Bike to work or bust

Sarah Desjarlais, who commutes regularly to her job at Wallis Engineering in Vancouver, puts on a reflective vest for the ride to her home in the Minnehaha neighborhood. (ANDREA J. WRIGHT for The Columbian)

Devoted cyclist that he is, Bob Wallis was determined to at least try pedaling the three miles from his home in Vancouver’s Lincoln neighborhood to the downtown offices of his company Wallis Engineering during December’s winter fury.

On went the waterproof layers. Check. On went the reflective vest. Check. Gloves. Check. Helmet. Check. Front and rear flashers. Check.

Then he eased into the street.

“I tried, but the wheels sank down into the snow,” said Wallis, a wiry 60-year-old with a shock of white hair. “You couldn’t make any forward motion.”

The two-week blast of snow and ice disrupted what typically is a reasonably routine winter commute. Many hard-core bike commuters bowed to reality and drove, carpooled or hopped a bus to get to work.

Such pragmatism and flexibility is essential to riding your bike to work or elsewhere, said Todd Boulanger, a senior transportation planner for the city of Vancouver and an avid cyclist himself.

“You don’t have to commute every day by bike,” Boulanger said. “You have options. When the streets are too dangerous, too wet or too cold, you can jump on a bus or a train. You can use a Zipcar or Flex Car, or share a ride.”

Wallis is proud that many of his employees commute by bike routinely year-round, braving flying bugs, gravel kicked up by motorists, snow, black ice and puddles. Three of them, including Wallis and his wife, Gillian, 51, commute by bike every day.

Wallis employee Sarah Desjarlais, 26, who pedals in about six miles from the Minnehaha neighborhood, boasts the longest, and perhaps most challenging, commute among her colleagues.

“What’s super fun is when they put gravel down,” she said with a rueful smile. “I’ve been hit with shrapnel.”

Caution, she added, is the key to staying in the saddle.

“I’m very aware of what’s going on,” she said. “Drivers aren’t considerate of bikers. They don’t give them enough room. It’s difficult to feel safe when you’re riding in bad weather and you know drivers have limited visibility.”

Her colleague, Trevis Smith, 36, agreed. He had a close call when a car he was riding alongside squeezed him and his bike into a curb — and a huge puddle — at the corner of Evergreen and Grand boulevards. Amazingly, he said, he was propelled off the bike when it hit the curb, and somehow landed on his feet on the sidewalk.

When they arrive at work in a sweat, Wallis’ employees can park their bikes in a first-floor storage room and jump in the shower their boss has provided.

Wallis said his 22 employees scored a commute ratio of nearly 63 percent during the Bicycle Transportation Alliance’s annual Bike Commute Challenge in September; during the contest, businesses and public agencies of all kinds and sizes compete to log the most miles ridden per employee.

“For an office our size … that’s pretty incredible,” Desjarlais said.

Like many Northwest cities, and Portland in particular, Vancouver is trying to make cyclists like those at Wallis feel more comfortable pedaling to work and shopping. In addition to including bike lanes along major thoroughfares, the city requires all new streets to include bike lanes and the retrofitting of existing streets.

The city also has installed bicycle lockers at the Hilton Vancouver Washington on Sixth Street and across from the Clark County Service Center at 1300 Franklin St. Boulanger has provided a bicycle pump for public use outside Java House at 210 W. Evergreen Blvd.

He noted that the city has published Cycling the Cities, a bicycle route map with maps of Vancouver on one side and Portland on the other, which is available for free at local bicycle shops. The map includes rules of the road and safety tips for cyclists.

Related maps include a Clark County Bike Map, a Metro Bike There Map, and an Interstate 5 Bridge map that shows cyclists how to access and cross the Interstate 5 bridge in downtown Vancouver and travel through Jantzen Beach and Delta Park toward downtown Portland. The map, which is free, is available by calling 360-487-7700.

C-Tran and TriMet buses are equipped with bicycle racks available on a first-come, first-served basis. TriMet also allows bicycles on the Max and the Portland street car systems.

Bob Wallis, who used to commute much farther from his former home in Battle Ground, said that while Vancouver is still well behind Portland in catering to cyclists, it’s making progress.

“The bike lanes are cool,” Wallis said. “They’re a real plus for downtown.”

-- For route maps and other information about bicycling in Vancouver, Clark County or Portland, contact Vancouver Transportation Services at 360-487-7700 or cityofvancouver.us/bike.

-- For information about commuting to Portland contact Portland’s Office of Transportation at 503-823-7083 or gettingaroundportland.org.