Tips for Newbie Women Bike Commuters

This guest blog post was written by Wendy Wheeler of Seattle.  She is a new bike commuter and a captain of a Bike to Work team for federal agency employees.

As a new commuter-cyclist, I want to share some tips that can make your ride more enjoyable, and thus more likely.

Wendy Wheeler bikes with style.

If you’re like me, you have a list of “shoulds” as long as your arm. The trick for me was to take the idea of commuting by bike and make it as fun as possible. Now, it’s something that I really enjoy and I look forward to doing, rather than something that I’m trying to squeeze into my day.

Make it easier: Metro is your friend.

The bike racks on the Metro buses are really easy to use, once you’ve done it once. Try it first on a weekend for less pressure, just load it on at one stop and take it off a couple of stops later. With the bus, you have an infinite number of ways you can slice your commute. Any part that you don’t want to ride on a particular day, you don’t have to.

Keep it easier: Have a back-up plan for rain.

My back up plan is four-fold – I could leave my bike locked in my office’s parking garage, I could stop at any point and use Metro, my top layers are water-resistant, and almost all of my clothes are machine washable anyway. So I can choose how wet I’m willing to be. When I’m warm, it doesn’t bother me. Most days in Seattle this time of year, it’s not actually raining all day, just showers that may not coincide with the ride anyway.

Make it fun: Dress it up.

I am a big fan of visibility. I have a front light and a back light on the bike and smaller ones on helmet and my backpack. I also think having a bright-colored top layer is a good idea. But I don’t feel the need to look like I’m preparing to bike the tour de France. Spandex is not my friend these days. J So I turn the “what to wear” formula on its head and go for something nicer than my normal dark work pants.

If I’m striving to be visible, why not wear a bright top and cute skirt? Skirts are among the most comfortable riding wear there is – they move with you, they tend to be lightweight, they’re already up out of the chain area, and they don’t bunch and compress in the middle. You can get tons of inexpensive skirts to try for shape/size/flow at your neighborhood Goodwill or Value Village – get something with a pattern and then even if you get drizzled-on on the way to work it will still look great. The one in my photo was originally too long, so I chopped the ruffle and some length off the bottom, reattached it, and now it’s ready to go. For spring/fall, I wear the skirt with tights. When it’s warm (here’s hoping!), I’ll wear a pair of snug yoga shorts, or boy short style underpinnings underneath, and it’ll comfortable and modest enough for unexpected cross-winds.

Likewise, on shoes, try using that pair of work shoes that are good for walking. My faves are a pair of Naots – cork insoles, adjustable strap, low heel and a bow. They have enough support to be comfortable on the pedals, but are office perfect the minute I step off the bike.

Keep it fun, don’t worry much about your hair.

I have the gift of slightly curly hair. So my office mates know that it will never look tidy anyway. This gives me freedom with how it looks post- helmet. There are websites with tips on hair and cycling, check them out if you’re going for a specific look. My tip would be to try both the wet and dry options (as long as it’s not freezing out). You may find that starting with slightly damp hair actually gives you a more controlled look after your ride (less frizz/fuzz).

Above all, enjoy your ride.

I think you’ll find that you feel better after the fresh air and workout. Enjoy that you’ve made this time to treat yourself.

The Bicycle Alliance's Go By Bike brochure also offers some good tips for getting started with biking for errands and commuting.

Bike to Work Day: Drop by our Energizer Station in Pioneer Square!

Friday, May 18 is Bike to Work Day and the Bicycle Alliance of Washington is hosting an energizer station from 7 – 9 AM for bike commuters in our Pioneer Square neighborhood.

Drop by to get your copy of the hot-off-the-press 2012 Seattle Bike Map, coffee courtesy of Zeitgeist, and some sweet treats thanks to Sugar Bakery & Cafe.  The good folks from Back Alley Bike Repair will be on hand to do bike safety checks, and we are generously giving out high fives and other goodies.

Look for our energizer table in front of our office at 314 First Avenue South.

Try Bike-and-Bus for Bike to Work Week!

