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Whoosh
hour By
Deanna Glick While motor oil still sits stagnant in most Ventura County commuters' cars, Lance Christensen's blood pumps with pedal rotations that eventually will carry him 11 miles to work. It's before dawn. The cold, moist air nips at his skin. But he feels good. He's outside. He's not paying for gas or polluting the air. He's using his body. Christensen is among a small but growing group of commuters who travel to their jobs on bicycles. They whiz past traffic moving at glacial speeds. And as bureaucrats puzzle over how to fit cars more comfortably on county highways, these folks have found their own respite. "We're really practically invisible, but there's really quite a community out there," said Christensen, 35, who rides from Thousand Oaks to his job as an engineer in Agoura Hills. "I'm the only one I know that does it every day no matter what; I even ride when I'm sick," he said. "By the time I get out there I'm enjoying it. It lifts everything up and makes you feel better. E I'm out there all by myself on an empty road. I get to see beautiful sunsets and sunrises. I've seen all these shooting stars I would have never seen in a car." Apparently, no recent or reliable data exists to measure how many bicyclists actually pedal to work. The Ventura County Bicycle Coalition, an advocacy organization to which Christensen belongs, has lured about 80 members, many of whom ride bikes to work at least occasionally. The group looks forward to recruiting more commuters during California Bike Commute Week 2000, to be observed statewide May 15-19. The local coalition will sponsor a Bike to Work Day on May 18. Reasons to ride Bike commuters have no trouble reeling off reasons it is better to ride a bike than drive a car: gas prices, the cost of a car and maintenance, exercise and stress reduction, avoiding gridlock, preserving the environment, getting outdoors, sightseeing E Most don't describe themselves as environmentalists but are happy to do their part to diminish pollution. Nearly all admit to days when they can barely muster enough enthusiasm to strap on a helmet, let alone deal with the morning chill, navigate imperfect bike routes, watch out for road hazards and share the road with horn-honking, steering-wheel-gripping commuters. But more often than not, habit and reason prevail. Judy Willens, a coalition member who's organizing Bike Commute Week, rides 22 miles from Ojai Valley to Ventura at least once a week. "I think what's hard is getting started," Willens said. "One day I finally made myself do it. I felt good. It was an accomplishment. "It sure beats driving," she added. "You get to see things and you're out there. Everything just passes by in a car. E A bicycle always wins. You can go around the traffic jams. You've got your workout done by the time you get to work." Drivers might think of the sweat factor as the chief drawback to biking. But bicycle commuters say once your body's in shape, that's minimal at most. If not, many employers offer showers. They acknowledge, however, not everyone can shun their cars. Many parents must drop kids off at school or day care and some employees work in the field visiting many different sites in one day. Others simply have to carry too much stuff. "It would never work for my wife," said 23-year-old Sterling Koch, a youth pastor who bikes 10 miles of hilly terrain from Simi Valley to St. Patrick's Episcopal Church in Thousand Oaks four days a week. "She's a teacher and she's always got all these papers." The extra time required, of course, discourages many potential bicycle commuters. But Christensen -- who began biking most of where he needed to go in high school and now owns a special adult tricycle so he can ride safely on rainy days -- easily dismisses that as an excuse. "The way I look at it, if you go to a gym for exercise, it takes just as much time," he said. "I spend an extra 45 minutes riding vs. driving. How long does it take to drive to the gym, work out and drive back home? Even then, going to the gym won't give as much cardiovascular exercise. Even for those who don't go to a gym, riding a bicycle might be a more enjoyable alternative for getting exercise." Christensen also credits his cardiovascular shape for dulling asthma symptoms, plus he takes home an extra $1.50-a-day bonus from his employer, Teradyne, for getting to work by any means other than by driving a car alone. The obstacle course Bicycle commuters' biggest worries are safety and inadequate trail systems. They can follow all the rules of the bicycling road -- staying off the sidewalk, wearing helmets, traveling in the direction of traffic and using hand signals and rearview mirrors -- but there's nothing bicyclists can do about road work blocking trails, funding cuts and priorities that lean toward the four-wheeled majority. Willens takes the Ventura River Trail when she rides to her job at the Air Quality Control District. The trail, completed in October, meanders through Foster Park, along the beach and past the fairgrounds. "For recreation it's great, but for commuters they don't get you where you need to go," she said. "If we really want to use biking as a means of transportation, we really need the infrastructure to be there. The perception is it's really hard to ride far, but that's between you and your body. But the route and traffic hazards, that's something different that you can't control." Chris Stephens of the Ventura County Transportation Commission has heard the complaints. They come despite many bike lane projects countywide, he said, including plans for a 32-mile system from Ventura east to Rancho Camulos, along Highway 126 just east of Piru. But there's a catch: With a $50 million price tag, the project will take at least 20 years' worth of funding, he said. A portion running through Santa Paula will be complete in 2002. Cities have various plans to upgrade or fill gaps between trails, too. But bicyclists say not enough is being done to ensure safety or encourage riding as a commuting alternative. Nonetheless, the practice appears to be catching on. "Just based on the calls, letters and attendance at public hearings we see, no question there's a growing interest in it," Stephens said, "but what we also hear is that we're making it difficult." Hope lies in the 2000 census results, due out in the next couple years, in which bicycle commuting will be documented. If the data confirms a growing trend in biking to work, financial priorities might shift, said Tricia Price, the county's regional manager for Southern California Rideshare. "Ventura County is the perfect place for it, possibly the best in the country," she said. "Our highways are congested. It's going to be congested. We just can't buy our way out of it and pave the way over it. "It has to do with changing social behavior and social behavior is very tenuous," she said. "We're getting at people's souls. I have seen tremendous change in attitudes since I started this in 1976 E but we still have a long ways to go." Regional phenomenon Southern California's obsession with cars took Koch by surprise. He was raised in Northern California, where biking to school and taking summer tours to the Oregon border and San Jose with friends was part of the culture. When finances made owning a second car difficult, Koch thought nothing of hopping on the 21-speed Trek he had bought for $300 on eBay in September. It wasn't long before sympathetic churchgoers donated a 1985 Ford pickup for Koch to drive to work. "I tried to explain, no, no, no, I like riding my bike," he said, laughing at the memory. "They think it's a handicap, that I'm some sort of homeless person or something. "If we really wanted to, we probably could muster enough money for another car. It's just not a priority," he said. "I don't know what it is about Southern California culture. It's the same state but it's so different. I mean, Simi Valley pretty much exists to feed commuters to other areas." -- Deanna Glick's e-mail address ishttp://www.insidevc.com/archives/04302000/life/mailto:<a%20href="> dglick@insidevc.com"> dglick@insidevc.com. On the Net: Ventura County Bicycle Coalition site: www.vcbike.org. Bicycling maps are available at www.goventura.org. For more information on the Ventura County Bicycle Coalition or on Bike to Work Day, call the coalition hotline at 932-1302. |
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Voice message hotline is at
(805) 932-1302 |
