Pedal Power

By Matt Snyder
Herald Staff Writer

SHENANGO VALLEY May 11, 2008 12:14 am

— Whether it’s a cross-country ride or just a cruise through Buhl Farm park, Parke Wentling said there’s something open and communal about bicycle riding.
“Having the opportunity not to have the glass around you, or the metal shell,” he said. “You’re exposed to the environment. You can talk and communicate with people.”
Wentling, 35, of the Greenville area, has been riding and racing bicycles for 12 years. With the weather warming up, he’s begun endurance training for an overnight cycling trip set for this weekend.
Wentling is due to pedal 105 miles each way from Columbus to Portsmouth, Ohio.
And with May in full bloom, Wentling’s not the only one pedaling around town. As soon as the ice melts, Buzz Lazor, 60, says he’s on his trail bike, usually making a circuit to the F.H. Buhl Club in Sharon and back to his Sharpsville home. He uses the bike mostly just to get around.
Doane and Karole Bailey, both school teachers, made circuits through the park with determined expressions and cyclist sportswear.
Bailey said he’s been cycling for 34 years. “I finally talked her into joining the fun,” he said of Karole, and now it’s a hobby they share.
They were training their endurance for a cross-Michigan bike trip, putting in about 75 miles a week before ratcheting it up the next week to 100. “Which isn’t a lot,” Bailey said. “But it gets us a good base for the trips.”
Not everyone’s cycling for the sheer thrill or economy of it, though.
“I needed to get some exercise, so I started riding,” said Sam Bowser, 22, of Sharon. Bowser, like many cyclists, started young and took a break before getting back into the hobby.
He said it was in April that he broke down and bought a mountain bike at The Bicycle Store in Hermitage. “The sidewalks, the way they are around here, you almost need a mountain bike,” he joked. That, and the bike he got at Wal-Mart wasn’t holding up very well.
The Bicycle Store’s owner, Michael Kavulla, said business is thriving and he’s putting in a lot of hours. “I noticed this year we’re up in parts, repairs and orders.”
What’s causing the bicycle boom? Three things, Kavulla said: Pent-up cabin fever, high gas prices and economic woe, and more health consciousness.
“One lady said she’s going to bike to work at least one day a week to cut down on gas consumption,” Kavulla said.
In other cases, he said families are getting bicycles so they can just pop them into the back of the family van and go on shorter, closer-to-home vacations instead of driving cross-country or flying somewhere.
Business still isn’t as good as the “bike boom” of the mid-1970s, he said, when interest in 10-speeds put cycling more into the norm.
But bicycles have come a long way since 30 years ago, too. Kavulla said they’re more user-friendly and high-tech than ever. “What was top of the line 15 years ago is now entry level. It’s a lot like computer technology the way things were trickled down.”
That means lighter and stronger aluminum and carbon fiber frames, 21-speed gear shifters within easier and safer reach, disc brakes and more adjustable frames.
In the case of the popular “comfort bikes,” the design allows for a more leisurely, upright ride, he said.
Bailey swore by the bikes, and said they’re better on the arms and shoulders for long rides.
The bicycles start at about $290, Kavulla said, and they come fully assembled.
Kids 12 and younger need helmets by law, and most adults will also want to buy a helmet, he said.
Bicyclers range all the way from casual riders to the die-hards. Wentling, for instance, has ridden across the United States twice.
The trans-American bicycle trail is 4,200 miles of back roads and lightly traveled roads, Wentling said.
It goes from Yorktown, Va., through Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and Oregon.
He made the ride with no support, which means he carried everything on his bicycle. He said he met a lot of people camping out in yards and churches.
“We rode through Kansas, and I was just telling my friend this as he came back, pretty much every person that would pass us in a vehicle would wave,” Wentling said.
He said he cycled up a mountain pass in Idaho, completely lush and full of pine trees and greenery on one side, “but as we got to the top of this pass and we looked down, we were basically looking into what is considered to be Hell’s Canyon.”
They also went over the Cascade Mountains in Oregon and saw the change from arid, high plains to the Pacific climate as they crested Santiam Pass.
In 2004, Wentling made the cross-country trip in 52 days. He did it in 50 days with his wife in 2006.
Mercer County is also a hub of bicycle trail activity. Wentling, who is very involved with Mercer County Trails Association, said the group is involved in several projects to build and expand cycling routes.
Money is allocated to build one trail –– the Trout Island Trail –– from Sharpsville to the Shenango River Lake, Wentling said. They might also continue that trail into the Greenville area.
A Sandy Lake-to-Stoneboro trail is in the works, and the association has been given donations to work on a Greenville-to-Jamestown bike trail.
The biggest project on the association’s plate, Wentling said, is a partnership with 13 other trail groups that are planning an Erie-to-Pittsburgh bicycle path.
“A large portion of that is going to be through the Mercer County area,” Wentling said.

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