Knoxify

I rode my bike to work Fri­day for the first time in my pro­fes­sional life. I didn’t feel like the stereo­types either: that guy who lost his license for a DUI, or that nerdy envi­ron­men­tal­ist who doesn’t own a car.

I am sim­ply a guy who loves cycling and doing the right thing, which in this case means not dri­ving to work when you live only 2.5 miles away. That and the price of gas in Knoxville just reached a new high.

But as a res­i­dent of West Knoxville — the part of Knoxville devel­oped with lit­tle thought to trans­porta­tion by any­thing other than a car — what are some ways to ease into the two-wheeled commute?

Choos­ing your equipment

Cycling to work is less expen­sive than using a car, but it’s not free. You’ll need a few things to get started, some of which are:

• Bike
• Helmet
• Back­pack or messenger-style bag with enough room for your work clothes, lunch and other work items such as a lap­top (optional)
• Cycling or fit­ness cloth­ing (optional)

The bike doesn’t need to be an expen­sive carbon-fiber road bike. It can be a moun­tain bike, hybrid or even a fixed-gear track bike. You will want tarmac-friendly tires and gear­ing suited for your cho­sen com­mute (more gears for hills, less for flats). If you’re using a second-hand bike, or one that hasn’t see use in awhile, run it by a local bike shop such as West Knoxville’s Cedar Bluff Cycles for a checkup.

I’m rid­ing my cyclocross bike, which as it hap­pens is per­fect for com­mut­ing with its gen­er­ous gear ratio, larger tires and slightly upright rid­ing position.

The weather in Knoxville can be some­what unpre­dictable so you might also want fend­ers other weather-related acces­sories for your bike. This also as impli­ca­tions in the type of cloth­ing you wear on your ride — a suit might not fair well in a sud­den rainstorm.

As a cyclist, I’m com­fort­able wear­ing a hel­met, cycling shoes, shorts and a jer­sey. The wick­ing mate­r­ial ensures a more-pleasant ride should I break a sweat or get stuck in the rain. It has the added ben­e­fit of keep­ing your work cloth­ing clean as well.

Wear a hel­met even if your chose to ride in your work clothes. It has saved my life, and will save yours in case of an accident.

But some folks might not be com­fort­able with the cyclist-look, in which case you can always ride with the clothes you wear to work. (Just remem­ber what hap­pened to Jim in that episode of The Office.)

If you plan to ride in cycling cloth­ing and change into dif­fer­ent clothes at work, you’ll need a bag large enough to carry such gear. And no, you don’t need to use a messenger-style bag to do it.

I use a Timbuk2 clas­sic mes­sen­ger bag cur­rently. It was made for car­ry­ing loads on a bike in a sta­ble man­ner, and fits well. I’ve also used a tra­di­tional back­pack in the past, but found it makes my back too sweaty in warmer weather.

My bag is a size medium, which I’ve found too small for car­ry­ing a 17″ lap­top, shoes, cloth­ing and lunch. I have a larger bag on order.

Rid­ing with cars

The first reac­tion I received when arriv­ing at the office by bike is shock that I would ride on a road with­out a bike lane. With cars. Big, scary cars.

I’m very used to rid­ing with cars hav­ing been doing so for more than 10 years. But I can under­stand how it can be intim­i­dat­ing for a cycling n00b.

West Knoxville has no bike lanes that I’m aware of, which means you’ll be rid­ing on the shoul­der of the road, or slightly in the traf­fic lane. It’s com­pletely OK, and legal to ride inside the lane despite what many dri­vers say. Do not ride on the side­walk. This is for pedestrians!

Also, make sure you under­stand that cars will win in a fight with a bike.

Stay alert, make eye con­tact with dri­vers, and fol­low the rules of the road. Rid­ing with cars will get eas­ier over time.

Stor­ing your bike at work

I am luck enough to work at an office with empty cubi­cles where I can stash my ride. Other folks can store it in their office. But if your place of work doesn’t pro­vide such shel­ter, you’ll need a lock to secure it to a post out­side. This isn’t the best for obvi­ous rea­sons, rain being one, but will have to do espe­cially in an urban environment.

My office also has show­ers and lock­ers for employ­ees to use. This is also some­thing most folks don’t have, which means you’ll either need to avoid the hottest time of the day (to avoid sweat­ing), or bring in some baby wipes for a quick wipedown after arrival.

I take a shower, and do every­thing else I nor­mally do in the morn­ings before work even though I’m rid­ing my bike. I know other folks that take a shower at work.
What­ever works for you is fine.

Count your savings

By cycling to work at least three times a week, I’m hop­ing to save at least $10 to $15 dol­lars in gas. This doesn’t include main­te­nance, which for a VW owner can be expensive.

But I’m also get­ting in a brief work­out twice a day, and I’m cut­ting down on pol­lu­tion and congestion.

The biggest pay­off for me came when I was able to skirt to the front of the line of 10 cars stopped at a stop-sign. Just make sure to do this in a safe man­ner — don’t ride in an unsafe man­ner sim­ply because you’re on a bike and not a car.

It does take me longer to ride my bike to work than drive, but only by a few minutes.

Ulti­mately, the sav­ings earned for com­mut­ing by bike are going to be deter­mined by the indi­vid­ual. Some folks may find it not worth the hassle.

For me, it makes per­fect sense and is enjoy­able to boot.

If you have any ques­tions about com­mut­ing by bike in Knoxville, please post a com­ment or get in touch with me directly. Happy cycling!

Note: This entry was orig­i­nally pub­lished on Patrick’s blog April 19, 2008 at 5:37 p.m.

Pho­tog­ra­phy by Patrick Bee­son.