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BRAIN: Daily Commute

Sean Burkey is Century Cycles's Cleveland-based sale representative for Raleigh America. He was featured as the "Commuter of the Month" in the July 15, 2011 issue of Bicycle Retailer and Industry News. Scroll down below the image to read the text of the article.

Daily Commute

Name: Sean Burkey

Age: 40

Company: Raleigh America

Title: Territory manager for Ohio, Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia

Years with the company: Coming up on 6 years

Q. How many years have you been riding?
A. Since I was 5 or 6, but commuting as my work allows since 1993.

Q. How long is your commute roundtrip to work?
A. My normal commute is 6.5 miles each way. My goal is to ride to an account at least once a week. One of my favorite areas to practice this is in Pittsburgh. With traffic and parking, I generally save time riding between shops rather than driving.

Q. What's a general description of your route?
A. When I'm commuting from the house, my ride is a bit of a challenge as the eastern suburbs of Cleveland aren't the best for commuting. Not only are there potholes the size of Volkswagens, the streets are narrow. As the ride get closer to downtown Cleveland, the road quality goes up significantly.

Q. How often do you commute to work?
A. My goal is once or twice a week. My territory has a lot of green space between shops, so I do have a good amount of windshield time.

Q. How long have you been a bike commuter?
A. Since 1993. There was some time in 2004 and 2005 when I didn't because of challenges presented by a non-cycling friendly area.

Q. What is your commute bike?
A. The Raleigh Misceo 1.0 because of its abilityh to handle the rough and smooth roads. My 2009 Raleigh Circa 1.0 when commuting with the kids. For some time I had a Raleigh Detour DLX, which came stock with Alfine internal 8-speed, fenders, a rear rack and generator-run Basta front/rear lights.

Q. How do you carry your gear?
A. In the summer I use my Dakine backpack. In the spring and fall, I rely on my waterproof Avenir RainCity panniers.

Q. How do you deal with sweat/shower issues?
A. I pace myself so that I'm not a major mess when I get to my destination. When the weather gets rough or I've pushed myself hard, I find that most gyms let you use their showers.

Q. What's your favorite commute accessory?
A. My Avenir waterproof panniers.

Q. What's your favorite commute apparel?
A. This year my Gill rain suit has been awesome.

Q. What's your favorite thing about commuting?
A. Getting outside of the box (yeah, I'm another rep driving a Honda Element) and truly experiencing the area in which I'm riding. As a sales rep this helps me better understand the cycling climate, thus better serving my customers.

Q. What's your least favorite thing?
A. The unforgiving motorists challenging their driving skills while multitasking on tighter city streets.

Q. What other types of riding do you do?
A. For most of the year I love to get out on the road bike. In late summer to late fall I love to get out on a mountain bike. But livign in town it's often tough to find the time to get to the trail. And last but definitely not least, good old family rides in the summer are great.