Did you know May is National Bike Month? Here in bike-centric Boulder, practically every month is Bike Month (in January bike paths get plowed long before streets). But for further inspiration, I just returned from a trip to Rome, Italy, where despite hard-core cobbled streets and traffic that would give the Dalai Lama heart palpitations, I saw a ton of people on bikes: parents and kids, business men, the Pope (OK, not really, but practically everyone else). Classic euro-looking commuter bicycles (like the Electra Amsterdam pictured here, my personal ride) were all over the city, and I admired the daring—and the unruffled Roman air—of those riding them.

Yes, you too can commute by bike—and look cool doing it! Check out this how-to commute by bike article from Grist. And to help shift those mental gears, here are some fun facts from this fabulous article on Eco Salon. Did you know ...

* The U.S. government will pay you to cycle to work?

* The percentage of U.S. students cycling to school or college is less than a third of what it was in 1969?

* That cycling is almost comically efficient? You’re getting around 3 times as fast as walking but burning the same amount of energy.