Coming to us from New Zealand, meet Nick and Lynn Tucker:
How long have you been a bike commuter?
On and off since school days (Raleigh RSW 16), then when I lived in London in the early 1980s and put together a couple of Bitzas, but more regularly in the past ten years.
Why did you start riding your bike to work and how long is your commute?
In my last job it neatly got around dreadful car parking facilities, and now it’s a nice and flat ride (except for the first and last kilometre) – in total it’s about a 43km (say 26ish miles) round trip up to five days a week – not if it’s raining in the morning – that would be far too hair-shirt.
How does Bike Commuting help you with your weekend club rides?
Riding at the weekend as well – you’re ‘aving a smile aren’t you?
What do you do for a living and in what city do you bike commute?
I am a research engineer working on sustainable packaging and machines to make nanofibres. I commute across the Canterbury Plain in the south island of New Zealand from Christchurch to Lincoln.
What kind(s) of bike do you have?
I have a Specialized Crossroads bought new in about 1998, and the Missus has a racing tricycle which is a great bike for seniors.
What do people (coworkers, friends) say when you tell them that you are a bike commuter?
Maybe cycle commuting is a bit more common in NZ, so aside from people wondering if I’d stick at it when I started comments are positive. Mind you most of my fellow commuters are way more sporty than I am – don’t forget that Kiwi tri-athletes usually carry their bicycle during the swimming bit.
How about bicycling advocacy? Are you active in any local or regional advocacy groups?
I’m in the Canterbury Cycling Association (http://spokes.org.nz/)
Anything else that you want to share with us?
The prevailing nor’ easterly winds mean that the ride home can be a bit character forming, but a population density of 16 people per square km means that traffic density isn’t too bad, and maybe because the national collective enthusiasm here is sport of any kind, drivers are pretty cycle tolerant.
We’d like to thank Nick and Lynn for sharing their profiles with us — the scenery is lovely and that racing tricycle is really quite special!
