Walking to and from places in the city is likely a good way to get some exercise, but because of traffic and potential long waits at corners for stoplights it isn't very practical if you want to be on time. However, the city I live in, in an effort to encourage people to do more cycling instead of taking taxis or driving, has installed bike lanes all over the city and this can actually be faster than taking a taxi. They also maneuver the paths through some nature trails and all vehicles and pedestrians are forbidden from entering this paths. Therefore, I have borrowed a bicycle from a friend to have a go at it before I dive in for the few meetings I have at certain places for my work. It is still pretty damn cold here so you have to prepare but I can see how this will improve over time as it gets warmer.
My journey isn't that far, but I can tell from my readouts that it is better than nothing and that is what fitness is all about in my world.
Because of the way that these paths are designed, we rarely have to stop for traffic. The city has install overpasses or underpasses to get you to where you need to go. Also, the on and off ramps are designed like a vehicle interstate so that you don't have to worry about crashing into other bikers that are just standing around. They actually DO patrol the bike paths and will warn people about what the rules on these paths are. Normally I don't like rules but honestly, if they didn't do this people would just be loitering all around and negate the positive effect of these paths.
My ride to where I needed to be wasn't long, as you can tell, but in the end I burned about half a beer worth of calories just to get to a meeting that I needed to go to anyway.
When I made my way back home I earned the 2nd half of this beer, just by going to do something I needed to do anyway. Taxis are overpriced in this city just like any big city in USA so if I had decided to take one, it would have easily cost me $20 to do so. This could be a good way for me to determine if purchasing the bicycle rather than borrowing it would make financial sense. Since I would never be in the market for a top-end bike and the one I am borrowing now retails for about $500, I would only need to attend 25 meetings to justify the cost. I think I will start to track the amount of rides I make over the next month or so and see if I can justify it.
It's great to have a bike to borrow before I take the plunge because I know quite a few people that decided to enter the cycling world only to have said bike end up in the corner of a room covered in laundry.