The New Hampshire Bike-Walk Alliance's annual Commute Green NH event challenges Granite Staters to use human power to get around as much as possible during their six-week spring promotion.

Commuting by bike makes a lot of sense.

• It gets you fit. Riding a bike not only burns calories, but it also builds impressive lower-body strength, and improves aerobic (heart-lung) capacity. Riding a bike for half an hour or even a few hours doesn't really feel like work--to me at least--compared to, say, running or swimming for the same amount of time.
• You'll arrive at work refreshed, and you'll have left your work worries behind by the time you return home.
• It connects you with the natural world. Cycling back and forth from work has brought me breathtaking scenery, the scents of pine woods and lilacs, the sounds of rushing streams and, once, a whinnying horse who galloped the length of long field alongside me, matching my pace as I rode by.
• Cycling burns calories instead of gasoline. You save at the pump and reduce air pollution. You can cover a lot of miles on a well-fitting bike, occasionally even faster than you could get there by car. During my fittest years, I commuted distances of up to 50 miles round-trip (a feat that confers tremendous bragging rights).

Approach bike commuting with a blue-collar attitude

Pump the tires, fill the water bottles, don the helmet, climb on the bike and start pedaling. Keep a couple of fresh changes of clothes in a supply closet or other handy storage space at work. Keep a towel and a bar of soap in a drawer and swab off in the office rest room. Carry your lunch, wallet, ID, insurance card and hairbrush in a backpack.

A few essential tips for bike commuters:

• Wear the helmet. Twice I've crashed badly enough to send me to an emergency room. Both times, ER physicians told me my helmet saved my life. Buy a helmet that meets the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CSPC) safety standards. To protect you, your helmet must fit snugly and sit squarely on your head, with the inner band of the helmet resting just above your eyebrows and the chin strap pulled as tight as you can comfortably wear it.
• Don't wear a helmet again after a crash, even a minor crash. Even the best-designed, most expensive helmet will protect your head for only a single impact. Don't buy a used helmet. You can't tell by looking at it if it's gone through a crash.
• Invest in some bike-specific clothing. You don't have to garb up in skin-tight spandex. Cycling gear comes in many different styles. But do choose "performance" fabrics that wick sweat from your body for comfort and that dry quickly after a wash. Wear a vibrantly colored jersey or jacket so you'll remain visible to motorists. Although many riders riders prefer shorts with a protective crotch-pad, others (especially women) find they ride more comfortably in shorts without pads.
• Explore saddle types. If you experience discomfort on the saddle that came with your bicycle, don't despair and don't resign yourself to the pain. Many bike shops let you take test rides to try out saddles of different sizes, shapes, and materials. Many men and women prefer saddles that feature cut-outs which offer relief from saddle pressure on their sensitive private parts.
• Buy local. Unless you do all your own mechanic work, it makes sense to buy your bike, most of your gear, and your service from a local shop. You'll want and need to form a long, trusting relationship with your shop's mechanic(s). The folks you trust and rely on deserve your money, too.
• Get your bike "fit" and have it tuned annually by a professional. "Fitting a bike" means adjusting it to accommodate your body, your intended use of the bike, and your riding style. A proper fit will help you avoid injury, improve your riding comfort, and boost your energy efficiency. Have a professional tuneup each spring to check the bike for safety and replace worn parts.
• Train up. Especially if you haven't cycled for years, start with a few easy miles and work up gradually. Rather than risk knee injury by grinding away in a high gear, learn to "spin" fast in a low gear. Polish your shifting, turning, climbing, and other skills with practice runs on a traffic-sparse road before moving onto a major roadway. Build your confidence by joining the Granite State Wheelmen or another local cycling club for group rides.
• Follow the rules of the road. If you ride on paved roads, ride assertively, but courteously, with traffic. Ride single file. Use appropriate hand signals (but avoid rude gestures. You can't win against a road-raging pickup driver). More rules

Have a few good excuses for why you can't bike to work?
Many successful self-powering commuters have found creative ways to overcome just about any of them. Check out these sites for a solution to your problem:

• No more excuses


• Save Time Commuting by Bicycle


• Tips for bike commuters

More information for bike commuters

• Calculate the true cost of driving
• Safety information for New Hampshire cyclists
• The basics of cycling in traffic
• New Hampshire bike trail maps

What does it mean to be a Livable Walkable Community?

Livable and walkable communities put urban environments on a scale for sustainability of natural and economic resources and lead to more social interaction, and physical fitness.They diminished crime and other social problems and lead to whole, happy, healthy lives for the people who live in them.

Have you ever thought about how livable and walkable your community is? These resources can help you and other community members assess your community and make necessary changes to improve the health and wellness of your community.

