Spring-forward options to roadway frustration

Crank those clocks ahead, people, it's "spring-forward" day. But may we offer this suggestion: Let's stop calling it "daylight-saving time."

Daylight, by its very nature, can't be saved. As soon as it's seen, it's spent.

Spent, if we're unlucky, in the driver's seat of a car inching through mind-numbing traffic. Spent, if we're luckier or wiser, getting some exercise or fresh air, appreciating the Puget Sound area's hills, lakes, valleys and shorelines — even on the way to or from work.

Consider Jason Anderson on his skateboard. Or Dr. Rainer Storb in his 27-foot racing shell. Or Jan Ahlquist-Niemi on her bicycle, Will Poole on his battery-powered Segway scooter, or even Karlee Birt in her walking shoes.

"I'm saving gas and getting exercise, not getting stressed about traffic jams," said Birt, 27, a research coordinator for the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.

Birt makes no claim to superhero status. It takes her only 20 minutes to walk from her condo on East Queen Anne to her office on South Lake Union, wearing sweats and a fleece jacket with her day's "business casual" outfit in her backpack. But she is making a statement.

"I think environmentally, it's just the right thing to do. And I don't have to worry about parking."

Lonely side streets on pitch-black winter mornings can make her nervous, though. That's when she might start work later than usual, catch a ride from her husband or call the office as she leaves home so that someone will be expecting her.

As any student of the calendar knows, the hours daylight of have been gradually increasing since the Winter Solstice in December. But it's the arrival of what we might instead call Daylight Appreciating Time, which psychologically moves us from the shadows into the light.

It's nearly 13 hours from sunrise to sunset today, and that will stretch to 16 hours by the start of summer June 21.

Rowing researcher

Brighter evenings are a pleasure for Storb, but he doesn't wait for long days to get outdoors. At 71, he still rows to work year-round — a 4-½-mile journey that takes just over a half-hour from his Madison Park home to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

The strenuous commute is a "counterbalance," Storb said, to the stress of a long day, a vexing project or the loss of a cancer patient with whom he's had contact.

"When I leave work at night it looks and feels like I'm stepping into a mini-vacation. It's a great thing to get out on the water, not being in a car ... a half-hour of not being bothered by the phone."

A co-founder of the cancer center in 1972, Storb has rowed to work since it moved into its Lake Union laboratories in 1998. He also rows competitively and, with a partner, has won a 26-mile rowing marathon around Bainbridge Island the past two years.

Rowing in summer, despite the fact that he enjoys wearing just a T-shirt and shorts, can be more challenging. "On Fridays in August, say 6:30 or 7 o'clock when I go home, I'm battling a lot of power boats," he said. That's when he uses a shorter, wider shell for greater stability, particularly through the congested Montlake Cut.

And because rowers travel backward, Storb uses a small mirror attached to his cap to see where he's going.

Downhill all the way

Anderson, 28, uses gravity instead of gasoline, zooming down from Capitol Hill on his skateboard, starting in March as the weather warms.

"I get to work really fast because it's all downhill, about a 10-minute commute," said Anderson, who works in the copy center of ZymoGenetics in the former City Light steam plant on Eastlake Avenue East.

Anderson, who doesn't own a car, leaves his home on 15th Avenue before 6 a.m., stops at Seattle Central Community College for a quick workout, then heads downhill on Pine Street, weaving his way west and north to a bike lane above Interstate 5 before dropping down to the lake.

What latte-lovers get from caffeine, Anderson gets from his commute. "It's kind of nice to have the rush before work. I can get going pretty fast."

A couple of times, police officers have reminded him he's supposed to be on the sidewalk, but he often rides in a bike lane or in the curb lane of the street because he finds the sidewalk too broken up and doesn't want to hit pedestrians.

After work, what came down must go up, but not necessarily with the same panache. To get home, Anderson walks or takes the bus.

The Segway way

Will Poole's kids, 11 and 15, call him an "unidentified rolling object," when they see the flashing headlamp he wears while riding his Segway transporter.

