Bike to Work Month
Today is the start of Bike to Work Month. Cascade Bicycle Club is hosting the 2008 Group Health Commute Challenge in which groups of cyclists around the Sound will compete against each other to see which teams can commute the most and possibly the farthest in the month of May. Teams should consist of four to ten cyclists and each cyclist must commit to commuting via bicycle at least five times during the month. There are many opportunities to educate yourself about bicycle commuting.
List of Events
Volunteer Opportunities
Information on bicycle commuting
Education materials (laws of the road, etc.)
REI also offers free bike maintenance classes, as well as a basic bike assistance class for women only.
Please, please remember (and I cannot stress this enough), when cycling in pedestrian areas and on trails with other cyclists and your intent is to pass a pedestrian or fellow cyclist, either ring your bell or call out “on your left”. I often walk along the waterfront and from Sodo to West Seattle, the other day I walked to West Seattle and only one cyclist, ONE out of the 26 that passed me managed to call out “on your left”. As a fellow cyclist, this horrifies me. Stay visible and make your presence known to others.
Also one quick word to cyclists and pedestrians: when on a mixed-use trail, try to stay on the right except when passing or at the very least, ride/walk in a straight, predictable line. When you wander in an unpredictable manner, collisions happen.
i’ll be honest, i don’t always shout to peds. i guess i’m lucky enough to not have had one walk into me, but usually i won’t yell if they’re sticking to the right and there’s nobody else around. i know i should every time, but i get lazy :/
@wesa can i get a ramen. i used to live in sand point and could ride the BG all the way from fremont to my back yard and i can’t tell you how many collisions or near collisions i saw on the stretch from gasworks to uvillage for that very reason.
also, everyone please remember that traffic lights are for cyclists too. if we want to be taken seriously as vehicles and given the appropriate rights and respect without the current whining from motorists we need to follow the laws as they stand, see RCW 46.61.050, it’s pretty explicit. i see it every day and it makes me sad.
Oh, man. I know Bike to Work Month is good for the environment and the biker’s health and all, but I walk to and from the office and already nearly get run down by a bicycle about once a week, which is insane since I don’t take up much space or swerve drunkenly all over the sidewalk. If more bicyclers shouted or rang when they were around I would like them a lot more, since it can be awfully startling when they whoosh past from behind.
When I bike/run, I much prefer to use the bell/noise alert vs. the "on your left" alert. When people hear "on your left" too many of them MOVE left. When people hear a noise, they tend to move right.