,
I've been a passionate cyclist for more than half my life. I started
riding to school every day in New York City
when I was a teenager, and started racing after I saw the movie
"Breaking Away". In this picture I'm in recovery mode following a
ride in the coastal hills near La Honda, CA, with my friends Harlan,
Liz, and Tom (L-R).
After many years of being a snotty lycra-clad racer who looked down
his nose at tourists and recreational cyclists and drove hundreds of
miles to races, I expanded my horizons to include a little more of the
Big Picture: I now volunteer for bicycle advocacy programs such as MassBike. The new Pioneer Valley Chapter of
MassBike meets monthly to plan local action. Mary Beth and I own a
car but pretend we don't, riding to work rain or shine, and doing all
our shopping and other errands by foot or bike. For carrying heavy
loads, we have three trailers: a Bykaboose,
a Burley
(shown here with the stroller
kit attached),
and a Columbus
.
We got an Xtracycle 
as a wedding present, and have used it to haul lumber, doors,
boxes, and people.
For more info on trailers, see BikeTrailerShop.com and Bike Trailer Comparison Chart.
We have a pedicab 
for carrying the whole family around town.
(Photo by Jerry Roberts -- click here for an
article in the Daily Hampshire Gazette about the pedicab.)
The Pioneer Valley is lucky to be home to the beautiful
Norwottuck Rail Trail. It's flat, paved, and automobile-free,
and provides views of farms, fields, hills, trees, the Northern
Lights, wild turkeys, beavers, coyotes, and great blue herons. The
Rail Trail is not plowed of snow, so in the winter I ride on the
roads, including on the Coolidge Bridge over Route 9. When I don't
ride, there's always the free bus.
Check out the photo of me
and Kelly Moore 
at the 1998
Transportation Alternatives NYC Century!
Here are some tips for comfortable and safe nighttime and cold-weather commuting.
And here are an article and photo 
about the Pioneer Valley's
first
Critical Mass ride crossing over the Coolidge Memorial Bridge.
Automobiles and their use are responsible for more pollution and other environmental destruction, including the largest share of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming, than any other human pursuit in the world. Cars also cause 40,000 human and 400,000,000 animal deaths every year in the US. Cars lead to suburban growth (= natural habitat destruction) and social isolation.
Every day, Americans drive the equivalent of a round trip to Pluto (source: the Federal Highway Administration).
In October and November of 1993 I bicycled solo across Vietnam, starting in Saigon and ending in Hanoi.
For more bike- and transportation-related links, visit