As a mode of transportation, automobiles have a slightly less modern competitor gaining prominence. Mississippi State University students, Starkville business owners and world-renowned artists, musicians and writers note the benefits of bicycling as a mode of travel and recreation, as well as the connected culture biking creates.
MSU graduates Jan and David Morgan opened Starkville’s Boardtown Bikes at 200 South Montgomery St. in 2008. Jan Morgan said she and her husband, both biking enthusiasts, founded the shop after discovering the need for a retailer providing high quality bicycles, biking equipment and repair services in the Golden Triangle region.
Since the store’s opening, Jan Morgan suffered an accident in which a car traveling at 70 mph hit her while she was cycling with a friend. After five weeks in a coma and extensive rehab in Atlanta, Jan Morgan made a full recovery and said she will set out on her first return to long-distance group bike rides soon.
Jan Morgan, an advocate for biker safety and motorist-biker cooperation. She said the size of Starkville both allows for ease of biking and requires collaboration between automobiles and bicycles riding the same asphalt.
 ”Starkville is a town you could bike everywhere in,” she said. “Motorists are becoming more aware; it’s very much a share-the-road situation.”
Jan Morgan said biking also lessens a person’s environmental impact as well as provides exercise for all ages and body types.
“Biking reduces your carbon footprint. It provides exercise that doesn’t pound on your body and isn’t hard on your joints,” she said.
Preston Williamson, sophomore civil engineering major, is a recreational mountain biker; Williamson said the well-maintained trails at the Thad Cochran Research, Technology & Economic Development Park and trails at Noxubee Wildlife Refuge provide high quality options for Starkville bikers.
Williamson said mountain biking is not for the faint of heart.
“I’ve experienced cuts, raspberries, busted elbows and knees, but my pride is what has been hurt the most. There’s definitely a learning curve involved,” Williamson said.
Killing two birds with one stone, Williamson purchased a Trek 6 series bike, which gave him a practical way to get to and from campus every day as well as a  formative, demanding new hobby.
“Mountain biking will make a better man out of you,” Williamson said with an enthusiastic nod.
Kit Warren, senior wildlife and fishery major, said he started biking in Starkville for practical reasons first and foremost. Since moving off campus two years ago, Warren said biking has become a ritual, allowing him to leave home later and get to class faster.
Warren said biking to campus saves him gas money as well as time when he is trying to make it to class in a hurry.
“I have a lot of classes across campus, so it’s hard to get there on foot,” Warren said.
Warren said he thinks Starkville is relatively biker-friendly but that many things can be done to help the city reach its full cycling potential. He said most of the bike lanes on campus do not connect and bikers have to alternate between riding on the road or on the sidewalk in order to reach their destinations.
“A lot of times people don’t know how to respond to bikers. They either ride right up next to you or they swing out into the other lane. Drivers kind of freak out when they see a biker,” Warren said. “On campus, I’m more worried about running over pedestrians, but in Starkville and on University Drive, I don’t feel very safe because drivers sometimes don’t see you.”
Biking is gaining recognition for the lifestyle it provides as well as its pragmatic concerns. David Byrne, artist, writer, musician and co-founder of musical group Talking Heads, published a memoir of his bicycling experiences, “Bicycle Diaries” in 2009. Byrne’s website summarizes the book, stating that he used bicycling as his primary mode of transportation beginning in the 1980s in New York City. He utilized a folding bike while in cities around the world away from NYC. His website said he became engrossed in viewing the world from behind handlebars “the more cities he saw from his bicycle, the more he became hooked on this mode of transport and the sense of liberation, exhilaration and connection it provided.”