Implicit fitness

Sweden is a country that puts its money where its mouth is regarding fitness and providing access to easy exercise for people.

I'm talking about biking and how this country has bike paths all over the place that are built in a complete system (like regular roads almost). They have their own traffic lights and the bike paths are well paved and maintained. They all connect to one another and it makes riding a bike really easy.

Today I decided that because the sun was shining, I would go for a 19 km bike ride to the Burlov Center, halfway between Lund and Malmo. All the way there I had special bike paths that had proper signposts.

This sort of investment is something that Australians could only dream about. There are a few bike paths in Perth for example, but these are disconnected and follow routes that no one actually takes. For example, there is a bike path that follows the train line, but you can take your bike on the train for free. Of course if you don't really want to ride 20 km out to Midland, you get on the train and the whole point of the exercise is lost.

Here it is a bit different: the bike paths run where people want to go in the city and between towns and they are situated between the road and the footpath. It means you can safely ride your bike anywhere without some hideous bogan moron trying to scare you by driving too close in their V6 Falcon while simultaneously telling you to fuck off the road.

Often in dense European cities it is faster to get on your bike and ride than to take the bus or to walk or even drive. Whats great is you can really do it without compromising your safety.

A tacit benefit of all this is that you are doing moderate exercise every day, something that we all need to do in the modern age in order not to be unhealthy. Just by moving around, you get healthier and it is of course free.

I would not be able to back this claim up with numbers, but I even suspect that the health benefits caused by enabling people to cycle everywhere (Swedes do) would somehow cancel the costs of extra doctor's bills that need to be picked up by the state. Being fit naturally protects your body, so you don't need to go get that consultation from an overworked GP to tell you that you should really move more and eat less potato chips.

Its how a government should spend tax money, by making cities more livable.