Cyclists pedal way to fitness, jobs

Celebrate 19th Annual Bike to Work Day

By Amelia Robinson,
Dayton Daily News

May 23, 2001 -- Call him wacky if you must, but Chuck Smith pedals his black GT mountain bike to work while most motorists gripe about rising gasoline prices.

"I've ridden my bike past so many of these $2-a-gallon gas stations," said Smith, 50, of Vandalia. He is among the estimated 7 percent of the workers in the Miami Valley who regularly use a bicycle to get to work, said Gary Boulanger, executive director of Bike Miami Valley.

To highlight that group, Bike Miami Valley will celebrate its 19th annual Bike to Work Day with a free breakfast today at RiverScape Festival Plaza from 6:30 to 8:30 a.m.

Dozens are expected to attend the event, which features sausage and pancakes, and some downtown workers are expected to bike to work in honor of the day also sponsored by the Regional Ozone Action Program of the Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission and Five Rivers MetroParks.

Smith hops on his $600 bike--complete with a headlamp, blinking back amber light and other safety accessories--nearly every work day that ice, rain or snow are absent from the forecast.

He leaves at 5 a.m. for the 16-mile, hour-long trek to his job as a computer specialist at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. That early in the morning, Smith said, it is safer to take major routes--Little York, Rip Rap and Chambersburg roads and North Dixie Drive.

But at the end of the day during rush hour, Smith takes back roads that extend his trip to 20 miles. The extra miles aren't a hassle, he said.

"(Biking to work) is a lot more fun than driving a car. You see things on a bike you can't see in a car," the Dayton Cycling Club member said. "I've seen deer crossing North Dixie in the business section."

But you don't have to ride 36 miles a day to benefit from biking to work. Shahid U. Raki of Dayton biked 10 miles round trip every day to the Job Center until he left the center late last year. But he still goes everywhere on one of the eight bikes he owns.

Getting around isn't hard, but takes some route planning, he said, noting that the River Corridor bike path can be useful.

"You can go east, west, south and north. It just depends on how far you can go before you pass out," Raki said.  

Bike riders have to be prepared for anything, said the Hillcrest Avenue resident who has suffered the occasional fall during the 11 years he has used a bike as his major mode of transportation.

Raki has had one accident with a motorist in all that time. It occurred in 1995, when a woman turning a corner in downtown Dayton bumped his bike and bent the fender. Raki was unharmed.

"It scared the hell out of me," he said. "I thought I was going to die."

Despite occasional run-ins with traffic, Boulanger, who commutes to his downtown office on his $2,000 custom Smorgasbord single-speed bike made in Hershey, Pa., said riding a bike cuts down on pollution, is cheaper than driving and is great exercise.

Too many fail to see biking as a serious alternative to driving, he said.

"They say `there goes Wacky Gary,'" Boulanger said. "But Wacky Gary is 35 and he's not (out of shape.) Wacky Gary is always in a good mood. Wacky Gary has extra money."

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