My usual COM routine is to e-mail a candidate some questions to respond to electronically, then set up an interview to help flesh out the questions and allow me to get a feel for the individual’s style. Normally, I have plenty of material to work with. But in this month’s case, I may well have too much material!

Aaron Goss lives and breathes cycling like no one I’ve met. He has so much to say about bike commuting, and cycling in general, that I will have to work hard to fit it all in.

Aaron owns Aaron’s Bicycle Repair in West Seattle (www.rideyourbike.com). Bicycle Repair just begins to tell the story of his shop – it could easily be called “Aaron’s Bicycle Repair & Supply and Spiritual Affirmation of Cycling and Condemnation of Automobiles”. It could also be called “Aaron’s Bicycle Repair and Gypsie’s Massage”. Gypsie, Aaron’s wife, is an LMP practicing in the back room of the shop. She is also the former author of this column, penning it in the late 1990s.

Aaron has commuted by bicycle all his life. He started as a fifth grader on a Schwinn Stingray. He stayed on a bike initially because he couldn’t afford a car, and gradually because he simply didn’t want a car.

When asked why he commutes by bike, Aaron replied, “To that I ask, why commute by car? Driving is so dangerous and stressful. Cars suck. And riding a bike is always fun. It is contrary to my values to drive someplace when you can ride your bike. Cars are a necessary evil, but only because we use them so much. Today there are only one or two bikes (on average) for every 100 cars. Check it out for yourself. It only takes a couple of minutes. When you see a bike, count the number of cars you see until the next bike. It will be well over 100 most times of the day. That is a pitiful 1% of trips made by bike! I have gone my entire ride to work and seen over 300 cars with not another single bike!”

Aaron usually commutes on an “SUB” – Sport Utility Bike – maybe more commonly known as an Xtracycle. The Xtracycle is a modified bike that essentially adds a trailer to a conventional bike. It’s capable of carrying huge loads, easily handling six grocery bags and even a surfboard. (See how this could possibly be true at www.Xtracycle.com). Additional modifications include a basket in front, a small seat for his young son and a Generator Hub powering a 6-volt, 3-watt light.

I often ask if the profiled commuter inspires his co-workers to bike commute. Aaron does just that, in a sense. “I require my employees to ride their bike to work at least 3 days per week. It is in their job description. If they don’t, then they don’t work for me! We are in the bike industry after all and should be walking the walk.”

Aaron’s traffic ‘pet peeves’ are drivers who stop when they have the right-of-way, yet they try to wave a cyclist across when there are other cars coming, “like they are the only car! Besides they have the right-of-way, and I am yielding, and they mess up my plan! Don’t ever go because someone waves you through. I have seen some pretty serious accidents that way. Usually the car stopped causes others to pass illegally and then whammo!”

Aaron has not crashed on the road in more than ten years. “When you wreck a road bike,” he said, “it almost always could have been prevented by riding more carefully. And mechanical failures, as rare as they are, usually could have been prevented with a little maintenance. Don’t take risks or push your limits and maintain and inspect your bike if you don’t want to crash.”

Yet he’s no stranger to crashing. “When I was 19 my nickname was Crash because I would crash my road bike every week. I took lots of chances. I have a permanently broken right collar bone because I rode my track bike in flip-flops in traffic.”

In ten years of Cascade membership, Aaron has ridden many CBC rides, and has also supported other Club and cycling efforts.

“In the past,” he said, “I have collected tickets at Bike Expo, and every year for the last seven years or so we do the West Seattle Bike to Work Day station. I was on the Board of Directors of BAW for a few years, but I was black listed because I spoke out against the helmet law for Seattle. Those who ride decide! There is a perception that riding a bike is dangerous, and helmet laws only perpetrate that. Biking is safer than baseball and so much safer than driving. I opened Bikestation Seattle (www.bikestation.org) and got it going, and I often meet with the City Council or the Mayor or the SDOT to speak out for more bike lanes; there simply isn’t room in the city to pave dedicated bike trails everywhere. So what we need is visible bike lanes on every arterial. If people in cars see that bikes have a place, then all will be safer and maybe more people see biking as safe.”

Finally, if Aaron can’t persuade you onto a bike with his passionate ideals up to this point, maybe this will work: “It will make your sex life better! Seriously!”

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Ed. note: The Bicycle Alliance board voted to support the Seattle helmet ordinance. It was not a unanimous decision, and Aaron was one of two people to vote against supporting the helmet ordinance.