By Jeff Hampton
There was an interesting little story on the front page of Baylor University’s student newspaper in October. It announced that the dean of the School of Music had begun riding a new bicycle three miles to campus every day. The article didn’t say why the dean took to two wheels –– maybe for fitness, perhaps just for fun. Or, it might have been simply that not everyone in America owned a car on the eve of World War II.
Yes, the article was published in the Oct. 24, 1941 edition of The Daily Lariat, and the dean was Roxy Grove, a popular presence on campus for 26 years whose name now adorns a music performance hall. While much has changed at Baylor since her time, a group of modern-day faculty members are following her example by making their way to campus on roads less traveled by those all alone in their automobiles.
Like Roxy Grove in her day, Dr. Alden Smith is a two-wheel road warrior. The professor and chair of classics and associate dean of the Honors College has cycled to Baylor almost every day since he arrived in 1994. His commute from the “lake” streets near Bosque Boulevard and Lake Air Drive is about 6.5 miles, with much of the ride on busy Austin Avenue.
“Coming to campus is mostly downhill and going home is uphill, so it’s 25 minutes in and a half hour home. It’s quicker than driving by the time I find a parking space,” Smith said. When he wants a workout at the end of the day, he’ll ride southeast from campus toward Highway 6, angle down to New Road and loop around toward home –– a distance of 14 miles.
Smith alternates between two bikes –– a Specialized street bike and a Bianchi mountain bike, the latter mostly for bad weather.
“Light rain’s not going to bother me too much,” he said. “It’s when there’s a crack of lighting. That’s too dangerous, especially here in Texas.”
Smith started riding when he was five years old –– “I loved my bike” –– and has been pedaling ever since. He logs up to 3,500 miles a year, and that’s mostly commuting. His family doesn’t ride together, and aside from one triathlon, he doesn’t compete.
“I think a lot of it has to do with not wanting to pollute unnecessarily,” he said. “Part of it has been cost saving, too –– we have seven children, which is kind of expensive. Plus, I need the exercise.”
While Smith doesn’t burn gas or time looking for a parking space, the bike racks are still challenging.
“The real deans –– I’m just a deanlette –– get reserved spots to park. It’d be great if there was a little sign on the bike rack that said, ‘Reserved for the Associate Dean of the Honors College,’” he said.
All bicycle riders face the threat of theft. While Smith hasn’t had a bike stolen (as he did while teaching at Rutgers), he has lost parts.
“I bought a brand new light bar for the bike and somebody liked it and stole it. It happens,” he said.
Accidents are another risk. In his 20-plus years of bike commuting, Smith has been hit by a car just once –– when an elderly man didn’t see him and the side mirror caught Smith’s handlebars.
“I didn’t get hurt, thank God. I did take a little bit of a tumble. I was a bit dazed so they called an ambulance,” he said.
Of course a big question to ask a university professor cycling in a land of heat and humidity is: What about hygiene?
“I have a sink in the office. I just lock the door and wash, and then I change, and then I’m coolish. I don’t think I smell too badly, do I?” Smith asked several students sitting nearby.
“You never smell like you bike to work,” said Joseph Lloyd, a University Scholar from Houston, who added, “Not a lot of people have the energy in the morning and after a long day to get on a bike and ride miles back to their house.”
For Smith, cycling is more than a physical exercise.
“It’s a chance to clear your mind, say your prayers, think about what’s coming up in the day. Talking it out with God helps me to clarify what I need to do or need not to do,” he said.
Asked if his bike commute relates to the courses he teaches, Smith thought a moment while Cindy Liu, a University Scholar from Vicksburg, Virginia, answered with one word: “Pilgrimage.” Smith smiled and explained that he and his students are developing a course about pilgrimages –– spiritual, intellectual and physical.
“Yes, I think that’s a pretty good analogy,” he said.
Dr. Mary Nichols’ Baylor commute is a far cry from her years driving to Fordham University in the Bronx. That involved regular crossings of the George Washington Bridge, the Cross Bronx Expressway, Garden State Parkway and the New Jersey Turnpike.
“I could take an hour and a half in the afternoon rush hour to get home,” Nichols said. “Often I would miss dinner with my family. And there was no way I could go back for anything in the evening.”
Today the professor of political science has a seven-mile, 15-minute drive to the Baylor campus. What’s more, she shares the ride most days with her husband, Dr. David Nichols, associate professor of political science. They drive from their home in the Hillcrest/Lake Air Drive area down Herring Avenue to Cameron Park and University Parks Drive.
“It’s just so beautiful. We find it very relaxing to come to school with a vision of the Brazos River for a large part of that drive,” she said.
The Nichols traded the Hudson River for the Brazos in 2004 when Mary accepted the challenge of helping to establish Baylor’s PhD program in political science. She had experience as graduate director at Fordham while David was directing the honors program at Montclair State University in New Jersey.
“It was an opportunity to come to Baylor and try to accomplish something for the department and the University that was very special,” Mary said. “The other attraction was that my husband and I could work together.”
And ride together. The Nichols’ carpool schedule varies from semester to semester depending on classes, office hours and committee meetings, but it’s usually three times a week. And they share the driving.
“I drove in this morning,” Mary said. “I usually get up a little ahead of him so I eat breakfast before coming in.” David sometimes eats breakfast while she drives, but he takes the wheel after dark because she has issues with night vision.
