Legacy nurse and bike commuter not afraid of traffic mess
July 09, 2018
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The headlines about Portland’s traffic “Carmageddon” don’t scare one Legacy employee. Adam Wright, R.N., has been commuting about 33 miles round trip from Oregon City and back to his job at Legacy Emanuel on and off for the past five years.
Wright is Legacy Health’s clinical practice specialist and nursing educator for vascular access. The ride adds only about 10 minutes on to what his car commute to work would be, and is about the same or better “with evening winds” on the way home, about 16.5 miles away. He even rode in Portland’s big snow storms of 2016 and 2017, though admits he took a break in the winter months after many falls and to sleep in a little and let his body have a break from the bent over unnatural biking position. But he was back in the saddle this year, taking advantage of better weather and better traffic.
He will face a bit of a challenge this year when he has to adapt to changes along the Springwater Corridor which will have a detour of its own from July to October. The path is being closed for some salmon restoration work, but though it will add both time and distance to his ride, Wright says he bets he’ll still beat cars heading south from Legacy Emanuel.
Wright has two young kids at home: Lewis, age 5, and Natalie, 2.5. Lewis is starting to get the idea of biking without training wheels, but shows trepidation, Wright says, while his daughter prefers to walk hers. Dad says he thinks it is better not to push too hard, “It’s important for me to remember that kids will get it when they are ready to get it and for me to not rush them in their experience.” He says the support of his wife, Kate, has helped him make his super commute possible. He even built a bike around his family that displays all of their names and his son, Lewis, picked the colors to use.
After his break during the winter months, the family is planning on biking and paddle boarding more this summer for fun and to get in shape in addition to his commute miles.
Wright says it’s hard to get “Dad Watts” (aunit of power measurement in cycling usually achieved on weekends) with the usual challenges of being a dad with a young family, but he’s logged more than 12,500 miles in three years.
There’s three things Wright says he loves in particular about his rides: The difference in his bikes, his music, anything 80s-90s and Michael Jackson (which he brings along), passing cars stuck in lines of traffic and of course the stress reduction.
Information about summer traffic
