Some students prefer life in the bike lane
Posted on Monday, March 31, 2008
For a few high school students, riding a bicycle to school actually provides a greater sense of freedom than driving a car.
Fayetteville High School senior Max Thorn is a bicyclist who has one of the longest rides to school. He calculated his northeast Fayetteville home is nearly nine miles from the school.
FHS junior Jacob Purcell also frequently rides his bicycle to school from his home near Gulley Park, which is more than a four-mile ride.
While bicyclists face their challenges on the road and are more exposed to the elements than motorists, the students said they enjoy riding their bikes around town. They say it doesn’t take as long to get to their destinations as one might think.
“ It’s a great ride, ” Thorn said. “ I really do find it encouraging and hopeful. ”
“ It only takes about 20 minutes, ” Purcell said of his ride to the school.
“ It’s a good way to get around, ” said Alex Hetherington, a senior who also often rides to school.
Hetherington said he lives about three miles away.
“ With Jacob, it’s probably only five minutes more than driving. He definitely gets home a lot faster than if he was riding the bus, ” said his mother, school board member Becky Purcell.
Thorn said it only takes about 10 to 12 minutes longer for him to get to the school on his bicycle than it does driving in morning traffic.
“ My resolution this spring is to drive my car a lot less, ” he said.
Thinking out of the car
Thorn does drive to school some of the time, on days like Thursday when he woke up too late to ride his bike.
“ It’s a lot more fun going home than coming (to school ) because you don’t have to worry about being late for class, ” Thorn said.
Purcell is 16 and said he still hasn’t gotten around to getting his driver’s license. His father, University of Arkansas professor Larry Purcell, is known for frequently riding his bicycle to work.
One of the advantages to riding a bicycle is there is “ always an alternative route, ” Thorn said. A bicycle can go places a car cannot such as trails and sidewalks, he said.
On neighborhood streets, cyclists can ride as fast as they can and still won’t be exceeding the speed limit, he said.
Purcell said riding a bicycle really doesn’t require him to make many schedule adjustments to his activities. Thorn said riding the bike has prompted him to become a better planner.
“ When I was driving, I’d end up crisscrossing the town, ” he said. “ In my particular case, it just forces me not to be lazy. ”
Thorn said the more he rides, the more he learns to adjust to the elements and challenges of bicycling.
“ What I used to think was cold isn’t as cold now, ” he said. “ The human body can adapt to plenty of situations. ”
Thorn said he mainly started riding a bicycle just last year, but now he doesn’t plan to take a car when he goes away to college next year. He figures he can ride his bike at college.
Style all their own As far as the impact bicycling might have on one’s clothing, Thorn said he sometimes brings an extra Tshirt and a pair of sandals to wear after he gets to school. Purcell is known at FHS for having one pant leg rolled up because he lifts his right pant leg to avoid getting it caught in the bicycle chain, his mother said.
In Fayetteville, some of the current challenges to bicycling include the hills and some busy streets not being too accommodating for bicyclists. Thorn said he tries to ride neighborhood streets and trails whenever possible, but he would like to see motorists be more aware that bicycles have a right to the road.
He said he hasn’t run into many problems storing his bicycle while running errands.
“ If you have a bike lock, you can pretty much strap your bike to everything, ” he said.
Getting there As far as the future location of the high school, a topic being discussed in the community, Thorn said the current site is more bicyclefriendly than a 101-acre site being considered at Deane Solomon Road and West Salem Road. “ With the street conditions as they are, lacking bicycle lanes, currently the most bicycle-friendly location would be the current location, ” Thorn said. The school doesn’t keep a record of how many students actually ride bikes, but Thorn estimated it was probably fewer than 20. Only three bicycles were parked at the school’s bicycle rack Friday afternoon.
Bike City While Thorn cites the joy of riding more than the impact on the environment as a reason why he rides, he took an environmentally friendly approach to obtaining his current bike: It is made of recycled bicycle parts. Thorn used parts he found at Bike City Recyclery and Infoshop, which is located at 546 W. Center St., Studio C, near Frisco Trail. The recycled bicycle replaced his old mountain bike, he said.
Founder Josh Thompson said Bike City is a volunteer-run bicycle shop that specializes in refurbishing and recycling used bicycles. It opened about 14 months ago, he said, adding that he visited other bicycle recyclers in three cities before establishing Bike City.
“ We recycle bicycles and sell them as transportation, ” he said. “ People give us bikes they no longer want. We take all bike parts regardless of condition. ”
Like the students, Thompson, who works at the UA, is an avid bicyclist. He said he has been car-free for four years now. Although he deals with cold in the winter and gets wet when it rains, he said he loves his lifestyle.
“ I figure I save several thousand dollars a year, ” he said.
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