No pain at pump for 2-wheelers

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BY MELISSA LEE / For the Lincoln Journal Star

No one needs to be reminded that gas now costs almost $3 a gallon. Except, that is, for Nate Woodman.

While friends trade tales of woe about rising gas prices, Woodman remains blissfully ignorant. He doesn’t know what it costs to fill up a tank, and frankly, he doesn’t care. That’s because Woodman, 30, is a hardcore biker. He bikes to work and back. He bikes to the grocery store. He bikes for fun and for sport.

On the rare occasions he does fire up his truck, it’s usually to visit his parents in Omaha.

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Conrad Castaneda gets ready to take off on his bike from the Coffee House. Castaneda has a car, but only drives it a couple of times a month. "I'm not anti-car, I just think they're overutilized," Castaneda said. (Jill Peitzmeier)

Conrad Castaneda gets ready to take off on his bike from the Coffee House. Castaneda has a car, but only drives it a couple of times a month. "I'm not anti-car, I just think they're overutilized," Castaneda said. (Jill Peitzmeier)

“Sooner or later, people are going to realize: You don’t have to give in to those prices,” said Woodman, co-owner of Monkey Wrench Cycles, 1225 P St. “There’s options. You don’t have to be stuck in that car.”

Woodman is part of a growing bicycle community in Lincoln that refuses to shell out $30-plus weekly to get around town. He and other lifelong bikers do it for a slew of reasons — it’s cheap, convenient, fun and healthy — but they predict that as gas prices soar and summer draws near, more will join their ranks.

Already, new customers are wandering into Monkey Wrench with questions about equipment and costs, Woodman said.

He and fellow shop owner Eric Peterson, 34, are happy to help wean customers off their car dependencies. And the two say Lincoln is a good place for beginning bikers: The city has plenty of bike trails, and as long as bikers and drivers work to accommodate each other, safety shouldn’t be an issue.

Numbers seem to back that up.

In 2004, locals reported 125 bike-car accidents, according to the Lincoln Police Department. In 2005, they reported 116; through this April, there were 18. None of those resulted in fatalities.

To keep those numbers down, motorists and cyclists just need to follow the law, Capt. Terrence Sherrill said.

“Be defensive drivers. Stay in your lane. Be careful when you cross streets. And always wear that helmet,” he said.

Still, many bikers say bike lanes wouldn’t hurt. It would make newbies feel they had a place on the road, and parents might feel safer taking their children on rides.

“I’m all for some lanes,” Peterson said. “It’ll bring people out who are intimidated. It gives us legitimacy. I’d definitely like to share the road with cars.”

For his part, Peterson owns two cars but jokes that he drives them so little their batteries die between use. Wasting money on gas and parking just seems silly to him.

And the benefits of biking extend far beyond financial. Cyclists say they’re happier and healthier thanks to their lifestyle.

“I just feel better when I’m outside,” said Conrad Castaneda, 37, an employee at the University of Nebraska’s Computing Services Network. “I hate being cooped up inside a car.

“What (biking) does for your health, your state of mind — I always feel better when I’ve come in from a ride. As soon as I get on my bike, I’m like, ‘Oh, it’s not so bad.’”

Castaneda owns an old Honda Civic he drives once every couple of weeks — he bikes unless there’s a blizzard or he bought too many groceries. He’ll spend $10 a month on gas, if that.

But don’t think biking is just for single people who don’t have to worry about shuttling kids around.

Matt Wills, an architect at Studio951 in downtown Lincoln, has two children, 4 and 1, and he gets by on his bike just fine.

Using trailers, he and his wife take turns towing their kids to and from day care. They use their two cars just a couple of times per week.

“The days I don’t ride, it has to be impossible to ride,” Wills said. “Biking’s the perfect way to end a day. You don’t have to sit in a car. There’s no such thing as bike rage.”

Peterson hopes gas prices will make people think twice about where they’re funneling their money. Because he has bought so little gas in the past 15 years, it’s hard for him to guess how much he saves by keeping the cars in the garage.

“Bikes are awesome,” he said. “You eat food, and that’s your gas.”

Reach freelance writer Melissa Lee at mlee11@bigred.unl.edu.