Mississippi State University boasts a campus of 4,200 acres. The city of Starkville occupies an area of almost 26 square miles just west of the campus. Anyone who lives here knows Highways 12 and 182 and all the important roads in-between. The question of traveling quickly and efficiently is often on the minds of commuters in our school and city, especially when traffic is backed up at every stoplight. For bicyclists, however, the question of a quick commute is not really an issue.
I ride my bicycle from my house near downtown to campus daily, and the less than three mile ride never takes longer than 15 minutes. On my commute, I’ve noticed an increase in the number of cyclists going to and from campus this semester. It encourages me to see others riding their bicycles for this commute that most students make by car because there are a significant number of benefits for this means of transportation.
Firstly, the speed and convenience of riding a bicycle to campus is unmatched. I suspect most students who commute to campus will drive, park their vehicle and then walk to class. If you’re a commuter, many of your colleagues know the struggle: circling a parking lot for 15 minutes to find a spot is incredibly frustrating. Now, imagine breezing down the bike lane on University Drive and continuing over the bridge to campus. A cyclist can easily take the bike lane to a main thoroughfare and quickly arrive at his or her building. The best part is parking: bicycle racks are outside virtually every building on campus. In a 15-minute commute, a cyclist has saved time by being able to go directly where he or she needs to go.
Secondly, there are numerous health benefits to bicycle commuting, even if a person only uses it just a few times a week. People for Bikes, an organization dedicated to creating a responsible bicycle culture in the U.S., maintains a statistics library on its website. Benefits to daily commutes include: less exposure to air pollution, despite a cyclist’s increased respiration, as “motorists breathe about 60 percent more carbon monoxide and significantly more pollutants than cyclists”; bicycling to school is shown to improve cardiorespiratory fitness. Have you ever had trouble working out? A study from the Department of Human Physiology and Sports Medicine, at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Brussels, Belgium measured the effects of cycling on untrained men and women. The study found that untrained people who commuted at a relatively low intensity could experience an increase in external power and oxygen intake similarly to regimented fitness routines. Cyclists only needed to travel a minimum of 4 miles a week.
While these benefits are excellent and, in my opinion, great reasons to start bicycling in Starkville and on campus, there are certainly some trade-offs newcomers will need to consider. Unfortunately for students who live south of Highway 12 or north of Highway 182, bicycle lanes are both rare and unhelpful. Blackjack Road is notoriously considered one of the more dangerous roads in town, and any southern commuters will be discouraged from riding a bicycle since this is the main road which leads to campus. I wish there was an easy solution to provide to people in those areas who may want to bicycle, but it seems the risks may outweigh the benefits for anyone not confident in his or her riding skills in these areas.
The weather is a common reason people cite for not riding a bicycle. For the most part, the only weather that prevents me from riding is rain, and even then, it’s not always impossible to take my bicycle to campus anyway. For people who live near the Old Main Express stops for the S.M.A.R.T. bus system, the vehicles are equipped with a bike rack on the front. Even the winter shouldn’t stop commuters. Wearing a scarf, a heavy coat and a warm hat will make any wintry commute to campus bearable. In my opinion, winters in the south are never that awful, anyway.
Another deterrent to people considering a bicycle for commuting is the upkeep of a bicycle. I must definitely agree the upfront costs can be high, but the weekly and monthly maintenance of a bicycle is ridiculously low compared to a vehicle. After ensuring a cyclist is outfitted with proper front and rear lamps, a helmet, and an air pump, the only tasks a rider must do frequently are maintain good tire pressure and ensuring the chain is lubricated. The rest of the maintenance occurs every three months.
The joys of riding a bicycle as a means of transportation are too good for me to not share. The activity is good for your body and mind, as both an exercise and a moment to decompress. And there has never been a better time to start riding since half the campus roads are detours and all our parking lots are perpetually full.
