I Love Riding in the City
Name: Eric Matthies
Location: Temporarily in Vancouver, BC
Occupation: Producer
Where do you live and what’s it like riding in your city?
I grew up in Chicago, I live in Los Angeles and I’m working on a movie in Vancouver for four months. Riding here in Vancouver is pretty sweet, especially for a commuter. For starters, they have tons of designated bike lanes, paths and trails. Enough of ‘em that when I figured out the Studio is under 6 miles away on a protected route from my corporate housing apartment, I took a tiny fraction of my rental car budget, bought a rain cape and Lake boots and started pedaling to work every day. Commuting affords me a few luxuries: it clears my head, keeps me fit, let me put that rental car budget to better use and stamps my client issued “green initiative” passport with a gold star.
Vancouver is super bike-centric. The local students even built a groovy route planner to help make things easy for locals and out of towners alike. For the most part, people follow the letter of the law here—way more so than in LA, that’s for sure. Certain designated bike lanes even have their own trigger patches embedded at intersections to help move you along.
On the weekends, there are miles of beautiful sand, gravel and dirt trails along the water and through the various woods. Sure it’s winter now, making it wet and cold but that’s what good gear is for. A set of fenders, a little wool, some Gore-Tex and a pinch of common sense can keep you riding regardless of conditions. I show up smiling and jazzed for work every day, and get back to my apartment with any stress from the job shaken off me each night—perfect.
Vancouver is a cool town—easy to get around, full of good people, good food and surrounded by the great outdoors. For a denizen of LA, where cycling to the jobsite is an act of aggression and survival, it’s a real treat to work in a city where commuting by alternate means is not only accepted but encouraged and supported by the locals. The best thing here is the fact that you can explore a ton of “urban” cyclocross scenarios. From hardpack to singletrack, “traffic furniture” dismounts in town, fallen logs in the near woods and tons of off camber dirt, sand and grass. This place rocks. Waterfront slalom through seagull discarded mussel shells and slippery goose poop and then midway up the shore you encounter signs at stream crossings that proclaim “Don’t Disturb Salmon at Work.” The air is crisp, the dirt fresh, the trees and foliage are lush and green. I love riding in this city—even in winter; as my Austrian colleague notes—“There’s no bad weather, just bad equipment.” We’re around 2/3rds through production and I’ve logged seven hundred miles so far. Up with city riding!
Check out www.humanpoweredtransport.net
