Bandwagon Graphiks

Two years ago I set out to buy a bike. Two years later, I had no idea where it was going to take me. From daily commuting anywhere from 8-15 miles all the way to bike advocating, centuries, and now triathlons; this trip has been a wild roller coaster of awesome. On top of that I have made an example of myself to colleagues, co-workers and clients. People are genuinely enthused when I pull up on a bicycle. In fact on a recent trip to my printer in downtown LA [18 miles from my office] – my pressman actually took me outside and took a picture of me on my bike in front of the building. He said in 30 years of business, I was the first client to ever pick up a job on a bicycle. That makes me proud.

A lot of you out there are already reading this and making excuses as to why you can’t ride a bike to work or a client meeting. No worries, I have been making the same excuses along with you. Its too far, I have to bring a lot of stuff, I dont want to be all sweaty…sound familiar?

Sure, bike commuting and getting to client meetings as a freelance graphic designer has its difficulties – and of course you’re going to have those times when you have a 40lb box of booklets that no one wants to carry on a bike. However think about all those meetings we have where its just a consultation, or a meet and greet, or a paperless presentation, invoice pick up, etc etc – how much gas and oil are we as freelancers consuming to get from point A to point B as a freelancer?

We already have been embracing the green movement ten fold in the design community these past few years. We have recycled papers, forest service certifications, reused materials, green officers, soy inks – the list goes on. But we never seem to mention the transportation of these materials in our righteous green movement talks. The fact of the matter is, there is an alarming percentage of people out there that commute less than 10 miles to work everyday, shoot I would bet less than 5 miles – and none of these drivers consider cycling. Their cars clog the streets, pollute the air and guzzle gas. I’m not trying to be a righteous bike rider here – I’m just trying to spark some passion in people to have some freaking responsibility. I may be part of a very select group, but I buck up, pack up and ride every where I can…and for the record – I do own a car, its license plates say GFK DZNR

That’s my rant, now on to a real life triumph that occurred just this week.

My good biker friend @danceralamode, you can read her car-free blog here – has been on me like white on rice to keep reducing my dinosaur driving since becoming freelance. I tell her, dude I’m freelance – one minute I’m downtown at my printer for a press check, the next I’m in Encino for a client meeting. I may not be able to go completely car-free being freelance but there are two things I have mastered since going full time freelance again 6 months ago – one: public restrooms & two: public transportation. Since January, I have mastered a route to my printer, combining public transportation and mastered getting to client meetings by bike with the help of Starbucks with their nice clean restrooms.

On Wednesday, I had a consultation at an old clients office in Woodland Hills, clear cross the valley – 20 miles from my office. Normally I would have jumped in the DZN mobile and stressed myself out while driving. This day was different. I was finally going to do something difficult on my bike. I don’t know about you, but for me during a consultation – I usually have to bring sample books with me – some heavy and cumbersome. I also need a laptop, notebook, and all my usual riding gear. This client is slightly laid back, but I could not roll up in jean shorts and bikers cap – I needed to be in business casual.

So the night before I mapped my route and decided to combine my ride with a tourney on the LA Metro Orange line bus – this was going to keep me from being uber sweaty – but I still had to make it work. I threw the bike rack on my race bike [a major faux pas] and a pannier hanging off one side.

Come the morning, I stuffed my suit coat and briefcase into the pannier, rolled my non wrinkling dress pants up, and filled my trunk pack with paper books. The bike was so heavy. But once you get rolling, you don’t really feel the odd weight distribution. It becomes part of the bike and your body just makes due. Its when you stop that you have to be watchful of the bike toppling over.

The orange line a 6 miles from my house, but luckily stops within blocks of my client – so I used the time on the bus to cool down and get organized. A short 20 minutes later – I was at my clients…in a whopping 45 minutes total of riding bike/bus. It would have taken me the same amount of time by car at that time of day if not more.

After arriving I spent a couple minutes cooling, straightening my clothes and hair – and VOILA…designer on a bike at your service. Meeting started and ended without my client even guessing that I rode in – it ended up coming up in casual conversation later, but they would have never guessed had I not told them.

And so, that’s one for the books. It’s not my first bike ride to a client, just my first so far from the studio where I actually had to carry materials and be presentable.

In other instances I have utilized public restrooms to change from bike gear to business wear [Starbucks have nice public restrooms ]…but there are so many clothing designers out there now make great apparel that is business and biker friendly – that I’m going in that direction. The lighter and faster you can make the ride the better.

I can’t tell you how many clients are in love with the fact that I ride to their meetings, people are so used to it now, that they are always asking me if I rode my bike in, can they see it – oh we want to watch you roll away. It’s like I’m a celebrity or something. All I did was use my legs to get somewhere.

Sure, being in LA – with public transportation getting better by the day and more bike infrastructure being slowly added, its a tad easier than say small town Texas where I’ve read bikers are sometimes looked at as target practice. But LA’s bike infrastructure is not that great, we have barely any – cities like Tucson which have hundreds of miles of bike lane – yet face the same problems we do in LA.

When it comes to bike commuting, its all about being safe, be aware of your surrounding, be courteous to the drivers, and ride your bike like you drive your car. I’ve gotten about 5 people on bikes and commuting since I have started and they are always skeptical at first, then like a fog was lifted – they get it and realize that yes, they can do this.

So take me and my fellow car-free/car-light brethren…YOU CAN DO THIS!

**Plus I’ve lost like 30lbs since starting the commuting, and thrown out all my anxiety medication**