Within two years, three White Sands Missile Range employees have saved more than 4,000 miles of use on their vehicles by riding their bicycles to and from work at least twice a week.

Shane Cunico, Phil Simpson and Kurt Austin, who all work at Army Research Laboratory at WSMR, have been riding their bicycles together to work for the last 18 months.

"It's a combination of both being environmentally friendly and saving the miles on our cars," Simpson said. "We're killing two birds with one stone."

The trio meets on U.S. Highway 70 near Sonoma Ranch and rides 25 miles to work and 25 miles back. According to Cunico, an average trip to work takes about 1 hour and 20 minutes. When traveling along U.S. Highway 70, they said they receive much support from drivers who know they are commuting to WSMR. Since the trio shares the road with hundreds of vehicle commuters, they said they always ride by their bicycle club's mantra , "Same road, same rights, same responsibility." The trio said there may be times where they may need to ride off the shoulder onto a main road, but they try to avoid it when possible and keep themselves fairly visible during their morning commute.

Though every trip is arduous the ride home is even more daunting. The uphill trek the riders take after work only allows them to reach a maximum speed of 10 mph. Though it may be difficult at times, the trio said the good outweighs the bad in that they are also saving time in the morning because they are able to avoid the traffic that builds up at the Las Cruces gate.

"The guards at the gate are always nice and friendly. They think we're crazy, but they're friendly nonetheless Cunico said.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average number of miles driven in a year in a standard passenger vehicle is 12,000 miles. Every gallon of gasoline consumed produces 19.4 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. On average, a standard passenger vehicle produces 23.9 miles per gallon. Using the EPA's average consumption, just by riding their bikes two times a week, the trio reduces 77,598 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions individually and 232,794 total pounds of emissions.

"It's environmentally friendly and we enjoy doing it," Austin said.

On a few occasions, Simpson and Austin said they will ride their bicycles in and take the New Mexico Park and Ride bus home. Alan Richardson, commute options coordinator for New Mexico Park and Ride, said there is still plenty of room for additional bicycles to fit on the bus since the padded luggage compartment, usually used to store luggage for more than four dozen passengers, is used to store bicycles.

On average, the trio rides their bikes 10,000 miles a year, and on days when they don't ride their bikes to work they will ride during lunch or after work.

"If there's anybody else out there that wants to commute, we certainly welcome them," Cunico said.

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