Poole, Microsoft's vice president for Windows, makes half to two-thirds of his commutes on the two-wheeled scooter he's had for three years.

"The coolest thing about the Segway for me is I get a blast of fresh air twice a day, I get to zoom past cars stuck in traffic and I get to watch the battery fill up with energy as I go downhill," said Poole, 44.

It cuts his four-mile route in half because he can take a shortcut along a horse trail.

Poole was an early enthusiast of the device, made in New Hampshire, and believes he has one of the first 100 built.

Granted, it's not exercise; he works out on the weekends. But at the end of a typical 12-hour work day, the 12-minute ride is a nice break. A bag that fits on the front holds his laptop computer.

"The biggest hazard is people who are talking on a cellphone and making a right turn on red. You really have to watch out for that, just as you would on a bicycle."

Fair-weather skater

From May to September, Joe Duggan, of Bothell, slaps on inline skates for the 4.5-mile ride along the Burke-Gilman/Sammamish River Trail to his job as a program assistant at Cascadia Community College.

"It's for health, for the environment and for fun," said Duggan, 44, a skating instructor who confesses, "I'm a little chubby so I need to work at it."

Duggan first skated to work last summer. The tricky part was getting used to wearing a backpack, which not only adds weight but affects his balance.

If it's wet out, he rides his bicycle instead, saying the skates don't do well on wet pavement or soggy leaves. "It's like having slick tires in the rain. You have to really slow down, and it kinda trashes your bearings; they get all rusty."

Footrace to the ferry

Commuting by ferry is pretty common in the Puget Sound area, but attorney Bruce Cyra, who lives on Vashon Island, is a bit unusual in the way he gets to the boat. Three or four days a week, he'll run the eight miles from his office in downtown Seattle to the Fauntleroy dock.

"I do it for commuting and as part of my training program," said Cyra, 48. "I run cross-country in the fall and winter and do triathlons in the spring and summer."

Cyra said if he works late, the run, at 51 to 56 minutes, is actually faster than taking the bus, because unlike rush-hour express buses, the late "milk runs" make many stops winding through West Seattle.

He parks a car on the Vashon side of the ferry route, but seldom brings it across the water. "Getting to and from Vashon with a car is extremely expensive and time-consuming," said Cyra, noting that drivers have to get to the ferry dock earlier, pay more for the boat ride and deal with the ever-increasing price of parking in Seattle.

Sounder cyclist

Ahlquist-Niemi's commute has a split personality. She has a relaxing ride on the Sounder train from Edmonds to Seattle, then an invigorating four-mile bicycle ride from the King Street Station to her job in the Georgetown industrial area.

Ahlquist-Niemi, 51, customer-support software trainer for Pacific Rim Import, was an avid cyclist when she was younger, but went nearly two decades without a bicycle before she purchased her present bike in 2004 for recreation.

"I didn't think I had the guts to ride the bike in city traffic because when I rode before it was always out in the sticks, in the middle of nowhere in Upper Michigan and Montana."

Several co-workers who ride to work encouraged her, and she got tired of waiting for buses that didn't seem to run when the schedule said they did.

She plans to take advantage of bike-commuting instruction sessions offered by Cascade Bicycle Club. Safety is her top priority; she wears flashing lights on her bike and herself.

"I'm not very glamorous. I've got a construction guy's vest, you know those bright orange vests with those big reflector strips coming down? I look pretty vagabond-ish out there, but it makes me feel safer."

She looks forward to the longer days of daylight, and thinks she might get up enough nerve to ride the entire route from home at least occasionally this summer if she can learn good bike routes through the city.

"I won't have to wear as much big bulky warm gear. I'll still be concerned about being visible, but at least it won't be in the darkness."

Jack Broom: 206-464-2222 or jbroom@seattletimes.com

Seattle Times researcher Gene Balk contributed to this report.

To learn about bicycle safety and bike-commuting classes offered by Cascade Bicycle Club, see www.cascade.org