Commuting Interview

Interview with CNY Bike Commuters:

Dedicated bike communter, Dan McCarthy, commutes regularly by bike in all four CNY seasons, even winter, from his home in Camillus to work at Syracuse University.  Dan has been known to leave work at 5pm and ride to Baldwinsville for the OCC Tuesday Night Training Series, complete with backpack, then ride home at dark after bike racing for two hours, and after biking to and from work!  He has done La Ruta de los Conquistadores more than ten times!  This is a famous mountain bike race in Costa Rica from the Pacific to the Gulf of Mexico, traversing elevations above 10,000′.  Dan is not your average biker. 

OCC:  Where and when did you start commuting? How many miles have you logged commuting by bike?

Dan: “I started bike commuting about 3 years ago, biking from Camillus Village to Syracuse University. It was when SU was ambitiously trying to be more sustainable.  Some areas within the University created flexible, creative schedules for employees to reduce their commuting expenses.   This included 4 day work weeks, work from home and incentives to car pool.  Since I had been pretty much riding a bike 4 – 6 days a week for recreation, I decided to try riding my bike to work.   I did not bother to buy a parking permit that summer, but figured I would end up buying on late fall/early winter.  I have yet to buy one.  I do track my total bike miles, but not specifically for commuting. My guess is I commute around 3-4K per year on a bike, so I probably commuted around 10k in the last 3 years.”

OCC: Why do it?

Dan:  “I love being outside and I love to exercise.  It is environmentally friendly.  It saves me lots of money.  I am wide awake and ready to work after bike commuting.”

OCC:  What are the biggest challenges?

Dan:   ”The biggest challenge is the weather here in Syracuse. It is just very unpredictable and can vary throughout the day.  The next challenge is the traffic, but coming from the Boston area, I do not find this too much of an issue.  Most of the time I am leaving pretty early in the morning before the roads get congested.  In the winter, I usually have two tail lights and  two head lights as well as a reflective vest.  It is pretty amazing how unaware and distracted some drivers are.  You always have to assume that they do not see you.”

OCC:  What is your worst commuting experience?

Dan:  ”My absolute worst experience was when I was leaving the office building one fall afternoon. While coasting down a hill, a car darted out in front of me and I ended up going over the hood, onto the pavement, then the grass.  I was very fortunate and did not get any major injuries.”

OCC:  How does your employer help your commuting?

Dan: ”They are pretty flexible when I have bus/bike issues and show up late or need to leave early to catch a bus.  They also allow me to bring my bike inside year round which helps.  The cleaning ladies put down a big sheet of cardboard in the winter so all the dirt/salt and mess just falls on the cardboard, not the floor.”

OCC: How do you find and improve upon your routes?

Dan: ”I have used Google maps, a bike GPS, and just explored on my way home to find better routes.  Depending on the time you commute, it may be best to stay off roads with schools.  They can draw lots of traffic.”

OCC:  How do use the bus line?

Dan:  ”I am very fortunate and live pretty much right on the bus lines.  I also can take two buses and get to my office building without any biking.  All the city buses have bike racks so I always take a bike just in case the weather changes.  It is not unusual for me to bike one way and bus the other.  I believe there are many areas that have parking at bus stops, so driving part way, then either biking or taking the bus could be a good option for some.”

OCC: What are features of an ideal commuting bike?
Dan: “To be honest, any bike will work if you are commuting in nice weather and in the daylight. Some type of bag would be helpful to carry your clothes, but I have just been using a back pack.  When commuting in rain or in the winter months, it is necessary to have lights, fenders and wider tires, especially if you are going to venture out in the snow.
I have an old cyclocross bike that I use in the winter months – the sand/salt put lots of wear and tear on the bike.”
OCC: What tools and parts do you typically carry on your commuting bike?

Dan: “I don’t carry too much, just enough to repair a flat, so, an extra tube, tire levers and CO2 cartridges. I live close enough to work that I have ridden home on flats more than once.”

 

OCC: Do you ride your bike in your work clothes, or change when you arrive? Do you have showers at work?
Dan: “I always wear biking clothes commuting and use the rest rooms to clean up a bit and change into my work clothes. It would be nice to have showers in the building, but it is not a necessity for me.”

