Adam Durand: Making The Switch (Comments: 0)

Jason’s note: I’ve asked a number of people to contribute essays to RocBike.com. Today’s essay is from Adam Durand, one of the folks who’s helping make Rochester’s monthly Critical Mass rides such a success. Adam’s also joined the bike commuting ranks. Friends, Romans, countrymen … Adam Durand!

There’s nothing quite like being trailed by a motorist who is holding down their horn, revving their engine, and yelling “Get on the sidewalk!” Over the past two weeks, my first full weeks of exclusively commuting by bicycle, this happened enough times for me to try to avoid these sorts of situations. But sometimes these incidents are unavoidable, at least with roads designed the way they are in Rochester, New York, and that’s the price one pays for choosing the most efficient form of transportation yet invented. Bicyclists haven’t yet reached critical mass on American roads, and I imagine it’ll be some time before we’re a respected part of traffic.

For most of my life, bicycles were toys, not transportation. As a child living in the town of Webster, a suburb of Rochester, I pretty much kept my bike in my neighborhood. I was trapped on a quarter mile of pavement, cut off from the rest of the town by a major road with a tiny shoulder. Any attempts I made to venture out into the world on bike were met with honks and shouts. I got the message that the road was theirs.

So I didn’t grow up a bicycle commuter, and I didn’t become one overnight. Over the past few months I’ve had a lot to learn. I’ve learned to ride in a straight, predictable path on the street so motorists can respond predictably. I’ve begun to assert my right to the road, building confidence on major roadways that I would have avoided in the past. And I’ve practiced laughing off insults, threats, and orders from motorists while maintaining a friendly demeanor. I’ve found that the more easygoing I am, the safer I am, and the more I enjoy the ride.

I’ve been inspired by the enthusiasm of bicycle commuters, including Jason here at RocBike.com, whose ranks I eagerly wanted to join. I’ve thought long and hard about who I am and why bicycle commuting should be a part of my lifestyle. I’ve studied up on types of commuting bicycles, decided what would work for me, and had Freewheelers (my favorite local bike shop) put it together.

And the day after the bike was built was the first day of my daily bike commute. It’s an 8 mile trip directly through downtown Rochester, ending in the neighboring suburb of Gates. I have the option of taking the Genesee River and Canal Towpath instead of sticking to the city streets, but the scenic route adds a couple miles onto the commute and I’ve only taken it once.

The city streets can get a little crazy during rush hour. Add some construction and emergency vehicles into the mix and it’s pure chaos. I prefer back roads to heading directly down Main Street, but there are always trade-offs. If I happen to be the only vehicle waiting at a light on certain side streets, I don’t trip the light and I either have to wait for a car to join me, or I make a spontaneous right turn. Car doors are a bicyclist’s nightmare, and unfortunately, people seem to be a little more careless when opening up their car doors on side streets; I haven’t been doored yet because I’m usually cautious, but I’ve been close. Some side streets – such as Oxford Street between Park Avenue and Monroe Avenue – don’t have any room for passing bicyclists, and twice on Oxford alone I’ve had motorists take their frustration out on me.

Main Street downtown is another story altogether. Like many Rochester roads, it lacks a bike lane or a shoulder. But even worse, the right lane is restricted to buses and right turns only, sending bicyclists into the left lane, which on a busy day with aggressive motorists is nearly suicidal. The average speed of travel downtown is about 10 miles per hour anyway, so bicycles shouldn’t have any trouble fitting in, but in practice car drivers don’t like the company. I’ve been working for the past week with the Mayor’s office and the Rochester Police Department to learn what bicyclists can do but haven’t gotten an answer yet. The ideal answer would be, “OK, we’ll build a bike lane for ya.”

It’s not always as easy as mindlessly taking the highway into work while listening to NPR, but bicycle commuting is something that everyone should consider. In fact, just off of the top of my head, I can think of so many great reasons to commute by bike that I couldn’t possibly cover them all in the 1000 words Jason gave me. But let me just say that since I’ve switched from automobile to bike, my commute to work has gone from stressful to fun. I’ve found some real joys in commuting. And I’ve traded an hour of driving an automobile each day to an hour and a half of exercise.

We’ll see where bike commuting takes me. I’ve already got some knobby snow tires ready to go for the winter. I’m planning on upgrading my bike to an Xtracycle late in the year to increase its carrying capacity and usefulness. Maybe, someday soon, I’ll be biking across the state. I know that, at the very least, I’ll have worked out some hilarious comebacks to “Get on the sidewalk!”

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