How do you get to work? Today is national Bike to Work Day and cyclists and two-wheeled commuters across the country have taken to their bikes for today's commute. Begun in 1956 as Bike Month -- an industry event meant to promote bike sales -- Bike Week and Bike to Work Day now mean much more.
HuffPost blogger and Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune suggests that if more Americans biked to work, the country could save a lot of gas, and money. Noting that 40 percent of car trips are under two miles, Brune argues that "if every American driver made just one of those trips each week on a bicycle instead of a car, we would collectively save nearly 2 billion gallons of gas in a year."
The percentage of Americans that regularly bike to work may not be large, but the number is growing. According to a 2010 survey from the League of American bicyclists, "more than half of one percent of American workers use a bicycle as their primary mode of transportation to work." They note that the number rose by "nearly 40 percent" between 2000 and 2010. Cities like Eugene, Oregon and Fort Collins, Colorado lead the nation with over five percent of workers biking to their jobs.
If you're ready to start biking to work, check out these commuting tips from Active.com and Bicycling. Learn about some of the bike amenities that offices are providing to their employees here.
If you're unsure about cycling and Bike to Work Day resources in your area, click here for a list of Bike to Work Day events across the country. Bikely offers maps of user-submitted bike routes across the world.
Did you bike to work today? If so, send us a pic of you and your bike and check out other cyclists below.
