Interviewing subjects for BikeWalk Provo at libraries, BYU campus offices, and downtown cafes has been the norm these last four years. But meeting up with the aforementioned organization’s “Happiness Coordinator” at a park bench on a secluded, tree-lined, bare-earth pedestrian path adjacent to LaVell Edwards Stadium was yet another experience… I caught up with Nick Merrill on a warm, autumn midday Monday during his lunch break.
Nick suggested I meet him at the Stadium Station, where he would then guide me to one of his favorite Provo bike paths. Yes, I was at first apprehensive but had put my full trust in Nick to take the lead. And it turned out so perfectly, finding a park bench in the shade, watching the walkers, runners, and bikers passing by with the trees along the trail acting as a buffer to silence the incessant pounding of a jackhammer in the midst of construction happening across the street at the Miller Park Complex on University Parkway.
“I came here as a student at the very end of 2017, started school in 2018,” Nick begins. “I had served as a missionary in the Czech Republic, using only my legs and public transportation.
“So, I was excited to be able to use a bike when I came to BYU. I didn’t want to get a car because it seemed expensive and I thought I’d try my hand at living in Provo without a car.”
Nick’s first choice of a bike in Provo was a beach cruiser, but “riding more and more” he soon had a Fezzari (now ARI). “I destroyed that bike, riding it too hard and too long, then I bought a commuter bike. Every year that I rode around Provo the bike infrastructure got better and better.” Next, Nick began thinking about expanding the usefulness of his biking. “I wanted to figure out how to get groceries, so I started making my own bags.”
Nick pulls me off the bench to show me a bag he’s made and has attached to the frame of a Lectric Xpedition 1.0 parked in front of us alongside the path. I quickly noticed the name “BikeWalk Provo” embroidered near the zipper on the upper part of this rectangular canvas bag. “My grandmother bought it [a sewing machine] for me at a garage sale,” Nick explains. “I take the zippers off of other bags I buy at DI, etc., and I embroider on my mother-in-law’s machine.”
This is getting even more interesting: In my last BikeWalk Provo Story I wrote about another Nick that also makes his own bike cargo bags. Nick then shows me another and larger bag that he’s crafted and has mounted on his Lectric’s rear cargo rack. “I made this bag [a square shaped, open bag of bright pink canvas] for my bike lock, lunch, diapers, groceries.” He then quickly clarifies for me why it’s pink. “My wife found a bolt of pink fabric at a garage sale, so I have enough fabric forever!”
As I begin to check out the bike, I ask Nick why he decided on a Lectric (since I’ve noticed they are popular around Provo). “It was the cheapest cargo bike I could find, offered at a good price, and two batteries.” He had installed a new kickstand soon after purchasing the bike, because the original wasn’t adequate in keeping the bike stable when parked. Nick also pointed out to me a few other improvements he’d made, “four piston hydraulic disc brakes and switched out the front rotor, to a larger diameter.”
“I purchased the rear rack from them [Lectric],” Nick adds and then brings my attention to an accessory he’s cleverly mounted on the bike’s head tube. It’s a genuine “Toyota” emblem, “something I found on the road.” We both then laugh at the irony in his craftsmanship.
Nick found that the rear light on the Lectric wasn’t what it should be for biking in the area where his family previously lived. He replaced the bike’s single, red light with a set of four lights, “a necessary safety device for me living in American Fork and riding on 200 South (incredibly dangerous),” Nick emphasizes. “We have two kids, a boy and a girl, one turns three in October and an almost six month old who will ride with me when she’s old enough, when she’s a year old, maybe.
“We’re looking at getting a second cargo bike; she [his wife] has a bike right now, but mostly it’s me out with the toddler. Then we could just leave the car at home, using both cargo bikes.” Nick wants to have his family 100% active transportation dependent someday. And they could be, if it wasn’t for where they’re living now. Until the baby’s old enough to be carried on a bike, they are using UTA’s “On Demand,” which services parts of West Provo, to get to Provo Central.
On Demand doesn't allow bike transport, a stroller’s okay, and an infant car seat is mandatory, Nick tells me. So, the family schedules rides to Provo Central and then walks to the Downtown District or uses UVX 830x for outings, such as to University Place Mall and Hillcrest Park in Orem. This works well for now, although Nick would soon like to have his entire family car free.
And what about weather conditions here in Provo? “I love to ride in the winter, I think it’s a blast!” Nick answers with a smile. Nick has already put much thought and work into his project “to be car-free,” it seems to me, so, I have no doubt that the rest of the family will also weather the weather just fine.
