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CommentsWanna Be Like Bike?
May is National Bicycle Month: Here’s how you can go along for the ride.
By Matt Lemmon
Photo courtesy Springbike
Cycling is safer for everyone on streets with cycling lanes, like Trafficway near Hammons Field.
Nevertheless, the Ozark Greenways are challenging everyone to “leave their cars behind” May 12-16 and take a bike, a bus or simply walk to work or school. What’s in it for you (besides less gas and more exercise)? Plenty. Those who register at ozarkgreenways.com get:
• A voucher for a free bagel and coffee at Panera Bread. (We know there’s one of those on the way to your office. How can there not be?)
• Free shower and towel service at local YMCAs and Cox Fitness Centers.
• Free bus rides for anyone traveling with a bike (you can just slide it on the buses’ handy racks and be on your way), and
• A chance to win a trophy. We have no idea how, but trophies are cool.
What’s more, bikes will be the order of the day at the May 2 First Friday Art Walk. Just bring your cycle by Patton Alley Pub between 6 and 9 p.m. and get commuting information, rack demos, bike checkups and look at Art Bikes (though we can’t imagine anything being more artsy than the white-and-rainbow Huffy we owned when we were 12).
That’s a lot of bike insight, isn’t it? Well here’s more:
• Brush up on the basics: On Saturday, April 26, The Springbike Bicycle Club will host Bike Springfield, a festival featuring free bike checkups, a safety clinic and group rides. Meet at the City Utilities Training Center (301 E. Central St.) at 9 a.m. Rides, including 11- or 16-milers touring Springfield’s bike routes, begin at 10:45 a.m.
• Join Springbike: Springbike Bicycle Club riders meet at least four days a week on rides in and around Springfield. Go to springbike.org for more information. You need not be a seasoned rider: Local cyclist Misty West, 28, has been a member for about a year, and says members’ abilities run the gamut, and no one is ever left behind.
• Be safe: Wear a helmet.
• Don’t be a douche driver: The biggest complaint among local cyclists is drivers’ ineptitude—and sometimes downright rudeness—toward cyclists, who can’t always take the Greenways and, by law, aren’t supposed to ride on sidewalks. If you come up behind a cyclist in traffic, wait to pass until it is safe. Cyclists, in fact, are so concerned about the conditions in Springfield that they worry it’s going to take a tragedy to bring any attention to the situation. Let’s not let that happen.
• Find the bike routes: The city of Springfield has a map of cycle routes—which means there’s a designated lane on the side of the road for bikes—at its website. Just go to springfieldmo.gov//transportation/bike_routes.html.
• Put some pressure on MoDOT: To avoid a legislative mandate, the state highway department vowed recently to consider all users—cars, bikes and foot traffic—when planning new projects, says Brent Hugh, executive director of the Missouri Bike Federation. If you’re interested in helping them keep their word, call your state representative, or send your story to the Bike Federation at mobikefed.org.
Springfield’s Rogue Cyclists: Meet the Riders of Rohan
The Riders of Rohan are not a bunch of LOTR fanboys huddled around a DVD or a board game. The group only borrows the name: It has nothing to do with Tolkien-mania, or even horses. Riders of Rohan is a guerrilla cycling group made up mostly of local music scenesters and downtown hangabouts, and they’re coming to a street near you.On Saturday, April 19, the Riders joined forces with riders from downtown’s Queen City Cycles for the annual “4-20 ride,” which brought out almost 100 people. The group met at Patton Alley Pub, rode through downtown and Missouri State, eventually ending at Bambino’s.
The smaller weekly meetups generally attract a couple dozen people; but still they are one part cycling awareness crusade, one part pub crawl, riding a predetermined course, and always finishing at a local bar.
Riders of Rohan is inspired by a similar group, Critical Mass of Eugene, Oregon. That group is much more combative and less beer-loving in its mission, which is to educate the public about cyclists’ rights by turning the tables on drivers. It works. During the recent 4-20 ride, a bull-headed motorist on South Avenue was stunned to discover the rider he clipped was being followed by almost 100 kids on bikes, all of whom began chanting his license plate number.
Rides are organized though word-of-mouth and MySpace bulletins. Check out myspace.com/ridersweride for a description and updates. If you want to see video of past rides, go to youtube.com and search for “Riders of Rohan Springfield Missouri”. (You might have to sift through several clips featuring Dominic Monaghan in chain mail, but that’s okay.)
