Monday, July 14, 2008
By LaMont Jones, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

When the weather is favorable, Terry Plowman can get from his West Mifflin home to his Downtown job in about 45 minutes.

Not by car or bus, but by an increasingly popular mode of commuting — bicycle. And after a quick change from his biking gear to business casual, Mr. Plowman is ready for another day of work at Verizon.

There are signs that more Pittsburghers, and Americans in general, are commuting to work on bikes, a trend fueled by warm weather, environmental concerns and the rising cost of gasoline.

“It’s unbelievable to me the change that has gone on over the past two or three years,” said Brad Quartuccio, editor of Urban Velo, a local cycling magazine.

Mr. Quartuccio has been biking to work for more than a decade — currently a 15-mile trip from Bloomfield to Robinson — and has noticed more and fuller bike racks at sites ranging from office buildings to grocery stores.

Sean Brady, assistant executive director of Venture Outdoors, a local outdoor recreational outfit, agrees. “It’s gradually increased in the last seven years, especially the last year or so,” he said. “Gas is probably the biggest inspiration, but the riverfront trails taking shape are part of it. And the culture around here really seems to be responding to outdoor opportunities.”

Whether rolling along special trails, designated lanes or crowded streets, for bike commuters heading to work there’s the added question of how to dress.

Most people who bike to work don’t do so every day because of inclement weather or schedules. But when they do, it takes planning because there’s usually a need to groom and change clothes when arriving at work.

Mr. Plowman, 54, is among those who takes a change of clothes with him each day.

Others, like John Burgess at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, keep a mini wardrobe at the office to avoid added weight on the bike. In nearly five years of biking from Point Breeze to the East Liberty campus, the professor has discovered that it’s best not to wear your work trousers on the 15-minute trip.

“You’ll get grease on your pants, even when you’re being careful,” he said. “And on a hot day, you get sweaty.”

There’s an added dimension for professional women, who may find it more difficult to manage a bike in a skirt or dress.

Barbara Brewton of Oakland wears shorts or capris and a T-shirt and carries a change of business casual work clothes on her bike. Kim O’Dell of Mt. Lebanon, her coworker at the Heinz Family Foundation, keeps business suits and heels at the office to change into.

Both began biking to work this summer a couple of days a week and are fortunate that their office — unlike most — has the convenience of showers, an iron and an ironing board.

Mrs. O’Dell, 47, who commuted by bike in Washington, D.C., before moving to Pittsburgh in 1993, said her family of four “sat down in January and decided we were going to reduce our energy usage and waste.”

The many hills of Pittsburgh can be daunting, and they intimidated Mrs. Brewton into putting her bike in storage when she and her family moved to Pittsburgh from Virginia 27 years ago.

But she recently began biking again when she and her husband began looking for more activities to do together as their children age. And it wasn’t long before she was enjoying a breezy 15-minute bike commute to work.

Getting home can take 20 to 45 minutes, she said, depending upon which of several routes she takes.

“The more I do it, the less overwhelming it seems,” said Mrs. Brewton, 48. “I have this mantra now: ‘The hills are my friends.’ I have to somehow embrace these hills or I’m not going to [bike] at all.”

Whether one wears casual clothes or high-tech biker gear, some sort of clothing change at work is almost inevitable for everyone who works in an office setting.

Mr. Brady, the Venture Outdoors vice president, who bikes from his Observatory Hill home to his Downtown office several times a week year-round, said comfort and being visible are the two key factors in dressing for bike commuting to work.

He and other observers expect a continued rise in the number of people biking to work.

“It’s a nationwide trend, and you’re seeing increases all across the country,” said Eric Boerer with Bike Pittsburgh, a nonprofit that promotes bike safety and public awareness and believes that Pittsburgh is ahead of many cities in being biker-friendly.

“As a society,” added Mr. Quartuccio at Urban Velo, “I don’t think we’re going to have any choice but to rethink our total reliance on cars for short trips.”

Post-Gazette fashion editor LaMont Jones can be reached at ljones@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1469.

First published on July 14, 2008 at 12:00 am