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no prisoner of the white lines of the freeway
New Canaan Advertiser, Thursday August 21, 2008 Page 5A
OPINION
A rumbling ride with Riggio
Phil Riggio bikes weekdays from his home in Darien to his job in Manhattan (Richard Stowe Photo)
Darien resident Philip Riggio lives “maybe 50 yards from I-95” and works weekdays in mid-town. While at work he notes “my family hears emergency crew’s sirens blasting every few hours as they cart accident victims off to the hospital. This is concerning.”
But Mr. Riggio is “no prisoner of the fine, white lines on the freeway.”
He lives exactly one-half mile from the Noroton Heights Railroad Station. Mr. Riggio, who begins work at Cantor Fitzgerald at 7 a.m., appears to be the perfect candidate for a 48-minute, 36.2-mile train ride to Grand Central Terminal. But up to three days per week he shuns the rail commuting opportunity. Nor does he drive on nearby I-95.
Instead, Mr. Riggio, a Catholic-educated, Baltimore, Maryland native, bicycles a minimum of 38.5-miles to work to his mid-town office each way on a Bianchi road bike with flat bars and MTB shifters.
In forging what may be a new category of cyclist: an “extreme” bicycle commuter, Mr. Riggio may be cycling at the edge of history, into an America, which holds 1.6 percent of the world’s proven oil reserves, but can no longer afford its motor vehicle-driven petroleum habit.
By setting an example with his 77-mile round trip commute three days per week; Mr. Riggio hopes “to encourage others to follow suit over shorter distances.
Mr. Riggio even straps a trailer to his bicycle, much to the delight of Stella, his daughter, and bicycles her to school.
On Friday August 1st I joined Mr. Riggio on his bicycle commute to Manhattan. At 4:20 a.m. I left my apartment in New Canaan. Except for a rumbling ride along Lapham Road, New Canaan’s answer to the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the 6.3-mile trip to Mr. Riggio’s home was fast and smooth.
Phil Riggio sports Light & Motion headlight at daybreak in Pelham Bay Park - photo by Richard Stowe
I knew I had reached his driveway when his handlebar mounted-Light & Motion headlight broke the darkness – beaming brightly at me.
A quick hello and we departed from his driveway at 4:40 a.m. In twelve minutes we reached Stamford Downtown; twenty minutes later we cycled through downtown Greenwich; nine more minutes we arrived in Portchester, NY. In the next 6.3-mile stretch to Mamaroneck Avenue, Mr. Riggio, a USCF category-2 bicycle racer, cut a relatively fast, flat course averaging 23.7 miles per hour. At 5:42 a.m. we reached downtown Larchmont, 62 minutes after leaving his driveway.
Riggio (on St. Anns Avenue) approaches MTA subway 6 line and Westchester Avenue - photo by Richard Stowe
Phil Riggio cycles on Third Avenue Bridge - photo by Richard Stowe
Early morning traffic developed as we cycled over Bronx streets. Upon cresting the Third Avenue Bridge, we looped back to Second Avenue at 128th Street, where Mr. Riggio positioned himself well for the malaise of diesel trucks, transit buses and motor vehicles that lay ahead on the final stretch into mid-town.
Two hours-fifteen minutes after leaving home, Mr. Riggio parked his bicycle at a 62nd Street storage locker, showered at a gym and walked to work at Cantor Fitzgerald. Twenty minutes later he was at his desk.
After leaving the Cantor Fitzgerald building, I bicycled down to Union Square Farmer’s Market to buy whole-grain pastries and wild blueberries.
Westside Bikeway approaching George Washington Bridge - photo by Richard Stowe
In an effort to simulate Mr. Riggio’s return trip later that day, I cycled over to the Westside Bikeway and back to New Canaan, via the Botanic Gardens and the Boston Post Road -clocking 95 miles roundtrip.
OK, you’re not a cat 2 racer and your commute isn’t 80-miles roundtrip, but you’re interested in bicycling to work, or bicycling as transportation. You’ve concluded that bicycling can significantly reduce your carbon footprint.
But you’ve concluded that bicycling on suburban streets is foreboding. You can overcome that fear by taking a League of American Bicyclist BikeEd “Road 1” course. Driven by “vehicular cycling” principles, BikeEd instruction evolved from a course and book called Effective Cycling (first published in 1976) by John Forester.
In the New York area BikeEd classes are offered by Bike New York (http://bikenewyork.org/education). To take a BikeEd course in New York City, you may contact Emilia Crotty at (212) 932-2453×131. If individuals are interested in taking a “Road 1” course locally, contact the New Canaan Environmental Group at nceg2453@gmail.com. If a dozen or more individuals sign up for a BikeEd course, arrangements will be made for Bike New York BikeEd instructors to teach the course in New Canaan, or Darien.
New Canaan Cyclery owner Rob Sherlock shuttered his store last summer, relocated to Austin, Texas and now works at Fallbrook Technologies.
In the wake of that closure, Ski & Sport at 11 Forest Street in New Canaan (and its sister store in Ridgefield) began selling Jamis bicycles this summer. Ken Ryan, a 13-year veteran at Ski Market, where he served his last six years as either assistant manager or manager at the Danbury and Norwalk stores, manages the bicycle department. Mr. Ryan states that both sales and service cover a broad spectrum – kids, commuter/hybrid and performance racing bicycles.
Come on New Canaan, come on Darien, “cause summers here and the time is right for (cycling) in the street…”
Richard Stowe is president of the New Canaan Environmental Group and founder and director of Rail*Trains*Ecology*Cycling. He may be reached at bike.rail.politics@gmail.com
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