Chris Cresswell: Peddling invention with many benefits

BRILLIANT INVENTION: It's a bike - and nurses Kath and Marilyn will tell you it's fun and keeps you fit.

IT IS 2030 and one brilliant solution to the global scourges of climate change, obesity, diabetes, traffic congestion, pollution - and to our debt from importing oil and cars - has just been invented.

This new form of transportation is 20 times more energy efficient than a car, and it runs on human energy therefore burning fat and preventing diabetes. These machines are cheap to buy and run and produce no greenhouse gases; they make it quick and nearly effortless (once the user becomes fit) to travel across a small city.

This new machine is a piece of Brilliantly Innovative Kinetic Engineering - or BIKE for short.

But of course it is 2016, and bikes have been around for 180 years. Unfortunately, despite the benefits of cycling outlined above, only 3 per cent of the adults in Whanganui use cycling as their main mode of transport.

Spring is a great time to get out on our bikes. Most of us want to shed a little winter lard before we start stripping off at the beach and the warmer weather makes cycling more pleasant.

Cycling is a fantastic way to stay fit, it is easy on old joints and great for maintaining balance and bone strength.

Outdoor exercise is better than indoor exercise for our mental health. It's hard to beat the feeling of rushing down a hill on a bike, or just feeling the wind in your face as you cruise along the road. Participants in trials comparing indoor with outdoor exercise report "greater feelings of revitalisation, increased energy and positive engagement, together with decreases in tension, confusion, anger and depression".

"Participants also reported greater enjoyment and satisfaction with outdoor activity ..."

It certainly feels that way to me. Exercising in a gym and not getting anywhere would do my head in.

Some people worry about the dangers of cycling on roads. I have found Whanganui drivers to be incredibly generous and considerate and I feel very safe. I do, however, worry about those few foolhardy cyclists who bike around at night with no lights and dark clothing.

The rainproof, breathable, high visibility clothing available now is amazing and relatively cheap.

Whanganui is a perfect for cycle commuting with small hills, lots of flat ground and short commuting distances for most people.

Why do so many of us drive our kids to school? Why are there so many students' cars parked around our high schools? Have we become so scared of the cold and wet? Have we just let ourselves believe we are too busy, too rushed? Or are we just lazy?

For a reality check on greenhouse gases Google the interview "Conversations with Great Minds" with professor of environmental biology, Guy McPherson. He discusses the latest research about the quantities of methane (a greenhouse gas) being released from the seafloor and the Arctic tundra as the planet warms. This positive feedback loop is likely to make most of the planet uninhabitable for humans by 2040. Yes, 2040. How old will you, your kids or grandchildren be then? Professor McPherson will be talking in Whanganui on December 1.

Will riding a bike stop global warming? No. Might it be a small part in the massive change in human behaviour required to save our species? Maybe. Or maybe we will just be ostriches with our heads in the sand ... or dodos?

For now, cycling wakes me up on the way to work, and clears my head on the way home. Mountain biking is a blast. A bike ride out to Okoia with a mate to get organic milk is a highlight of my week.

Cycling keeps me healthy and sane in what sometimes seems like an insane world.

Please, get on ya bike.

- Chris Cresswell is a Whanganui doctor and a member of the Green Party of Aotearoa.