She commutes by bike for exercise, time with children
Elizabeth Basnight pulls her two kids behind her in a bike trailer. By the time she goes from home to daycare to work at the Kenan Center and back again, it’s an 8-mile roundtrip.
With May designated as National Bicycle Month, The Well takes a look at some employees who commute to campus via bicycle and some resources for Tar Heel cyclists.
Elizabeth Basnight
Assistant director of business programs, NC Growth, Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise
The route
8-mile, 50-minute round trip.
From Carrboro’s Hillsborough Road, Basnight begins her trek to drop her two children at daycare. She merges onto the town’s Libba Cotten Bikeway then Cameron Avenue before winding her way through Ransom Street, McCauley Street, South Road, Stadium Drive, Ridge Road and Skipper Bowles Drive to the Kenan Center.
“I’ve been biking to campus since 2009 when I had my first job at UNC. I used to go on an easy route from Carrboro to Gardner Hall. Now with some hills, it’s a more intense workout, especially hauling two kids. The route has evolved over the years. Early on, I would meet a friend who was in graduate school and we would ride together leisurely and chat all along the way. Now I talk with my kids, listen to podcasts and plan my day in my head.”
The routine
Basnight dresses the children and loads them into a trailer that her mom-power pulls behind a Cannondale road bike. They always wear helmets. In winter, they bundle up and Basnight tucks them in under a blanket.
“They cuddle up for the ride when it’s cold. In warm weather, it’s shorts and lighter wear. July is hot! I cool off in the air conditioning and go about my day. Most of the time I wear what I wear into the office on my bike ride. Sometimes I’m in skirts and dresses. I tend to have a more casual approach to my work attire anyway, so it works out.
“It’s a little hard to talk when I’m going up a steep hill because I’m huffing and puffing and the car traffic is loud at some points on the route. But we’ll talk and point things out and ask about their day. If you pass us, you’ll think we are yelling but it’s just so we can hear each other. Feel free to holler ‘hello.’ My kids love talking to strangers.”
The reasons
“I like working exercise into a daily routine and having that moment to clear my head about what the day ahead is going to look like or what I did over the course of the day. It’s nice to pause and just focus on riding. The kids really enjoy it, too. They prefer it to being in the car. I think it feels like a little adventure and it’s healthy and good to be outdoors, regardless of the weather.
“It saves money because parking on campus is expensive. I tend to bike no matter the weather, but it’s nice if I really need to drive in for whatever reason, I can get a day pass from parking and park close to the building, so that’s a backup option. I feel like drivers in Chapel Hill and Carrboro are pretty used to seeing bikes around and it really does feel safe.”
Learn about Carolina’s resources and programs for bicyclists.