“If we stay for a Lady Bears game at night, I’ll drive home so she doesn’t have to deal with heavy traffic coming out of the games, which is ironic after her driving in New York,” David said.
Working in the same department allows the Nichols to compare notes during their commute.
“We have a chance to talk, to prepare for the day,” Mary said. “Or to go over things that have happened, to tell each other experiences and conversations we’ve had with students.”
David said they have few problems parking behind the Bobo Spiritual Life Center or next to Waco Hall.
“Believe me, parking here at Baylor is much better than parking on any campus on the East Coast,” he said. “We do have to remember if we’ve come in two cars or one car, though.”
Great photography takes skill and practice, and Dr. Clark Baker brings that same focus to his daily commute. The associate professor in journalism, public relations and new media, who teaches a variety of photography and mass communication courses, rides to Baylor most days on one of his three motorcycles.
“I’ve been riding for over 30 years and I very much enjoy it,” Baker said. “I imagine I save a little on gas, but that’s really neither here nor there. For me it’s a time of decompression, particularly coming home from work. It’s invigorating –– physically and mentally as well. Driving just doesn’t do that for me.”
Baker’s motorcycle commute from his home near Sanger Avenue and 28th Street takes about 10 minutes. Most of his ride is along Austin Avenue, but sometimes he takes a side trip home.
“Cameron Park is an easy choice,” he said. “Sometimes I head out the China Spring highway towards Valley Mills. That’s a nice ride with curves plus it’s a little bit on the hilly side.”
Baker tries to ride three times a week. “I ride now more than I did when I chaired the department. There were more meetings and other things going on then. It’s a lot easier now just hopping on the bike,” he said. If it’s raining in the morning, he’ll jump in his truck. “If rain is in the forecast for later that doesn’t bother me. I’ve got rain gear.”
Baker started riding motorcycles with friends in Perth, Australia, where his father worked in the oil industry. Later, father and son rode together in Indonesia.
“When you’re overseas you’ll do things you don’t necessarily think of doing at home,” he said. “For my father it was motorcycles. He had a motorcycle and we borrowed one and we rode through the villages.”
While Baker enjoys riding now with his wife and son, he doesn’t take part in motorcycle rallies or festivals. “Riding for me is more often a solitary activity,” he said.
Baker parks in a designated motorcycle area at the Dutton Avenue Office and Parking Facility.
“In the old days you could park just about anywhere you wanted. You could pull right up to the Castellaw Communications Center. But it’s much more structured now and I think that’s a good thing,” he said.
Baker hasn’t had any serious mishaps while riding, but he is deliberate about safety –– from being alert in traffic to knowing the nuances of his three bikes.
“It takes practice. You have to be serious about it. I have gone out in the rain just to keep my skills up,” he said. “It’s like photography. Even if I’m not shooting an assignment, I’ll go out and photograph just to stay sharp.”
If Dr. Susan Bratton had it her way, she would still be walking to work. The professor of environmental science did that for years when she lived in the “Fort Faculty” housing area adjoining campus off Speight Avenue, which was repurposed to allow for recent campus expansion.
“I purposely bought the house in Fort Faculty so that I could walk and have good access on foot and on bike,” she said.
When Bratton and other faculty and staff members started moving from Fort Faculty in 2011, she didn’t find a house nearby and eventually chose to relocate to a neighborhood behind beautiful Cameron Park.
“I can just walk out my door and go to the park trails and roam along the river,” she said.
While Bratton drives a car to Baylor now, she parks it at the Baylor Sciences Building and then hoofs it just about everywhere else.
“I hardly ever drive to get places unless I’m carrying stuff like brochures or field equipment,” she said. “I try to keep my gas mileage down by consolidating my activities.”
Bratton came to Baylor in 2001 and chaired the environmental science department for 10 years. She teaches forest ecology and ecosystem management, and walking is part of the curriculum.
“My students and I walk to get to our study sites,” she said. “We use Cameron Park, and we’re going to the Big Thicket. It’s probably only a walk of three miles at the max but the students get out on trails as part of their study.”
Bratton has made numerous hikes on the Appalachian Trail over the years and wrote a book addressing the spiritual dimensions of hiking the AT, The Spirit of the Appalachian Trail: Community, Environment, and Belief (2012).
After her work is done back on campus, Bratton will walk to the Ferrell Center to attend basketball games and logs many miles on the Bear Trail and the Brazos Riverwalk, where she sees scissor-tailed flycatchers, herons, egrets, nighthawks, turtles and snakes.
“It’s just nice out there, especially early evening when it’s a little cooler,” she said. “It’s very pretty in the morning too with the mist rising off the Brazos. It gives you a different perspective on the campus.”
Bratton also is an avid reader and taught herself as a teen to read while walking. If you happen to see her walking around Waco these days, there’s a chance she’ll have an open book or her cell phone with a book app in front of her.
“I don’t usually do it when I’m going places on campus, but I do when I’m out for exercise or on a longer trip. I just finished two novels mostly walking,” she said. “Remember, old-time Methodist circuit riders used to read their Bibles when they walked or when they rode, so it’s kind of a 19th century habit. But almost anybody should be able to learn to do it. It’s just a suggestion for something pleasant to do while walking.”