Last month, President Obama and his family visited Martha’s
Vineyard, and the news filled with images of them riding their
rental bikes. For most of us, it was a chance to see the First
Family at ease, enjoying the natural beauty of the island. For
former Gilroyan Amber Lucas, it was a proud moment: the most
powerful man of the western world straddled a bike she
designed.
Last month, President Obama and his family visited Martha’s Vineyard, and the news filled with images of them riding their rental bikes. For most of us, it was a chance to see the First Family at ease, enjoying the natural beauty of the island. For former Gilroyan Amber Lucas, it was a proud moment: the most powerful man of the western world straddled a bike she designed.
Lucas, who now lives in Morgan Hill, works for Specialized bikes, headquartered here. She estimates she has designed 20 bikes during her three-year tenure there, and each year creates 100 different frame drawings for all sizes and models. In her first year, hired right out of Cal Poly with a degree in mechanical engineering, she says she did a “ridiculous amount of designs,” close to 10 bikes.
Pretty good for someone who was maybe doing jello shots a few months prior.
“I actually often joke that more companies should hire straight out of college because college students (especially engineering students) are so used to pulling all-nighters for school that they won’t even bat an eye at doing it for a new job,” she says.
Specialized has about 20 people working in its in-house engineering design team, but Lucas is the only one who designs urban bikes. Which is why she knows the Obama bikes were hers: “When I saw the image of Michelle, I knew they were riding Globes even before I opened the image to see what they were riding up-close. These bikes have a style you can recognize even from afar.”
Globe is Specialized’s sub-brand of urban bike that is “trendier, more palatable to people who aren’t bike geeks. You can see one and say, ‘Ooh, that’s pretty.’ ”
The Obama model was a 2010 Carmel, which Lucas notes is “kind of upright, so you’re not hunched over and you can have the wind in your hair.” It was one of her first projects when she started with the company; the Martha’s Vineyard bike rental place was simply offering the most recent permutation.
Most folks would think designing bikes is a pretty esoteric profession; how did Lucas get involved? All her life she’s been a biker, growing up in Humboldt County where everyone rides. She taught bike repair classes and worked in bike shops. To this day, she doesn’t own a car. She’s always been a bike commuter and does all her groceries and errands on her cycle.
When she lived in Gilroy, she commuted to Morgan Hill with two wheels beneath her, using Santa Teresa Boulevard for most of her 12-mile ride. Because her urban cycle lets you sit on a comfortable saddle and wear street clothes (like Obama did), she doesn’t have to show up to work in Spandex. And if the ride was sweaty, she keeps an extra set of clothes there and can jump in the shower.
So, does she share the complaint of recent Red Phone callers that Santa Teresa Boulevard is terrible for construction debris embedding itself in one’s tires? “It’s pretty bad. It seems like when it is cleaned, all debris is swept into the bike lane instead of off the road. I had quite a few flats in the beginning. Good tires with flat protection are worth their weight in gold,” she says.
Specialized wants its employees to cycle in, with patched tires or not. An incentive plan offers $1 for each leg of the commute. And if the distance is just too far, vans come in from cities like Santa Cruz so employees can at least carpool and save resources.
I just had to ask, would she be as psyched if it was the previous president riding her bike? She laughed, and as diplomatically as a politician herself, said, “It’s great to have visibility like that.” She noted that Michelle Obama has been “trying to get kids out to be active” and that maybe there is a “special extra celebration for this administration.”
I told her I still ride (well, occasionally) a Specialized Rock Hopper I bought in 1991. It’s a solid piece of equipment. Over the years, I’ve swapped out tires, the saddle, and added a kid’s seat, but the frame has remained a workhorse. I’m no president … but I wear my helmet too.
“I’m excited to get more people on bikes – ours or anyone else’s,” says Lucas. “The movement is growing and it’s awesome.”
Erika Mailman can be reached via www.erikamailman.com.
