Monica Lent’s 1986 Raleigh Marathon turns heads and starts conversations.

“A lot of cycling enthusiasts talk to me about it,” she says.

For Lent, though, she was originally drawn to it because it was green, which is her favorite color. It was the first bike she went to look at and the first time, Lent,  who grew up here and has adopted Tucson as her hometown, went into South Tucson.

Lent a UA student studying Latin and working at the UA designing websites, grew up on the northwest side, but moved close to the UA as soon as she could.

For her biking makes more sense that driving, plus it’s more fun.

“Driving is horrible,” Lent says. “I just hate driving.”

She says it is easier to find parking, cheaper and because her friends ride bikes, more fun.

“It’s more enjoyable spending an evening riding around Tucson than it is driving or walking,” she say.

Her only complaint is that the roads could use some work and they are especially difficult to ride on at night.

“If you didn’t know them well and were riding them at night, you could get really injured,” she says.

Complaining about motorists in Tucson would be too easy.

“I would complain about motorists, but that would be stupid because everybody hates motorists.”