Bike Commuters

Jonathan Harding, 34

IT engineering manager at Bank of America

My favorite route is the Charlotte Department of Transportation Bicycle Route 9. It takes me from my home in Cotswold through Sherwood Forest, Cotswold, Grier Heights, Elizabeth, and uptown [to the Fifth/Third building at Fifth and Tryon].

The strangest thing I’ve seen at rush hour is all manner of distracted driving, or shall we say, people making the most of their commute: applying makeup in a moving vehicle, using a BlackBerry, etc. Kids on school buses go bonkers when a bicyclist is nearby.

My scariest moment on a bike happened in 2001, when I went over the top of a minivan that turned in front of me while I was improperly riding next to stopped traffic. Lesson learned.

Kevin Kennedy, 41

Principal with Cluck Design, an architecture and design firm, and The Spoke Easy, a custom bike fabricator in South End.

My favorite route to work from my home in Fourth Ward is any one that avoids South Boulevard. If I have the time, I make the trip longer and more scenic. It’s about a three- or four-mile commute, but I’m also on the bike back and forth all day to meetings with clients or seeing to things like building permits. I like the path that runs parallel to the light rail trains, but unfortunately it gets shut down a lot due to construction.   

The strangest sighting at night was an owl, a hawk, and two rabbits all close to each other on the greenway at Freedom Park. Somehow they all managed to avoid each other. You see a lot of wildlife on a bike that you’d never see in a car.

One of the surprising things about cycling is how relaxing it can be. I see it as a break—time not to be stressed out about other things going on, even if I’m uptown and on the clock.

Katherine Whitton, 30

Registered nurse at Carolinas Medical Center

My favorite route to work at CMC’s main campus is through Sedgefield Park and then up Park Road. I take a left turn onto Scott Avenue and onto the CMC campus.  

The strangest thing I’ve seen at dawn on a weekend was a deer that ran alongside me in the park. Strange and scary.  

My most exhilarating moment on a bike was completing the 24 Hours of Booty with over 100 miles in 2011!