Bikes, Boards & A Bichon Frise

Hectic parking and high gas prices are driving Baylor students to find transportation that's efficient and more than just a way to get from point A to point B.
Oklahoma City sophomore Elliot Janssen, for instance, got his gas-powered scooter in high school, not only to get 80 to 100 miles per gallon of gas, but also to enjoy other people's reactions: smiles, laughs, thumbs up.
"My friend had his dad restore his old one, and seeing the gas mileage and the looks he got whenever people drove by inspired me to get one," Janssen says. "Scooters are a little more popular here because you're at a university, but if you get away from it, you find more people turn their heads."
With a $30 decal, Janssen says on-campus parking is simple, but safety can get complicated. He wears a full helmet and face guard and recommends wearing a jacket, jeans and boots. "It's dangerous on a scooter," Janssen says. "As long as you adhere to the safety precautions, you can drive it around pretty safe; you just have to watch out for the drivers who aren't paying attention. I love the look of it, and the feeling of riding on it is the best." 
Dane Cooper and Jacob Wilson, junior and sophomore respectively, are two more high-riders, only they prefer to sit about 5 feet in the air on top of their tall bikes, made by welding two frames together. "You're taller than the tallest trucks on the road," Cooper says. "It's like a spectacle."
Tall bikes, which developed from the underground bicycle culture in large cities, are meant more for fun than pragmatic transport, Cooper says.
Cooper and Wilson, both from Plano, at times use their bikes for jousting, knocking each other off with poles, for example. As for safety, tall bikes fall over slowly and give riders time to react, but the bikes are almost inherently unsafe, Wilson says.
"There's no guarantee that it's going to work, that the welding will hold, or that the chain won't come off," Wilson says. "It's the responsibility of the person who made the bike."
Cooper stresses riding fixed-gear bicycles that have one speed and pedals that move with the wheels in both directions. They are cheaper, longer lasting and more efficient, he says. "Tall bikes are probably the least efficient bicycle. But they're the most fun."
Practicality and efficiency was what Placerville, Calif., junior Carissa Jones was searching for when she shopped for a moped to help get her around campus. "I would get headaches every morning just trying to park," Jones says. Now she spends five minutes in traffic instead of half an hour and fills her half-gallon tank every four or five days.
But the deciding factor in her vehicle selection was the double-take inducing style of her blue-and-white moped. "It was a good price, and it's cute," Jones says. "That's the main thing." There's even room in the front basket for her small bichon frise, Asia.
While most vehicles are relegated to the road, Rockwall senior Joel Sanders uses his longboard, a longer and wider version of a skateboard, to surf both streets and sidewalks.
Sanders says longboards are better than skateboards for longer distances because they can cut corners quickly and don't require as much pumping, or pushing off with the legs. "A skateboard you have to pump every second," Sanders says. "You push off a couple of times with this but then you just cruise."
Sanders rides to class from his house on Eighth Street on the other side of Interstate 35 from the Baylor campus, and he skates around campus with his friends. 
Longboards may be easier to ride, and they're light enough to carry into class, but they're more limited than bicycles as to where they can take you, and when, Sanders says. Since water messes up the wheels, longboarders can't ride when it's raining or if it's wet outside, and the form of transport doesn't fare well on rough terrain, such as the gravel streets on either side of Fountain Mall.
But overall, Sanders enjoys his ride. "It's faster than walking. I can get around pretty quick. And it's just fun to cruise."