On Bike To Work Day (May 16th), Just Another Day For One Mayfair Man
By Hadas Kuznits
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- This Friday, May 16th, is "National Bike To Work Day."
But for Stan Ricciuti, who lives in the Mayfair section of Philadelphia and works in Cherry Hill, NJ, every day is bike to work day. For more than three decades, he's bicycled to and from work, averaging at least 30 miles a day.
He says for those who want to start biking, it's easy: "Get on your bike and go to work!"
But he also suggests a little advance planning, for safety.
"Just be careful. Pick a route that's not crowded. Use the lesser known, smaller roads. Stay out of trouble," he tells KYW Newsradio.
Ricciuti also suggests getting your bicycle a tune-up before you first time biking to work. "And I'd say the number one most important thing is put air in your tires." Sufficient air pressure makes peddling easier.
Why does Ricciuti bike to work every day?
"I keep saying 'fun,' because it really is. Good health benefits, you save a lot of money."
And at 54 years old, Ricciuti is in excellent shape. He says that at the age of 54, he's still impressing his doctors.
"The average person's heart rate is going to be like 60-70 (beats per minutes), where mine's, like, 42 -- which means my heart moves twice as much blood as the average person's," he says. "I get sick -- I catch colds," he adds, "but very rarely."
He also notes that, unlike most people he's seen, he's cheery and raring to go when he arrives at work.
What about those who get sore from cycling?
"You get padded shorts!"
Does that really help?
"Tremendously, yeah. Everybody's, like, how do you ride on such a hard saddle? It's extra padding in the shorts."
