Pedaling to the bars poses issues for some

Downtown Kent offers a multitude of bars that one can visit on any night of the week. Some students may play it safe by walking, rather than driving, downtown. But a new trend seems to have emerged as the preferred mode of transportation to a night of fun: bicycling.

Sean Sullivan, junior photo illustration major, bassist for the band Bears and bartender at Professor’s Pub, said he’s seen a lot more biking this year than in the past.

“We have ‘bike night,'” he said. “We’ve also been promoting a lot this year.”

Bike night is every Tuesday at the Pub. Local bicyclists gather to hang out, enjoy beverages and race through downtown.

Drinking and biking isn’t necessarily better than drinking and driving, but Sullivan said he thinks it is safer for the people around the bicyclist.

“You can hurt others worse in a car,” he said.

Schuyler Kasee, junior secondary education major, agreed.

“Riding your bike while drunk is safer than in a car because it’s less likely that you will hurt someone on your bike,” he said.

Both Sullivan and Kasee have had at least one bad experience while drinking and biking. For Sullivan, not remembering how he got home one night is what made him stop drinking and biking.

“I’d wake up and my bike would be there, but I wouldn’t remember how it got there,” he said.

One night, Kasee was almost hit by a driver who didn’t see him near a stop sign.

“That scared me enough that I never rode drunk again,” he said.

Contact features correspondent Laura Lofgren at [email protected].