A Bicycle Lawyer and a Biking Fireman Enter a Podcast…
Matt Scarborough recently invited Stephen Dunn to speak with him on the One Community podcast. Here’s Dunn’s story.
These days, Stephen Dunn is known far and wide as The Biking Fireman. But like a lot of people, it took him a long time to fully commit to commuting by bicycle.
“I picked up biking as a means of transportation (around) 2012, but it was really hard starting out,” Dunn said. “From 2012 to 2020, I did it intermittently, in fair weather … it took me eight years to get over the hurdle.”
Ironically, it was a vehicle collision that finally pushed him off the fence, he said.
“In 2019, I drove my car to work and I was parked on the street (when) my car got hit by a taxi, [the driver] was texting,” Dunn said. “I thought to myself, ‘Why am I going to drive a car, park on the street and get my car hit?’”
At the beginning of 2020, he made a New Year’s resolution: To try to not drive his car to work for a year. Eighteen months later – his resolution still intact – he started TheBikingFireman.com as a home for his writing about riding his bicycle and the benefits of his lifestyle change.
“I didn’t like using social media, really, but I wanted more people to experience what I was experiencing,” Dunn said.
For the past couple of years, Dunn has been working hard to accomplish that goal. In addition to his roles as husband, father and firefighter, he has become a passionate advocate for bike transportation, safer streets for cyclists (and everyone else), and projects that turn abandoned railroad grades into bike trails.
In addition to writing and making videos about those issues, Dunn actively participates in the effort to improve conditions for cyclists as a member of Vision Zero and as founder of Union County Connects in his home region of northern New Jersey. But he makes a daily impact on awareness of bike safety simply by commuting to and from his job by bike, which is no small feat given that he must carry 60-70 pounds of firefighting gear in a bike trailer.
“That was one of the biggest hurdles (for me),” said Dunn, who sometimes must transport his full firefighting uniform during his commute. “When you talk about bike commuting, people have all kinds of reasons not to do it – it’s cold, it’s hot, it’s wet, it’s snowing. But you can figure it out.”
Bike Commuting Safety Tips from The Biking Fireman
For people who, like Dunn, want to start commuting by bike but feel unsure about the logistics or safety of doing so, he has a few tips:
Plan your route ahead of time. There are many ways to do this, and Dunn prefers Google Maps, which will show you bike routes, as well as potential traffic hazards. “If you know where you’re going before you go, you kind of take one step out of it,” Dunn said.
Get the gear you need. Sweat and rainy weather are understandably a deterrent for many people, but Dunn says it is worth the cost and effort to acquire the clothes you need to keep you dry and make the ride much more pleasant.
Don’t be in a rush. “You can always go slower. You can always get on the sidewalk. You can always get off and walk,” Dunn said. “You can always slow down and go the safest route.” Doing so, of course, might require leaving for your destination a bit earlier than you would otherwise, he said.
Avoid busy roads and highways. Biking understandably becomes scarier and more stressful when you have to do it alongside a busy road. Sometimes, that’s unavoidable, but in most cases you can find an alternate route on less stressful surface streets if you leave yourself enough time (see “Don’t be in a rush” above).
Make a commitment in your mind. Riding your bike to work is “just like any other habit,” Dunn said, like exercising or brushing your teeth. A good first step toward making it a habit is to mentally commit yourself to bike commuting, then pushing yourself to follow through physically. “After two or three weeks, it’ll get easier,” says Dunn.
Beyond the benefits to his personal health, Dunn feels commuting by bike has helped improve his mental and emotional health, and it has benefitted his wife and children as well.
“For me, it’s just a good way to transition from work to home, and in that time in between, I’m moving my body,” he said. “It made it easier to leave work at work and come home and give my family my best.”
Front and center at TheBikingFireman.com, Dunn has placed the words “Save the world, ride your bike!”
That’s not just a mantra that looks good on a website. It’s something he believes in strongly and something he practices every day.
At the core of it, I believe that,” he said. “We have a lot of challenges in our world (and) to me, the simple act of riding a bike can change a lot.”
Watch Video: The Biking Fireman and Bicycle Accident Lawyer Matt Scarborough on One Community Podcast
These days, Stephen Dunn is known far and wide as The Biking Fireman. Matt Scarborough recently had the pleasure of hosting The Biking Fireman on the One Community Podcast. Listen in for Stephen Dunn's story, his tips for bike commuting, his conversation with a bike accident lawyer, and ways we can make bikes safer on the roads.