COMMENT: Get on your bike for the daily journey to work

Getting caught in the queues at rush-hour time in the morning and evening can be a pretty dispiriting experience.

So what about getting out from behind the steering wheel and on to a bike instead?

We’re supporting Cycle To Work Day today, an initiative aimed at encouraging people to ride rather than drive.

It’s a simple idea, but the benefits are huge. Fewer cars on the roads means less pollution for a start.

The more people who are sat in their metal boxes going nowhere, the greater the mix of potentially harmful exhaust gases being released into the air.

Apart from being good for the environment, there’s our own general wellbeing that can be improved by riding rather than driving.

Just listen to Tim Wiggins, who commutes on two wheels all the way from Sandown on the Isle of Wight to his office in Lakeside, North Harbour every day.

Tim says: ‘For those people who have never thought to ride to work each day, I could not recommend it more.

You don’t need to take it to the extreme, but you will find you feel fitter, healthier and much more energised by the time you reach your desk in the morning.’

And don’t forget the money you’ll be saving by using pedal, not petrol, power.

Tim, who’s been hailed as the UK’s ‘super-commuter’ for cycling more than 5,000 miles to work and back last year, is a great example to us all.

But you don’t have to be lithe and Lycra-clad. All shapes and sizes can cycle.

So get in the saddle, enjoy the great outdoors and join the growing army of cycle commuters.