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To be fit and healthy you need to be physically active. Regular physical activity can help protect you from serious diseases such as obesity, heart disease, cancer, mental illness, diabetes and arthritis. Riding your bicycle regularly is one of the best ways to reduce your risk of health problems associated with a sedentary lifestyle. Cycling is a healthy, low-impact exercise that can be enjoyed by people of all ages, from young children to older adults. It is also fun, cheap and good for the environment. Riding to work or the shops is one of the most time-efficient ways to combine regular exercise with your everyday routine. An estimated one billion people ride bicycles every day – for transport, recreation and sport. Cycling for health and fitness It only takes two…

Whether you're young or old, athletic or sedentary, bicycling is an enjoyable and healthy way to travel and experience the outdoors. Done vigorously, it gives the heart and circulatory system a workout and can burn more than 500 calories per hour. The development of new types of bicycles—notably the hybrid, which combines the speed of a road bike and the ruggedness of a mountain bike—has made riding easier and offers more options to suit your specific needs. What's more, cyclists now have more places to ride. Here, ways to improve your performance, safety and comfort when cycling. 1 - Wear a Helmet More than 6,000 cyclists seek emergency care for head injuries each year in the U.S., and head trauma accounts for 75 percent of cycling fatalities. Used properly, bike…

[caption id="attachment_435" align="alignright" width="300"] Ensure your bike is roadworthy[/caption] Ensure your bike is roadworthy Regularly check your brakes and tyre pressure. Don't ignore any strange noises, vibrations, or jumping gears – they usually indicate a problem. Know how to control your bike Learn how to shift your body weight when making an emergency stop, be able to swerve safely, use your gears properly, control the bike while looking directly behind and confidently ride with one hand. On the road, ride with at least two of your fingers on your brake levers. Don't be afraid to use roads Cycling in parks and on cycle paths is great fun, but being able to use the road gives you the freedom cycling was intended to give you. Cycling on the pavement, even considerately,…

1. Keep it clean If there is one thing you can do to prolong the life of your bike, it is keeping it clean. Tedious, but true. No fancy cleaning kit required – a bucket of soapy water, a sponge and an old toothbrush is all you need, though a proper degreaser will help break down the oil and grit in the chain and gear sprockets. 2. Keep your tyres inflated properly Poorly inflated tyres are prone to punctures. Forget flimsy hand pumps – you need a standing track pump with a pressure gauge to do the job. Nice bike shops will let you borrow theirs. Look on the side of your tyre for a number followed by the letters PSI. That tells you how much air to put in.…