Librarian Phillip Buffington, 54, pulls up to the Everett Public Library on his fixed-gear bicycle at the conclusion of his 30-mile morning commute from Capitol Hill in Seattle. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)

Librarian Phillip Buffington, 54, pulls up to the Everett Public Library on his fixed-gear bicycle at the conclusion of his 30-mile morning commute from Capitol Hill in Seattle. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)

Everett librarian on 60-mile bike commute: ‘Totally rational behavior’

Phillip Buffington, 54, pedals from Capitol Hill in Seattle to Everett Public Library. It sure beats driving, he says.

EVERETT — His commute to work is two hours each way.

He doesn’t listen to podcasts or use cruise control.

He is the cruise control. The voices he hears are in his head.

What’s up with that?

Phillip Buffington pedals his single-speed bicycle between Capitol Hill in Seattle and Everett Public Library three or four times a week. His ride is an $1,100 Surly Cross-Check steel-frame road bike. There’s nothing electric about it.

It’s about 60 miles, round trip.

“I have to convince people this is totally rational behavior,” he said.

May is Bike Month to support, encourage and celebrate all things bicycling. Friday is Bike Everywhere Day, an inclusive take of what was Bike to Work Day. The library will be among groups at a biking promotional event from 8 a.m. to noon Friday at Everett Station, so you can meet the buff biker in person.

On Friday, ironically, he won’t be riding his bike to work, due to the early event timing.

Buffington, 54, has a car. He could drive every day, but then he’d sit in traffic.

“I get my exercise in,” he said. “Commuting by car, I really don’t like it. I’m not anti-car.”

He changes clothes and showers at the library.

(There’s a shower at the library? Who knew.)

“I usually leave home around 7 in the morning, then get here hopefully right about 9 to be on the desk at 9:30,” he said.

An advocate of public transit, he has taken the bus and train. Biking takes about the same time door-to-door.

Pedaling is the easy part.

“The logistics of it are hard to keep in control,” he said.

It goes something like this: “I put on my bike clothes. Then I ride to work and get out of my bike clothes. I take a shower and put on my work clothes. Then at the end of the work day I put on my bike clothes. I go home and take off my bike clothes, not my pajamas because it’s still too early to go to bed so I put on other clothes,” he said.

“If you have a car you don’t think about those things. You just go in your car and get out of your car, you don’t have to change your clothes.”

The cycle continues in the wash.

“Unless you have many bike clothes you have to do laundry,” he said.

Phillip Buffington locks up his bike and gathers some of his gear before heading into work at the Everett Public Library. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)

Phillip Buffington locks up his bike and gathers some of his gear before heading into work at the Everett Public Library. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)

At work, he hangs his bike clothes on a folding laundry rack, blown by a box fan to dry for the trek home.

Christy Cowley, Sharing Wheels Community Bike Shop director, said Buffington’s commute is longer than most.

“Sixty is a lot. That’s impressive, admirable and serious miles to put in,” she said.

Sharing Wheels, a nonprofit shop in Everett, does free workshops and bike repair sessions at the library and other venues.

Buffington and bikes go way back.

“I’ve liked it since I was a kid,” he said.

In 2014 he did a bike tour from Copenhagen to Berlin and back. He competes in races such as this weekend’s Vicious Cycle Gravel Gran Fondo in Leavenworth, an 80-mile ride with over 7,000 feet of elevation.

Biking became his primary mode to work 20 years ago for a job in Bellevue.

“That was only about 12 miles each way,” he said.

He has been at the Everett Library for six years.

“I’m lucky there is a shower here,” he said.

He rides year-round in snow and heat, light and dark.

“The bike lights they have now are good,” he said.

The ride is decompressing.

“It’s a solo endeavor. You’re by yourself out there, alone with your thoughts,” he said. “I unwind from any sort of stress from the day. Or sometimes I’ll chew on something or ideas. All sorts of daydreaming, actually.”

Every day is a little bit different, even on the same asphalt.

“Sometimes that familiarity with the route is nice for commuting, because you know what the lights are going to do and the trouble spots,” he said.

He follows a Google Maps bicycle-friendly route on surface streets, not the Interurban Trail, to and from the Hoyt Avenue library.

I-5 isn’t an option.

“I kind of wish there was a bike lane. It would be very fast,” he said. “I don’t know how many traffic lights I have. Every time I go to count it, I always get frustrated.”

The commute is a sensory experience.