Have you shied away from biking to work because your commute seems too long or a little too hilly?  Consider a bike-and-bus trip!  You can bus to work and bike home, or you can bus through a difficult segment and bike the rest.  Our friends at King County Metro and Sound Transit are offering a great promotional deal (as in FREE) on bike-and-bus trips during the week of May 14-18 in King County.  Here's their announcement:

King County Metro and Sound Transit encourage people to try bike-and-bus trips during Bike Month. During the week of May 14-18, any cyclist loading a bike on a Metro bus or ST Express bus operated in King County will ride free. ST Express routes included are: 540, 542, 545, 550, 554, 555, 556 and 560.

Each bus has three spaces on its bike rack, which are available on a first come/first served basis. If the bus bike rack is full, cyclists should be prepared to wait for the next bus or consider leaving their bike parked in a bike rack at a transit facility. Bike lockers are also available at many Metro and Sound Transit facilities.

Metro has display bike racks available at five locations around the county for new cyclists who want to try loading their bike in a pressure-free environment. Practice racks are available at North Seattle Community College, the University of Washington, Bellevue College, Alki Bike and Board in West Seattle and at the offices of the Bicycle Alliance of Washington in Pioneer Square. Detailed information on hours and locations can be found at http://metro.kingcounty.gov/tops/bike/rackfaq.html

National Bike Challenge Kicks Off!

This post was prepared by intern Scott Chilberg.

The 2012 Get Up and Ride National Bike Challenge kicked off on May 1 and 324 Washington bicyclists logged in nearly 4800 miles last week!  It’s not too late to sign up! You can set up an account at any point in the Challenge, so just because it’s already started doesn’t mean you’ve missed your chance to join in! See our previous posts here and here for a reminder of the rules and the procedure for setting up an account.

Many of you are already participating in local bike challenges in honor of May being National Bike Month, and there’s no reason why you can’t count those miles toward the National Bike Challenge as well. There are all kinds of ways to participate, whether you decide to bike every day as your primary means of transportation or  ride recreationally a few times a month. In fact, we’d love to hear your personal story! Send an email to Louise McGrody and describe your Bike Challenge experiences – how you’ve chosen to participate, what motivates you to bike, or even just a personal anecdote related to biking – and we might post your story on our blog.

So, if you haven’t already, register for the Bike Challenge, download the smartphone app, and start cycling!

We’re busy with Bike Month!

May is National Bike Month and many Washington communities have Bike to Work and Bike to School events planned.  Check our website for a list of communities hosting Bike to Work activities.

The Bicycle Alliance is organizing and/or participating in a number of Bike Month activities:

We’re kicking off Bike Month with an Open House and Alley Party on May 3.  We’re featuring Tour de France photos by Mike Hone and serving Ale-Liance IPA, a limited edition beer crafted by Schooner Exact Brewery especially for us!

Look for us at Cascade Bicycle Club’s Bike to Work breakfast on May 4.

We’re handing out bagels and bike information with Commute Seattle for Bikes & Bagels on May 12

.

Drop by the Bicycle Alliance office on Bike to Work Day – May 18 from 7-9am – for treats, info and bike maps!  Our friends at Back Alley Bike Repair will be on hand to do bike safety checks.

We’re co-sponsoring the Interagency Bike Ride in Olympia – also on May 18.

The first National Bike Challenge launches May 1 and runs through August 31 and we’re bringing it to Washington.  The Challenge gives bicycle riders who don’t have a local Bike to Work event an opportunity to log their miles and compete for prizes.  For those in a Bike to Work event, the National Bike Challenge keeps the biking momentum going throughout the summer!  Read a previous blog post about the Challenge.

Now get out and ride!

Sign up for the National Bike Challenge: Part 2!

Thank you to Scott Chilberg for preparing this post.

As we’ve mentioned before, the Bicycle Alliance is acting as the Washington State representative for the 2012 Get Up and Ride National Bike Challenge, and we’re continuing to encourage people to sign up, either as an individual or on a team! Washington has consistently been ranked the most bike friendly state in the nation, and we want to prove that once again by getting as many Washington state residents as possible to sign up for this free nationwide challenge, which starts May 1.

