Kevin Daly uses bike for transportation

By Adele Zhou
<[email protected]>

Can you describe your bike?
It’s a recumbent bike. Recumbent bikes are the type with a big seat and a backrest, so in other words, it’s comfortable. I have a windshield for it too because I do ride year round, so in the winter, the windshield breaks the wind a little bit, keeps the cold off me, keeps the bugs off me, keeps the rain off me. I added the windshield after a year or two.

How long have you been riding your bike to school?
It’s been five or six years now.

What made you make that decision instead of driving a car?

I’ve always enjoyed cycling. I have a personal belief, we Americans are lazy. I know people that will get in the car and drive a block, and to me, it’s just like, “Are you crazy? You’re going to drive when you can just walk there?” And I don’t like being lazy. Because I enjoyed cycling and they completed the (Monon) trail, I started riding my mountain bike to work, and it’s 10 miles. After the first year, I realized that I wouldn’t stick with it because it was just too uncomfortable. That bike is made for trail riding, not leisure riding, so I bought a recumbent, it’s the best toy I’ve ever bought myself, I love that bike. You can ask my wife, we’re down to one car right now. We share a car but she pretty much has it. I ride it everywhere, grocery store, take the dog for walks. If I can get there on a bike, I ride my bike.
I just prefer to be on the bike. The first year I stopped in the winter, ‘cause that made sense. Then I had a little conversation with myself, which was “Why are you not riding in the winter?” and the obvious answer was “It’s cold.” And then I told myself, “Well, you snowboard,” and I go out in the winter and cross country ski, so I had the clothes, so I thought, “Why don’t you wear your snowboard gear while you ride?” So that second winter I did, I geared up, and… snug as a bug. People are always like, “Oh my god, you’re crazy, you must be freezing.” And I’m like, “No, I’m not, I’m wearing mittens and goggles and masks and boots.”

So you’re saving a lot of money?
I don’t keep track, but when we had two cars, I would probably go a month without putting gas in my car. I go weeks without getting in the car. In the last few years, I just barely drive anywhere, and it’s funny how it changes you, because now it could be weeks before I get in the car, and how quickly I lose my patience in traffic. It’s not that I have road rage, but I think we all deal with it, like the frustration of sitting in traffic, because I’m not used to it anymore, so it’s amazing how quick, I’m like “oh my god, I hate this.” I hate that we’re all in our little cubes and honking at each other and everybody’s mad, where when I’m on my bike, it’s so therapeutic mentally, physically.

Do you ride with other teachers?
I have in the past. There are a couple others that do. Mr Yessak, I know rides sometimes. Mr. Petersen sometimes rides, Mr. Hawkins sometimes rides, I haven’t seen them all year, so I don’t think they are. The assumption is, I’m an environmentalist, which I do care about the environment, but for me, there’s two hours a day every day that are mine, and I turn off the cellphone. I listen to books on tape. So in the last four, five years, I think I’ve listened to 80 something books. It’s amazing. I don’t drink coffee, never really have. When I get here after an hour of leisure bike ride, I feel great. I’m wide awake. At the end of the day, if the weather is good, when that bell rings, I’m like, “Sweet, I’m gonna put my gear on, I’m gonna listen to my book…”

What if it rains?

What I typically do is ride with my rain gear, and if it starts to rain, I put my rain gear on. I got caught in my hail storm once, and that was kind of funny. I was probably about 3 miles from the high school, and it just started hailing on me. They were probably about pea-sized. And I was just kind of laughing at myself, like, “What are you doing? Why are you out here?” I got caught once in a snow storm. They let school out early, and I went on the trail, and there were like 6 inches of snow, and I was like, “Holy crap, how am I going to do this?” I ended up getting a ride with a coworker that saw me.

Is it all worth it in the end?
The worst thing is in the dead of winter you get a flat. It’s dark, its 10 below, and you’re supposed to change a flat, you’ve got mittens on. That’s when you have your morning road rage. But you have that with the risks of a car of getting a flat or an accident. I wish I could get more people to do it just because I think the world would be a better place. If we all just got a little more exercise and a little more fresh air and weren’t stuck in our little boxes, I think we would probably be nicer to each other.

Has it caught on with your family?
My wife has a recumbent, and we travel with them. We had a roof rack that will carry them. We’ve gone as far as key west, florida, and once we get to wherever we travel, we park the car and then we’re on the bikes the whole time.