“You can see, hear, sometimes taste stuff,” he said. “Places have their own smells. You get a lot of olfactory knowledge, for better or worse. In the springtime when the different flowers are coming up. The opposite of that is some days it’s stinky diesel engine and you get a lung full of diesel exhaust.”

Phillip Buffington rides up Hoyt Avenue to the Everett Public Library after his morning bicycle commute from Capitol Hill. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)

Phillip Buffington rides up Hoyt Avenue to the Everett Public Library after his morning bicycle commute from Capitol Hill. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)

He sees a lot of bad driving. People looking down to text.

He also sees the carnage.

“I’ve come upon some of the worst car wrecks I’ve ever seen bicycling, not witnessed them but arrived just after the first responders,” he said. “ … The debris from car accidents, piles of plastic, broken glass, every day a new pile. Significant accidents not to mention the ones I’ve come upon where the car is upside down and someone is still in it and they’re extracting them. And these are surface streets.”

He’s had a few brushes with animals.

“Dogs aren’t too bad,” he said. “I did hit a cat. It was panicked by a leaf blower and it ran right in the street between my wheels and knocked me down. That was one of the last animals I thought I’d ever hit. Squirrels are the worst. Right now, it’s rabbits.”

The cat collision gashed his knee. He’s had a few other scrapes during commutes.

“I got hard-doored once in 2016,” he said. “I’ve had some mirrors hit me a couple times but they were pretty minor things. I took some spills because of ice on the road.”

Why doesn’t he have an electric bike?

“I just haven’t gotten around to it yet,” he said. “I’ll probably get one as I get older.”

Is there a person, place or thing making you wonder “What’s Up With That?” Contact reporter Andrea Brown: 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @reporterbrown.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

Customers enter and exit the Costco on Dec. 2, 2022, in Lake Stevens. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Costco stores could be impacted by looming truck driver strike threat

Truck drivers who deliver groceries and produce to Costco warehouses… Continue reading

Two Washington State ferries pass along the route between Mukilteo and Clinton as scuba divers swim near the shore Sunday, Oct. 22, 2023, in Mukilteo, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ferry system increases ridership by a half million in 2024

Edmonds-Kingston route remains second-busiest route in the system.

Firefighters respond to a 911 call on July 16, 2024, in Mill Creek. Firefighters from South County Fire, Tulalip Bay Fire Department and Camano Island Fire and Rescue left Wednesday to help fight the LA fires. (Photo provided by South County Fire)
Help is on the way: Snohomish County firefighters en route to LA fires

The Los Angeles wildfires have caused at least 180,000 evacuations. The crews expect to arrive Friday.

x
Edmonds police shooting investigation includes possibility of gang violence

The 18-year-old victim remains in critical condition as of Friday morning.

The Everett Wastewater Treatment Plant along the Snohomish River. Thursday, June 16, 2022 in Everett. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Everett council approves water, sewer rate increases

The 43% rise in combined water and sewer rates will pay for large infrastructure projects.

Robin Cain with 50 of her marathon medals hanging on a display board she made with her father on Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025 in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Running a marathon is hard. She ran one in every state.

Robin Cain, of Lake Stevens, is one of only a few thousand people to ever achieve the feat.

People line up to grab food at the Everett Recovery Cafe on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Coffee, meals and compassion are free at the Everett Recovery Cafe

The free, membership-based day center offers free coffee and meals and more importantly, camaraderie and recovery support.

Devani Padron, left, Daisy Ramos perform during dance class at Mari's Place Monday afternoon in Everett on July 13, 2016. (Kevin Clark / The Herald)
Mari’s Place helps children build confidence and design a better future

The Everett-based nonprofit offers free and low-cost classes in art, music, theater and dance for children ages 5 to 14.

The Everett Wastewater Treatment Plant along the Snohomish River on Thursday, June 16, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Everett water, sewer rates could jump 43% by 2028

The rate hikes would pay for improvements to the city’s sewer infrastructure.

The bond funded new track and field at Northshore Middle School on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024 in Bothell, Washington. (Courtesy of Northshore School District)
Northshore School District bond improvements underway

The $425 million bond is funding new track and field complexes, playgrounds and phase one of two school replacements.

Riley Boyd, 6, left, and sisters Vivienne Boyd, 3, ride a sled together down a hill at Anderson Center Field on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Snohomish County shouldn’t expect snow and cold to leave any time soon

Residents can expect a reprieve from the snow until possibly this weekend. Colder than normal temperatures are expected to remain into next week.

Modern DNA tech comes through again for Everett police in 1989 murder case

Recent advances in forensic genealogy led to the suspect’s arrest in Clark County, Nevada.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.