It’s still National Bike Month in the USA for a few more days, while the whole summer stretches before us to enjoy our bicycles. In the beginning of every May, Bicycle to Work Day encourages people in the USA to get out of their cars and on to their bicycles, followed by World Bicycle Day on June 3rd. So bicycles are in the air, so to speak, and more importantly on the ground in motion. According to the US Census data on bicycle ridership, over 800,000 people rode their bicycles to work in 2017, up from 665,000 in 2007.

Dr. Satyalaxmi, Director of the National Institute of Naturopathy in Pune, India recently resumed bicycling after a gap of 35 years. She is now commuting to her office daily, hoping to inspire others to do the same. In this short interview she shares the slight hesitations she had about getting back on her bicycle after so many years. as well as how she is enjoying bicycling and her increased level of fitness and agility.  She notes that mainstream society associates social status with mode of transportation, with bicycles being thought of as transportation for people who can’t afford cars. However, she loves the sense of freedom she feels on her bicycle, and the independence from having to coordinate with her chauffeur, which is a problem many or most of us don’t have.

Naturopathy promotes the deployment of non-pharmaceutical modalities for prevention and treatment of injuries and illnesses. As such, active transportation is aligned with the theory and practice of naturopathy. Even the American Public Health Association endorses active transportation, which includes bicycling, walking, skateboarding, kick scootering, roller skating, skiing, snoeshoing, even wheelchairing, as an essential part of creating a healthy lifestyle, community, and environment.

Pune was historically known as the “Cycle City of India”. In my recent stays in Pune I mostly noted the intense traffic congestion and concomitant air and noise pollution. I used a kick scooter to move about town, much to the delight of onlookers who have likely never seen a female in my age category on a kick scooter. I also met bicycle activists and learned of the efforts to promote bicycling and make it safer and more pleasant. There’s a bicycling revival underfoot, so to speak. The Pune Municipal Corporation is collecting data and has laid out a Bicycle Plan. Bicycle sharing schemes similar to ones popular in Europe and the USA are now coming to India too.

Making active transportation a mass transit reality across the globe will require infrastructure that keeps bicycles safe from larger motorized vehicles, affordable housing so everyone can reside close to where they work and live, and a cultural shift that affords health and mobility a greater social status than luxury fossil fueled vehicles, self or chauffeur-driven.

The end of May is not the end of bicycling. I encourage you all to join the National Bike Challenge, which encourages creating community, camaraderie, and casual competition around bicycling and runs all the way through September. I wish you all a happy and safe summer and autumn of bicycling. Please share your bicycling stories here or on the Ready, Steady, Go! action item encouraging your own Pedal Power!

#June3WorldBicycleDay