Bike Culture: Eugene VS Campus

Eugene’s trails of trees and limitless scenery have attracted many locals and commuters to mountain and touring biking. The city has 42 miles of shared-use paths, 81 miles of on-street bicycle lanes, 35 miles of signed bikeways, 5 bicycle/pedestrian bridges spanning the Willamette River, and 2 bicycle/pedestrian bridges spanning major roads or highways (eugene-or.gov/bicycling). Beyond the alternative transportation of Eugene, a sub culture has developed at the University of Oregon.

U of O students are paving the way by defining bike culture on campus. Whether a student is being introduced to biking for the first time, or has been an avid biker for many years, they share common experiences through riding. Protective clothing, proper equipment, type of bike, and clear communication are just a few aspects that create the cycling phenomenon on campus.

“In 2009, we had 17% of students riding to campus, and through a housing survey, we found out that 21% of our students were riding to campus in 2013” said Briana Orr, the Biking Program Coordinator, “in those four years, we also had a difference of a couple thousand students, so our population’s increasing as well as our percentage of people riding.”

With so many students choosing to ride instead of drive, the Outdoor Program’s Biking Program made a helpful impact. They supported biking by making it more accessible for students through bike loans, providing bike pumps on campus, and training programs on how to ride and properly lock bikes. According to Orr, they are even working on a Bike share system where students can check out a bike at any time a day.

Beyond all of the technical aspects that allow an individual to ride, students share experiences through locations they like to ride.

“My favorite trail to ride on is McKenzie River Trail, I actually live in an area that has mountain biking trails right behind my house, so I like to ride there too” said Eli Siegel, a salesman at the local Blue Heron bike shop.

U of O’s cycling cultural phenomenon doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. Many students choose to ride their bikes as a quick mode of transportation around school.

Profile:
Bundled up in a plaid scarf paired with a warm jacket topped with a boret, Eli Siegel reflects a young cyclist on campus. Siegel had devoted himself to helping out at the local bike shop, Blue Heron, for two months before he finally landed a position as a salesman.

Three years later, Siegel pretty much does everything from taking orders, pricing equipment, to selling and fixing bikes.
Siegel’s passion for biking began when he was fourteen years old. During his freshmen year, he met a friend who was really intro rebuilding old bikes. He started fixing bikes, and going on bikes rides, and it just took off from there.

“I prefer riding a bicycle because there’s just something about getting to a location and propelling your way there, and not having to pay a dime. And just taking a slower route. It’s a slower way of life and I kind of like that.” Siegel said.

Today, he enjoys riding touring bikes long distance, but, his favorite type of riding is mountain biking.

“You have a good reason to go slow, it’s more about having fun than being competitive, and you get out in nature.” Siegel said.
Siegel experiences all of the bike trends on campus first hand.

“Beach cruisers are the most popular bike just because they are the least expensive. A lot of students will go buy their texts books and won’t have very much money to spend on a bike.”

Siegel may love to ride his bike, but he has also suffered the consequences. He has been in four accidents with severe injuries.

One of my worst accidents what mountain biking. I was going to fast through an area, and lost control of my bike and ended up smashing into some boulders,” He said.

Despite getting into accidents, Siegel has learned from his mistakes and continues to believe in bike culture.

“Cycling is a great form of exercise, it increases socialization with the public, and many bicyclists feel it even improves their mental health” said Siegel.

Q & A:

Briana Orr is the Bike Program Coordinator for the Outdoor Program. Orr held her position as a student since the program began in 2008, and was hired on last year as part of the professional staff.

How do you help student’s needs for transpiration?
A lot of students are coming from places where bicycling just doesn’t happen, or at least not for transportation. So, this concept is very new to them and knowing what you need to bike in Eugene is very different. A lot of it is getting the message out about the things that they need to bike (locks, helmets, etc.), and introducing them to the idea that biking is a great transportation option. We do everything you can think of between education and the actual equipment…we get all sorts of questions about how to buy a bike, what to buy, and which kind.

What is your interpretation of bike culture?
I know folks that are using bicycles for transportation every day. I find that they have other similar interests and shared experiences through that activity, and to some extent maybe share the same lingo, and maybe realize they have the same hurdles that they need to overcome. I saw a lot these the last couple days on Facebook about people posting their bicycling experiences in the snow. In that sort of way, I guess there is a culture formed around those shared experiences. Everything from what’s good to wear bicycling to what kind of bike to buy, helmet use or not helmet use.

What is your experience biking on campus vs. the rest of Eugene?
What I see a lot of on campus is the infrastructure we have. We don’t have a lot of stop lights, we have three on campus and we have very few stop signs. We can look at 13th between Kincaid and University where there’s supposed to be no-vehicle access, as an interesting mix of people biking, skateboarding, walking, and using all sorts of transportation. I think without those cues from all those stop lights and lanes saying ‘this is where you supposed to be’ it ends up being a really great mix, and people are kind of figuring it out. To some it may look like you’ve almost got in a collision, but really you’re just going slow and moving around each other and making sure it works out. This is very different from the rest of the city where biking is regulated by stop signs and stop lights. Biking on campus is a little more of an adventure, and I think our students reflect that. Campus is such a wonderful inviting place for people to bike because most people are biking in the street, cars are going super slow, and for the most part sharing the road with folks that are on bikes. In the city, I don’t see mutual sharing of the road as much. I would say, I feel less intimated biking on campus than I do in the city.