Shorter multimodal commutes are popular and have been mentioned in previous BikeWalk Provo stories, but what about long distance commutes, commutes even from state to state? With active transportation becoming more and more of a priority for local and state governments to include in their long range plans, longer commutes aren’t now only possible but can even be accommodating. I caught up with BYU history professor Jenny Pulsipher at her office, conveniently located in the Harold B. Lee Library.
Jenny has been commuting to work by bike “since 2010,” and those commutes to BYU’s main campus have not always been along the same path, nor of a similar distance. I asked Jenny about her commute to BYU on any normal day this year, and she explains, as well as amazes me: “We [Jenny and her husband] live in a condo on lower Capitol Hill [Salt Lake City], ride to North Temple Station, FrontRunner to Provo Central Station, ride to our condo in Provo or to my office [located in the Joseph F. Smith Building], lock it up at the racks just to the north or the racks at the Kennedy Center,” at the back of the BYU Library.
Arriving at Provo Central Station, Jenny usually bikes up 1st East and over to “the ramp” located southwest of campus. “Sometimes 900 East, up the hill to get exercise. I love being able to see nature while riding my bike, especially the view of Mount Timpanogos. And I like to take pictures along the way.” Going home it’s much the same route in reverse, although Jenny rides south on 2nd East back to Provo Central. “I like going down that ramp,” she says with a smile.
Working and teaching on campus “four days a week, occasionally five,” keeps Jenny moving. Although she sometimes “will stay at the condo during the week,” she tells me it’s not often, “because I miss my husband.”
Jenny’s husband also bikes to work 2-3 days a week, riding from their home in Salt Lake City to his office located near the University of Utah Huntsman Center. If you’ve ever climbed the hill to the easterly end of the U of U Campus, then you may know that from Temple Square, it’s a steady pedal of well over 300 feet in elevation. TRAX’s Red Line runs along this same route and the light-rail engine even seems like it’s huffing and puffing its way to the summit.
But the “one and a half hour commute” Jenny makes to Provo these days wasn’t always so. In 2015, her husband took a position in Los Angeles and the couple bought a second home there. Still, Jenny continued to commute to Provo in order to fulfill her teaching commitments at BYU.
Leaving from Burbank Airport in the late afternoon, Jenny would arrive in Salt Lake City and stay overnight with her daughter-in-law who at the time was living in the Pulsiphers’ Sugar House home. Early the next morning, Jenny would jump on her 13" Trek FX3 Women's Hybrid and ride to Salt Lake Central to catch an early FrontRunner train south. The biking route in Provo that she used then to get to campus was much the same as today.
On other commutes from Los Angeles to Provo, Jenny would leave LA in the wee hours of the morning, then after arriving in Salt Lake City, take the TRAX Green Line to North Temple Station and board FrontRunner bound for Provo Central Station. There, she would retrieve her Trek FX3 that she had previously stored in one of the bike lockers conveniently located near the platform. At the end of the day Jenny could return to Sugar House and stay overnight, but before long she would be flying back home to be reunited with her husband.
All in all, a multimodal commute of 634 miles… in each direction!
That’s a lot of challenging, long-distance active transportation, so I ask Jenny if she’s had any mishaps or surprises over the last fifteen years. “Had a few slips, remember coming home [Salt Lake City] and I slid off the road riding my bike during a snowstorm. Once, I was hit by a car on the corner of Brick Oven; they were on the street and I was crossing over to go up to campus.”
Another time, “when I was still commuting from LA, I got off of FrontRunner [at Salt Lake Central], I was bundled up, and someone asked if they could help me pick up my suitcase that had fallen off.” Jenny had rented a scooter at the station for that trek to Sugar House, making it more difficult to carry loose items. She said “no, but thank you” to the good Samaritan and after re-securing her suitcase, went on her way without recognizing that it was actually her son who had stopped to assist her. Jenny said that later, she found out that he had recognized her.
Why would anyone go to these lengths to utilize multimodal transportation? “I like to save the environment by not driving, especially in the winter when the inversion layer is worse. If I have to drive in a car, I feel like I’ve wasted that time; I work on FrontRunner, have a portable foot stool, and get a lot of work done.” Jenny Pulsipher is one inspiring cyclist.