The Challenge works like this: You register on the National Bike Challenge website, you log your biking miles online from May 1^st until August 31^st, and you compete for prizes and qualify for awards as the challenge goes along. Pretty simple stuff! You get 20 points for each day that you ride plus 1 point for each mile that you log. You can also download a smart phone app to log miles as you go!

For a full list of rules, click here. You can also download a full list of prizes here. 

The challenge is free to sign up, so there’s no reason not to participate! Plus, May is National Bike Month, so this is a great way to bump up your biking while competing for prizes at the same time.

So go register now! And pass this along to your friends, family, colleagues, and whoever else you think might be interested!

May is National Bike Month!

May is National Bike Month and communities around Washington are planning Bike to Work events--big and small.  We're aware of the following events:

Bellingham/Whatcom County is celebrating Bike to Work and School Day with 30 public and 35 school based celebration stations. Last year over 10,700 participants were counted!

Intercity Transit is organizing the Thurston County Bicycle Commuter Contest--now in its 25th year!

Cascade Bicycle Club hosts a month long Commute Challenge and they organize a huge Bike to Work Day with dozens of commute stations set up around Seattle and King County. 

Community Transit is partnering with Cascade to bring the Commute Challenge and Bike to Work Day to Snohomish County bicyclists.

Tacoma-Pierce County has a Bike Month Commuter Challenge as well as numerous other bike month festivities.  Check their Bike Month calendar for details.

If you live in Spokane, Spokane Bikes has you covered with a month-long Commute Challenge and Bike to Work Week festivities running May 20-26. 

Wenatchee Valley Transportation Council will host bicycle commuter stations in Wenatchee on May 18. 

Whidbey Island Bicycle Club is planning Bike to Work and School Month, which will include a Carfree Commuters Breakfast on May 9.

Cowlitz County is celebrating Bike to Work Week May 14-18 with a variety of activities.

The folks in Vancouver delay their Bike to Work Week until the fairer month of June.  They have designated June 18-22 as Bike to Work Week with June 20 as Bike to Work Day.  The City of Vancouver will post details.

The Tri-Cities of Kennewick, Richland and Pasco are organizing a Bike to Work Week.  More details will follow. 

We're not aware of any Bike to Work events in Walla Walla or Clarkston, but the Twin Rivers Cyclists of Lewiston-Clarkston and the Walla Walla Wheatland Wheelers have organized teams for the National Bike Challenge.

No Bike to Work event scheduled in your town?  Sign up for the National Bike Challenge!  The Challenge runs from May 1 through August 31 and allows riders to track their miles and qualify for prizes.  You can sign up as a team or ride solo.  The National Bike Challenge is a great way to keep the biking momentum throughout the summer.

Sign up for the National Bike Challenge

Thanks to intern Scott Chilberg for preparing this blog post.

Here at the Bicycle Alliance, we are enthusiastic supporters of new and exciting ways to expand bike ridership and awareness, both locally and nationally. So when the 2012 Get Up & Ride National BikeChallenge was announced this year, we were happy to jump on board as the state representative.

The National Bike Challenge – a free nationwide competition meant to encourage biking for transportation and recreation - starts May 1 and runs through August 31, 2012, and gives individuals and teams the opportunity to log their miles and compete for prizes and award plaques on the local and national levels. The Challenge has already registered riders from all 50 states and DC.  This event is organized by the League of American Bicyclists, Bikes Belong, Kimberly-Clark Corporation, and Endomondo.

Participation is easy and free of charge.  Just sign up online for the Challenge and create either a workplace team or your own team, join an existing team, or ride solo!  Here's a rundown on how to create an account:

Join the Challenge at:  www.endomondo.com/campaign/national
Process for individuals to join the Challenge:

·         Step 1. Click on the link above

·         Step 2. Click on the join button and register.

·         Step 3. Participants will have the option to continue to ride solo or join a team by:

o    a. Creating a new Team and becoming the Captain

o    b. Joining an existing Team

This challenge is free to join and is meant to be a fun and competitive way to increase bicycling across the U.S.  So, whether you participate on as an individual or on a team, we hope you’ll join – and pass this along to your friends!

Watch this how to video for more information about the Challenge, and click here for a complete list of prizes.

