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Bike to Work goes flat

I thought I'd share a little update on my experience of pedaling to work Wednesday afternoon in celebration of Bike to Work Week.

After using a foot pump to inflate my tires and heading to work, I knew they needed more air. So I took along my tire gauge and pedaled to a gas station near home after work. Unfortunately, the front tire's tube stem started leaking. I couldn't get it to stop. So I put the cap back on and started pedaling home, but soon stopped when the tire had deflated. After walking the rest of the way home, I ignored the needed lawn mowing, checked the Yellow Pages to assure myself that Michael's Cycles was open until 7, and tossed the bike in my car. Some $35 later, I had a new tube and tire (apparently ruined by riding on it when it was deflating) installed and still got home in time to mow.

Let's see, if I bike to save about a buck on gas/wear and tear on the car for every one-mile, one-way trip to work, that means I need to pedal to work about 17 times this summer just to make this pay off. Of course, considering the tire and tube had more than a decade of use on them, that's not bad.

Speaking of biking to work, I admired the dedication of Randy Gant as detailed in Anna Marie Lux's column in today's Gazette. The 51-year-old Rock Township man started biking to lose weight after being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Now he bikes 24 miles roundtrip to work five days a week, weather permitting. He uses rural roads and admits a big truck once knocked him off the road. That's why I hesitate to encourage anyone to commute to work on rural roads--it's dangerous, even with a helmet and reflectors, which Gant uses. Despite that fall, Gant keeps pedaling.

Admirable, as I said.

Greg Peck