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Today's Picture: Meet the Invisible Bicyclist, Carter Ruml. He has a passion for rowing a one-man scull on the Ohio River – and at regattas in distant waters. But in recent months, the Louisville attorney has turned his interest to another form of human-powered transportation – bicycling.
Aside from driving to and from regattas, Ruml estimates he's put maybe 90 miles on his car since August, when he started riding his bike to work.
At 32, the father of two bikes to work about 90 percent of the time. Some days he has client meetings at the opposite end of the county, too far to make appointments with his trust and estate law clients.
“So far, the coldest ride I've done is 37 degrees. I've done the rain. I just layer up. It's fine. I keep suits downtown and change at the Pendennis Club. I use the club as my base. I ride the last few blocks in the morning in my business suit. If I get trashed by the weather, it's no problem, Ruml said tonight, when we unexpectedly met on the East Market Street bike lane, on our way to Crescent Hill.
“When I started biking I just wanted more exercise – and I'm getting that. But once you're doing it you start thinking about the environmental aspect and you start seeing the city in a different way. I've stopped thinking like a car and it's really amazing,” said Ruml. “It's so much easier, more fun, and so much less of a hassle than I thought it would be.”
Ruml thinks “the big leap for people to get into bicycle commuting is just conceptual. Commuting by bike is simply not that difficult.”
Like many bike commuters, Carter has a friend who showed him how easy commuting by bike can be. Christian Juckett, an attorney friend of Ruml's, has been biking to work for years.
“My wife was afraid I'd get killed. I said, 'look, Christian Juckett is still biking around; it works for him.' I really wanted to try it. So I did at the end of July. It's working out and I'm still doing it. And I'd like to do it basically year round – although I'm not a thousand percent committed. I'm not saying I will do it all the time and I'm not saying I'll stop. I'm just going to keep adapting to the weather changes and when I feel it's either not safe or not fun, I'll quit doing it. But so far it's safe and fun.
“Sometimes it feels almost subversive.” he said. “You show up for meetings looking 'normal' and then it comes out that you rode your bike. When you live in a car world you have to be ready to show up and be normal and act normal. On the outside you look just like them – but you rode your bike? People are amazed.
One time Ruml rode his bicycle to the Airport. “I was flying to a regatta in Vermont. I rode to the airport, parked, and locked my bike there. It's an old bike. It's not fancy. Nobody wanted to steal it. I came back three days later and rode the bike home from the airport. I saved myself $30 on parking and it took just 39 minutes to ride home.”
Ruml has considered his shrinking carbon footprint, too. “I've read $20 per Gallon by Christopher Steiner and Your World Is About To Get A Whole Lot Smaller by Jeff Rubin. I think peak oil is real and I think we're in a temporary price contraction. That doesn't mean that supplies are expanding,” Ruml said.
“Bicycling is a fun way to get ahead of the adaptation curve on an energy-scarce future. I'm married with two kids, so I'm not anti-car. I'm car light. I'll bike commute for a year and see where I am. I'd be open-minded about getting rid of the car, but I might end up keeping it and using it very, very rarely.”
Ruml notes that there are times when he needs to travel to regattas. “And there are times when I just need on-demand, point-to-point transportation to serve my clients. So being extremely low-car-usage is probably more realistic for me.
Waiting for Zipcar
“What I wish – to fill that need – is this: as soon as Louisville gets Zipcar stations, I'm done. I'm selling my car I don't need it and I don't want it. If there's a little Zipcar station downtown, I'd be happy to pay $15 an hour. So as soon as that exists, I'm selling my car, but until it exists here, I probably need to keep it.
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PS: Remember, every lane is a bike lane. Share the road.
freewheelin
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Enjoy the ride home.
See you at pedalaround.blogspot.com
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bikecommuter