Thank you, and happy riding!

Commuting: The Best Part of the Day

Commuting is the best part of the day?  Many folks will disagree with me but, since I am a bicycle commuter, it often feels like the best part of my day.  After spending a long day tethered to my desk, it’s invigorating, stress relieving, and sometimes an adventure to hop on my bike and pedal home.

A recent study by Swedish researchers bears this out.  They found that people who commuted to work by car, bus or train reported more adverse health conditions than those of us who bike or walk to work.  You can read more about that study here.



It's easy to check out Harbor Island when you're on a bike.

Besides reaping the health benefits, I find that biking to work is more interesting and spontaneous than using transit.  It’s easy to alter my route or stop on my bike to check out something attention-grabbing.

My bike commute is from West Seattle to Pioneer Square.  One evening this summer, I detoured over to Harbor Island to watch workers unload freight containers with forklifts.  Not only was the activity interesting to observe, but I glimpsed some unusual views of the city.

More recently, my commute provided me with an up close vantage point of the viaduct tear down.  While car and transit commuters had some pretty horrific commutes to and from West Seattle, my bike commute time didn’t change.  Reporter Eli Sanders filed a Slog post about the West Seattle bike commute during the viaduct demolition.

Enough about the cool sights and experiences I have thanks to my bike commute.  What interesting things have you seen or experienced on your bike commute?

Bike to Work (and School) Day!!

National Bike to Work Day is the third Friday in May. In 2011 it falls on May 20th.
Communities across the Nation will be celebrating the day by providing treats and prizes to people on two wheels.

For the most part, you can look for a 'celebration station' or 'commuter station' depending on what your community calls it. These stations are typically stocked with yummy treats like bagels, scones, fruit or cookies. You can also find small prizes like patch kits, stickers, and other bicycle related swag. Cheering, cow bell ringing volunteers will great you with a smile and perhaps a hot cup of coffee. Like I said, it varies by community, so check out what your town is doing and be sure to bike on May 20th.

Bellingham-Whatcom County

Celebrate Bike to Work & School Day on May 20 with more than 30 public celebration locations around the county and 35 school based celebration stations. Check out their website for locations and more information

.

Bremerton

West Sound Cycling Club is organizing a commute station near the Washington State Ferry terminal for Bike to Work Day on May 20.

Snohomish County

Snohomish County Bike to Work includes Bike to Work Day celebration stations on May 20. Check the Bike to Work Month page at Community Transit website.

Spokane

Spokane Bikes is celebrating on Wednesday May 18 (6:30 – 9am): Morning Energizer Stations locations can be found here.

Seattle-King County

Cascade Bicycle Club and F5 bring you Bike to Work Day check out their website for information and locations of their commute stations.

Thurston County

Thurston County is celebrating Bike to Work and School Day. Go to their website for more information.

Bike to Work Week - May 16-20

You should know by now that May is Bike Month. With that comes a whole slough of activities, most are crammed into one momentous week - May 16-20, often referred to as Bike to Work Week. This post will highlight some Bike to Work Week events taking place around the state - at least those events we know about. If something is happening in YOUR community - let us know! We'd love to post it on our calendar.

I'll be writing a separate blog JUST on Bike to Work Day, which is on Friday, May 20th, 2011, so stayed tuned for that. I also wrote a previous blog highlighting Bike Month events, look for that in the blog archives.

Cowlitz County

Cowlitz on the Move is organizing Cowlitz County Bike to Work Week, they will be holding free bike safety checks, free community workshops and if you register at www.cowlitzonthemove.org, you can be entered into a prize drawing!

Spokane

Spokane Bikes is hosting a week of Bike to Work fun May 16-20. Create a user profile on their website and look for fun bike related activities taking place all week!



Most of the communities listed in the Bike Month blog have events taking place during bike week as well. Check out their websites for up to date information.

May is Bike Month

One of these days the rain will stop, the sun will come out and it will be May. And there will be a bunch of events going on around Washington State to celebrate the bicycle and the bicycle commuter. This post will highlight Bike Month events, stay tuned for a Bike to Work Day (and week) posts as well.

