Latest 'Bike to Work' book available online

Subtitled 'Your Digital Guide to Bicycle Commuting. Save Money. Burn Calories' the popular 98 page book 'Bike to Work' has been updated for digital readers.

Author Carlton Reid is the go-to guy on the benefits of cycling; apart from publishing this guide to starting commuting by bike, he runs the IPayRoadTax website which frenziedly campaigns for better understanding of who pays for the roads - answer: everyone - , his own quickrealease.tv blog and also for a day job works for BikeBIZ magazine from where he is the de facto  bike industry guru who can be relied on by general media to opine on any cycling subject without coming across like a beardy fanatic.  It's a miracle of time management that he has any time to go cycling but to our immense irritation he even seems to manage that, too.

It's probably reasonable to assume that regulars on road.cc will not be the intended readership for this book but here we do refer to it even if it's the excellent and frequently updated inspirational quotes-about-cycling section - example by London's Mayor Boris Johnson - E is for exertion, endorphins and ecstacy: the first produces the next, which produces the next, as you whiz through London's lovely streets and look at the play of light through the plane trees and you inhale the open air and you think of the poor souls stuck in the taxis, the cars,and, God help them, the Tube."

In truth, the various chapters including such useful stuff as locking your bike, how to carry your stuff and 'the myths of cycling to work' are no more authoritative than the excellent but drier fare offered by the CTC or the Institute of Advanced Motorists. Where Reid scores is in his magazine publisher's eye for presenting facts in an engaging style as well as a real-world view that insiders tend to lose sight of; "I've got kids to drop off at school before work."

Our recommendation is to read it anyway; it's surprising how many keen cyclists make their own purists' excuses for not sullying their 'sport' with mere utility cycling. More's the point, you should email the the link to five people you think could benefit from cycling to work. In this quick'n'whizzy online form, click below, it might just be engaging enough to grab five converts.