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“Why I love to bike commute” 2002
Duncan Thomas, Santa Barbara
 Do you know how beautiful Santa Barbara is? Now imagine how much better it is outside your car, the sights, the sounds, the smells of the South Coast unmuffled by engine noise and rolled up, tinted windows.- There are many reasons why I choose to ride my bicycle to work, and all of them improve the quality of my life in the present, and for the future.
- When I arrive at work, I'm ready to go; when I arrive home, I've put the workday behind me and I'm ready to be with my family. Well OK, after a shower.
- Memories: aren't they the rewards of life? Riding home in a hailstorm, while a friend drove by and honked, only to call me later and admit she didn't stop because she knew I would never accept a ride, no matter the weather. Having someone on the side of the rode flag me down and tell me to look up and see the missile launch overhead. The smells of acacia in bloom achoo! The ladybug that rode all the way home with me on the handlebars, and was rewarded with a place in my garden. The bee stuck in my helmetwhich I stopped and shook out. Even the flat tires, when you know that you have the equipment and tools to fix it yourself. The sunrises. the sunsets..the clouds..the sun..the wind..the rain (even in Santa Barbara) Oh, but I have missed all those memories of stopping for gas and being stuck in traffic.
- And the future? Biking to work gives me the knowledge that when I retire, I'll still be able to walk and hike and travel the world, and do more that just see life through a windshield.
- Ready: helmet on. Set: rubber side down. Go commute!
Talin Lindsay, Goleta
 I started riding my bicycle to work at UCSB a week after I was hired.
Living a mere 3 miles away, I had figured it would take the same amount
of time to drive (with stop lights and traffic) as it would to ride.
Besides, it's good exercise and I don't believe in paying my employer
to obtain the right to park. And so began my daily journey leaving
the impatient traffic in the Old Town area Goleta, past the stark
cement emptiness of the airport, across a bridge over the serene wetlands,
arriving to a spectacular view of the ocean and finally ending on
campus. Each day is different: each day the little pockets of warm
and cold air change their intensity or location; each day I pass another
variety of fauna residing in the wetlands; and each morning, the tide
is at a different level, indicating whether I'll be taking my lunch-time
walk along the beach or on the bluffs. It has gotten to be such a
pleasant experience, I even consider riding in inclement weather just
to feel the breeze against my face, the little ridges and bumps that
make up the road beneath me, and the cold, prickliness of the fog
against my legs.- Then one day I tore the meniscus in my knee during a run, threatening my ability to continue cycling to work. So, I drove. Gone were the vistas of nature and concrete, juxtaposing each other during the course of my morning "commute." Gone was the sensation of anything but the sterile environment inside the car. Gone was the serenity encouraged by the morning rides. I felt sorry for all the people in the cars around me, seemingly unaware of what they were missing. I knew exactly what I was missing and I was miserable.
- Encouraged by my desire to ride again, I did everything the doctors told me. All the pills, the icings, the stretches. Last week, I began cycling to work again, leaving my car behind where it does the most good - in the driveway.
Richard Scholl, Santa Barbara
- Bike commuting is the handiest way to commute. Parking is easy and the cost is as low as you can get. Plus, I get to stay in great shape while I commute. But the greatest benefits for me are deeper than mere economics. Cycling keeps me in tune with the seasonal and daily rhythms of the earth. I feel connected to my environment and at home wherever I am. I can easily stop and "smell the roses" along a quiet street or drink in the sights and sounds on a bike bridge across a living creek zone. We bike commuters nod and smile to each other as we pass because we're in on the secret of some of life's finest pleasures as we commute.
Randy Arnold, Santa Barbara
- We love to ride because we're old. Well, at 43, we're not that old, just old enough to feel a 12-mile ride, no matter how many days a week we do it. Actually, Randy is older than Virginia. By a week. So Randy sets the pace. Sort of, in deference to one's elders.
- We ride two days a week from the West Side to UCSB. We ride slow. We pass others maybe once or twice a year. It's an event when we do.
- We love to ride because we talk non-stop. We talk about work, our bodies, about our partners, our parents, Virginia's kid. We talk so much we are often unaware of where we are or how we got there.
And then we're at work.
- On the way home we talk about our days, our jobs, who we like at work, who is an asshole. We decompress, check reality, and even generate new ideas. Our jobs benefit from our riding.
- We love to ride because we're both gardeners and we can see plants (when we're not too busy talking) and gather landscaping ideas to bring home.