Bicycle Commuters in Whatcom County can form a team of 4-6 people and participate in the Team-Up for everybodyBIKE month long challenge. Team captains that register by April 29th
will get a free limited edition "I Bike B'Ham" t-shirt. Check out their website to register.

Cyclists in Seattle-King County can participate in the Group Health Commute Challenge. Form a team of 4-10 riders and bike at least 5 days in May. Register your team (or go solo) on their website.


Tacoma-Peirce County is also hosting a commuter challenge sponsored by REI. Form a team, bike at least five days and you're entered into their prize drawing! Register Here. Thurston County has held a Bicycle Commuter Contest since 1988! Way to go!
Intercity Transit’s Bicycle Commuter Contest (BCC) rewards participants with prizes, valuable coupons, and recognition for their accomplishments. Register here.

That's all the Bike Month Challenges I know about. Does your community have something going on? If so, let us know so we can post it on the Bicycle Alliance website. Like I said above, stay tuned for more posts on Bike Week and Bike to Work Day.

Until then, ride safe and let's hope for some sun!

Check the current listing we have for Bike to Work activities.

These Boots Were Made for Biking

And that’s just what they’ll do!

As I pedaled my vintage blue cruiser (it’s a Kia, did you know they used to make bikes?) to work this morning I couldn’t help but put myself inside the heads of the car drivers who shared the road with me on our commute to work.

“Wow, she’s wearing a skirt and biking, maybe I could do that"


“I remember when I had a bike on my basket.”


“Those are cool boots; I never would have thought to wear high heeled boots while biking.”


“Isn’t it kind of early for a Halloween costume?”

Okay, I made the last one up just now, but sometimes I do feel like I’m wearing a costume when I’m decked out in my neon yellow jacket, bike gloves, rain pants and helmet. I certainly don’t look fashionable (those that know me well are laughing right now, since I never look fashionable.)

Now, I’m not knocking neon yellow jackets, I wear mine often, especially since we have so many grey and rainy days in Bellingham. I also have an obnoxiously bright pink vest courtesy of Feet First that is super reflective for night riding.

I bike in my work clothes, skirts, dress pants or jeans. And yes, I admit, sometimes I don’t wear my yellow vest. Like this morning, I just couldn’t bring myself to put it on over my olive green jacket. Even I know that would clash, and it would take away from the whole ‘your bike is a fashion accessory’ look that I was going for.

I want to show people that you don’t have to wear spandex shorts and a jersey just to get to work or the grocery store. You don’t even need special biking shoes (although I do think my boots are pretty special). I understand that this attire won’t work for everyone, if your commute is many miles, or uphill, you might need to change your clothes when you get to work. But for those that can do it, have fun! Wear high heeled shoes and a skirt on your next bike ride, just think of all the people you’ll inspire, or at least make smile. Because biking is fun, but biking in heels is a blast!

"IT'S ALL ABOUT ME!"

Urban mobility is not a zero-sum game.  When you design streets for bicycles and pedestrians, everybody wins.

When it comes to designing American streets, it’s usually all about the car.   

Look at almost any street in our country. The priorities appear to be, in this order: (1) maximizing the rapid flow of motor vehicles; (2) providing as much curbside parking as possible without interfering with Priority (1); and (3) everything else.

Many American critics of so-called “alternative” transportation seem to believe that it has to be this way. They apparently see urban planning as a black-and-white, zero-sum game in which there’s only one legitimate winner. If bicycles and pedestrians “win,” they believe, then cars “lose.” And if cars lose, then industry, business, mobility and “real people” lose as well.

Look at the debate over Seattle’s very modest efforts to provide more space on its streets for bicycles. The City is slowly placing some of its arterials on a “road diet” and adding bike lanes. But the negative reaction has been fierce, with opponents claiming that this “war on cars” will clog the streets and drive the City’s industrial base elsewhere. 

And in questioning whether the City should make spending for bike and pedestrian facilities a priority, a Seattle Times columnist recently posed the issue as a stark, either/or proposition, saying: “ Seattle voters have to decide what kind of city they want: one with affordable taxes and reasonable accommodation for business and jobs, or a bike and pedestrian haven backed by plenty of public spending.”

