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 deliveringpackages.
Brian Witkofsky rented an Inman Park apartment with a spare room justto store all his bicycle equipment. Hanging there is one frame he put 40,000miles on. He works part-time at a bike store in Little Five Points andcycles so much that his pickup truck requires less than $20 worth of gasa month. On weekends, he's up in the North Georgia mountains, racing orriding his mountain bike as much as 75 miles a day.
This self-described "bed "bike weenie" may seem to havea perfect day job. He's one of those kamikaze couriers who pedal furiouslyto pick up and deliver packages throughout Atlanta. But after 18 monthswith MLQ Courier Services, he will tell you that he'd be a better riderif he didn't have to earn his living at it. His body gets little rest fromthe 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 saidduring aing a rare morning off, nursing sore muscles the day after a grueling17.5-mile race at the Olympic mountain biking course in Conyers. "Theywon't ride Friday before a race, for example, but Friday is my busiestday, and I might do 60 miles."
Shuttling between downtown, Buckhead and points in between,ween, Witkofskyclocks about 30 miles on a typical day, year-round, in any weather. Asmuch as he can, he's tailored his training to his job, riding harder fromstop to stop on the days meant for interval training. He's fueled by awater bottle and the peanut butter and honey sandwiches tucked into hismessenger 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 courtsat 6 p.m., it's no problem on a bike."
His pager will alert him to pickups and dropoffs and how fast they theyneed 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 anda box full of 40 Bibles. "I just hold it between my arms and balancethe bike in between," he said.
The main difference between his job and hobby is his choice of e ofbike. He's rigged up a Giordana road bike for his courier work, with theskinniest tires he can put on, to cut wind resistance, and still feel safeon the road. He turned the curling handlebars up and cut them off, producing"bullhorns" that are easy for him to steer and make the bikeless attractive to thieves. He removed the rear brakes and added cliplessmountain bike pedals for the same reason, and insured it for $2,000. Hecan change a flat in two minutes and wears out a pair of cycling shoesevery 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 itrains. "One of the main reasons I stopped was every single time Irode upde up an elevator, people would see my helmet and ask me about beinga courier," he recalls. "I could be completely wet - or hot anddry - and they'd ask me if it's raining. Sometimes the last thing I wantto 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'tsuffered any serious accidents, only a few close calls. He credits a cautiousstrategy in traffic.
"I know know couriers who have had bad wrecks, and if you lookat how they ride, shooting through lights without looking, eventually theirday is going to come," he says. "I don't obey all the laws, butI don't go through intersections blindly. I don't trust that people aregoing to stop, and I slow down. I'm aware of everyone around me and thathas kept me from wrecking."
Witkofsky, like most most couriers, takes risks that most drivers cannotcomprehend - and they let him know, sometimes cutting him off and yellingat him. "I'm not telling you how to drive a car; don't tell me howto ride a bike," he replies to them. "At full speed, if I runinto someone, the chances are good of me dying rather than someone in a5,000-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 eitheritherhis road or mountain bike on group rides in Marietta, Buckhead and StoneMountain. He "rests" on the weekend by helping customers at OutbackOutfitters, a bike shop in Little Five Points. The wide-open sky driveshim 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 morein 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 whatI 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 walkingand swimming.
-A 135-pound person riding at a leisurely 9.5 mph pace will burn about365 calories in an hour.
-The average cost of bicycle bought at a bike shop is $330
-The latest trend in bicycle design: "Cruisers" with higherhandlebars and more comfortable saddles.
Source: National Bicycle Council
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