<body bgcolor="#8df3ae" text="black" link="#0000ff" vlink="#00ffff" alink="#ff0000"> <font size="+3"><center><b><br> Pedal Yourself Healthy</b></center></font><p><p> <center><b><font size="+1">A program for healthy living created by <a href="mailto:dmeengr@nwol.net">David M. Eggleston</a></font></b></center><p> <b><u>Mission Statement </u></b><p> The mission of Pedal Yourself Healthy is to foster regular exercise through enabling the use of pedal vehicles for personal, everyday transportation.<p> Americans have gradually eliminated physical activity from their lives. We use cars for transportation, and TV, movies, and computer games for relaxation. We watch sports on TV, but don't do sports ourselves. This has led to what Texas Health Commisioner Dr. Eduardo Sanchez has called "our next public health disaster."<p> Government surveys indicate that over 60% of Americans are overweight or obese, with about 1/3 being obese. It is well known that being overweight and having a sedentary life brings on a whole series of diseases such as diabetes, heart problems, back problems, foot and knee problems, and a host of others. In fact, Dr. Frank Booth, a professor of physiology at the University of Missouri-Columbia has founded a group called Researchers against Inactivity Related Disorders (RID). This group also coined a medical condition, Sedentary Death Syndrome (SDS), which includes 26 diseases. They believe it leads to 250,000 premature deaths in the U.S. each year and will cost $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years. My sister Diane died of SDS.<p> The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that the average American could save $330 per year if they became physically fit. They estimate that if all Americans became physically fit $72 billion would be saved per year. With the ever-increasing costs of health care, health insurance, and medicines, the economic loss due to physical inactivity is very great. Improved physical fitness could significantly ease the continued funding of Medicare and the problem of providing health insurance for all Americans.<p> There is evidence that societies with better diets and heavy physical exercise have less tendencies toward dementia and Alzheimer's disease than do Americans. Thus increased physical activity could reduce the need for Assisted Living and Nursing home care for older Americans.<p> Only a very small number of Americans use bicycles for regular personal transportation. This is due to the car culture, to perceived dangers of riding in traffic, to peer pressure, to fear of bike theft, to possible mugging or street violence, to inconvenience of riding in the rain or bad weather, and finally to basic laziness. Children no longer walk or bike to school.<p> A new class of pedal vehicles, velomobiles, have gained some popularity in Europe, where eight commercial manufacturers of velomobiles are doing business. Velomobiles are pedal vehicles having an enclosed cockpit, a built in lighting and electrical system, comfortable seating, protection from inclement or cold weather, a suspension system, good brakes, and built-in provision to carry significant amounts of baggage such as groceries. Many have superior aerodynamics that enable average speeds of 15 to 25 mph, so that fit drivers can travel almost as fast as cars in stop and go city traffic. Most velomobiles are high-tech tricycles, so do not require the driver to balance the vehicle. This makes them much easier to drive than a bicycle, which leads to increased convenience and safety, as well as easier parking. Many are highly maneuverable, which helps promote safety in traffic.<p> Velomobiles are heavier than bicycles, but in a relatively flat area such as Midland, TX, there is little need to climb hills, so that the disadvantages of greater weight are hardly noticed. Many areas of the U.S. are without significant hills. Furthermore, the development of limited, small auxiliary power systems that supplement pedaling can alleviate the problems of climbing hills or of accelerating rapidly in traffic, without impacting the health advantages of pedaling.<p> It is the premise of Pedal Yourself Healthy that the health advantage of daily pedaling with support/supervision from medical personnel and experienced bike/velomobile transportation users, together with the extra conveniences offered by velomobiles will be attractive enough that many people will come to adopt bicycles/velomobiles for part of their routine travel. The founder of PYH, David M. Eggleston, has ridden a velomobile in city traffic in Midland, TX for more than four years, averaging 1500 miles per year doing routine errands around town. Even without special bike paths or traffic control, this has been relatively easy and has contributed greatly to his weight control and general aerobic fitness. The exercise engendered can be enjoyed throughout the year in cities such as Midland, TX, with its rather mild weather.<p> The activities of PYH will include, but not be limited to, the following:<p> <ul> <li>Study of the local barriers and attitudes to wide utilization of bicycles/velomobiles for routine transportation<br> <li>Arranging for physical health evaluation of prospective bicycle/velomobile drivers<br> <li>Development, printing, and distribution of preferred bicycle route maps <br> <li>Providing training for riding a bicycle or velomobile in traffic<br> <li>Training rides for demonstration of bicycle/velomobile driving skills<br> <li>Research into the best and most reliable velomobiles for daily use<br> <li>Consulting in velomobile specifications, design, development, and manufacture<br> <li>Development of anti-theft measures for velomobiles<br> <li>Development of safety enhancements such as crashworthiness, collision avoidance, and other systems<br> <li>Arrangements for procuring and shipping velomobiles for local use<br> <li>Coordinating with for-profit shops in velomobile sales and rental arrangements<br> </ul>.<p><p> <p> For more information, email<a href="mailto:dmeengr@nwol.net"> David Eggleston</a><p> <hr width="95%" align=center> Below, are pictures of several commercially available velomobiles. Click on the picture for a link to the corresponding website.<p> <p> <p> <center> <a href="http://www.alleweder.nl/ "><img src="alleweder3.jpg" width="150" height="100" alt="Alleweder"> </A> <a href="http://www.velomobiel.nl "><img src="mango.jpg" width="150" height="100" alt="the Mango"></A> <a href="http://www.velomobiel.nl "><img src="quest1.jpg" width="150" height="100" alt="the Quest"></A></center><br> <center>The Alligt Alleweder.............The Mango by Velomobiel.nl .........The Quest by Velomobiel.nl <p> <a href="http://www.cab-bike.de "><img src="cabbike1.jpg" width="158" height="116" alt="Cab Bike"> </A> <a href="http://www.flevobike.nl/indexmodellen.html"><img src="versatile.jpg" width="150" height="85" alt="The Flevobike Versatile"></A> <a href="http://www.go-one.de/ukindex.shtml "><img src="goone3.jpg" width="158" height="116" alt="Go-One "> </A> <br> The Cab-Bike...........................The Versatile by Flevobike...............................The Go-One<sup>3</sup><p> <br> <a href="http://www.leitra.dk/"><img src="leitra1.jpg" width="217" height="85" alt="The Leitra"></A><br> The Leitra </center> <p> <hr width="95%" align=center><p> David Eggleston has obtained the rights to build the Flevobike Alleweder in the US and is beginning some initial prototypes.<p> For a brief history of the Alleweder Velomobile, <a href="awhistory.html"> click here</a><p> <hr width="95%" align=center> <b><u>References:</u></b><p> For velomobile info see <a href="http://home.gwi.net/velomobile/ ">The North American Velomobilist Website</a> created by Ethan Davis. Alternatively do a Google search of the word velomobile.<p> My previous velomobile experience is written up in an <a href="dmevelo.html"> article</a> that originally appeared in <a href="http://www.recumbentcyclistnews.com"> Recumbent Cyclist News</a> #63.<p> For a good discussion of America's overweight health problems see Medical Editor Don Finley's articles in the San Antonio Express-News of Dec. 8, 2002. <p> <IMG SRC="/cgi-bin/Count.cgi?df=pyh.dat|ft=10|dd=C|frgb=ff0000"> Hits since 3-13-03<p> <center><font size="+0" color="#000000" face="arial">Broken links or other problems with this website? Please email the <a href="mailto:recumbo@gwi.net">Webmaster</a>.</font></center> <p> Last edited 4-1-03<p> <p> your browser cannot display frames </body>