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Biking to Work: Not Just for Graduate Students

(Photo - Ed Miller) Ed Miller
Distance to work?
7 miles.

Time it takes?
25-30 minutes one way.

How often do you bike to work?
Almost every (non-rainy) day.

How long you've been doing it?
More than 30 years.

Why do you do it?
For exercise, relaxation, and cost-saving.

What's your favorite part of the ride?
Coming through the ever-changing Stanford campus.

What's the worst part about biking to work?
The occasional flat tire.

What's the closest call you've had?
Hit by car turning left into me as if I were not there.

What kind of bike do you have?
Road bike.

What's your favorite recreational ride?
Palo Alto to Calistoga.

(Photo - Rick Challman) Rick Challman
Distance to work?
15 miles (30 miles round trip).

Time it takes?
1 hour, 5 minutes when I can ride in the daylight.

How often do you bike to work?
Always, rain or shine.

How long you've been doing it?
For my entire 15 years at SLAC (and prior to that when I worked at Syntex which was only a 20 mile round trip).

Why do you do it?
I have a physiological need to be outside for a while each day (I grew up working on the farm); I love to ride a bicycle, especially in the warm weather; I like to stay in good physical condition so I can cycle in the mountains with my bicycle club on the weekends; it's nice not to have to pay for gas.

What's your favorite part of the ride?
Hitting the road early in the morning just as the sun comes up.

What's the worst part about biking to work?
The rain storms accompanied by high winds in the winter.

What's the closest call you've had?
I was hit by a Suburban going 40 mph on 2-17-05 when riding home from work. I received five breaks in my fibula and tibia and my pelvis was fractured in five places.

What kind of bike do you have?
I have ridden different bikes over the years during the rainy periods. The bike I ride most of the year, commuting and recreationally, in a 1983 Nishiki. I hit 200,000 miles on that bike in January 2006.

What's your favorite recreational ride?
I ride with the Western Wheelers Bicycle Club on weekends. My favorite ride is over the mountains to the coast, ride down the coast to Davenport and return through Bonny Doon and Boulder Creek. The route I take is about 100 miles.

—Krista Zala
   SLAC Today, May 17, 2006