More and more people are hopping on their bikes.

But what do you do when your knees start to give out, when running becomes impossible, and even walking is tough?

It seems the answer at the moment is you jump on a bike.More and more people are taking up cycling every year. Be it for commuting or fitness, cycling is in the middle of a boom.Kingston Council last month approved a 12-month trial, which will see parking banned from 6-10am on Saturdays and Sundays along Beach Rd, allowing the lycra-clad enthusiasts free rein.

So why are people taking up cycling?Bicycle Victoria's Garry Brennan says: "The sport part of bike riding has been solid for several years, but what is really accelerating is riding for transportation - riding to work, school, university, the movies and so on.

"People can get fit and at the same time avoid the misery of driving, as well as the crowds on public transport."

Bicycle Victoria's membership has been climbing rapidly in recent years and is now pushing 45,000. That's the size of a big AFL club. Our members are active and have a lot of influence."

Brennan also pointed to the enormous growth of participation in Bicycle Victoria's Around the Bay in a Day ride. In 1998, 4351 people took part; last year that number had risen to 15,615.

Comments:

Cycling is getting more popular in Australia. People cycle to excercise and as a mean of transport to reach their destination. Thus, cycling is really beneficial as it can kill two birds with one stone. Furthermore, scientists say that a day of half an hour's exercise three times a week is no more enough to sustain our more sedentary lifestyle nowadays. In fact, we should exercise everyday for half an hour. Therefore, cycling has gained its popularity as more and more people wish to lead a healthier lifestyles.

Since cycling is quite common in Australia and I am going to fly over to Australia to continue my studies, I should pay more attention to this matter. Though I haven't seen the so-called " cycling lifestyle" in Australia, I look forward to it. It is because cycling can reduce the volume of traffic. As a result, less air pollution occur, creating a fresher and cleaner environment. Indirectly, our mood may be positively influenced and we can live happily everyday! As Ken's Law states, happy mood equals healthy lifestyle and greater life.

Aussie News 8

A COUPLE watching whales from a sailboat got a close-up view when a southern right whale soared out of the water off Cape Town and landed on their boat, snapping the mast.

This species of whale navigates by sound and has poor eyesight meaning it may have simply not heard the sailboat, which had its motor off, The New York Post reported.

“Our boat's engine was off and so the whale just didn't know we were there," Paloma Werner told the BBC.

"We were just the wrong boat, in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Ms Werner and her partner, Ralphm first saw the whale in the distance and spent an hour watching it.

"It appeared about 120m away from our boat and then it went under the water again,” she told the BBC.

"A few moments later, I saw it resurface just 10m away.

"Suddenly I heard my partner shout and when I looked around, I saw the huge thing breaching on to the deck.

"Instinctively, I took cover as the mast came crashing down. I saw my partner, Ralph, dive for cover behind the yacht's wheel. Then the whale slid down the side of the boat and back into the water.

"As soon as I realised that we were unhurt, we checked to see how much damage had been done.

"Luckily, we weren't taking on water so we started the engine and headed for shore. I saw the whale reappear further away.

"When we got back to land, I realised how lucky we were to have survived."

Comments

After reading this news article, I am quite astounded as that is a rare case where whale could come so near to a sailboat and even crashed on it! It is kind of hilarious but it also points out some issue worth us to look at, that is human beings are endangering the animals' habitat.

It's reported that the whale which crashed on the sailboat is one type of whales that navigates by sound. Hence, it could barely notice the sailboat which had its engine off. Luckily, the couple did not get injured and the whale are also not hurt. The whale was unhurt because the sailboat was quite small compared to its size. However, if it was a big-sized ship, let say, a steamship or cargo ship, the life of the whale might be at stake!! The question is should we blame the whale for being so reckless and senseless or the human who break into the living place of other inhabitants in the earth? The sad part is human, as we all know, the most selfish and timidest creatures ever always put the blame on other parties. As a result, we continue our mistakes and never learn from them.

This problem is getting more serious each day. Habitats of animals are destroyed, leading to extinction of species. In illustration, global warming causes the global mean temperature to keep on increasing. This warms up the sea water and causes the ice glaciers at the North and South poles to melt. As a result, polar bears cannot survive as more sea ice that they depend on to move from one place to another place and hunt disappear. Another example includes the killing of shark in order to obtain their fins. Shark's fins can be sold at a high price because it can be served as a luxurious meal, favoured particularly by the Chinese.

In short, are we always the smartest creatures on earth? Think about it. All the time, what we are doing actually jeopardise our home-the earth. If we continue to kill animals mercilessly and deforest places hastily, we are actually digging our own graves for ourselves. Therefore, we should really do so deep soul-searching and don't do anything that will make us regret later. As the saying goes, "look before you leap".