2008 Commuters of the Day
THURSDAY: Kathy Flaccus
On Bike to School Day, we are recognizing Kathy Flaccus, a science teacher at Sinagua High School and bicycle commuting advocate for her school. Under her encouragement, Sinagua High won the 2007 and 2008 Bike to School Challenge’s coveted “Golden Sprocket” award. While she is downplays her own commuter efforts, noting that other teachers at SHS are more zealous than she is; she is part a group that enthusiastically embraces Bike to Work Week’s goal of encouraging her students to ride their bikes, and her school has a tradition of fun contests like the bike toss, bike rodeo and extra credit for biking to school.
Worksite: Sinagua High School
FBO: HOW long have you riding your bike?
Kathy: Woops, You want me to tell my age? Close to 50 years now
FBO: How long have you been commuting?
Kathy: I started riding randomly to work about 8 years ago, and probably about 2003 started riding as often as I could
FBO: How long is your commute?
Kathy: 4 miles one way
FBO: What kind of bike do you ride?
Kathy: A Trek mountain bike that my husband bought when we lived in South Africa and we brought back with us.
FBO: Do you do other types of riding?
Kathy: I do pretty beginner mountain bike trails, am terrified when I work up to intermediate, but am forced to follow my friends and family so they won’t think I am a wimp. Too late for that I guess.
FBO: What is your favorite thing about your bike commute?
Kathy: OK there is actually lots that I love about it. What keeps me riding is that it so perfectly blends the mind-body-spirit. I also love how the other bike commuters are pretty friendly on the ride, they wave, nod, warn me before they pass me. One time I got a flat on the way to work, without a spare and another rider on her way to work stopped and fixed my tire, using her spare tube, making herself late. I was touched and inspired by her generous act for a stranger. I feel like bikers are a fairly loose community, but cars are just solo machines.
FBO: Pet peeve?
Kathy: The wind. The darned wind. The wind that always is in my face on the way home.
FBO: Do you have any advice for someone that is trying to commute for the first time?
Kathy: Good idea to live down wind from where you work. Have fun. Take advantage of the great trail system in Flagstaff.
FBO: Anything else you’d like to add?
Kathy: Bike to work Week is great! It strengthens the feeling of community. I teach science at Sinagua High School and this year my students worked on a big project to calculate the school’s carbon footprint. As it turns out, transportation is a big source of carbon dioxide. One group of students is using Bike to School day as a model of how students can reduce global warming gases and get exercise too. They are surveying each bike riding student and keeping data on how many car miles are saved by students riding. They will analyze these data in their report on ways to reduce Sinagua’s Carbon Footprint. Teaching doesn’t get much better than when the real world is the classroom, and the lesson is as important as sustainability. There is something else that makes bike to School day great. It is fun! FBO brings breakfast for all the riders and the science department provides lunch and competitions. The day is festive, mainly because many of the SHS teachers support it and encourage students to ride and take part.
John Canfield recently left Flagstaff after living and working with invasive species issues. In October 2007, he answered a challenge issued by New Belgium Brewery during the Tour de Fat in Flagstaff to give up the title to his car (proceeds of the sale went to Flagstaff Biking Organization) and live for a year without a car. He recently returned to Flagstaff from a winter in Montana and had this to say about his year without a car; and his life with his bike. We caught John at the Bike Bazaar–his winter Ski-N-Bike rig is shown below.
FBO: How long have you been riding your bike?
John: Ever since I can remember, I have loved riding my bike. But seriously, who didn’t start riding as a little kid? It is standard as a citizen of America to learn to ride a bike as a child, now only if it was mandatory to ride as an adult…
FBO: How long have you been commuting?
John: I started seriously commuting via bicycle in high school, during which time I had a car for a couple of years. I sold it in order to buy a better road bike and ended up crashing it and sent myself to the hospital. I rode around on my mountain bike until 2007, when I bought the vw golf that I gave away a year later for another bike and the promise to not have/drive a car.
FBO: What kind of bike do you ride?
John: I have three bikes that cover the bicycling gamut for me. I ride a custom Black Sheep 29er, with Old Man Mountain racks and gears. It’s good for getting around and carrying my skis and groceries with the panniers. My other bikes are a single speed mountain bike, and a fixie. I guess I look like the stereotypical Flag biker.
FBO: Do you do other types of riding?
John: I mountain bike during the summer, and generally avoid the roads unless I am commuting or riding to a trailhead. Honestly, I do not trust drivers enough to feel safe on long road rides.
FBO: What is your favorite thing(s) about your bike commute?
John: Seeing other cyclists before the main “rush” of cars to work, on a –20 degree morning with 30 mph winds, pure ice covering the deserted streets
FBO: Pet peeve?
John: Tailgating drivers, cyclists riding backward up Beaver in the street, playing chicken with oncoming cars. Seriously!
FBO: Do you have any advice for someone that is trying to commute for the first time?
John: “There is no comparison between that which is lost by not succeeding and that lost by not trying.” –Sir Francis Bacon
FBO: Anything else you’d like to add?
John: I do not regret giving my car away. I do not regret riding my bike through one of the longest and coldest Montana winters in recent memory. I would also like to thank all my friends who made my car free life possible including: everyone who picked me up while I hitched to Bridger Bowl and Jessie and Emily who helped me move North across the country, then back down for the summer.