- Because on the days we ride we can eat anything we want.
Because of the thrill of coasting down Modoc while the 101 traffic is at a stand still.
- Our riding feeds our selves, enhances our health, shows us our neighbors and our community, and lets us, at least for this ride, help a little bit to heal the earth.
Terry Thomas, Santa Barbara
 It all started in 1976 when my husband, Duncan, and I rode our bikes across country. We bought $150 Fuji bikes and off we went with a Rand-McNally atlas, panniers and addresses of friends we planned on visiting along the way. I was able to really appreciate the scenery and the beauty of our country. I enjoyed how I felt and how strong I became. Through the years I kept biking but my focus turned to running and I put biking on the back burner.- In 1981 Duncan did his first triathlon and I thought, "I can do this. I know how to ride a bike. I rode my bike across country!" I joined Duncan on the triathlon circuit in 1982 and by 1983 was hooked. I decided I could ride to work as part of my new training regime. The more I got involved with triathlons the more I rode my bicycle and the less I drove.
- In 1989, when I returned to work after the birth of our daughter, Devin, I decided to give up my parking permit and ride to work to get back in shape. I have been riding by bike ever since then, rain or shine. It is an invigorating way to start my day and a great way to unwind. Right now I leave my house in Sycamore canyon to be at UCSB at 6:00am.When I drop Devin off at school I ride from downtown Santa Barbara across town over to the bike path off Modoc Road and then on to work I enjoy seeing the egrets, herons, ducks, rabbits, skunks, coyotes, and occasionally a fox.
- What started, as a way to help me get into shape has become a lifestyle that I love.
Andrea Nuernberger, UCSB
 There is no better and more convincing story about bicycle commute than doing it, but I want to tell you why I bike commute. I love it because:- I'm guaranteed 70 min of outdoor aerobic exercise five days a week.
- It never takes more than 5 sec to find a parking lot.
- There are no traffic jams on bicycle paths.
- I'm excited about every new day when I get on my bike in the morning.
- With my busy schedule, I don't have to desperately squeeze in
an aerobic workout.
- I don't have to pay for gas.
- I'm less likely to be stressed out.
- Food just tastes better.
- I'm more flexible on campus with my bike parked right outside
the office.
- Especially at night, I'm grateful when I'm forced to get on
my bike. After being inside all day, I feel so much better after
riding my bike home.
- I daily challenge myself physically, and I know without bike
commuting laziness would take over more easily.
- Although some days my legs tell me differently, I'm proud of
myself when I get on my bike every morning.
- I like to sing when I ride my bike.
- I get to know people on the bicycle path.
- I love to breath the crisp air in the morning, to feel the wind
in my face, and to watch the clear sky at night.
- I feel in touch with nature when I don't use my bicycle light
and race the sunset at night.
- I think that if you bike commute once in your life, car commute can become very unsatisfying.
Eli Knapp, UCSB
- My mind was elsewhere. More than likely, the bright light cast by the full moon was partly to blame. The moon's glow reflected off the waves in the Goleta Beach surf and illuminated the eerie looking palm trees. I let go of the handlebars and coasted down the hill from UCSB. My far off thoughts continued with the release of my handlebars. I sat back in the seat and dreamily crossed my arms. As my speed slowed at the base of the hill, I resumed pedaling and realized that a shift to a higher gear would augment my journey. Without thinking I kept one arm folded across my chest and reached for the gear shifter with the other.
- At that moment a gust of wind blew over Goleta Beach Park. Without stability, the wind punched me angrily. My front tire turned perpendicularly and my back tire rose simultaneously. My bike turned into a catapult and launched me over the handlebars. I hit the pavement, rolled, flipped, and scraped. My bike did the same.
- No doubt, this was a bad one. Not wanting to know the full extent of my bodily carnage, I rested on the pavement and wiggled my toes. They responded. Good start. I rotated my ankles. They too, moved properly. Knees, fingers, hands, elbows and head all still functioned at my command. I was ecstatic. I gingerly picked myself off the pavement and pulled my bike up from the ice plants bordering the bike path. My bike hadn't fared as well. But it was rideable. With shaky nerves I climbed on the twisted seat and resumed my journey home. Reality had broken into my dream world. Joy and gratitude began dripping out of me, like the blood that dripped from the minor scrape on my hand. Suddenly, each moment became so much more alive. I could still breathe. I could still think. I could still see. I could still pedal!
