Across different parts of the world, different days have been set aside to mark a purpose or a holiday. Among the different special days in the world today, one that you should be aware of is World Bicycle Day. This is a day that is not known by many, but what’s certain is that after learning about this day in this article, you’ll start to look forward to the next World Bicycle Day.
What’s special about World Bicycle Day? When and how did it start? You’ll find answers to this and more as you read on. In addition, we’ll also take you through some of the interesting facts and benefits of cycling. Continue reading to find out more about World Bicycle Day. And if you’re looking for World Bicycle Day images for your designs, we also share 10+ illustrations that can be downloaded for free.
Before we begin, one thing that you should note is the significance of the bicycle. The first thing to remember is that bicycle also plays a role in transportation, especially in terms of promoting economic growth, reducing inequalities, and also boosting our strength in the fight against adverse climate change. All these are vital for sustainable development.
What to Know About World Bicycle Day?
World Bicycle Day is one of the days that is marked across different parts of the world, and this is mostly on June 3 every year. The aim is to recognize the role of bicycling when it comes to utilizing a sustainable means of traveling that ensures our physical wellbeing.
The day was created to celebrate cycling and how it’s vital for staying fit. However, one thing to note is that cycling in itself is multidimensional and diverse, with numerous health benefits.
Brief History of World Bicycle Day
As mentioned earlier, World Bicycle Day is celebrated on June 3, and it is a date that was first declared by the United Nations General Assembly. The aim was to celebrate World Bicycle Day, and the first celebration was in 2018.
The declaration of this day is a result of the support of Turkmenistan, the result of Leszek Sibilski’s campaign, and that of 56 countries to recognize this day.
Leszek Sibilski is a sociology professor, physical education and cycling activist, and he started a movement in February 2015. He also wrote a blog for World Bank, and this was titled “Cycling being everyone’s business.”
In 2016, the campaign gained momentum after he released another blog post, but this time, it was captioned one single day to celebrate cycling. By March 2016, he was invited to speak at the Scientist for Cycling colloquium in Taiwan, and during this event, he argued that there was a need to celebrate World Bicycle Day.
Two years later, in 2018, the United Nations approved his plight and designated June 3 as World Bicycle Day.
Significance of World Bicycle Day
The key reason why the day was designated is to effectively draw the attention of people to the benefits and importance of using a bicycle. Bicycle is a clean, simple, environmentally friendly, sustainable, and affordable means of transportation that people should learn to utilize.
Another thing to note is that bicycle also contributes to maintaining a clean environment and also making it easier for people to access health care, education, and other social services, especially in vulnerable regions.
World Bicycle Day is undoubtedly an important day to mark, and another key thing that you should note is that bicycle also plays a key role in promoting economic growth. All these are reasons why the UN finally agreed to designate a day to mark World Bicycle Day.
Why We Celebrate World Bicycle Day
To further help you appreciate the relevance of World Bicycle Day, here are a few more things that you should be aware of:
Facts about World Bicycle Day
These facts will interest you:
- Bicycle symbolizes fuel-saving and sustainable transportation
- It is a simple, reliable, environmentally friendly, and affordable means of transportation
- The use of a bicycle makes it easy for people to intimate themselves with their local environment
- A bicycle is an effective development tool and a means to easily access basic amenities in a region.
- In the Netherlands, there’s a unique culture for bicycles. Statistics show that more than 17 million Dutch own about 25 million bicycles. Even the Dutch royals mark their cycling tradition.
Effects and Importance of World Bicycle Day
Although we’ve mentioned the significance of World Bicycle Day above, here are the effects and importance of this day:
- World Bicycle Day encourages the Member States to utilize best practices and adopt means to promote and develop cycling culture in the society
- It inspires the need to improve road safety and adopt cycling as a transportation means
- World Bicycle Day urges stakeholders to place more emphasis on how using a bicycle can strengthen education. This includes preventing diseases, mutual understanding, physical education, social inclusion, and promoting tolerance
- World Bicycle Day helps the Member States to devote more attention to programmers and policies that can place bicycles in the sub-national and national development areas.
Events and Celebrations of World Bicycle Day
Across different parts of the world and in different sectors, bicycle day is recognized in many ways and with different activities. Here’s an overview of some of these activities:
- Within the educational sector, you’ll find students getting involved, and more motivated by speeches, especially when it comes to the benefits of using a bicycle.
