About
I’m a Professor in the Department of Geography at Kent State University. I’m originally from near New York City, so city riding has always been in my blood, and I’ve lived in Ohio for 20 years. As my research involves climate change, I’m eager to help promote bike commutes and bike infrastructure, and make it clear that biking can be for transportation as much as recreation.
How long have you been cycle commuting?
Back when I was a student, I commuted a lot, but those were short-distance commutes. In my current situation, I’m around 13 miles from work.
Five years ago, on a whim, on a few summer days I decided to ride to work when I didn’t have anything pressing on the schedule. I discovered I loved this far more than biking at the gym, and so this gradually grew, from 5 days in 2015 to nearly 180 days last year.
The local parks systems completed a rail-trail that covers most of my commute, and I made a bunch of friends that enjoy riding in all sorts of weather, and so for the last two years I’ve been a year-round commuter.
Your Commute
I live in Akron, Ohio, and work in Kent, Ohio. It’s between 13-15 miles one way depending upon the route I take. I regularly do it 5 days a week, conditions permitting.
The route is entirely paved, and generally not too hilly except I have to traverse the Cuyahoga Valley which is roughly a 300′ ascent on the way out. Winters can get very cold, but I have enough wool gear and thermal shirts that I’ve commuted in sub-zero Fahrenheit wind chills and not been cold.
The only weather that stops me is when there’s considerable ice or deep snow on the rail trail, since it’s not maintained in winter, and the road alternates in places aren’t the safest.
I have access to a gym at work if I need to shower, but on all but the hottest days I generally don’t – as I have a private office I can get changed there. On the ever rarer days that I drive to work, I generally haul a large amount of clothes back and forth to minimize what I have to carry.
What is the best thing about Cycle Commuting?
The physical exercise is great, but the mental benefits are even better. I switched a 1 hour return-trip drive + 1 hour at the gym for a 2-hour return-trip bike commute, so it’s no longer time-wise, but I get to spend 2 hours outside, and less time staring at screens!
It’s also been a great way to socialize and make new friends. I really got into winter commuting after joining the Yeti Squad cycling group that rides every Sunday year round from the Dirty River Bicycle Works in Akron. Not only have a lot of those people become good friends, the camaraderie of riding through all sorts of weather and terrain has been wonderful. Even though my bike commute is a solo effort it doesn’t feel like one since a lot of them are bike commuting as well, just in different places.
Your bikes
I am not the handiest of mechanics to say the least, so my four bikes are more-or-less built for specific conditions:
- Cannondale CAADXย with 650B slicks for the best days where I don’t need to carry much
- Cannondale BadBoyย with gravel tires that’s decked out for me to haul stuff
- Cannondale Beast of the East – not used often on the commute, but with plus tires helps me chew through the snow
- Last but not least, an old Performance with studded tires for icy weather
Any Top Tips?
Once I started to think of cycling as transportation, that changed everything. I put so few miles on my car over the last few years that I am able to put off buying a new car indefinitely, which means putting money into good bikes and good maintenance is something I can do and makes sense.
Make friends locally and far away! I’ve grown to dislike most social media but Strava has been wonderful to not only keep tabs on what your local friends and fellow commuters are doing, but also to see what people in other places do. Having that sense of community helps tons.
I get to travel to conferences several times a year, and one of my favorite things to do the past few years is to rent a bike, stay a few miles away from the conference site, and then become a local bike commuter for a few days. I’ve made new friends from that, and it’s also really cool to see how different commuting can be.
Anything Else?
If you’re in the Akron, Ohio area, I can’t say enough good things aboutย Dirty River Bicycle Works. It’s a great group of supportive and helpful people that helps support the local cycling community.
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