Rob Kotch
rob kotch
The Ride, Issue 122
In an urban environment, most two-wheeled identities can fit into the categories of "commuter", "courier", and "racer". These groups don't necessarily overlap. Yet Rob Kotch has been all three at different times. In 1977, Kotch started couriering in Denver, Colo. in 1977. Arriving in New York City after college and a stint as a band manager, Kotch returned to the streets in the Big Apple, doing deliveries for Educated and Dedicated for two and half years. He became a dispatcher for that company, then moved on to another before founding his own bicycle delivery service in 1988. Breakaway Courier began with a staff of Kotch, a dispatcher and three messengers. The first day in business, they made one delivery. "I was working a lot back then. I would work as a courier from 8 a.m. until 7 p.m. and then as marketer from 7 until 11 p.m.," he said. His hard work paid off. Over the next few years, his company grew, acquiring other messenger services and their client lists. They now make 1,800 deliveries a day in New York City and 400 a day from an office in office in Boston. Kotch himself now rarely delivers the packages. "This summer I did one delivery. To show the guys how long it takes to get from 20th St. to 106st St.. It took me 12 minutes," he boasted. At Breakaway Courier, half the office staff rides to work regularly, while the couriers on staff rely on the bicycle for their trade. Kotch reports slow erosion in the numbers of bike deliveries, due to email and the internet. Kotch's company became title sponsor of the Breakaway Courier racing team in 1992, briefly home to Boston racer Adam Hodges Myerson and former world pursuit champion Mike McCarthy. Kotch himself started racing in 1986 and did so for about a decade. "Nothing to write home about," he said. Sponsorship of the team wound down around 2001. A New Jersey resident, Kotch is also formidable commuter. For the last four years, he has risen at 5:30 in the morning and set out for the city, riding 24 miles from his home in Ridgewood to his office in Manhattan at 35th and Eighth Avenue. "Two-thirds of the ride can be done on bike paths," he reports. "But sometimes I'll go straight up Amsterdam to get to work." A path that goes along the Saddle River is a preferred nighttime route, but Kotch cites the bike path along the West Side for really helping his trip. "It makes the commute so much more pleasant and safer and easier. I use it every day, at least portions of it." The ride to work takes roughly 90 minutes. Proclaiming himself "too old for round trips", Kotch will often take public transportation one way, though in brighter summer months he may traverse both directions on the wheels. "It's a workout!" he said. "All the training books say you need twenty-four hours to recover from a hard ride. There's too little time to recover during twelve hours at work. If the morning is an exercise ride, the evening is a recovery ride." Kotch tries to complete at least six commuting journeys a week. A regular week for him might consist of a round trip ride on Monday, a morning ride on Tuesday with a bus ride home, and he'll alternate between morning and night for the rest of the week. "Before 9/11, you could put a bike in New Jersey Transit cargo lockers below the bus. But now they're locked." He has adapted his schedule so he rides in and buses home, or vice versa. It takes something of a Mad Max sensibility to keep your cool traveling in and out of this small island. His preferred route goes over Route 95, where cars try to squeeze themselves into tiny spots in order to get onto the entrance ramp. Often the mental behemoths ignore bikers trying to stay upright in the mix. "You just have to hold your spot and let the cars know you're there," Kotch sighed. "Riding home in the dark, I use lots of reflective stuff and many lights." This summer's Republican National Convention in New York City marked the high point of Kotch's annual riding schedule. With the city's transport stymied by security and traffic, "I did a lot of riding and I didn't recover well." By early November, he's covered 5,000 miles, 90 percent of it spent commuting. "I've only done about 500 miles on weekends. Maybe even less," he counted. Kotch, who has worked with Transportation Alternatives since 1992 and currently serves as president of the board of trustees, believes that many opportunities were missed in the wake of 9/11. "We could have made a national effort to reduce our dependence on oil. The first thing would be to stop people driving to work!" he said. "If every employer encouraged their staff to ride to work and accommodated them, it would be different." Having a shower at work would be a major aid to encourage bike commuting. Even more vital, the availability of adequate bike parking would make commuting feasible for more people. Building managers often refuse to let commuters bring their bikes inside a building, even though there's no regulation against it. "People have bizarre reactions to the bicycle. It weighs no more than a box of stuff," said Kotch. "But a bike can be perceived as something evil that people don't want around." | more supercommuters » BikeCulture Magazine and Planet Bike honor the silent hero of the Revolution: the bicycle commuter. A supercommuter rides through every season, in all types of weather, day and night. Choosing the simplicity, health and pleasure of bicycling, a supercommuter isn't necessarily against automobiles. They simply prefer to ride a bike to the grocery store, to work, to a concert or the cafe. nominate a supercommuter » For each issue BikeCulture chooses a new Supercommuter. They are posted here in addition to BikeCulture Magazine. |
