Get out and bike it

From the Daily Record (Ellensburg, WA), 04.19.07:

Get out and bike it

A coalition of groups and businesses promoting bicycling in May are too late in selling Joe Seemiller, Steve Wenger and Ethan Bergman on the benefits of cycling to work and back: the three already make it part of their regular work day.

Seemiller...bikes the nearly 25-mile roundtrip from his home on Manastash Road to his Ellensburg office year-round. He has studded bike tires to deal with snow and ice.

Twenty-five miles daily may be too daunting for many, so how about Wenger, manager of Central Washington University’s Wildcat Shop/Bookstore? He bicycles an 18-mile round trip to his work and home.

"It's a great wind down after a hard day of work," said Wenger who has been biking to work for about 20 years. "You get your mind off work and on God's great creation all around you in the Kittitas Valley. It clears your mind."

"At first I did it to reduce the burden on the environment," Bergman said. "That's a continued incentive but I also enjoy it. You use your own muscles as opposed to a machine and gasoline. You end up refreshed.

"It's a good way to start the day, and a good way to end the day. It's very doable when biking becomes the normal pattern of your life." (Read more.)

Most bike commuters travel shorter distances than the inspiring riders featured in this article. And some bicyclists go out of their way to add miles, expanding the enjoyment of their favored commute mode. Especially in spring.

Image: Mike Johnston/Daily Record. Bike commuter Steve Wenger.
Visit: Paul Dorn's Bike Commuting Tips