A "moderate" lifestyle

Bike riding is a money, gas saver

Simon Sandler

Fourteen-year-old Simon Sandler and his dad, Richard, have a good answer to higher gasoline prices. They ride their bikes.

And the bike-riding isn't a new thing. They've been doing it for years.

Simon said, "I live a pretty moderate lifestyle. We don't have any TV channels at home. I have a computer but that's for school work."

The family has only one car. Simon's father said, "That's a choice."

Richard Sandler is the head of the English department at John Burroughs High School in Ladue. Simon will be a 9th grader there this fall.

Simon said, "I don't ride my bike everywhere. But, I like to ride with my friends and family." He said he usually participates in about a half-dozen Trailnet "fun rides" during the season.

Trailnet is an organization that helps encourage bike riding as well as walking as a replacement for relying on motor transportation. The group also is helping to increase the number of biking trails throughout the metro St. Louis area.

It also encourages schools to adopt a program that encourages kids to form neighborhood groups of kids to walk to school. That's instead of having their parents driving them to school each day.

Recently, the Simons participated in a special "Bike to Work Day" ride to publicize the idea of leaving the car at home and riding a bike to work.

The Sandlers stopped at a Trailnet "refueling station" for refreshment while on a bike tour in Forest Park.

(For more about Trailnet and biking and hiking opportunities, go to www.trailnet.org or call (314) 416-9930 Ext. 111. Or you can pick up a Trailnet Calendar of Rides brochure at your neighborhood bike shop.)

Richard Simon

Richard Simon has been riding to work for many years, long before high gas prices became the issue they are today.

He said the ride from the family home to work and back "is about seven miles." He said he rides daily, except in the winter.

During rainy weather, he has waterproof clothes. In the winter, he walks.

For the Sandlers, biking is part of a general lifestyle which reduces the family's "carbon footprint."

Simon said, "I'm a vegetarian and we are trying to drive less. Of course, now we are watching the gas prices too.

"We need to reduce our energy usage."

The Sandlers "low-tech" lifestyle-especially the downplaying of the automobile-has roots in an unusual job Simon's parents had in the past.

For a time, Richard was in charge of organizing vacation bike trips in the Far East. He said he led bike tours in both China and Inner Mongolia. The tourists used a combination of train and bike riding.

Richard said, "I rode my bike all the time as a kid. When I went to college and when we lived in New York, I didn't ride much.

"But, when we came to Ladue 21 years ago, I started bike riding again."

Simon said one of his first riding experiences was on a "tag-along" bike with his father. He described a "tag-along" bike as one with two seats but three wheels. The middle wheel serves as both the back of one bike and the front of the other.

Now, his bike is a hand-me-down bike from his mother. The bike is the one his mother used during the China bike-tour period.

Although it's older, Simon said, "It's a good bike."

One of his favorite activities involves riding bikes with friends. "I see and talk to my friends a lot," he said.

He admits that his friends do kid sometimes about his "moderate" lifestyle.

But, he said he does have e-mail. "I message my friends a lot," he said.

As for video games, he said, "I play a little with my friends at their homes."

He said he is talking with his parents about getting "facebook" capabilities. But, he admits that probably will require additional negotiation.

"I'll probably have to do more things around the house before that happens," he said.

But, he said, "I like my life the way it is."

As for his future, Simon said he wants to go to college. But, he hasn't focused on possible career paths. He said, "I want to be happy, get married and have a family."

He said his contentment with a lifestyle that doesn't need all the latest technology takes some pressure off any intensive career striving.