By Lisa Savage

Interviewer： So most people， including me， learn how to ride a bicycle when were young， and maybe up through high school I did， and then， when I got out of school， I stopped bicycling. But you…

Rob Perks： Mmm.

Interviewer： …h(huán)ave continued to bicycle， so tell me， how have you incorporated this into your life？

Rob： Well， it started for me as well as， you know， as a kid getting to baseball practice， then in college you need to get to class， cars were expensive， all that. And then， you know， you move on， and I started to just drive to work， everything else， like most Americans do. And you ride on weekends， you ride your mountain bike on trails， you do all these things recreationally. And at one time in the weekend I decided， “You know what， Im gonna see if I can ride my bike to work.” Took me 20 minutes. The commute in the car was about 15 with stop lights…

Interviewer： Wow.

Rob：…and everything else. So， OK， this is gonna work. I started three days a week， set a goal， and it turned out to be so simple and so much fun， because youre outside， and you get to do the fresh air.So just kind of at that point it stuck and became part of my daily routine. My lifestyle to， yeah， you know， at least here in town， to use the bike more and the car less.

Interviewer： Thats great！ Yeah， I know， for me， especially being in the traffic in L.A.， it can be very stressful， so thats interesting that you say it was 15 minutes in the car and 20 minutes on the bike， and then you dont have all the stress of the traffic and the gas costs， and the repairs on your car.

Rob： Exactly. The health benefits are just one part of the whole package that you get， and itll affect your lifestyle and the way you communicate， the way you are tied to your local community， because you see things that you would never see when youre inside your car with the glass box around you. I mean a good example is if Im at a stop light， not only will a fellow cyclist potentially say hello， but people crossing the street say hello， and when was the last time you were in your car and you ever said hello at a red light？ But Ive even had people in cars say hello.

Interviewer： Wow.

Rob： It…its just one of those things that you become connected to your community， youre part of your area， and， while youre at it， youre getting the physical exercise as well.

Interviewer： Yeah， thats great. You know…

Rob： So its a win-win.

采訪者：許多人，包括我自己，在小時候就學會了騎車，一直到上高中的時候，我還騎車，出了校門之后，我就不再騎車了。不過，你……

羅布·珀克斯：嗯。

采訪者：……一直在騎車。那請告訴我，你是怎么把騎車與你的生活結合在一起的？

羅布：呃，你知道，這事兒對我來說，也是從小時候開始，從騎車去參加棒球訓練開始，然后上大學的時候，騎車去上課，當時汽車是買不起的，等等。接下來，你也知道，人生往前走，像大部分美國人一樣，我一開始也開車去上班，開車去做其他事情。我會在周末騎下車，在山林間的小道上騎山地車，這些都是些消遣。后來有一個周末，我決定：“試試看騎車上班會怎么樣？”騎車上班花了我20分鐘，而開車去要花15分鐘，這包括路上等紅燈的時間……

采訪者：哇。

羅布：……和其他因素在內。好了，這個辦法可行。一開始是一周有三天騎車上班，我給自己定下一個目標。之后，事情變得很簡單，也相當有趣，因為人在戶外，可以呼吸到新鮮空氣。于是，大概正是那個時候，我被騎車吸引，它成了我日常生活的一部分。至少是我人在這里的時候，我的生活方式則變成多騎車，少開車。

采訪者：太棒了！確實是這樣的，我也知道，對于我來說，開車會讓人處于緊張狀態(tài)，特別是洛杉磯的交通狀況更是如此。你說開車去上班是15分鐘，騎車也才20分鐘，這點很有意思。這樣一來，你就不會有交通、汽油費用和維護汽車帶來的壓力。

羅布：正是這樣，而騎車給健康帶來的好處只是全部好處的一部分。騎車改變人的生活方式，改變你與其他人溝通的方式，改變你與所在社區(qū)建立關系的方式，因為你可以看到不少事情，這些是你坐在玻璃盒子一樣的車里看不到的。一個很好的例子是，如果我在紅燈前停下來，不僅僅是其他騎車的人有可能跟我打招呼，而且正在過馬路的人也會打招呼。你還記得上次坐在車里等紅燈時跟別人打招呼是什么時候嗎？可是甚至會有在車里的人向我打招呼。

采訪者：哇！

羅布：這只不過是你與所在的社區(qū)緊密相連的方式之一，你是當?shù)氐囊环肿印６夷阍隍T車的時候，身體也得到了鍛煉。

采訪者：對，那很好。你知道……

羅布：因此這是一件雙贏的事。