Pedal Power
Bike commuters save money, boost cycle sales
Riding my bike up a hill on the way to interview Gina Overshiner, huffing and puffing like a cracked steam engine, I thought to myself, “I’ve gotta get more money for this story. There’s a physical fitness component involved.”Then I thought, “What am I complaining about? Gina does this and more every day.”Gina owns and operates Overshiner Remodeling & Renovation with her husband, Tim. But unlike the owners of many such companies, Gina operates the business using only a bike for transportation—and not just to transport herself. The bike pulls a cart loaded with 30 or more pounds of gear, including her toolbox, her power tools and the occasional ladder. She’s even been known to lug a compressor to a job. Like any other company vehicle, the cart is emblazoned with the name of the business. Think UPS, only much smaller. I’d talked to Gina the day before, and she’d suggested I tag along with her as she biked her kids to school and then biked to a job site. I told her I wasn’t much of a biker and that I was worried about whether I would be able to keep up. “No problem,” said Gina “We stay with the slowest rider.”The average gas price is fluctuating this year but is expected to rise over the long haul, so business owners and consumers are looking for ways to reduce energy costs. CBT’s Next Issue: Dianna changes helmets, rides with a scooter commuter
The Adventure
Waiting on the corner of West Boulevard and Stewart Road with a mother-and-daughter pair of cyclists who also ride with Gina, I try to take a breath and talk at the same time. It isn’t easy.A few minutes later, we spot Gina on West Boulevard in a crowd of cyclists on their way to Lee Elementary School.A quick turn down Stewart Road, and we’re off. Gina slows slightly to gather me into the pack of parents and kids headed toward the school. The group turns left off Stewart onto a side street, and Gina raises her arm to signal the turn while she watches her two children, AnnaRose, 7, and Max, 9, round the corner.As we pedal along the leafy, tree-shaded streets, it feels like we’ve entered another world. We wend our way through the quiet neighborhoods, and Gina says hello to people as we go along, keeping an eye out, spotting a potentially troublesome dog in a yard, checking intersections and watching the younger riders—and me. On our trip, she explains how she became a biking, tool-toting home renovator and remodeler.Gina began biking with her father when she was a young girl. Living in St. Louis, she used to bike 17 miles to work and loved it. Then, with two children, she and Tim moved back to Columbia. About a year ago, they began Overshiner Remodeling & Renovation.But it was last fall’s Low Car Diet Challenge that really kicked off Gina’s “all bike all the time” lifestyle. Sponsored by the PedNet Coalition, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting alternative transportation options, the one-month challenge urged people to give up their cars for the month of October. The Overshiners took up the challenge, and their adventures are chronicled on her company’s blog.This year the month-long challenge is scheduled for September, and Gina is already planning for it.
A happy commute
The Overshiner family’s determination to bike starts with the three-mile trip from their home in Spring Valley, on West Broadway, to Lee Elementary School on Locust Street at College Avenue, near the University of Missouri.“It’s really easy,” says Gina, explaining how she combines biking and business. “You’re just going to be blown away at how fast it is.” She and Tim can make it from their home to pick up their children in 15 minutes, she says. Other trips make sense in terms of time, too, she notes, especially when you consider there’s no problem finding a parking space.After Gina drops off her children at school, we head off to her first job of the morning, a renovation project on Lathrop, just off Stewart Road. Gina’s cart is a bit lighter, since we’ve left behind a massive cabbage Max grew and brought to school for show-and-tell.Again, we sweep through the new tunnels under Providence Road, swallows following along, swooping and dipping. Going up the hill on Stewart, I struggle to keep pedaling, and I feel like I’m going to pass out. Gina calls out encouragement: “Slow and steady wins the race! That’s my favorite slogan.”
Business savings: time and money
The Overshiners’ business isn’t completely vehicle-free. Tim uses an F-150 truck to pick up some materials. But having the materials delivered is sometimes a better deal.With gas prices up, a $65 delivery fee can be worth it, she explains, especially if you take into consideration the time it takes to go to the supplier, shop, load the products and return to the job site. Many companies will even deliver materials for free. Smaller items, such as quarts of paint, Gina can take in her cart. If the crew needs something during the day, she says, it’s easy to jump on her bike and go get it. Gina points to a 4-foot ladder and says she’s managed to carry that in her cart. The cart can carry up to 100-120 pounds—perfect for hauling equipment and shopping for groceries. At one time, Gina notes, the expense of buying a cart, which she originally purchased to carry her children when they were smaller, seemed high. But with gas prices soaring, using a bike cart is making more sense.Gina explains that she doesn’t dislike driving; it is just more fun to bike. She also notes that if the trip is shorter than three miles, it’s faster to use a bike. For Gina, biking started as a simpler way to ride with her children to school or get to a job site. But now, as she hears other people bemoan their $50 gasoline purchases, she realizes how much money her family and her business have saved. They filled up the family car on Mother’s Day, she says, and the tank is still half full. The family also has cancelled its membership to a local fitness center. “People spend a lot of money to stay in shape,” she says. “I don’t have to sit on a bike and watch CNN or run around in circles.”
Making it work
The keys to success, says Gina, are planning and a good attitude. When it rains, she focuses on the fact that she gets wet in the shower and her clothes get wet in the laundry, so it’s no problem. Sometimes she makes sure she has a change of clothing. As far as cold weather goes, she recommends layers and notes that she’s not in the cold for hours—only for 15 minutes, typically.Regarding safety for the children, Gina explains that the family always takes secondary streets, where there is little traffic and the vehicles move at slow speeds. “It’s not like we’re riding on the interstate,” she says. Gina also makes sure everyone who rides with her signals and rides predictably and responsibly. In traffic, she says, a bike is considered a slow-moving vehicle, and riders need to obey all traffic laws and let drivers know what they’re going to do.The commitment to biking continues after hours, too. When she and her husband head out for a night on the town, Gina wears a dress and tosses her high heels into a bag so she can don them when she gets to their destination.“You can make this work,” she says. “Besides, it’s just a lot of fun.”
Bike writer
As for myself, after trailing Gina on my bike for a morning, I felt inspired. Later that day, when I had to meet a friend at a downtown café, I walked past my car in the garage, put on my helmet and hopped on my bike.I sweated and wheezed my way the two-and-a-half miles from my house to the café, wondering what I’d been thinking. I stopped to take a breath for a couple of minutes under a handy tree. I arrived at my destination 10 minutes late. Gina and her husband might be able to make three miles in 15 minutes, but I couldn’t. When I arrived, I thought I didn’t look too bad. My friend agreed. But even as I was gasping for a glass of water, I realized that Gina was right; I felt exuberant, having gotten there under my own power. I can make this work, I thought, as long as my editor doesn’t make me do a story more than two-and-a-half miles from my house any time soon.