UE: David's interview

David is a bike commuter, and a bus commuter when it's absolutely necessary. He commutes from Westport area to Crowne Center. Some of the things he talked about was how it is a cheaper alternative, it's also a lot more fun and efficient. He started biking to work because of car payments and insurance costs were getting high, and thought he'd give all time biking a try. While growing up David lived in a one car family. He went to school on the Metro, and also used that as a means of main transportation. Some of the positives in using a bike is that there are no car payments, or insurence payments, or worrying about maintenance costs, because normally those are much more expensive compared to bike repairs. (if you even need someone else to fix the bike).

David is close to his bike, but is not emotionally attached. He uses it as an object of transportation, and enjoys keeping up with the aesthetic look of it. He has many different bikes, probably around eight. The pace he keeps on his bike is normally compared with what type of music he listens to. As an example he said he had been listening to a lot of Mars Volta, lately. So therefore he can ride really fast to it. During the summer though, he puts on Dr. Dre and rides around on his tricycle.

He's been riding strictly bikes for about three years now and has many different routes put together. He says he has about three different routes to work, but only one makes the most sense and is the most efficient, time wise. While he rides his bike, he compares it to being just like a car, so multi-tasking is a thing of skill. Smoking, drinking, eating, talking, etc. are all things he does, possibly at one time.

Kansas city being a bike friendly area is a subjective question, because many perceive it as being not bike friendly, but David put some insight into this idea, he says that comparatively to what he's ridden in other cities, the Midwest is actually quite polite, and he doesn't much worry about the bad relationship between car and bike. The community inside KC bike community is also special, he's met lots of great people, and really enjoys being associated with them.