Supporter Spotlight: Robert Berger

Notes

Aug 14

This post is a Supporter Spotlight featuring Robert Berger, who pledged to ride to work on Bike to Work Day! Robert won the Pledge to Ride drawing generously sponsored by Exodus Travels. [gallery columns="5" link="file" ids="19600,19601,19602,19603,19604"]What kind of bicyclist are you? Did you ride to work this year on Bike to Work Day!?Recreational / Commuter. I did ride to work on Bike to Work Day. I try to get in at least one commute and a recreational ride each week. I ride an electric assisted recumbent trike actually. I did my own electric assist conversion of a 2011 ICE Adventure Trike.

Electric assist doesn’t mean that I'm not doing any work. People might think that electric assist means you don’t pedal, I still pedal. There is a torque sensor on the cranks so how hard I pedal determines how much assist I get as well. It's a Pedalec which means that it only goes if I pedal and the system amplifies my pedaling. I can set how much it amplifies kind of like switching gears (I still have gears too). So when I’m on the flats, there is just enough amplification to compensate for the drag and weight of the motor. But when I’m going up a hill I can get as much as 10x electric power added to my 200 watts of human pedaling action.

Why do you love to ride?It’s the only exercise that I actually enjoy. It’s nice to have the fresh air and be able to see the world from a different perspective.Where do you ride? What's good about it and what needs to be improved?My commute is from near the top of Quickert Road off of On-Orbit in Saratoga, down to Cupertino near De Anza Blvd and Stevens Creek. The ride to work is pretty nice as it’s downhill about 1600 feet. Going home is a lot tougher. It's only possible for me because I have the electric assist. I’m pretty lucky as I can bypass most of Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road / De Anza Boulevard by going on some back residential roads in Saratoga and Stelling Rd in Cupertino. Both have little car traffic and nice bike lanes.Recreationally, I mostly ride around the ridges up above Quickert and Bohlman Road. Again, lucky that there is not too much traffic.I’ve tried riding on Route 9 going from Saratoga towards the hills, but I felt totally unsafe there. The “bike lane” was pretty much non-existent and traffic was terrible. It was actually pretty scary on the trike which needs more space than a bike. So I don’t do that anymore.What do you think needs to be improved for bicyclists in Silicon Valley?There really should be more bike paths that are separated from cars and pedestrians for going long distances all over the valley. We should have the concept of bike “super highways” so that you could get anywhere in the valley without competing with cars or pedestrians.They have them in the Netherlands and in England:

They even tried to build one in LA way back before the car took over. [Editor's note: VTA plans to implement some bike superhighways in the future]What bicycling improvements have you seen recently that you enjoy?The places where they have created the green bike lanes are a pleasure to ride.What advice do you have for a new bicyclist or someone who is thinking about starting to ride their bike more often?If you are older or not in great shape, don’t let that stop you. Electric assist is a great way to still get exercise but not get stopped by hills, distance or keeping up with fellow cyclists. Recumbent bikes are much more comfortable. If you have any issues with balance or difficulties riding a regular bike, a recumbent trike makes it safe and easy to ride without fear of falling. You can also rest anytime just by stopping.Anything else to say to your fellow bicyclists in Silicon Valley?Silicon Valley should be a paradise for bikers. We have the weather and the terrain. We need to demand that our city planning and infrastructure fulfills the potential for human powered vehicles to be a primary mode of transport for commuting and recreation throughout the valley.

Jessica Waite