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Bike
Locally
Challenge
By Anna Garfink
It’s more of a way
of life than it is
a challenge.
–Greg Bernson
Photo: Viktoriya Weiss and family.
For the third year in a row, the Marin County Bicycle
Coalition is making the lives of six novice bike
enthusiasts easier with its Bike Locally Challenge.
The 2012 Challenge started in May and will end in
November.
This year’s Challenge, which added a seventh,
“family” contestant, has provided riders with all they
need to begin making the transition from car to bike.
Each rider got a Globe by Specialized bike, a GPS system
and even a personal mentor. All that remains for
the riders are the journeys that they and their families
face as they complete the Challenge.
The riders came from all over Marin, each with his
or her own reasons for joining the Challenge. While
each contestant agrees that the exercise and the
escape from their cars are major benefits of biking
to work, to school or for running errands, they are
enjoying infinite personal benefits as well.
Bilkis Bharuch, from Marin City, holds the goal
of eventually going car-free and decided that biking
locally would give her the stamina and willpower to do
that. Tamara Muizelaar, a high school counselor from
Novato, also wanted to work on her physical stamina
so that she would be able to complete a 50-mile ride.
Anil Comelo, from San Rafael, wanted to feel more
comfortable riding on the streets so he could feel safe
riding with his young son.
For Comelo, making the switch from driver to cyclist
was daunting because he knew firsthand how irresponsibly
car drivers could act around cyclists. “It was
a challenge to feel comfortable on the roads,” Comelo
says. “But I feel much more comfortable now than I did
two months ago.” Now, he enjoys the physical benefits
of riding and the joys of riding with his family.
After an initial stall in getting on the bike, Muizelaar
says she “rocked it” in July and met some of her
personal goals. “I’ve realized that I don’t have to rely
so much on my car,” she says with a smile. “[I’m trying
to] get on my bike as much as possible.”
Of course, the Challenge isn’t called a challenge for
nothing. Both Greg Bernson, of Fairfax, and Bharuch
cite the Camino Alto hill as their greatest obstacle. The
Challenge has provided these riders with opportunities
to face their obstacles, however, and Bharuch, who
must ride over the hill to go on the longer-distance
rides she seeks, now rides over it more than she
thought she could.
“Now I’m ready for it,” she says. It’s not easier, she
admits, but it’s now possible.
The third year of this Challenge features a family,
acting as one contestant, riding a Yuba Mundo cargo
bike as though it were their second car. The bike was
given to the Brown family, from Fairfax. Eileen Brown
says that for her family the challenge has mainly been
leaving the Ross Valley area on their bikes. She says
that having the cargo bike is helping them remain
a one-car family. (See the Yuba Mundo review on
page 14.)
“It’s been really fun!” Brown says of her commute
to and from San Rafael on the bike. The Browns also
use the bike for trips to the grocery store, and Eileen
says that she finds herself using their car a lot less
often. “We really try not to drive,” she says. “So [the
bike] supports that.”
The other two contestants are Brian Jones and
Viktoriya Wise, both from San Rafael. Wise joined
with the main goal of ditching her car for her commute
to downtown San Francisco. She now commutes by
bike and public transportation a few times per week,
and although the ride was initially a challenge, Wise
says that now her bike gives her the gratification of an
instant connection with the community.
“[One of the changes in my life] has been connecting
with other kinds of people that I ordinarily
wouldn’t get to talk with, like other people bike commuting,”
Wise says.
Brown agrees, saying “It’s really fun to meet new
people and with the cargo bike, I’ve had conversations
with people that I’d never talk to.”
Along with the fresh faces these contestants met,
they have also encountered new trails, paths, and
sights.
“I’ve seen a lot of things that I’ve driven by and
never noticed,” Bernson says. “At the top of Camino
[Alto], the clouds are down low … so it looks like something
out of a science fiction magazine!”
Asked about the opportunities the Challenge has
given him, Bernson sums up his experience: “It’s more
of a way of life than it is a challenge,” he says.
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