The amazing race

At 5 p.m., you can hear grumbling in offices across the Key as employees prepare to get in their vehicles — and then sit in traffic for sometimes more than an hour in peak-season traffic.

But for Town Planner Maika Arnold, that meant there was a good chance she would be passing her coworkers as they sat in traffic. That’s because she had ridden her Giant Alight bicycle to work at the Planning Zoning and Building Department and would ride it back to the Palm Avenue Parking Garage in Sarasota to load it onto her car before heading home.

Arnold isn’t the only town employee who has found an alternative way to beat peak-season traffic in his or her commute.

Mark Kerr, a Public Works crew leader, rides an electric bike to and from work.

Mark Richardson, Longboat Key Public Works facilities and recreation manager, rides his bike north over the Longboat Pass Bridge back to Coquina Beach, where he parks in the morning.

One day last week, he made it back to his car in 30 minutes; it took his colleagues an hour and 10 minutes to get off the island at the north end.

 “We always joke that the bike lane is wide open,” Richardson said.

While Arnold, Kerr and Richardson are soaring past traffic by bike, police evidence technician Kevin Mimbs has found an alternative route: Sarasota Bay, which he traverses on his boat during heavy traffic.

“It’s a good way to start a day and a good way to end a day,” said Mimbs, who also gets in some fishing while commuting.

To find out whether one of these alternatives could save time on the road, I challenged Arnold to a bike vs. car race on Wednesday, March 18.

Could Arnold and her new bicycle beat me and my 2009 Kia Rio from the Planning Department building to the Palm Avenue Garage?

Time Crunch

4:57 p.m.  I arrive at the Longboat Key Planning, Zoning and Building Department ready with my game face on. Maika Arnold is still gearing up for the ride. 

Then, the department’s director, Alaina Ray, makes an announcement that shakes my confidence: 

“I just looked at the traffic map,” Ray said. “It’s red all the way back to Country Club Shores.”

The map that Ray was referring to is a Google map available on the town’s website, longboatkey.org, that shows how traffic is flowing in real time. The fact that it was red beginning at Country Club Shores meant that traffic was already backed up onto the south end of the Key.

Arnold enters the room wearing her bicycle gear, ready to hit the road. 

When she biked to work that morning, her time was 43 minutes, but that’s because she had to stop for water. Usually, it’s more like 37 or 38 minutes.

“I do think that I’ll beat everyone today,” Arnold said. “I’m feeling very confident.”

5:09 p.m.   Arnold takes off on her bike, while I head to my car. 

She’s listening to a hip-hop playlist; I’m listening to an episode of the Freakonomics podcast. The race is on.

I drive out of the Town Hall parking lot onto Bay Isles Road, then hang a left onto Gulf of Mexico Drive just in time for a red light. 

As I sit at the light, I see Arnold surge past me on her bike to the left and fade into the distance.

Then, the light turns green, and I hit the gas pedal. For a few minutes, I’m cruising dangerously close to Gulf of Mexico Drive’s 45 mph speed limit.

I catch up within a few minutes, and soon, I charge past her, because there isn’t much traffic mid-Key. Soon, I’m thinking Arnold doesn’t stand a chance against me and my 1.6-liter engine.

Meanwhile, Arnold is starting to have doubts.

“When there wasn’t much traffic, I started to think that maybe I wouldn’t win,” she said.

5:15 p.m.  Yikes. That traffic map that Ray mentioned? It’s pretty darn accurate. Sure enough, traffic slows to a trickle around Country Club Shores Unit V, but I keep my comfortable lead. I check my rear view mirror, and there’s no sign of Arnold.

5:25 p.m.  I’ve made it off the Key and Arnold is far behind me. I don’t see it, but Arnold also gets even farther behind when she waits a couple minutes to cross Gulf of Mexico Drive at the crosswalk near the Longboat Key Club’s Islandside location. 

As I approach St. Armands Circle, I think strategically: Should I use the side streets surrounding the Circle to bypass traffic— that in the past, have actually added to my commute time because it involves a left turn that can sometimes take several minutes to make? Or do I brave Circle traffic? I opt for the latter and find myself hitting my brakes more than the gas pedal.

Meanwhile, Arnold bypasses St. Armands by heading right onto North Washington Drive like she’s headed to Lido Key, then circling around to South Washington Drive, headed to the John Ringling Bridge.

5:37 p.m.  I’m just through the Circle and am at a standstill near Plymouth Harbor. I see Arnold in her pink shirt emerge from a distance. My Kia and I haven’t budged when Arnold surges past us and fades away in the distance. As she and her bike vanish, my podcast episode ends. I put my car in park — hey, I’m not going anywhere — and shuffle around to find another episode. As traffic starts trickling along again, I struggle to accept the harsh reality: I’ve lost the race.

5:57 p.m.  After puttering over the John Ringling Causeway and down a couple blocks of U.S. 41, I arrive at the Palm Avenue Garage. Sure enough, Arnold is there waiting.

5:59 p.m.  I approach Arnold to congratulate her on her victory.

“Thirty-six minutes and 30 seconds,” she says — her best time yet.

My time: 47 minutes — definitely not my best time.

An added bonus: According to Arnold’s heart monitor, she burned 296 calories riding home in addition to the 303 she burned riding earlier that morning.

Although I lost the race, I take comfort in two things:

Having recently moved to Sarasota from Bradenton, I can honestly say that my commute over the John Ringling Causeway is still a relative breeze compared to the logjam my friends to the north face when they head over the Longboat Pass and Cortez bridges and the Bradenton Beach traffic circle in between at rush hour.

And secondly: Easter is almost here, and I’m already seeing car-carriers.