FARMINGTON — A personalized plate on the back of John Wilde’s bicycle reads NYAB. When people ask about the plate, he tells them it stands for “not your average bicycle.” But it could also mean “not your average biker.”

Since June 2008, Wilde has ridden his customized bike most nights to work from his home on the Whittier Road in Farmington to Jarden’s, formerly Forsters, in East Wilton and back the next morning. It’s a 12-mile round trip.

Through rain, snow, wind and darkness, he pedals to work for the third shift, which starts at 11 p.m. and ends at 7 a.m.

“I won’t melt,” he said he told his boss when he rode home in the rain.

Wilde does draw the line at riding in temperatures below zero and “blizzard” type snowstorms. “My wife worries about me and the snowplows,” he added.

When gas hit $4.07 that June, he was driving a truck that averaged about 14 miles per gallon. “I was spending nearly $4.07 a day to go to work,” he said.

That thought led him to return to riding a bike just as he did 25 years earlier when he was in the service. His work and quarters on the base were about three miles apart and transportation was unreliable so a $75 investment in a bike kept him on time, he said. Once out of the service, he gave up bike riding until gas prices rose.

“It can be argued that I haven’t saved. It’s not a cheap hobby,” he said of the bicycle that’s got a variety of lights, reflectors, turn signals, snow tires, storage units and a small motor that keeps a steady pace riding on hills.

“I figure I’ll have to bike to work five years before I can say I’m saving money on gas,” he said, because he has paid for all the extras. “It takes more planning (than using a motor vehicle), but I feel better mentally and physically than I have in years,” he added. He declined to reveal the cost of his investment.

Wilde has outfitted the bike to carry up to 200 pounds on the back and even takes his kayak on it, just because he can. A small trailer is added and can carry another 100 pounds of groceries and other purchases.

Leaving his home in time to make the six-mile trip by 11 p.m., traffic isn’t a major issue in the evening because he often takes Seamon Road around the high school and making his way to Route 2. The early morning ride is busier. A few people have shouted at him, and a portion of Route 2 lacks a breakdown lane but he’s not bothered.

“I subscribe to the ‘try not to worry about too much’ train of thought,” he said.

One of his biggest concerns is animals. Deer have crossed his path on the country road where he lives, and one night a cat ran into his back tire. He wasn’t going fast so the cat wasn’t hurt, he said.

Wilde is a member of the Bicycle Coalition of Maine, an advocacy group for bike riding, but working nights he doesn’t do a lot of recreational riding.

Not interested in racing, he would like to find a more social bike riding group. While he loves it, he understands that it’s not feasible for everyone.

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