Friday, June 25, 2004

Pedal power rules against feet, car

Test your own errand run skills on Saturday

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By Express Staff

The Bike wins! The Bike Wins! But only by a scratch.

The Idaho Mountain Express cruiser helped win the test run Wednesday between three staffers trying out their own errand run. Express photo by David N. Seelig

Three intrepid reporters took the same challenge that will take place this weekend in the Ketchum Criterium Errand Run Race. Each picked a mode of transport out of a hat and set off at 12:45 p.m. with the same errands to run.

Greg: "I biked straight to Wrapcity, where there was a huge line extending out to the street. I contemplated going elsewhere, but decided to hope for more people to fill in behind me before Dana and Megan showed up. We all stood in line for a spell. After ordering, I boarded the trusty Idaho Mountain Express cruiser and went to F-Stop to drop off a pretend roll of film. Then I went to Williams’ Market to grab a New York Times. I had to charge the paper on my credit card, wasting valuable minutes. Went back to Wrapcity, where my lunch was done. I rode to the post office, where I unloaded a ton of mail, and went to the counter to cash in a yellow card.

"Since I was in a race, I shouldn’t have been too surprised that the lady in front of me wanted to buy some sort of rare stamp collection that had not been in print for 40 years. What should have been a brief mail stop took more than five minutes. I really took it easy on this journey. Could have shaved more minutes by cranking hard on the bike. My overall time was 26 minutes."

Dana: "Unhappy with drawing the dreaded car, I drove to the post office first and recovered a huge amount of mail though I, unlike Greg, ignored two yellow package cards. Then I drove to Iconoclast, where I had to park on a side street and not in front, in order to buy my New York Times. Back in the car I had to wait for traffic to pass on Main Street before I could cross and then stopped at two more stop signs. When I arrived at Wrapcity, Megan, who had walked was in front of me by one person, with Greg several people ahead. I ran into three friends and chatted while my wrap was being made, went to F-Stop with a real roll of film. Having seen Greg dropping off a pretend roll of film, owner Rich Allen said I was in second place and he was right.

"I drove back to the office, stopping for three more stop signs and a red light. There were bad drivers to contend with, including one car facing the wrong way in the traffic lane as I crossed Main Street at Fifth Avenue. Overall time: 28 minutes."

Megan: "Yeah, I arrived last in the race as I was walking, but it all comes down to footwear. I attribute the eight minute gap to my three inch heals. I did my best to power walk through downtown. Besides dodging semi-trucks and cell-phone drivers it was an easy commute to grab a wrap, buy a paper at Tully’s and then juggle my mail. Along the way I actually contemplated grabbing a red flag to cross Main Street. Luckily, most drivers were courteous and stopped as I used my Manhattan stride to power through the streets. Overall time 32 minutes."

(Note: Megan omitted the F-Stop errand.)

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.