Treating your bicycle solely as a tool for exercise, leaves a lot of the benefits of owning a bicycle on the “kaingakai”.

In Rarotonga when you use your bicycle just for exercise, it tends to fall by the way side and just sits unused until the next time you get the burst of energy or will power to go out for a exercise. But… if you think of your bicycle as a way to get from A to B, you all of a sudden find yourself cycling more, feeling better, saving money, but also minimising your impact on the environment – tick, tick, tick, TICK.

When you see kids cycling, they aren’t thinking – “I need to burn calories!”, they are out there using their bicycles to go to the beach with their cousins, meet up at a friends house, cycle to the shop for a treat, or just explore their village. Do you remember how free you felt riding a bike as a kid? Adopt this mindset and all of a sudden jumping on your bicycle isn’t such a drag, but becomes exhilarating and something to look forward to.

Like all things, work up slowly, make sure your bike is safe, and just as important – comfortable! Why comfortable? Last thing you want is for your body to be so sore after riding that you can’t get onto your bike for a week, at which point you might give up all together. So make sure it’s comfortable.

Check your bike

• Seat Height: ensure your seat is at a good height for the length of your legs. Generally speaking, when you’re sitting on your bike, and one foot is all the way down, there is a slight bend in your knee. This helps to distribute the workload on your legs, and not make it a ‘quad dominant’ or ‘calf dominant’ ride.
• Keep it short: stick to short distances when starting out, 10km or less, this way your body can work up gradually, and you can recover in time for your next ride. If you go all out and ride over 20km right out the gate – you’ll have a sore back, chafing legs, painful quads, and sore hands. These would take more than 3 days to recover from if you are not used to moderate movements in your daily routine.
• Check your Tyre pressure: Making sure your tyres have the right pressure is important, as it allows for your tyres to roll better on the roads and take some of the bumps that you encounter in your rides.
• Lube is good: Lubricating your chain will make the ride go a lot smoother. This should be weekly practice, checking and applying lube to your chain when necessary.

Economic benefits

A motorcycle + maintenance + running costs in its first year would be around $3.5k, whereas a bicycle would $1.5k, then in other years a motorcycle would cost you $900 whereas a bicycle would be $100. When you compare a bicycle to a car – bicycles are around 1% the cost of buying and maintaining a car. Working bicycles into your daily life will not only benefit you physically, but financially also.

The Challenges

Not everything is perfect in a little paradise, and cycling on Rarotonga isn’t without its challenges.

• No dedicated cycle lane: Some motorists frustrate easily, and pass close to cyclist when overtaking, and without dedicated cycle lanes on Rarotonga, this barrier maybe too much to overcome for people who want to make cycling a staple in their everyday life. But people for the most part are considerate, and pass by with plenty of room so cyclists feel safe. We just need to make cycling normal, and our habits as drivers will change accordingly.
• It’s Hot: One downside to cycling on our beautiful island is that it’s hot! You work up a sweat, and unless there are showers at your work, you will most likely not want to cycle to work, if it means arriving in a sweaty mess. There are ways around this, like using a public shower, or if you know of shower facilities somewhere near your work, then that can serve for the days you cycle to work. Another idea would be for the public transport buses to install mounts for bicycles on the front of the bus, so you can bus in, then cycle home.

As a nation, we have a ways to go before cycling is as common driving a motorbike, but even if we put 10% effort into cycling as a viable mode of transport – the benefits will be enormous!

Here is our challenge to you: #RideRaro16 – your goal is to cycle 16 days out of the month. Set your targets and go for it!