You probably drive to school. Most people do. What if I told you that there’s a much better way to travel, a way that is efficient and cheap and, perhaps most importantly, frees you from having to deal with other College of DuPage drivers? You should be riding your bike, and here’s why.

1. Easy to Park

Parking is a nightmare at the college. If you haven’t noticed this by now, you’re taking too many 7:00  a.m. classes. Luckily for you, there are bike racks all over the school, and they’re rarely full. There’s one right in front of the main entrance for the Student Resource Center, one just to the east of the atrium on the big plaza and one to the west, tucked away next to the lunch room.

2. Better Gas Mileage

Not only does your bike not need gas to work, it actually runs on the McDonald’s breakfast burrito you ate in the morning. Riding a bike burns around 500 calories an hour. You’ve now both saved money and burned off some snacky cakes. Good for you. The cool thing is, as you get better at riding the bike you won’t have to work as hard. This vehicle gets more efficient with use.

3. It Makes You Feel Good

Along with burning calories, riding a bike relieves stress, helps you focus and causes an endorphin rush. For the locomotively challenged, this is the same effect that causes runner’s high. Essentially, you’ll feel good all over and better equipped to deal with the challenges of everyday life. Sitting in class for hours on end is a drag. Going for a quick ride before and after is a good way to bookend your school day and transition into other areas of your life.

4. It Gets You Outside

Knowing Chicago, by October we’ll be snowed-in and shivering, building our igloos and collecting enough meat to survive the winter months. Right now the weather is still great. The commute to and from school is time you’d have a roof over your head, out of the elements, hoping something good comes on the radio instead of that Ariana Grande song you’ve heard for the 45th time this hour. Get away from Miss Grande and out under the sun while you still can.

5. It Makes You Cooler

Biking is way cooler than driving and way, way cooler than scootering, or scooting or owning a scooter. Surely you’ve seen all those hipsters with milk crates strapped to the back of their fixed gear bike. How cool do those people look? Way cooler than they’d look if they weren’t on a bike. You want to be cool, don’t you?