Bike BetteR
19
Pam Rushing: How long have you been riding a bike?
Heather Perlis: Well, for as long as I can remember. I don’t
remember riding a tricycle, but I remember the day the training
wheels were taken off my bike.
PR: Scary?
HP: It was pretty scary. I remember I kept falling. In some ways, it was kind of traumatic to learn to ride, but when I did, it was the ultimate freedom. And I never stopped riding.
PR: Did you go to LSU?
HP: I went to LSU. I graduated with my undergrad in psychology and then went on to get a master’s in library information science. After that, I developed a keen interest in physical therapy, but I didn’t want to go back to school for a doctorate, so I went to Our Lady of the Lake College for the physical therapy assistant program.
PR: Did you bike commute when you worked?
HP: I did for my Americorps Vista jobs [in Tucson, AZ and Baton Rouge]. I took the bus and biked everywhere. When I was a librarian I would bike commute from LSU to the Main Library. When I was a home health PT assistant, I made a few house calls on my bike, but I could be driving anywhere from Baton Rouge to Slaughter.
PR: How have your travels influenced your biking philosophy?
HP: Tucson was probably the most influential because there was an active critical mass group and a bicycle collective, a place where people could go and take classes on bicycle maintenance and a shop where you could use the tools. And where your destination was far away and you were on a time schedule, you could put your bike on the bus. That was the first time I had been in a city where you could do that. I rarely stepped foot in a car when I lived there. And I think really having the experience of not associating with a car is what influenced my biking philosophy. It was as simple as that. Not very profound.
PR: That’s pretty profound in this day and age.
HP: Also, I like to be physical when I travel. To me, the best way to see a place is not in a car. On a recent visit to Portland, we did not rent a car. There was a function that was a 45-minute hike from where we were, and there were people saying we could take this bus and that bus. But a 45-minute walk is no big deal; it’s not going to kill us. And it was the coolest thing, because we walked through kind of this art vendor area with people and music and lights…this lively strip that was pedestrian only, in an alley between buildings.
PR: You would have missed that in a car?
HP: We would totally have missed that. So that right there reinforces the bike philosophy.
PR: What are some of the factors you consider when making the decision to bike versus taking the car?
HP: The obvious thing would be Astrid, but other than that, if there is a reasonable route, that’s number one.