Team VeloCeeTee Redefines Commuting with Heart

By Laurel McJannet

The wheels on the bus go round and round, but employees on Team VeloCeeTee get all over town (and to work) with the velocity of two wheels and lots of heart.

The team represents a cross section of employees that make up Community Transit: Transportation, Strategic Planning, Transportation Demand Management/Marketing, and Transportation Service Planning.

Pictured (left to right): Rocky Cazares, Rita Fox, Roland Behee, Alex Mehn, Sara Hayden and Dana Osborn.

Biking goes beyond Bike to Work Day and Month for members of Team VeloCeeTee. Some bike year-round. Many dust off their bikes as soon as the weather warms up. Given all this experience (and because I'm a hesitant wanna-be bike commuter myself), I posed this question to the team:

What advice do you have for the beginning bike rider who is contemplating biking to work?

"Get out there and try it! Don't get hung up on having all the right equipment or clothing. Get a functional bike, Find a place to park it (rack, stairwell, office). Look for ways to make it easy-- combining bus and bike can get you over hills, distance or high traffic areas." - Roland

"Plan your route in advance and give it a trial run on the weekend. That'll give you an idea of the time it'll take-- and you don't even have to factor in rush hour since that really doesn't apply to bikes!" Also, bring a few changes of clothes and some shower stuff and leave it at your office for those days you get rained on or are a little too sweaty for business as usual." - Alex

"Try it, even if you only do it once a week. You don’t have to have all the latest gear or an expensive bike, it doesn’t matter. What matters is the exercise you get, and how you contribute to making your carbon foot print just a wee bit smaller.  It counts." - Rita

"It can be really easy to become discouraged in the early stages.  If a person does not overdo it or give up early on, the little steps of the beginning and early stages will eventually become an accomplishment that will bring a great deal of satisfaction.  (Take that from a 62-year-old!)" - Dana

Do you bike to work? What advice do you have for biking to work? To school? Let us know in the comments.