Josh Zisson (the cyclist), Laurie Deitemeyer (the T-rider) and Ken Carlson (the motorist) get set to race from Davis Square to Kendall Square on different modes of transportation during Monday morning rush hour. – Photo by Elizabeth Sheeran

Rush Hour Race from Davis to Kendall Square

By Elizabeth Sheeran

A motorist, a cyclist and a T-rider meet up at Redbones in Davis Square.

No, that’s not the set-up for a local-flavor joke. Rather, it was the scene at the starting line of Somerville’s first-ever Rush Hour Race.

Just after 8:30 on Monday morning, Ken Carlson pulled away from Redbones in his Volvo station wagon, Josh Zisson hopped on his single-speed bike, and Laurie Deitemeyer set off on foot for the Davis Square Red Line station. Their goal: to see who could be first “to work” in Kendall Square, Cambridge, without breaking any laws.

“It’s going to be a tight one, but I predict that I’m going to get there first,” said cyclist Zisson, an attorney who advocates for bike safety on his bikesafeboston.com website.  Zisson was undeterred by Google Maps estimates that put cycling time for the route – mostly along Beacon and Cambridge streets – at nearly twice the travel time by car. “Google’s been wrong about a lot of things,” he said, noting that bikes aren’t subject to rush hour gridlock.

Zisson was far from alone in predicting victory for the bike commute. In fact, that was the consensus forecast among the crowd gathered for pre-race festivities on Chester Street.

“I think as the driver I’m going to get bogged down in traffic,” said Carlson, a regular bike commuter and member of the Somerville bicycle committee, which co-sponsored the event as a way to kick off Bay State Bike Week and promote alternative ways to get to work. “When I’m biking to work, I’m usually passing cars stuck in traffic.”

Deitemeyer, who tweets about public transit at @RideLikeCharlie, said it would be tough to beat the cyclist, especially since wet weather could cause delays in her commute on the T. “When’s the last time the Red Line ran on schedule?” she asked.

Their predictions were borne out just a short time later, when Zisson sailed into Kendall Square, locked up his bike, and strolled through the finish line in the lobby of a Genzyme office building, just 20 minutes after leaving Redbones.

Deitemeyer, who said she had to wait six or seven minutes on the platform at Davis Square for the next train, crossed the finish line a full nine minutes later.

Carlson arrived still later – just over half an hour after the start of the race – despite shaving a few minutes off the commute by taking side streets to avoid stop lights, and easily finding a parking spot in the building garage. “It was a breeze through Kendall Square, but really slow around Porter and Inman,” said Carlson. “It was interesting being in a car and watching cyclists go by me.”

And it wasn’t just cycling and public transit that turned out to be a better bet than driving for the Davis-to-Kendall commute. Runner John Wichers was unable to sign on to the race in an official capacity, but left Redbones at the same time as the three official participants and still arrived ahead of both Deitemeyer and Carlson.

All that’s good news for the event organizers, who said they’re not against people who drive to work; they just want commuters to consider other ways to get there.

“We wanted to raise awareness of the different options they have,” said Alex Epstein, chair of the Somerville Bike Committee, which partnered with the Cambridge Bike Committee, the Livable Streets Alliance, Redbones and Genzyme to bring the commuter race idea to life, and test the theory that other options can easily compete with cars as efficient ways to get to work.

“We wanted to prove they’re competitive, and we’ve just proven that they are,” said Epstein.

To see what the race looked like for the driver or the cyclist, check out “helmet cam” video at livablestreets.info.