Cycling

The design, coupled with low or dropped handlebars, requires the rider to bend forward more, making use of stronger muscles (particularly the gluteus maximus) and reducing air resistance at high speed.

Items legally required in some jurisdictions, or voluntarily adopted for safety reasons, include bicycle helmets,[13] generator or battery operated lights, reflectors, and audible signalling devices such as a bell or horn.

Many schools and police departments run educational programs to instruct children in bicycle handling skills, especially to introduce them to the rules of the road as they apply to cyclists.

Alternately, in countries such as Denmark and the Netherlands, where cycling is popular, cyclists are often segregated into bike lanes at the side of, or more often separate from, main highways and roads.

Some jurisdictions give priority to motorized traffic, for example setting up one-way street systems, free-right turns, high capacity roundabouts, and slip roads.

Paris–Brest–Paris (PBP), which began in 1891, is the oldest bicycling event still run on a regular basis on the open road, covers over 1,200 km (746 mi) and imposes a 90-hour time limit.

This study used many questionnaires and conducted statistical analysis to come up with the conclusion of cyclists' top 5 factors that they consider before making a decision to bike are: safety, lighting facility, design of lanes, the surrounding landscape, and how clean the environment is.

Rides usually consist of several different routes, sorted by mileage, and with a certain number of rest stops that usually include refreshments, first aid and maintenance tools.

Recumbent bicycles were banned from bike races in 1934 after Marcel Berthet set a new hour record in his Velodyne streamliner (49.992 km on 18 November 1933).

[33] Although the first emphasizes the potential for energy and resource conservation and health benefits gained from cycling versus automobile use, is relatively undisputed, the second is the subject of much debate.

While the ride was founded with the idea of drawing attention to how unfriendly the city was to bicyclists, the leaderless structure of Critical Mass makes it impossible to assign it any one specific goal.

In fact, the purpose of Critical Mass is not formalized beyond the direct action of meeting at a set location and time and traveling as a group through city streets.

[39] Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement are organizations such as Street Riders NYC that seek to protest while on bicycles about systemic racism and police brutality.

An incidental experience for Street Riders NYC protest participants is the inequity in where safe bicycling infrastructure exists by neighbourhood, which is interpreted as a form of classism within cycling and urbanism.

In Europe, the European Cyclists' Federation represents around 70 local, regional and national civil society organisations across more than 40 countries that work to promote cycling as a mode of transport and leisure.

Bicycles provide numerous possible benefits in comparison with motor vehicles, including the sustained physical exercise involved in cycling, easier parking, increased maneuverability, and access to roads, bike paths and rural trails.

[48] Among the disadvantages of cycling are the requirement of bicycles (excepting tricycles or quadricycles) for the rider to have certain level of basic skill to remain upright, the reduced protection in crashes in comparison to motor vehicles,[49] often longer travel time (except in densely populated areas), vulnerability to weather conditions, difficulty in transporting passengers, and the fact that a basic level of fitness is required for cycling moderate to long distances.

Cycling provides a variety of health benefits[50][51] and reduces the risk of cancers, heart disease, and diabetes that are prevalent in sedentary lifestyles.

[57] Overall, benefits of cycling or walking have been shown to exceed risks by ratios of 9:1 to 96:1 when compared with no exercise at all, including a wide variety of physical and mental outcomes.

Cycling is also used for rehabilitation after hip surgery to manage soft-tissue healing, control swelling and pain, and allow a larger range of motion to the nearby muscles earlier during recovery.

Given that many journeys are for relatively short distances, there is considerable scope to replace car use with walking or cycling, though in many settings this may require some infrastructure modification, particularly to attract the less experienced and confident.

Using a health economic assessment model, the study found a lower incidence of type 2 diabetes, acute myocardial infarction, and stroke in individuals that cycled compared to those that did not actively commute.

A European study surveying participants from seven cities about self-perceived health based on primary modes of transportation reported favorable results in the bicycle use population.

This suggested that non-physical factors of cycling such as independence, engagement with the outdoor environment, and mobility play a greater role in improving mental health.

[75] Researchers used three cognitive assessments: Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Fuld object memory evaluation, and symbol digit modality test.

A Danish study in 2000 found that even after adjustment for other risk factors, including leisure time physical activity, those who did not cycle to work experienced a 39% higher mortality rate than those who did.

These are caused by many factors:[94] Overuse injuries, including chronic nerve damage at weight bearing locations, can occur as a result of repeatedly riding a bicycle for extended periods of time.

Damage to the ulnar nerve in the palm, carpal tunnel in the wrist, the genitourinary tract[95] or bicycle seat neuropathy[96] may result from overuse.

Recumbent bicycles are designed on different ergonomic principles and eliminate pressure from the saddle and handlebars, due to the relaxed riding position.

Other authors have found small or inconsistent differences in concentrations but claim that exposure of cyclists is higher due to increased minute ventilation[112] and is associated with minor biological changes.