Break Away To Work And Back

Charlie Coulter bicycles to and from work, and just for fun, too.

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Charlie Coulter isn't one to stand around after a board of directors meeting. Instead, the tall, slender, welldressed man quickly leaves the building and heads for the parking lot, breaking stride just long enough to reach for the key in his pocket. After securing his briefcase on the rack behind him, Coulter pulls out of his space and accelerates smoothly out of the parking lot and onto the open road. Charlie Coulter, the 55-year-old president of American Research and Development (ARD), a division of Textron Inc. and one of the country's oldest and best-known venture capital firms, is riding his bicycle back to his downtown of fice. Traffic is light and it is pefect weather for the 10-mile journey into Boston.

When it comes to bicycles, Coulter is serious. He has been cycling, for pleasure and for purpose, almost his entire life. In fact, the president of ARD, which specializes in new technology and start-ups, encourages the companies in its portfolio to promote bicycling by installing bike racks for their employees in areas that are safe and accessible.

"I'm convinced that the bicycle is the most efficient machine man has ever devised to move himself from point A to point B," says Coulter. "It's economical, takes up little space, makes no noise, and doesn't pollute. And that doesn't even include the benefits you get from the exercise and recreational opportunities."

Coulter uses his bike not only for all local transportation, but also for touring. His trips range from weekend excursions to much longer tours overseas; in recent years he's bicycled in France, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Rumania, Yugoslavia, and Turkey. Coulter has been taking bike trips for over 40 years and has accumulated a lot of biking experience that he doesn't hesitate to share.

Coulter steers clear of the strict racing bicycle. "They're fun to ride," he concedes, "but they get temperamental, especially around potholes." He favors a strongly built middleweight model and has put many trouble-free miles on his Raleigh Grand Prix, a bike that now costs about $300. (If you like riding at the top of the line, a custom-made bicycle, hand-crafted from the newest alloys, can cost you as much as $2,500.)

Tires are also important, he explains, and good ones should have a tread and a wall thickness that can take considerable abuse from a rough roadway. A Schwinn LeTour is a good strong touring tire. "Get a good bicycle seat that fits," he cautions. "It never pays to cut a financial corner on this piece of equipment." And anyone who plans to go much farther than the local shopping center should have other accessories: toe straps and toe clips for the bike pedals, a tire pump, a tube repair kit, and a small tool kit that includes a standard set of bike wrenches, a crescent wrench, a screwdriver, a spoke wrench, tire spoons, and extra spokes taped to the frame. For longer trips, Coulter carries a water bottle, some saddlebags for the rear wheel, a handlebar pack, and lightweight fenders to keep road water from hitting him in the head as it comes off the tire.

When he is bike touring, he prefers to stop at small country inns rather than at campgrounds. Doing so allows him to keep his personal gear well below his maximum pack weight of 25 pounds. Two complete changes of clothes are sufficient: T-shirts and shorts for warm weather, and light wool shirts in layers with a nylon windbreaker on top for cooler temperatures. Light-colored garments are more easily spotted by passing motorists.

"Avoid pants that are tight, and never buy trousers that have big seams in either the seat or the legs -- they chafe," warns Coulter. Although there's a wide variety of footgear -- including specialized bike shoes ($30 to $80) -- Coulter himself likes to saddle up wearing a pair of Eddie Bauer walking shoes (about $50). Top all this off with a helmet ($40) and a good bike lock ($25 to $30), and you're reasonably well equipped to go pretty much anywhere south of the Siberian steppes.

Once you've decided to take a bike tour, what's the best way to proceed? For Coulter, the 100-mile-a-day target is strictly for the hotshots. Instead, he keeps to a routine that has worked for him for many thousands of miles. After an early breakfast, he starts out by staying off all main roads. He establishes a comfortable pace but always stops for an interesting view or landmark. Four or five hours of travel (he doesn't count miles) brings him to lunch, and after that a look at the map provides the name of a town in which to spend the night. His rule is to choose a town that's not too far away so he can get in early, secure accommodations, then still have plenty of time to ride around and see the sights.

"Biking keeps me in touch with what's going on around me," he explains. "When you zoom into a town in a car, there's no way you can be as involved in the new environment as you an on a bike. Arrive on a bicycle, after traveling a country road, and you are in touch as you watch the town and the streets unfold in front of you.With a car, you are often trying to catch up, get somewhere in a hurry. With a bike, you can enjoy the sights and sounds and have time to absorb them all."

Coulter has one more reason for turning four wheels into two. "Riding a bike is a great thing for anyone in business," he says. "in a conventional corporate setting, you seek efficiency, you make a product, and presumably you have the tools and personnel to get things done. It's never that way on a bike because you're out there on your own -- now you have control only over yourself. No one is going to help you get over that hill ahead."

For Charlie Coulter, cycling provides a good perspective from which to view the way things really work or ought to work. And every now and then, pedaling along a lonely road somewhere, there comes a vision of what company or product area ought to be looked at closely as an investment opportunity. When he gets back to the office.