Here’s 10 reasons – note this is city-specific (Boston for me). If you’re in Southern California, it’s probably too far to drive everywhere; if you’re in New York, you’d probably get hit by a cabbie; if you’re in Montreal, you’re probably biking anyways.

1. Burns calories

Biking will be good for your diet. If you weigh 150 pounds, you can burn anywhere from 400-1000 or more calories per hour, depending on your biking speed. Think about how long you have to run on the treadmill at the gym to burn that much. If you bike 30 minutes to work and back, you’ll can probably skip your gym workout; or better yet, still go and accelerate your weight loss!

2. Burns fat, builds muscle

Not only does biking burn calories, it also helps build muscle while burning that fat. You can lose weight just by dieting, but then you’ll also lose muscle.

3. Reduce your carbon footprint

A bicycle’s carbon footprint is tiny compared to a car’s – it is much better to manufacture a bike than to manufacture a car. After that, you also won’t be burning your dollars away in the form of gasoline. Which brings me to the next point.

4. Cheaper

A bike is cheaper than a car – there’s an upfront cost, and that’s pretty much it, excluding tune-ups and replacements if you need them. And then there’s the cheaper energy source – your legs! No need to pay $4 per gallon for gasoline.

5. Reduces traffic and congestion

Cars take up an entire lane in width, and several feet in length. Bikes can easily fit two to a lane in width, and sometimes just squeeze on the side of the road anyways. Drivers might complain about cyclists blocking their way, but it’s usually for a short distance; and if they’re driving that fast, there’s no congestion anyways!

6. Racing actually means something

Now of course there’s kill in racing on tracks and such, but I never understood the fascination of gunning your engine and pitting your car against the car next to you. Obviously whoever wins either has 1) the better car or 2) no fear of getting arrested. On the other hand, passing another bicyclist up actually shows your physical superiority.

7. Not that slow anyways

It’s going to be different in every location, but for the city streets of Cambridge and Boston during rush hours, a bike is often just as fast if not faster than a car.

8. Break laws with impunity

A cop is much less likely to pull a bicyclist over for running a red light.

9. Wear spandex

Bicyclists get to wear spandex in public and get away with it. How many other people can say that?

10. Free parking

Parking a car sucks in the city. Locking up your bike is easy. Of course, there’s the fear of getting your bike stolen, but get a good lock and there’s just about an equal chance that your car window will be smashed as your bike will be stolen.