- Within minutes, I had dropped my bike in the garage and hit up the fridge for dinner. As usual, it was empty. I sat down on the couch with a carrot and blithely flipped on the T.V. There, depicted on the evening news, was a mangled 18-wheeler dangling precariously over an embankment. A pile of smashed cars surrounded the rig. "Three were killed," the reporter stated, "and four others are in critical condition. Apparently, the trucker's mind was elsewhere"
- I was transfixed by the news report. Not even a half-hour before, my mind just like the trucker' had been elsewhere. And fittingly, we both had endured accidents. Yet the trucker had killed three people and injured others while I had a mere scrape on my hand and a broken bike reflector. The only difference in the accident results had been the firepower of our weapons.
- I bike for many reasons. For enjoyment. For exercise. For the environment. But on this full moon night, I had added yet another reason for biking. I bike to lessen the magnitude of harm I can cause to myself and others, especially when my mind is "elsewhere..."
Philip Dennison, Santa Barbara
- I really look forward to my bicycle commute each day. It's my time for thinking and reflection. I use the time on the trip to work to plan my day's activities. I arrive at work feeling full of energy and ready to tackle whatever tasks are in front of me. The return trip home is my time to de-stress. I don't think about much at all, but instead enjoy the beautiful Santa Barbara scenery as I glide down the bike path. By the time I get home I am relaxed and refreshed. Biking to work is as athletic or as easy as I feel like making it. Some days I want to challenge myself, and I ride hard and fast. I revel in the exhilaration of having the wind in my face, whipping around curves and passing other cyclists. Other days, I feel more like taking it slow, pedaling only fast enough to keep my bike moving forward. I can take my time without breaking a sweat, passively soaking in the world around me. No matter how fast I travel to and from work, I always find that the journey is worth the few extra minutes that my bike commute requires. Commuting by bike keeps me happy and healthy.
Nancy Keller, Santa Barbara
 When I was a child, one thing I loved to do for fun was to ride my bike.- Nowadays, I ride across Santa Barbara to work every morning, and back home in the afternoon. Being an adult, it's easy to lose contact with your sources of fun. But for me, every morning and afternoon when I jump on my bike, I say to myself, "Instant happiness!" I start every workday not by dreading another day at the office, but by having fun on my bike. At the end of every workday, I have a great ride home in the fresh air. Since I have started commuting by bike, and reconnecting with riding my bike as a source of fun, it has helped me have more happiness in daily life.
- Another great benefit is that when I arrive at work in the morning, and again when I arrive home at the end of the day, I feel fresh and invigorated because my blood is pumping and I've had exercise, fresh air, relaxation and an enjoyable ride.
- Working full-time, and being tired after work, I wasn't making time for exercise before. Now, in the natural course of every day, I get in two good bike rides, just riding to work and back.
- Since I started commuting by bike about six months ago, I notice that my body is in better shape. The hills that were hard for me to climb at first are not hard anymore. To make them a bit harder and get better exercise, I have to use a lower gear now. My legs are stronger now, and I've lost some weight too!
- My two daily bike rides are time for myself, when I do something good for myself. Working full-time, and with all the other commitments of life, how many hours of the day do we get to do something just for ourselves? I start and end every day with something special just for me - my bike ride.
Michael Casterline, UCSB
- I love to bike to school because my route each day takes me along a dirt path at the edge of the mesa, starting just north and above Sands Beach. It is beautiful, and helps me start each day in the most positive, peaceful, and focused manner possible.
Martin Lewis, Santa Barbara
- It's early, 5:30 am and my alarm is going off. Clearing the sleep from my befogged mind, I dress, pulling on lycra, arm warmers, jersey, I wonder, "What am I doing. Sleep, I need more sleep." I then realize, I am doing this because I love to ride, in the morning, afternoon, night, so why not to work. It's become a morning ritual really, preparing for work: loading my back pack, filling a water bottle, dressing appropriately. Getting ready this early seems difficult at first, then I begin to pedal in the freshness of the morning, fearing little. Typically there are no motorist that will blare their horns, no school children scurrying about darting in the road, and the smell that permeates Santa Barbara fills my awaking lungs. I love this solitude only offered, really, when I ride to work in the morning. Other enthusiasts are out, we nod cordially to each other, knowing that we have the inside on something quite magical. The only fog that entombs me now is the fog of the morning, the fog that tempts me to ride faster, the fog that I know will burn off mid-day and afford me the pleasure of doing this all again later in the evening. I ride to work. I am a better person.
