Seattleites put their soles to the pedals

Emily Prouty hadn't been on a bike since middle school. But this 24-year-old was so eager to participate in her company's Bike to Work Month competition, she went to Recycled Cycles at the end of April, bought a used bike and started commuting from Fremont to downtown Seattle on May 1.


		Mike Urban / P-I
	Marty Dopps switches shoes and stows his business attire in a file drawer at his Seattle office as he prepares to bike the 23 1/2 miles back to his home in Federal Way. May is Bike to Work Month.

She's made the 10-mile round trip almost every day since.

Prouty is a member of the Gutter Bunnies team at the Perkins and Will architecture firm. They're competing against the Perkolaters, and at this point the Bunnies are in the lead.

Prouty and her Gutter Bunnies are part of a rolling celebration -- a tradition the League of American Bicyclists started in 1956.

"We estimate 500,000 people participate in Bike to Work Month (nationally)," said Elizabeth Preston, director of communications for the league.

Seattle's Cascade Bicycle Club reports a record-setting 5,400 are registered to ride and complete at least five round-trip commutes this month. Last year 3,700 competed. Those numbers are expected to swell to 10,000 on Friday when Starbucks hosts a bike-to-work day with "commute stations" scattered along bike routes offering coffee, snacks, maps and equipment checks.

Marty Dopps, 49, was a first-timer when he biked to work May 1, but he didn't start out on two wheels.

To avoid some Federal Way hills in his hometown, he piled his heavy red Davidson bike into his Toyota Land Cruiser at 6:45 a.m. and drove three miles to the Riverwood Golf parking lot.

He unloaded the bike and put soles to the pedals. His fingers were cold. So were his toes.

He spent part of the trip on the Green River trail, cut over from Fourth Avenue to First so he could use the bike-friendly First Avenue bridge. He wove through Pioneer Square, moving up toward Fifth Avenue. At 8:15 he pulled into Group Health headquarters at Sixth Avenue and Wall Street, parked his bike in the rack and headed for the showers.

His 23 1/2-mile commute had taken him 90 minutes.

One possible motivation: "As I put $62 worth of gas in my car" the other night, "I thought about bike commuting," Dopps said.

Carry Porter, marketing director for the club, said one-fourth of the registered riders are first-timers.

During the first two weeks of Bike to Work Month, the riders have ridden a total of 21,000 days, and completed 300,000 miles.

"That's longer than the distance from here to the moon," Porter said. "We've saved 14,000 gallons of gas (about $45,500 at $3.25 per gallon) and burned 9.9 million calories."


		Mike Urban / P-I
	Marty Dopps was a first-time bike commuter when Bike to Work Month started May 1.

Lacy Kemp, 25, is on a team this month, but she has been a faithful biker for several years. She has a 21-mile daily commute to her job at the Polyclinic Community Health Foundation. "I can't afford gas, or don't want to spend the money on it. I probably save $100 a month."

Marty Chase, a civil engineer who works in downtown Seattle, is on a team from KPFF Consulting Engineers, but he's no newcomer to bicycle commuting.

Chase, 43, started biking as a college student at the University of California-Davis. Since 1989 he's been commuting by bike from Lynnwood -- 20 miles each way -- about six months out of the year.

"I enjoy it. It's a good way to kill two birds with one stone." Now that he's a father of two and time is at a premium, he considers his ride both commute and workout.

He admits he's been irritated by drivers when he's on a bike, and annoyed by bikers when he's in the driver's seat. "It's helped me to understand both positions. I try to be more courteous on both ends."

Dr. Hugh Straley, 64, medical director of Group Health, calls the challenge "perfect because it gets us on bikes in May." He raves about his ride from the Mount Baker neighborhood, which takes him through the International District. "Great food smells," he said.

Straley said the cost of fuel is a consideration at all times. He calls biking "an environmentally friendly thing to do" and wishes there were more accessible bike paths throughout the city.

Preston, of the League of American Bicyclists, said Washington is one of the top 10 bicycle states with four communities -- Bellingham, Redmond, Vancouver and Olympia -- rated silver or bronze by the league. Davis, Calif., is the only city in the country with a platinum rating.

Local and national reviewers grade communities on engineering, encouragement and other bike-related issues. Of 160 cities that have applied, only 60 have qualified.

MORE INFORMATION

RIDE OF SILENCE

What: A 20-mile bicycle loop through Seattle, part of the national Ride of Silence to commemorate riders who have been killed in collisions with motor vehicles.

When: 7 p.m. tonight, starting at Gas Works Park on Lake Union.

Details: There's no registration, no fee and no T-shirt -- just a chance to ride quietly to raise awareness of cycling and to remind all that roads are to be shared. Riders are requested to ride two abreast at a speed not to exceed 12 mph.

Background: According to Washington Department of Transportation records, seven cyclists were killed in this state in 2004, the last year for which statistics are available.

Learn more: There also will be rides in Everett, Renton, Tacoma, Walla Walla and Vancouver. Go to www.rideofsilence.org or www.bicyclealliance.org for details.

BIKE MONTH INFO AND TRIVIA

To learn how to get involved in Bike to Work Month and other local biking activities, check out Cascade Bicycle Club's Web site at www.cbcef.org.

To find out what's happening nationally, contact the League of American Bicyclists: www.bikeleague.org.

In China, 77 percent of commuters bicycle to work. In the Netherlands, 50 percent of commuters ride bikes. In Washington, the figure is 1.6 percent.

A 150-pound cyclist burns 410 calories while pedaling 12 mph.

A new bicycle commuter can expect to lose 13 pounds in the first year.

Seattle has 28 miles of bike trails and 15 miles of striped bike lanes

Source: Cascade Bicycle Club Education Foundation

P-I reporter Susan Phinney can be reached at 206-448-8397 or susanphinney@seattlepi.com.

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