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Self transportation is good for us Week 20 (13 May 2008)
This week I have been enjoying the pleasures of self transportation. On Sunday it was Helsinki City Run. This week is also national cycling week here in Finland.
The Helsinki City Run is a half marathon that wends its way around the city. It would be hard to think of a more pointless activity. We started at the Olympic stadium – built for the 1952 Helsinki Olympics and a marvellous piece of architecture of its era. We then ran for 21 km back to where we started. Why do we do such things? What has it achieved? My legs were sore and I ended up extremely tired by the end. The answer is I enjoyed it. Lying on the soft green grass of the Olympic stadium, in the sunshine eating an ice-cream, was wonderfully relaxing. I had a sense of achievement. That evening I ate a huge bowl of spaghetti Bolognese and slept like a log.
Our bodies are designed to be used. It is a measured fact that astronauts lose body mass without the knock and exertions of life under gravity. People who have a leg immobilised after breaking it find that the leg is as thin as a chicken’s leg when the plaster comes off. Exercise and exertion is good for us.
We might not all choose active and competitive sport as a past-time but our daily lives require walking, climbing stairs and occasionally running to catch a bus. This is a vital part of healthy living. Without the need to bother to plan to do exercise, we get enough to keep us healthy.
I find it odd when observing people on escalators or moving walk ways. The habit is to stand still. For those with heavy bags or shopping trolleys, I understand. For other people, it is pointless; they are wasting time that could be better spent. I always keep walking provided the way is not blocked by people standing. I save time and get a little exercise without needing to make any special effort.
Cycling is another choice we have available to us. Helsingin Sanomat (Helsinki’s newspaper and the de facto national paper) has carried out a study. It compared travel times between car, public transport and bicycle for three different journeys. On average the car journey was 18 minutes. Public transport was slowest at 22 minutes. Four minutes is a small penalty to pay (and the whole journey could be spent reading a magazine or newspaper). The fastest method was by bicycle at 17 minutes. In Helsinki it is possible, without risking life and limb, with excellent cycle track provision throughout the city.
Not all cities have such good provision for bicycles, or such good public transport, as Helsinki so the results elsewhere will be different. Our response to that should be to change our cities and match or exceed the cycling provision provided by the Finns. Getting around by self transportation is cheap, environmentally friendly and healthy
© Peter McManners 2008
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