I have no doubt that much of this expressed angst arises from genuine concern—genuine, but misplaced and ultimately harmful. 

Consider: (1) Seattle is already among the nation’s most congested metropolitan areas. We’ve ranked as high as Number 2 during the past ten years.  The average Seattle-area driver spends about 45 hours a year stuck in traffic.  (2) Seattle, like other Washington cities, has committed itself to greater density.  That means more people in the same space—and unless there is another way to get around, more cars. (3) No large City has ever eliminated congestion by road-building alone.  The Los Angeles metropolitan area, which probably has the world’s most extensive freeway system, routinely ranks as America’s most congested.  (4) Cities that turn themselves entirely over to the car are among the most polluted and least livable. Think L.A. and Houston; would you move to either of those places for quality of life alone?

Perhaps more importantly, consider the experience of cities that have taken a different path.  Their experience shows that everyone’s mobility is increased when commuters are given a variety of options. Their experience also shows that giving street space to bicycles and pedestrians helps create a far more pleasant and humane urban environment.  In other words, everybody wins.

Exhibit A is Copenhagen, Denmark.

Visitors can be forgiven for thinking that Copenhagen has always been bicycle and pedestrian nirvana; that the bicycle tracks, pedestrian streets and sidewalk cafes that one sees today are a natural outgrowth of Danish culture. Not so. They are the result of conscious policy choices that have taken almost 50 years to implement.

Two videos illustrate Copenhagen’s transformation and the results; both are well worth watching. One is a clip from the film “Contested Streets.”  The other is a short video from Street Films called "Copenhagen's Car-Free Streets and Slow-Speed Zones."  In them, Danish architect and urban planner Jan Gehl and others recount how cars began proliferating in the city during the 1950s.  Cyclists were pushed aside, and Copenhagen’s lovely squares were turned into parking lots.

The transformation to a different model began in the early 1960s, when one kilometer of the City’s main shopping street was turned into a pedestrian mall.  And in the 1980s, the City began to build an extensive system of separated “cycle tracks” on major arterials, often taking general-purpose car lanes to do so. As here, business owners often howled.  Danes aren’t Italians, they said—they don’t just walk around for the hell of it. The weather’s too bad—no one will frequent the pedestrian zones. Business will be ruined.

But the City went ahead, and proved the critics wrong.

In the process, they created an urban setting that is commonly held up as a world-class model of livability and sustainability. And “real people,” the kind that critics of Seattle’s modest steps claim will be driven away, got back on their bikes. Today, more than a third of the commuters in Copenhagen get to work or school on their bicycles.  So it turned out that the cycle tracks weren’t just for a few selfish Lycra-clad eco-lunatics. They were for everybody.

And no, they didn’t outlaw the car. The Copenhagen area has a surprisingly-extensive freeway system.  And Copenhagen’s streets are less congested than Seattle’s. In fact, according to Gehl, Copenhagen is the least-congested City of its size in the Western world.

And that’s no zero-sum game.

Weather Radar

May has been wetter and colder than normal, which makes me think about riding in the rain. I'm willing and usually prepared to ride in the rain, but I don't like to get wet. I dodge the rain whenever I can. I have a very flexible work schedule so I often avoid a wet trip to the office by waiting a few minutes.

In the middle of Bike To Work Month meteorologist Cliff Mass posted at his blog about using weather radar to sneak in a bike ride to work between the raindrops.

An interesting and critical fact about rain is that it is rarely uniform. There are heavy areas and light areas and breaks. By viewing radar animations you can spot the light areas, or make a good estimate when one will be at your location. So if you have some flexibility of when you bike, delaying or advancing your trip by a 10-15 minutes, you can nearly always avoid the real heavy stuff or secure a dry ride even on a supposedly rainy day. The more flexibility you have the better your chance of staying dry.

You can find radar coverage on the web at:

National Weather Service

Weather Underground

AccuWeather

(These links are for Seattle, where I live. Each of the top pages has a search box where you can point the forecast site to your location.)

