable riding.
Even though you may be riding alone, you can still share your experiences and help encourage others to ride by going online. One option is to sign up with Love to Ride to set and measure goals, which can be a great motivator to get out and bike.
You also can involve your friends and coworkers by participating in Love to Ride’s and the League of American Bicyclists’ National Bike Challenge. By signing up for a team, you can set goals that you and your colleagues can all work together to achieve. The National Bike Challenge 2020 kicks off today (May 1) and runs through September.
The League of American Bicyclists also is encouraging riders to take a photo and share it on social media using #BikesUnite to show the world the joy of biking (please add @BikeFairfax as well). If you can’t get out, this is an excellent time to watch and share the League’s videos about how to gain confidence in your riding skills.
FABB is finalizing its own plans to encourage more biking during Bike Month, so check back here and on our other social media often for details. In the meantime, if you have questions or need help planning a good route, contact us at [email protected].
