It’s Bike Month, Let’s #BikeThere!
Calvin Maison isn’t what you’d call a “bike guy.” He doesn’t wear Lycra nor ride particularly fast. His only bike is an inexpensive fat tire model with mismatched wheels and a rusty chain. But one thing Calvin does is ride — to and from work, about 11 miles, every single day of the year.
“I don’t care if it’s pouring rain or there’s a blizzard out. I’m riding my bike,” says Calvin, who insists he’s not a “fitness guru.” Instead, he’s a regular “dude” who likes to ride his bike.
“I’ve always loved bike riding, ever since I was a kid, because I could go places without having to depend on people taking me there. It was an independence thing,” he says.
Like many people, Calvin fell away from bike riding when he started driving. But one day, about four years ago, he had car trouble, so he decided to ride his bike to work. At that moment, he rediscovered that feeling of independence he knew as a kid, and the habit stuck.
“Then when winter hit, I had a choice to make — I could either get another car or a fat tire bike,” says Calvin. “I don’t know what came over me, but I decided on the fat tire bike.”
But Calvin had a problem to overcome — he is not a huge fan of winter.
“That was actually a motivator for me. I knew myself. I get kind of down sitting inside all winter,” he says. “Bike commuting year-round forces me outside, and I get a little exercise. I’m definitely in a lot better shape than when I started, and I’ve noticed a huge difference in my mental health. To me, that’s probably the biggest benefit. I just feel better all around.”
Calvin loves his janky, beat-up fat tire bike so much that he also rides it in the summer. He follows the TART Trail to his job at Frontier Computer Corp (year one Dynamo Champion). He says his coworkers may think he’s crazy, but he thinks anybody could do what he’s doing.
“The hardest part is getting started — heading out the door. If you can get out the door and make it the first ten feet, you can make it ten miles,” he says. “I just started doing it, and I saw the benefits of it. It’s actually a little bit addicting — just the feeling of accomplishment you get.”