Smartphone apps can deliver weather forecasts and radar views when you are away from your keyboard. The Weather app delivered with the iPhone shows only a very brief summary forecast and no radar. Two better apps for the iPhone are:

AccuWeather

WeatherBug

WeatherBug is my current favorite. There's a free, ad-supported version so you can try it out. The paid version removes the advertisements and the animated radar view shows how fast that squall is coming.

Anyone else have a favorite weather resource?

(If you are seeing this in Facebook, please return to the Bicycle Alliance blog to post comments.)

The Number Game

As I sit here writing this blog, I can't tell you how happy I am that Bike to Work and School Day was relatively rain free. All last week I tried to push thoughts of rain soaked commuters out of my head as the forecast called for a 60% chance of rain on the morning of May 21. As I biked to work at 5:45am to set up for the days festivities I had tears, not rain in my eyes.

I was overcome with emotion on that ride as I thought about how over 300 volunteers donated their time and over 100 businesses donated prizes and food. Whatcom County had 28 public celebration stations and 31 schools hosted celebration stations. 100% of the public schools and most of the private schools in Bellingham participated.

Vince, owner of the Mt. Bakery, and a local artist, stops by the Public Market on

his way to work. Notice the organic eggs in his basket.

We counted over 8,300 bicyclists, pedestrians, unicyclists, skaters and scooters from 6:30-10am. At 10:02 it started to sprinkle.

A group of cyclists stop at the Public Market for a snack and a prize.

It was an amazing day, even if it did rain a bit in Ferndale and the temperature was about 10 degrees cooler than last year. People had fun biking and walking to work and school. I heard reports that families biked to school and said "that was easier than we thought it would be". Teachers sent me photos of hundreds of bikes piled outside the school.

Oftentimes people think that biking to work or school will take a very long time and will be much harder than driving. This is not always the case, in fact, many times it only takes about 5 - 10 minutes longer than driving (depending on where you live of course). My hope is that these families will continue to bike to school some of the time. I'm not asking people to give up their cars completely and bike everywhere, do what you can, try to bike or walk once a week, every little bit helps.

Jim loads up his bike trailer the night before Bike to Work and School Day.

Fifteen Minutes of Fame

Okay, I guess it's more like 1.5 minutes on the local channel, but it's still kinda cool. KVOS, the local T.V. station in Bellingham interviewed me at a bicycle rodeo a couple weeks ago. I'll admit I was nervous, especially since it was my first ever interview for T.V. (not counting the time in 5th grade when my class delivered food to the local food bank and the news crew showed up).

I have anxiously awaited the results, hoping I didn't say anything too outlandish or foolish, it was first thing in the morning after all. Both my husband and my coworkers said I did a good job, so I'll share it with you. If either of them had said I looked goofy (which I think I do) the link would remain hidden forever.
Bike to Work and School Day is May 21st, what is YOUR town doing to celebrate?

Thanks KVOS for the publicity!

Enjoy!

Bike to Work and School Day!

Posted using ShareThis

Abolish Bike to Work Month

2010 Designated "Bike Everywhere!"
For years now, May has been designated National Bike to Work Month. Businesses all across the US organize teams and award prizes for the longest commute, the most miles ridden and most new bicycle commuters. Let's challenge ourselves instead and designate 2010 the year of Biking Everywhere.
I suggest a particular month does not need to be designated ride to work. How about riding for the joy of the ride, the adventure, the health of it, every time you have a short shopping trip, or want to save a little piece of the environment?
During May and beyond, I challenge you to embrace Kent Peterson's mantra that "every distance is bicycling distance". Reward your kids for riding to the grocery store or ride with them to school every week until school ends. I challenge you to go to the Farmer's Market in your neighborhood and buy all your dinner ingredients from local farmers. Ride to worship. Think up more reasons to hop on your bike and go someplace. Leave your Lycra at home and ride in blue jeans, shorts, flip flops, a suit and tie, skirt and blouse. Smile along the way.
If you take up my year-long challenge, I guarantee you'll reap many rewards and have a lot of fun along the way.
Life is better by bicycle!

Bike to Work!

May is National Bike Month and many Washington communities will be encouraging folks to bike to work, school, shopping, worship, and more.  Check the Bicycle Alliance website for a listing of Bike Month events that we've tracked down.  And ride your bike!