My Space

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As Tucson gets ready for its latest Cyclovia event, Brad Lancaster – permaculture expert, environmentalist and two-wheel king – tells us why his favorite space is his Xtracycle. Story and photos by Gabby Ferreira.

“I got really into cycling in elementary school. I loved riding my bike with my friends, so we’d ride the two miles to school every day and we loved it because it was an adventure. No parents, no bus driver– we could take whatever route we wanted. I continued to do it and it was always a cheaper way to go, but I also ran cross-country and track so it was a way for me to train. As time went on, it was less about exercise and more about saving money and I enjoyed it more. Now that I’m 47, exercise is back up there again! Doing my writing, I spend a fair amount of time on the computer, so it’s awesome to get that break. I’ll make excuses to run errands just so I can ride the bike.

“A big reason why I cycle is it really clears my head. It doesn’t matter how stressful the day, if I can have that bike ride everything’s cool. I see more of my friends around town this way. It’s hard for me to see someone behind a windshield and recognize them, but this way I see friends all the time. It’s a speed of transportation that encourages me to take the extra two-block detour to visit a friend because it’s easy and parking’s not a problem.

“It can be your car. I sold my car in 1996 and I’ve been carless since then. Originally, when I met Ross [Evans, the inventor of Xtracycle], I had a bicycle trailer. That was great, but if I didn’t have the trailer with me and saw something I wanted to carry, I had to go back for the trailer. With the Xtracycle, I always have the trailer. It’s more compact but can take just as much stuff and it is the bike itself. I’m really passionate about how we can make the most of and enhance what we already have for free. That’s a big reason why I like riding bikes. I don’t have to pay for gas, I don’t have to pay for insurance, I just buy more burritos!

“I remember pulling up to a stop sign on my bike in the middle of summer. I wasn’t sweating profusely because I was outside and there’s a breeze. I looked at the car next to me and there’s a woman in there and her hair was being blown backwards but her windows were closed. I realized she had her air conditioner on high. The exhaust was just pumping the toxins right towards me and I saw the mirage effect of the heat rising off the car. She was obviously very comfortable and enjoying the ride but what’s the expense to the community? What’s the expense to me and my health? I feel really good knowing that I’m not worsening anyone’s health. Rather, I really believe I’m helping enhance the community health.

“I love life, so I’d rather do things that are more enlivening, that enable me to have a greater tactile experience of that life. Cycling was an easy fit with all that. Where I’ve gone with solar design and water harvesting grew from a desire to learn what I never did in school, which is ‘How can I do everything in a way that improves my life, improves my community’s life, and improves life in the world for everyone and everything?’ I don’t always make it on all three levels, but just by striving I get a lot further than I would otherwise. It’s a challenge and an adventure for myself, so the further I can go the more fun it is for me.

“It’s great how the biking community is really growing. We’ve been lucky to have the Cyclovia event, and that really shows people a big change. We’re getting better-enhanced crossings of major streets, so we’re working with other neighborhoods to create a continuous linkage of bicycle boulevards and enhance residential streets with traffic awnings, street tree plantings that are irrigated by street runoff so you have a much more elevated and enhanced experience as you ride your bike.

“This neighborhood when we moved here was very high crime, now crime’s really dropped a lot through a lot of efforts, one of those being that we have a more walk-able, bike-able community so there’s more neighbors on the street seeing each other, looking out for each other, and noticing if anyone’s doing anything weird. It’s more of a community now.”

 

* Brad Lancaster teaches classes in all aspects of water harvesting, permaculture and sustainable design, passive solar design, gardening, and food production. Additionally, he has written books on rainwater harvesting in the desert. Find out more at his website, www.harvestingrainwater.com

* Cyclovia Tucson, a one-day event that sees streets closed to cars and open exclusively to cyclists, walkers and skaters, takes place April 6th.

* For more on Xtracycle’s line of cargo bikes, visit www.xtracycle.com