OCC: How does one bike safely and comfortably in the rain?
Dan: “I just wear a rain jacket, maybe some knee warmers if it is a little cold. I tend to take the bus with my bike in tow if it is rainy pretty hard in the morning. I just have not looked into finding a way to ride in heavy rain in the morning, then have something dry and warm for the ride home. I don’t mind too much getting very cold and wet on the ride home.”

OCC: Please talk about appropriate dressing for the challenging CNY winter weather.
Dan: “For the winter, it is all about layers. When it gets below 20 degrees, it takes a while to get dressed. I purchased some pretty good winter bike boots (Lake), so booties are not necessary for the ride under 75 minutes. Below are all the clothes I wear in the winter, below 10 degrees F, I have pretty much everything on. As it gets warmer, less layers are required.
- heavy lycra bib pants
- cortex pants
-wool socks
- 4 or 5 layers on top including lycra, wool and wind breaker
- light finger gloves with either heavy lobster gloves or mittens
- hat and/or balaclaca
- ski googles (be careful, as this really limits visibility).”

OCC: What changes can you envision that would make bike commuting more feasible for the average worker-biker?
Dan:  ”It would be nice to have bike lanes on all the major roads getting in and out of the city. Some of the roads don’t even have a shoulder making it pretty much impossible to bike commute. Also, I get comments occasionally from people driving cars to “get on the sidewalk”. It would be nice to get some type of education to the mass public. Other cities even have gone to the extent of putting up traffic lights for the cyclist as well as rails to hold onto at intersections.”

Ed.: Recently, Dan McCarthy moved to Providence, RI. Syracuse may have lost its most prolific commuter!  But his wisdom will reside here and hopefully we can all learn from his example.

 

Here are some words of wisdom from a former NYC bike commuter Helene Schmid, who recently moved to Syracuse from “The Big Apple”.  She will try to fill the big bike shoes of Dan McCarthy.

Commuting in CNY vs. NYC

Living in Brooklyn for the past 8 years, I had come to depend on my bike for getting everywhere and doing everything.  I commuted to work, 5 miles each way, in all types of weather.  I went to the supermarket on bike.  I ran errands around Brooklyn and in Manhattan, all on bike.  All you needed was a bike (my choice was a fixed gear), and a bag. 

I own a car, don’t get me wrong, cars are very convenient, but not in Brooklyn.  In the city, they need to be moved from one side of the street to the other once or twice a week for alternate side of the street parking (street cleaning).  This is extremely inconvenient, because everyone is moving their car on the same day, so of course there’s no parking!  And there are not many parking lots in the city, so to drive your car somewhere is very frustrating when you can’t park it anywhere.  Hence, the use of the bicycle.

Life happens, and now I’m living up here in CNY.  My fixed gear, hanging in the garage, has been replaced by a cyclocross bike.  Fixed gears aren’t made for hills.  Either was I when I first arrived here :-) . I wasn’t even sure I would be able to commute by bike around here.  But I have been happily surprised!!!  My commute to work is 2 miles longer than it was in Brooklyn, and yet the amount of time it takes me is exactly the same!  It’s amazing how much stopping at a light on every corner takes up your time.  But here I just ride my bike, up hills, down hills, and barely any stopping at lights!  Just pure riding! 

My car gets used almost every day for something, but I’m hoping to replace those shorter errands with bike trips in the near future.  There are parking lots and driveways here, so it’s harder to get on the bike when the car is truly more convenient (and faster).  But biking helps you stay in shape too!  It is such a great feeling to have biked to work, a feeling of accomplishment, a healthy, I did something good for myself feeling.

Yet, unlike in the city where there are always other people on bike, whether commuting or running errands, here I often feel as though I am the only one out there.  It is absolutely beautiful up here!  So how do we get more people to commute or run errands on bike?  Is it the hilly terrain that stops them?  Is it that we don’t want to be sweaty when we get to work?  (I take baby wipe showers at work :-) )  Is it the lack of bike lanes?  Or the lack of places to lock your bikes?  Is it the weather? I can’t wait to see what the winter brings!!!  I see that most of the buses can take bikes, can we get people to bike to a bus and take a bus the rest of the way?   Let’s get the conversation started!!!