• Scorecard to assess your community
• Worksheet to collect baseline data for your community
• A Community Toolkit
• Action Planner: Steps the community needs to take to make their community more livable and walkable
• Get involved in change. Ideas from the Active Living Resource Center
  
• Active Living By Design creates community-led change by working with local and national partners to build a culture of active living and healthy eating
  

TIP: Vary your workouts to improve fitness and stay motivated -- try speedwork.

No matter what form of regular aerobic exercise you choose: walking, running, bicycling, swimming, snowshoeing, cross country skiing, or even jumping rope--a little speedwork can boost your motivation to exercise, improve your fitness, and make your regular workouts more comfortable.

Speedwork means just what the word suggests.
It involves stepping up the pace of your workout. Speed sandwiches, brief periods of going at a faster pace, sandwiched between periods of slower work are the easiest form of speedwork. They don't require a stopwatch, a measured distance, or a heart-rate monitor.

Here's how to begin.

• Warm up at your regular workout pace for five or ten minutes, then pick up the pace for a short distance--you could use the distance between two telephone poles, or between a house and a big tree, or simply count 100 steps.

• Don't go all out. Aim for a smooth, fast pace that pushes your a little outside your comfort zone and gets you breathing harder, but that doesn't leave you gasping or forcing you to stop to catch your breath.

• After a speed burst, slow down to your normal workout pace until you recover your normal workout breathing.

• Pick up the pace once or twice again for a short distance, always recovering your breath before the next speed burst.

• Finish your workout with a five-to-10-minute cooldown.

Do your speed sandwiches only once a week.
Gradually increase the length and frequency of the speed bursts, but do your speedwork no more than once a week. After a couple of months, you may reach the point where fast pacing occupies about one-third your once-weekly speed workout.

Athletes use various kinds of speedwork to prepare their bodies for competition.
Fitness exercisers interested in preparing for a race or special event may benefits from a training plan that includes more advanced speedwork. In these cases, it's a good idea to join a group working, or consult an experienced coach. While right type of speedwork for your sport and your level of conditioning will help prevent injury as you improve your speed, the wrong speedwork can cause injury or burnout.

Attitude is more important than age or athleticism when it comes to bicycle commuting.

My job involves enabling and encouraging elementary school children to safely walk and ride bicycles to school. When I was hired in November 2006 to coordinate the Safe Routes to School program for the N.H. Department of Transportation, I decided I should set a good example and gain the health benefits by cycling to work.

The round trip from my home in Penacook to Hazen Drive in Concord is about 17 miles, and takes about an hour and 15 minutes. I ride through the winter, trying to average four days a week. Not bad for a fifty-something guy who doesn't like his ranking on the BMI (body mass index) scale and starts each morning with medications for high blood pressure and cholesterol. By turning commuting time into workout time, raising my heart rate instead of my blood pressure, I dropped 20 pounds. Last spring, my doctor removed a diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes.

Dress for success
I'll admit that I sometimes have to explain to my colleagues that I'm stubborn, not reckless. That happens when I arrive at the John O. Morton Building after a ride in drenching rain. No such thing as bad weather, I sometimes declare, just inadequate clothing.

Although middle-age spread caught up with me, I have always been physically active. Extensive downhill and cross-country skiing taught me how to dress in layers for the cold and wind. On many winter mornings, I start with long johns and a heavyweight shirt fabricated from a wicking material. Synthetic fleece traps the body heat, and a windbreaker completes the outfit. On the absolute worst days, I resort to my ski parka.

The right bike makes a big difference.
Following the advice received at S&W Sports in Concord, I bought a Trek Navigator that uses a "unisex" or "European" design. It would have been called a "girls' model" when I was growing up. Losing the crossbar makes emergency dismounts much easier. Because I ride pavement that has seen the ravages of seasonal changes and frost heaves, I like the fat tires found on mountain bikes. Studs are a big help for the occasional patches of slush and ice - I don't ride when the roads are covered with snow.

Fenders deflect water and crud back to the pavement. On the Navigator, cables are routed inside the frame tubes to protect them from the elements. One problem I have not yet solved is that the brake and shift cables can stick when moisture freezes on them.

Visibility
Because too many drivers don't follow the rules of the road or are distracted by their cell phone conversations, visibility is a high priority. No cyclist should be out after dark without a red taillight and white headlight. I add a small light to the back of my helmet. I also wear a chartreuse cycling windbreaker with retroreflective highlights.

Fortunately for my colleagues, the DOT has a shower and a place where I can store enough office clothes to maintain that all-important professional appearance.

I pedaled more than 2000 miles to finish sixth on the Granite State Wheelmen's list of bicycle commuters. Next year, I hope to break into the top five.

Submitted by John Corrigan, Safe Routes To School Coordinator, NH Department of Transportation