Kenneth C. Welch Jr., UCSB
- I can't remember a drive to work during which I did not feel uptight or angry for at least a moment. It's not just the traffic jams and the inconsiderate fellow motorists that lend to that feeling of aggravation. It is often doubt and frustration brought on by people or situations at home or at work, and entirely unrelated to driving. None-the-less, during a commute, I do not infrequently find myself gripping the steering wheel a little too hard.
- When I'm on my bike, streaking towards my office, no matter what the source of the day's aggravation, I can pedal harder and leave those feelings in my dust. Gripping the steering wheel and mashing the accelerator have never done much to ease my tension, but feeling the healthy burn of vigorous, pedal-mashing cycling has never failed to melt away such stress. If my boss has been digging in to me a little hard that day, then I can hear his voice drift off as I race down the street. If I find myself stuck on a detail of a project at work, I can just race right through that roadblock.
- Put simply, driving has always left me with a tired mind. Riding my bike has occasionally resulted in tired legs, but has always left me mentally fresh.
Kristi Gipe, Santa Barbara
 It is not an exaggeration to say that biking to work has changed my life. Over the last 2 years, bike commuting has been the foundation of my efforts to get in better shape. In the past, I'd given up fitness programs when it was cold, or rainy, or I got too busy. In March of 2000, I decided that the only way I would get any regular exercise was to make it an unavoidable part of my life. I decided to incorperate exercise in my life by using only alternate modes of transportation. I would walk, bus, or bike everywhere I needed to go. I began bike commuting in April of 2000. Since then, I have lost 70 lbs thanks in large part to the regular exercise that biking to work provides. I am enclosing "before" and "after" pictures because I think they speak more strongly than words. "Before1" [not shown] was taken about 4 years ago. "Before" was taken about the time
I started biking. "After" is a recent photograph.
Damon Turney, UCSB
- Do you sing to strangers on the street? No, neither do I. Well, thats not true. About two or three times a week the pedestrians of the fair south-central coast of California are tortured by my lovely voice, as I scream by on my bycicle to work. Toasted by the warm sun on my face and exhilirated by the salty wind, I just can't help it. Sing beatles, sing Woody Guthry, sing Ozzy, say my feet. Scream my feet. Sing anything that matches the clickity clack tempo of gears five, six, and seven. Or anything that matches the electric guitar corner leans, or downhill blues, or dirt path funk of a morning of bike riding. Just sing.
- Ya, I'm laughed at, looked at, occasionally embarassed. But I bike on. Everyday. To work, and home from work. Its worth it, singing past the ocean and singing past the buildings. On almost everyday of the year, I know what the ocean knows. And I know when the grass goes to seed. Over the hills and through the woods. Thorough Flood and Thorough Fire. Swifter than the moons sphere. Good Lord, I'm actually in shape. And good Lord, I always beat my friends during the final few tiring minutes of those soccer games. Poor internal combustion addicts. Just a bit slower. Just a bit out of shape. And just a bit off key.
Steve Fleming, Santa Barbara
- I knew I was officially a bicycle commuter when I became comfortable turning left. My commute begins with a left turn onto State Street from La Cumbre. My rational mind told me that I should act like a car, but my fearful mind was intimidated about getting into the left turn lane when traffic was heavy. Finally I accepted that I could simply ride straight across, hop off my bike, position myself in the State Street bike lane, and be on my way. No shame, no worry, and I've enjoyed my commute ever since. It's fun to cruise downhill to City College. I love the exercise that helps me overcome the impending eight hours of sitting. I love explaining to coworkers that I actually want to commute by bicycle when they feel sorry that I HAD to ride my bike in.
- At the end of the day my ride starts with a relaxing view of the harbor and beach while shuttling over to Stearn's Wharf. Then, it's up State Street where I have fun averaging the same speed as most cars going in the same direction. Past Mission Street things turn decidedly uphill, the tough part. My niece likes to watch Bob the Builder so my theme song while huffing my way uphill is Steve the Biker. Can he do it? Yes he can! I didn't think that I would commute by bicycle when I moved to Santa Barbara, but the plentiful bike lanes and pleasant weather convinced me to go for a ride.
Don Lubach, Santa Barbara
 Right
to the point; my daily commute turns on the wheels of frugality.- I was raised by depression-era parents who praised me for saving pennies and scavenging items from our suburban neighbors' garbage cans. Years later, I find free money on my ride to work.
