Business travelers take their bikes

from the NYTIMES:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/20/bu...cycles.html?em

Business Travelers Take to Their Bikes
By TANYA MOHN

Christopher R. Bennett, a civil engineer for the World Bank who was out of the country for work 172 days last year, is one of what experts say is a growing number of business travelers who bicycle while on assignment.

“To me, cycling is part of my DNA,” Mr. Bennett said in an interview from Tbilisi, Georgia, where he was overseeing investment in road construction. He travels with a bike that disassembles and fits in an average-size suitcase, or uses bicycles he stores at hotels he frequents. “Bellhops know when I’m coming and bring them to me,” he said.

The number of business travelers who bike is not tracked. But based on the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey data released last month, there was a 43 percent increase nationally from 2000 to 2008 in people who bike to work regularly, though the numbers are still small: 786,098 last year, compared with 488,497 in 2000.

Andy Clarke, president of the League of American Bicyclists, said health, being green and, more recently, economics were among the reasons more people are cycling to work. Many riders are continuing the habit on business trips. “They don’t want to miss a day in the saddle if they can help it,” he said.

That was the case for Alison Chaiken, a software engineer in the San Francisco Bay area. “I usually bicycle commute and thought it’d be fun to do it on a business trip,” said Ms. Chaiken, who traveled to England last fall for Hewlett-Packard, then her employer. And, she said, it made sense. With no good public transportation from her hotel in downtown Bristol to the company site in the countryside, and her concerns about driving on the “wrong” side of the road, she biked the scenic Bristol & Bath Railway Path for the week. She estimates that she saved the company hundreds of dollars by not renting a car and avoiding the high price of gas overseas. And she skirted rush-hour traffic.

more at the link

Maybe this will increase folding bikes purchases from North America.

Yea, cycling is the new "golf". :D

Yes, I take my Bike Friday with me on most business trips that are over a few days long or that will put me in good riding territory. And I have a few clients who cycle, and I've even made a very good business deal while on a bike ride. It is the new golf, at least for me.

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Originally Posted by Biciclista

That was the case for Alison Chaiken, a software engineer in the San Francisco Bay area.

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Heh, she's in my local bike club (ACTC)

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Originally Posted by tulip

Yes, I take my Bike Friday with me on most business trips that are over a few days long or that will put me in good riding territory. And I have a few clients who cycle, and I've even made a very good business deal while on a bike ride. It is the new golf, at least for me.

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Hi Tulip,

What type of BF do you have? I've got a NWT and a PR and love them both. Do you ever get to the DC area? If so, maybe sometime we could meet up and ride.

I bought a Bike Friday Tikit just for that purpose last spring... After a couple of conferences where they stuck you out in a place where the cheapest place to find a meal was around 40 bucks, I figured it was high time to start looking for a Better Way...

Works well at the office, too, where it usually sleeps curled up under my desk, always ready for a quick run down the street or similar errand, but really earns its keep when out on travel.