- On a special day, you’ll notice different bicycle races and rallies across different regions
- The day is also celebrated on an international level, and or someone who’s active, this can be done by joining a ride to support the use of bicycles.
World Bicycle Day Images and Illustrations for Free Download
Today, there are different bicycle projects across different parts of the world, and what’s more, is that their socio-economic position continues to improve and strengthen. The use of bicycles as a means of transportation is also being more and more acknowledged in recent times.
Bike for School
An easy way for kids to get to school is with the use of a bicycle. With this, students can easily combine school and household chores. Regardless of long distances, it makes it a lot easier for them to reach their school without getting exhausted. With this, they won’t have to walk for long only to get tired when they arrive at school.
Bike for Work
With a bicycle, both private job holders and government workers can save fuel and money to work. Farmers can also use bicycles to easily access their farms and the crop market.
Physical Benefits of Bicycle
In addition to the socio-economic benefits of the bicycle, it’s important to note that there are also physical benefits it brings, and among these include the following:
Reduces the Risk of Heart Disease
In a UK research, it was shown that walking or cycling could reduce the risk of stroke or cardiovascular disease. The findings from the research showed that cycling has an 11% chance of lowering the risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Also, cycling can reduce the risk of fatal cardiovascular disease by 30% and regular cycling by 43%.
Reduces the Risk of Type 2 Diabetes
Another research from Denmark also showed that cycling places a vital role in reducing the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. This is applicable for both light and heavy cycling. The research also showed that even for people who started cycling at a later age, the benefits are still profound in such individuals.
Promotes Weight Loss
For someone who’s interesting in losing weight, cycling may be a convenient approach to consider. Another UK research showed that cycling is a great way to lower body fat and BMI, and its effects are seen a lot faster than those who walk.
Safe for Sexual Health
A research from the University of California showed that male cyclists had a healthy urinary and sexual system. This is a lot similar to runners and swimmers, and it goes to show that cycling places a vital role in maintaining good sexual health. Another research in San Francisco also gave similar findings and suggested that cycling is safe for sexual health.
How to Mark World Bicycle Day
We have covered many things that you should know about the bicycle day. From its history to the socio-economic and physical benefits of cycling. The only thing left is for you to know how to celebrate the special day.
In different parts of the world, people celebrate world bicycle day in many ways, and it mostly depends on individual preferences. One thing you should note is that you can either celebrate it physically or via social media platforms. Whichever the case may be, the goal is to ensure that the essence of the world bicycle day is fully recognized and acknowledged.
Marking World Bicycle Day Physically
On a set day, people engage in different activities to mark the bicycle day globally. The most common way people do this is to go cycling in groups and over a set distance.
This strategy brings people together, promotes unity, and also emphasizes more on the importance of cycling. We have also mentioned other activities that people engage in above. You might want to try joining people in cycling on the next bicycle day.
Marking World Bicycle Day on Social Media
A more convenient way to mark this day is on social media, and the aim of this is to create awareness of the day, including its significance and the benefits of riding a bicycle regularly. But how does one mark this day on social media or over the internet?
Here’s how you can do this:
Using Hashtags
Hashtags are mostly used on social media posts, and it’s a great tool that you can consider using on bicycle day or even for any other day that is celebrated globally.
Some of the hashtags that you can consider using include #Bike4fitness, #Bike4health, #Bike4work, #Bike4school, #Happybicycleday, #Worldbicycleday, and many more.
Using Bicycle Day Quotes
In addition to the different hashtags that you might want to consider using, another option that you can try is to use bicycle day quotes. Interestingly, there are so many quotes for bicycle day, and these quotes are from some of the biggest names in the world today.
Using illustrations and images
The last thing you might want to try is to post images and illustrations about world bicycle day. You can do this across all your social media platforms and still tag these images with the hashtags that we have mentioned above. In addition, you can also add quotes to the images as a way to mark the bicycle day.
But where do you get these images from? There are so many platforms today where you can get different types of images, but for this purpose, we recommend checking illustAC for all the bicycle day images you want.
One thing you should note is that all the images that we have included in this post are from illustAC, and what’s more is that there are tons of images waiting for you to download and use. In addition to the images available for download, one impressive thing that you should note is that there is an editing tool that you can use.
With the editing tool, you can add different quotes and hashtags to make your image unique. illustAC has a user-friendly interface, and you won’t have a hard time navigating the platform.