- The bicycle is parsimony in motion: each turn of the cranks pays off like a slot machine returning silver dollars for pennies invested. The statistics verify the great value. Take the American Automobile Association's figure of $7,000/year as the cost of car ownership and imagine the investment potential of those dollars. The verdict? Ride your bike and retire early.
- Saved parking fees alone makes me giddy as I glide past multimillion dollar structures at the university. Row upon row of cars, each adorned with a $420.00 sticker, occupy real estate that should be classrooms, labs and theaters for the community. Our endless parking debate at UCSB distracts the world's brightest people. Instead of arguing about where to store their cars, they could be applying their beautiful minds to more significant problems. Alternative transportation could save my beloved institution enough money to more effectively carry out its research, teaching, and community service missions.
- The efficient, ethical, and frugal bike commute is rewarded by the myriad wonders we riders experience on the pathways to work in Santa Barbara County: the wildlife, riding with friends, exercise, meditation, and fun. My value-minded upbringing will not allow me to miss these riches while trapped inside a car. I cannot drive when I know I can ride to work and experience a life only dreamed about by millionaires.
Alex Trieger, Montecito
- I've often been asked and wondered myself, why do I like to commute by bike? Because I can! and to support a low impact, non polluting transportation and also to maintain a lifestyle of health and well being. To be able to use my energy and time to power myself around town is a real pleasure and priveledge. Our city is ideally situated in a valley with many varied and well marked bike routes, that our benign weather encourages the use of all year long. The physical well being and mental keeness is empowering as well as feeling good.
- Not only are bicycles one of the most efficient and harmonous machines to increase one's physical capabilities, but they can also be kinetic works of art.
- The many sensory delights of smells, sounds and sights are constant stimulii for your mind. Children laughing and playing, flowers and plants dazzling the eye and perfuming the air and smells of barbeque beckoning, people smiling or the smoothness of new pavement are all there to enjoy.
- When you get to work you feel good and ready to go. At the end of work the ride home is a way to unwind from the stress and the pleasant feeling of physical tiredness enables sleep to come easily.
- My cycle commuting and a whole new perspective will be yours to see, feel and experience.
Judy Keim, Santa Barbara
 Have
you seen that commercial for a credit card where they list all these
things you can get with the card and what it costs? The last thing
they mention is always something like "a baby's first smile"
and they say "priceless."- That's the way I feel about biking to work. The benefits are really priceless.
- P parking is free (no hassle)
R reducing pollution (one less car)
I independence from need for fossil fuels
C caring for my health by exercising
E enjoying the beauty of Santa Barbara
L loving the convenience
E energy from fresh air & sunshine
S save time by avoiding traffic jams & waiting to park
S save $ on gas and gym memberships
- Being able to bike to work fuels my body, mind and spirit and that is PRICELESS!!!!
Tim Lewis, Santa Barbara
 I am nicknamed tanium because I ride bicycles made of what some people call unobtanium or titanium. Being a high school graduate without a college degree, I receive only a modest hourly wage.- For the last thirty years, I have ridden bicycles to and from work. Many of those years while employed at local bicycle shops. Over that time span, I have seen the roads become more congested, more stoplights installed, more roadside and airborne pollution, and fewer smiles among the auto commuters. Sadly, many bicycle shop employees among them.
- Well, how do I afford those "unobtainable" bicycles? I have always been averse to America's blatant over-consumption of fossil fuels and have chosen to do my part to correct this by setting an example.
- Ten or so years ago, when it became required to show proof of insurance to register a motor vehicle, I had my Volkswagen crushed for scrap. My distaste for insurance companies is another story.
- The money I've saved over those ten years, from not supporting the insurance monopolies, the national trade deficit (foreign autos, imported fossil fuels) and general bureaucracy, has more than paid for my American made bicycles. In fact, the overall health benefits from living an active lifestyle are enormous and to this day contribute towards my titanium "fetish" as well.
- Most bicycle commuters I have known or worked with do not need or use coffee or tobacco to remain alert during the day. There is also no desire to use alcoholic beverages after work to "wind down." As the time after work for me is spent riding my bicycle, needless to say, I sleep very soundly without any artificial help.
- Through commuting, bicycling has become a very large part of my life. I have left my mark in local/state bike-a-thons, fun rides (50-300 milers) and road/mountain races. As a local volunteer forest service train maintenance crewmember, I am the one that rides my bicycle to and from the various trail work sites. Hopefully more will join me in this practical use of the bicycle.
To be inspired by the 2000 "Why I Love to Bike Commute" contest entries, click here.
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