Pharmacists in sport - Royal Pharmaceutical Society

T R A N S P O R T C Y C L I N G
Get fit
take to the saddle
With the government urging us all to get fit and reduce
pollution by cutting down on car travel, Matt Guarente
explores an alternative way of commuting to work
ONE OF the surprising – or perhaps shocking – statistics
to come out of the government’s latest campaign on
CO2 reduction is the amount we use our cars for very
short trips.
You may have seen the television adverts urging us all to drive
five miles less per week. And while five miles might not seem
like a lot, in fact almost a quarter of all car trips made in the UK
are under two miles. Cutting five miles may be a good start – but
cutting out all the short trips is even better.
Two miles by bike, going at a moderate pace, would take around
15 minutes. Going two miles (say to work), and cycling back,
would therefore quite happily deliver one of the recommended
five-times-a-week exercise sessions where we get our hearts
working at a decent clip for a period of 30 minutes. Cycling is
low-impact (for those of us who have creaking joints) and a good
aerobic workout, burning around 100 calories on those two miles.
Thanks to improved safety equipment, urban cycle networks
and better awareness of the issues by car drivers, cycling is
arguably safer than it ever has been – the numbers show that the
more cyclists there are in a town, the fewer accidents involving
cars there are. If you need any more incentive to leave the motor
at home, you’re roughly 30 times more likely to have a fatal car
crash than a fatal bike accident.
And there are good financial arguments too. If you cycle
all those two-mile trips you’d otherwise make in your car,
government estimates put the annual fuel saving at £600 – not
to mention per-mile driving costs that add an extra 35p a mile
on average. Soon the cost of that shiny new bike will be more
than paid back… so, where do you start? If you already have a
bike sitting around somewhere, take it into a bike shop and get
it serviced. This can cost from £30 for a basic service, checking
everything is lubricated, tightened and safe. You might need new
tyres (perished tyres are a major cause of accidents) and working
lights are a must. Get a good lock, and think about making any
quick-release items like wheels or seats rather more difficult for a
thief to, well, quickly release.
There are pro and con arguments for helmets, but if as little
as £25 stood between me and a dent in my head, I’d take the
financial hit. Specialized make some of the least offensive ones
out there should you wish to keep a low profile.
High-vis clothing, which could be anything from a reflective
‘Sam Browne’ belt to a full fluorescent (or even illuminated) backpack
cover, jacket or vest, is a good idea. Making sure you have
adequate protection from wind and rain is essential too, and if you
are worried about air quality then effective masks with replaceable
filters are easily available. If you have a shower facility at work
then you might have to make some logistical arrangements to
bring in or keep work clothes there.
Panniers can hold tons of stuff, and you could ditch the
supermarket trip altogether (and be more green) by ordering
groceries online rather than making the short trip in the car.
Of course you might want to get some idea of the good you’re
doing for your body, so having a heart-rate monitor is worthwhile.
Polar watches with heart-rate and various other metrics start at
£40. Speed demons may want a bike computer that measures
MPH – and cyclists can get fined for breaking speed limits. Æ
52 Pharmacy Professional | February 2010
February 2010 | Pharmacy Professional
53