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'Extreme Commuter' cycles 200 blocks a day

By Justin Rocket Silverman, amNewYork Staff Writer | jsilverman@am-ny.com

March 7, 2007

Commuting more than 100 blocks to work and school is something millions of New Yorkers do by express subway, bus or car. But doing it by bicycle, at night, in this kind of weather, is a bit extreme.

As the first in a series of Extreme Commuter stories, amNewYork presents Julia Hecker, a 28-year-old cardiothoracic nurse at Mt. Sinai Hospital.

During her 12 1/2-hour shifts in the intensive care unit, she supervises the recovery of heart surgery patients. Cycling more than 200 blocks a day on the manic urban asphalt, Julia is no stranger to heart-stopping action of her own.

"On the bike you don't ever have to stop pedaling," she explains with a smile. "You just kind of just weave through the traffic."

Spared the hindrance of red lights, Julia burns through the 100 blocks between her Lower East Side apartment and the hospital on 101st Street in as few as 20 minutes.

"Once I hit Central Park, I feel like I'm already at work, even through I'm only half way there. In the park I don't have to think, I can relax and just ride."

Julia has been riding back and forth from the hospital for three years, and also cycles from the LES to her master's degree courses at Columbia University. While the California-native has had her share of close calls, scrapes and bruises, there is nothing that would make her trade in her second-hand Motobecane bike ("I bought it for $100 from a guy in a bar") for a MetroCard. She says she is "never scared," and though the ride can take as long as 40 minutes in gridlocked streets, it still feels quicker, and much less frustrating, than waiting for a subway or bus.

The most recent U.S. Census found less than one percent of New Yorkers bike to work. In bike-friendly Amsterdam, that number is almost 30 percent.

In addition to saving time, Julia attributes her shapely figure to all the exercise she gets commuting. "My colleagues at work wonder how I can eat so much. I guess it's because I ride the bike. They think I should weigh a gazillion pounds."

Julia said her commute would be much easier, not to mention safer, if the city followed through on plans for an East River bike path, like the one now along the Hudson River. The existing East Side bike path stops abruptly at 34th Street.

Even so, she encourages all New Yorkers to think about biking to work-- although maybe not as fast as she does.

"If you don't ride every day you should probably give yourself a little extra time to get to work. You might want to stop at the red lights."

The Extreme Commuter can be anyone who takes more than the average ride to work. Whether it's a complicated bus and subway transfer, an extra long ride, or just something that requires the person to get up really, really early, amNewYork wants to hear about it. Email your suggestions to jsilverman@am-ny.com