Why Wilson Rides

Here’s the fourth portrait in Streetsblog’s weekly “Why I Ride” series.

Don’t let the business casual wear fool you – Wilson rides fast, even when commuting home from the office. It took me a minute or two to catch up to him on the East River Esplanade but once I did, he was more than happy to stop for a portrait.

Wilson works with the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. He cycles to and from work nearly year-round, stopping only for snow in the dead of winter. His regular ride is between his home in the East Village and his office in the Financial District; a good route, he says, because it’s fast and keeps him out of car traffic for most of the journey.

I ask him why he prefers the bike and he readily lists his reasons — health, speed, convenience, environment… Since he started riding in New York about two years ago, he hasn’t had so much as a cold, a fact he attributes to regular exercise.

When I finish shooting, I let him be on his way and thank him for giving me a few minutes of his time. “Oh, no problem.” He pauses for a moment and then adds, “I love my bike.”