Lucy Kellaway is an Examplar Bicycle Commuter
| filed under: Bike Commuting, Bike Commute, Commuting by Bike, Commuting, Pedal Cycling
Brava, Ms. Kellaway, for doing a much better job of evangelizing pedal bike commuting.
Lucy Kellaway
On Monday, July 3rd, Lucy Kellaway wrote a column, Pleasures outweigh the perils of a more balanced commute, about her renaissance as a bicycle commuter from her home to the offices of FT in London, “cycling is the perfect buffer between work and home. You have to concentrate, which means you can’t fret.” I biked to work this morning again and plan to continue to do so every day. She says there are ten reasons to ride:
"It will make you richer, healthier, possibly thinner and definitely less bokers. It will help you make new friends, it will make you feel virtuous. It will give you more spare time. You will be more productive at work and you'll also save the planet. If you are in your mid forties, you will lose a quarter of a century instantly and feel just like an undergraduate again." [...] "I had stopped at traffic lights beside a fine looking man in an expensive suit not designed for cycling. We looked at each other, looked away and then he looked back at me intently. This sort of thing never happens to me these days (if it ever did) and particularly not when I'm wearing an oversized, fluorescent road sweeper's tabard and garish cycling helmet. Then he said: "I'm riding my bike today because of your article in the paper."
Brava, Ms. Kellaway, for doing a much better job of evangelizing pedal bike commuting.
Another plus is that her bike commute is five minutes quicker than the train, and costs her $145 less a month. No cramping or cramming on the commuter train, and as an added bonus, she is fit for the first time in her life! That said, there is the sweat and the issue of getting killed.
For me, I have a shower at my office (I am a very sweaty cyclist) and I also spent a couple years as a bike courier in DC and have been biking since I was 6, so I am pretty sure of myself. My commute by Metro takes almost 45 minutes, door-to-door, by car, it is 20 minutes, and by bike, I have it down to 15 minutes, door-to-door, plus ten for a shower, the ten I would have taken anyway at home that morning.
Lucy Kellaway adds that one of the most unexpected bonus of all is that “cycling has made ma a bit more intrepid, not just in the saddle but out of it too.”
