by Michelle Hiskey
The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, June 6,1997
Every day is Bike to Work Day for Brian Witkofsky, who braves the dangers: of Atlanta's downtown streets, riding as many as 150 miles a week delivering packages.
Brian Witkofsky rented an Inman Park apartment with a spare room just to store all his bicycle equipment. Hanging there is one frame he put 40,000 miles on. He works part-time at a bike store in Little Five Points and cycles so much that his pickup truck requires less than $20 worth of gas a month. On weekends, he's up in the North Georgia mountains, racing or riding his mountain bike as much as 75 miles a day.
This self-described "bed "bike weenie" may seem to have a perfect day job. He's one of those kamikaze couriers who pedal furiously to pick up and deliver packages throughout Atlanta. But after 18 months with MLQ Courier Services, he will tell you that he'd be a better rider if he didn't have to earn his living at it. His body gets little rest from the pounding of the streets during the week and the trails on the weekend.
"I just don't get the recovery that my friends do," he said during aing a rare morning off, nursing sore muscles the day after a grueling 17.5-mile race at the Olympic mountain biking course in Conyers. "They won't ride Friday before a race, for example, but Friday is my busiest day, and I might do 60 miles."
Shuttling between downtown, Buckhead and points in between,ween, Witkofsky clocks about 30 miles on a typical day, year-round, in any weather. As much as he can, he's tailored his training to his job, riding harder from stop to stop on the days meant for interval training. He's fueled by a water bottle and the peanut butter and honey sandwiches tucked into his messenger bag.
"It's me versus the clock out there, nothing else," he says. "If. "If it's 5:45 and something has to be filed in the courts at 6 p.m., it's no problem on a bike."
His pager will alert him to pickups and dropoffs and how fast they they need to be made, from 20 minutes to overnight. He is paid per delivery; his one-day record is 57. But he never knows what he'll have to pick up. He has successfully delivered cakes, flowers, suits from dry cleaners and a box full of 40 Bibles. "I just hold it between my arms and balance the bike in between," he said.
The main difference between his job and hobby is his choice of e of bike. He's rigged up a Giordana road bike for his courier work, with the skinniest tires he can put on, to cut wind resistance, and still feel safe on the road. He turned the curling handlebars up and cut them off, producing "bullhorns" that are easy for him to steer and make the bike less attractive to thieves. He removed the rear brakes and added clipless mountain bike pedals for the same reason, and insured it for $2,000. He can change a flat in two minutes and wears out a pair of cycling shoes every three months.
On the weekends, he races on one of his mountain tain bikes worth between $2,700 and $4,000. "People can't believe I'd spend that much," he says, "but would you take a Toyota Corolla to a NASCAR race?"
He wears a helmet when he races, but not as a as a courier, unless it rains. "One of the main reasons I stopped was every single time I rode upde up an elevator, people would see my helmet and ask me about being a courier," he recalls. "I could be completely wet - or hot and dry - and they'd ask me if it's raining. Sometimes the last thing I want to do is talk about my job. I'd rather sit there in silence."
He acknowledges that his line of work is dangerous, but he hasn'tasn't suffered any serious accidents, only a few close calls. He credits a cautious strategy in traffic.
"I know know couriers who have had bad wrecks, and if you look at how they ride, shooting through lights without looking, eventually their day is going to come," he says. "I don't obey all the laws, but I don't go through intersections blindly. I don't trust that people are going to stop, and I slow down. I'm aware of everyone around me and that has kept me from wrecking."
Witkofsky, like most most couriers, takes risks that most drivers cannot comprehend - and they let him know, sometimes cutting him off and yelling at him. "I'm not telling you how to drive a car; don't tell me how to ride a bike," he replies to them. "At full speed, if I run into someone, the chances are good of me dying rather than someone in a 5,000-pound car," he added. "I'm not endangering other people. My stuff is calculated, but not unsafe."
After work, he still hasn't had enough pedaling, so he rides eitherither his road or mountain bike on group rides in Marietta, Buckhead and Stone Mountain. He "rests" on the weekend by helping customers at Outback Outfitters, a bike shop in Little Five Points. The wide-open sky drives him to keep up his frantic pace. "Anyone can push the gas pedal," he said. "But on a bike, you determine how fast you go. It's more in the open, and you can see things better. I can see the tops of the buildings, but the people in cars have only a partial vision of things. That's what I like about cycling."
Chart: FAST FACTS
-There are 1,049,000 bicyclists in Georgia, 71,900,000 in the U.S.
-Biking is the nation's third-most popular fitness activity, after walking and swimming.
-A 135-pound person riding at a leisurely 9.5 mph pace will burn about 365 calories in an hour.
-The average cost of bicycle bought at a bike shop is $330
-The latest trend in bicycle design: "Cruisers" with higher handlebars and more comfortable saddles.
Source: National Bicycle Council
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