Following is an interview with Aaron Seifert:
FBO: Where do you work?
Aaron: I work as the GIS Coordinator for Shephard-Wesnitzer, Inc.
FBO: How long have you been riding your bike?
Aaron: I first road just in childhood then didn’t start mountain biking until college here at NAU. Then in 1999 I started to road bike with my sister with the Tour de Tucson. So at least 20 years.
FBO: How long have you been commuting?
Aaron: I commuted to some summer jobs in college and across campus in college for a couple of years but didn’t really start commuting regularly until I moved back to Flagstaff in 2004. Yea for FUTS!!
FBO: Why do you commute?
Aaron: Isn’t it obvious now? To save money on gas. Nah! I started because what a great way to start the day with some exercise serving as transportation at the same time. In addition, it now feels like freedom from the cage of the truck when it isn’t below 25 degrees.
FBO: How long is your commute?
Aaron: 7 miles round trip and it is downhill into work and uphill on the way home with several routes to change things up.
FBO: What kind of bike do you ride?
Aaron: I mostly ride my 1991 Specialized Rockhopper, which is still a completely rigid bike, to work. Sometimes I change up the ride (and not just to work) by riding my Santa Cruz Blur mountain bike, my LeMond Alpe d’Huez road bike, or my father’s 3-speed 1970s Columbia “cruiser” bike.
FBO: Do you do other types of riding? (Road riding, mountain biking, etc.)
Aaron: I’ve enjoyed mountain biking to escape stress or exploring the forest and red rock country with friends. I’ve seen many wonderful miles on the road biking in the Tour de Tucson and other charity rides around Arizona many times, across Iowa with RAGBRAI, and around the Big Island of Hawaii. I have never wanted to enter a race at all!
FBO: What is the most unusual thing that’s ever happened to you while riding?
Aaron: I wouldn’t say this is unusual but fascinating… while riding with the other 10,000+ cyclists in RAGBRAI across Iowa, I ran into such a vast range of people from across the country; from an elderly man in overalls riding a recumbent equipped with a “push stick” where other cyclists readily helped push him up the hills to the incredible celebration of cycling by each overnight town with rows of 50 waffle irons at breakfast and church groups serving spaghetti dinners to the wackiness of still others which mounted things like full portable radios to their bike and large dog bones to their helmets as part of their “group theme” for the ride. So it must be human nature to have a bunch of crazy fun with bicycles like here in Flagstaff.
FBO: Do you have any advice for someone that is trying to commute for the first time?
Aaron: Just as you spend time fixing your lunch or picking your clothes for work you need to spend time figuring our your “system” for commuting. This includes the route with options, clothing layers for riding and work, and changing or cleaning up once at work. It will be hard at first but give it several days to a couple weeks and you’ll find a good rhythm. After all, there is always the bus (keep a copy of the schedule handy) or a friend to help out on bad weather days. Many riders have different thresholds of temperature and weather so you’ll just have to figure that one out and try to push a bit father into back weather each year. Always ask other bicyclists for help and suggestions.
FBO: Anything else you’d like to add?
Aaron: Keep on riding because it will tone and strengthen your body and your soul.
Mark Daniels is a botanist /plant ecologist who has lived in Flagstaff 10 years. He’s lived in Mountain Aire for the last year and he is one of those stout hearts that makes a heroic commute on a regular basis throughout the year. He has been active in the Flagstaff bicycle advocacy community and sets a high standard for bicycle commuting. FBO solutes Mark and those like him that are not detered by significant distance, interstate travel, and a fastastic 4-season climate! We had this conversation with Mark:
Where do you work?
Mark: NAU’s Ecological Restoration Institute
How long have you been riding your bike?
Mark: Since I got my first “real” bike (a Schwinn 12-speed) when I was 13.
How long have you been commuting?
Mark: Basically since I got my first job
How long is your commute?
Mark: About 10 miles, usually 30-40 minutes. I do it about 4 of every 5 days
What kind of bike do you ride?
Mark: An old Bridgestone touring bike
Do you enjoy other types of bike riding?
Mark: I do a little of both mountain and road riding when I get the time, though not nearly as much as I used to.
What is the most unusual thing that’s ever happened to you while riding?
Mark: I saw two people having sex against a tree once while riding down a steep trail on NAU’s south campus.
What is your favorite thing(s) about your bike commute?
MD: I like the fact that I stay in great shape without having to “work out.” I also like being in touch with the seasonal changes.
Pet peeve?
Mark: Having to ride on the freeway (I live in Mountainaire), although it’s really not as bad as people think. I wish the county would pave Old Munds Highway to make that a better option for commuting to town.
Do you have any advice for someone that is trying to commute for the first time?
Mark: Put some effort into finding the most pleasing (but still efficient) route to your workplace, so you’ll enjoy the ride. Also think about the gear which will best work for you (packs/trailer, clothing, etc.) so you bring everything you need to get through the work day without being uncomfortable while you ride.
Anything else you’d like to add?
Mark: Ride ride ride!! It’s so much more fun than being in a car, with benefits to yourself and the planet!