Looking for an easy way to have more exercise into the daily routine of life? Look no further than the bike garden in front of the Science and Math building.
Over forty one bikes are parked there every day and the students who ride them think there should be even more bikes on campus. Some of the benefits to riding a bike to campus include the obvious, it is great exercise.
Tania Guerra, 21, a criminal justice major, said, “I do it for the exercise, and I like doing it.” Guerra, who just started riding her bike to school a few weeks ago to get into a more healthy lifestyle, says she rides 7.9 miles to school. “More people should get into it.”
Some students might think riding your bike to school is dangerous, however some bike riders think the opposite. Furius Mims, 20, a dance major, thinks it is the safer route.
“There are crazy car drivers out there, biking is probably safer,” he said. Mims has been riding his bike to school for two years now, and lives just down the street; his commute on the bike is two miles, which is not bad considering the traffic on side streets in the mornings.
That two miles is a short ride compared to student Shay Bumbray, 28, a environmental science major, who has quite a different commute; she rides her bike all the way from Long Beach.
Bumbray said, “Well I don’t have a car, so I just ride my bike, I try to stay off the street as long as possible, so I’ll take bike paths like San Gabriel or Palos Verde.”
The bike rides are so much more beautiful then the sometimes bumper to bumper traffic students can get caught in. Bumbray went on to say, “I love it, I think most car drivers should try biking more, not just for their health, but to see from a biker’s side what it’s like on the road. Maybe then they’ll learn to share it more!”
In the bike garden there are bikes of all colors and styles. Mostly there are beach cruises, for those student that live close like Mims, then there are more serious road bikes, which can be quite an investment, but if a student is riding all the way from Long Beach what you save on gas would be worth it.
So dust off that bike, or maybe make it a new hobby. Either way biking to school has a number of benefits, and really it’s just plain fun.
Beach cruisers lined up at the bike garden.
A student getting ready to bike away for the day.
Tania Guerra, 21, a criminal justice major, with her bike.
Road Bike locked at the bike garden.
