Columnist Susan Snyder: Lawmaker takes liking to biking

Friday, May 18, 2001 | 8:45 a.m.

Susan Snyder's column appears Fridays, Sundays and Tuesdays. Reach her at snyder@lasvegassun.com or 259-4082.

Did you ride your bike to work today?

Nevada Assemblywoman Christina Giunchigliani did. In fact, a lot of people probably did because it's national Bike to Work Day. That's pretty much every day for Giunchigliani.

"I've only missed five days since Jan. 22 because it was too icy (those days)," the Las Vegas Democrat said during a recent break in the Assembly's daily session grind.

Each morning Giunchigliani loads her work clothes into a backpack and mounts the chunky sheepskin-covered saddle of her pink Huffy two-wheeler and pedals a mile to the Capitol.

"We're in this building 14 to 16 hours a day, and it's a way to get fresh air," Giunchigliani said. "It's a way to get your head together. It gives you time to be creative. You don't get that in a car."

As if those reasons aren't good enough, there are others.

The average annual cost of a 5-mile daily drive to work by personal vehicle costs almost $3,700 a year in gasoline and wear and tear, according to information supplied by Eric Glick, Nevada's bicycle coordinator.

The League of American Bicyclists, based in Washington, D.C., says if each person in a 100,000-resident community replaced a car trip with a bike trip once a month, carbon dioxide emissions would be cut by 3,764 tons per year in that locality.

And a recent study by Texas A&M University shows the average Las Vegas Valley commuter spends 36 percent of his or her travel time sitting in traffic. In 1999 that represented 21 hours -- nearly a whole day idling in auto congestion.

Still not good enough? I drove across the state last weekend and gas selling for $2 a gallon was pretty common. Some stations hawked it for $2.15.

Giunchigliani parks her bike, dubbed the "pink G-mobile" by her colleagues, just inside a rear door of the Capitol. As bikes go, it's as homely as your best buddy's cousin with the good personality. It has no gears or hand brakes. She stops by pedaling backward.

The Las Vegas legislator makes no apologies for her bike's lack of technology.

"I flipped myself on a bike with hand brakes and cracked three teeth. That's all it took," she said. "I told my husband I wanted an old-fashioned one, and Santa brought it to me.

"It gets me where I want to go," Giunchigliani said. "And nobody's tried to steal it."

She says she used to ride to work in Las Vegas, too, when the school at which she taught was closer to home. Currently, she teaches special education classes for sixth, seventh and eight grades in a school that's too far away for a bike ride.

"I still go to the grocery store on it whenever I can," she said, "I've even ridden in the rain. Your clothes can dry."

But the air we breathe and traffic congestion don't clear up as easily.

"I'd like to see more people out there on bikes," the lawmaker said. "As long as we keep adding roads (traffic) is going to get worse. Adding lanes to our roads does not get people out of their cars.

"I don't think we do enough with nature," she said. "People need to get outside more."

You heard the lady.

And don't forget to wear a helmet.