Transportation For America » Bike to Work Day this Friday

Bike to Work Day this Friday — featuring Duluth, Minnesota

May 13, 2009
By Stephen Lee Davis

1006 Originally uploaded by Transportation for America

Mayor Don Ness of Duluth, MN speaks at the kickoff events for Bike to Work Week on Monday

Perhaps you’ve heard that Friday is Bike To Work Day. Events will be happening in cities small and large all across the country to encourage people to try biking to work for a day, including group meetups and convoys to make new riders feel more comfortable and pit stops with free breakfast and giveaways.

Duluth, Minnesota kicked off their week with an event Monday. (Friday is actually the culmination of Bike to Work Week.) Perhaps you’ve heard about Minnesotans’ legendary commitment to biking — evidenced every fall and winter when Minnesotan bicyclists are still out in force when snow covers the ground and temperatures drop to levels we only hear about on TV here in the Mid-Atlantic. (Is your state or city just more committed? By all means, set us straight in the comments.)

On Monday, Transportation for America helped kick off Bike to Work events for the City of Duluth, Minnesota at a press conference in front of Fitger’s, a historic old brewery that will be hosting events for Bike to Work Day on Friday, May 15th.

T4 America partner Mayor Don Ness rode his bike to the press conference and spoke about all the benefits of biking — as well as the important opportunity we have right now to make bicycling safer and easier for everyone through the federal transportation bill that Congressman James Oberstar, their representative, is currently drafting. Mayor Ness promptly put on a campaign button before welcoming everyone. He also posed in front of one of the Duluth Transit Authority’s buses that are now equipped with bike racks to make that “last mile” of commuting much easier. (We also hear they’re providing free bus rides to anyone with a bike on Friday.)

It is clear that the City of Duluth wants a complete transportation system that provides efficient and safe transportation choices for everyone. Representatives from Continental Ski and Bike Shop, Fitger’s, and Habitat for Humanity also provided remarks.

Christine Goepfert, the Minnesota Field Organizer for Transportation for America, said a few words about the coalition and their support of the events that week. At 5, she also did a live interview with Michelle Lee, the evening anchor with the local CBS/NBC affiliate station.

On Friday, May 15th, from 7:00-9:00 a.m., Christine will join others at the Minnesota Power Plaza in downtown Duluth, handing out information, maps and doing safety checks for those riding to work. Afterward, there will be events at Fitger’s, including a bike to work fashion event from 11:45 to 12:15 p.m. inside the building and along the lake walk. Christine will have buttons and other materials there, and all our Minnesota readers or supporters are encouraged to drop by.

Albuquerque6 Originally uploaded by Transportation for America

Biking (to work?) near the University of New Mexico along historic Route 66, where a parallel bike boulevard will soon be in place.

Here in D.C., T4 America will be in Freedom Square for the region’s Bike To Work Day this Friday. A number of our partners will be there, and campaign director James Corless will be speaking at 8:40 and introducing Rep. Earl Blumenauer. For you locals, we hope to see you there.

In the meantime, check out this story and video from the Christian Broadcasting Network on the benefits of biking, touting its potential to “break gridlock, make cities more livable, reduce pollution and even stimulate the economy.” H/T to Andy Darrell from the Environmental Defense Fund for the tip.

Filed under: Campaign Blog
Tags: bike to work day, biking, duluth, minnesota

Sandra

Hmmm… Not really sure if this idea would work in Southern California. You see. Southern California (in fact-all of California) is spread out all over the place. When somene lives in Riverside (for example) and a person commutes to Irvine (for example) that is a LONG LONG bike ride. Folks-it is NOT practical for people that commute 20 miles to work (one way) to ride a bike to work. I do not know anyone that will ride a bike 20 miles to work, unless their car broke down and had no other way to get to work and was scared of getting fired. I really don’t think anyone would bike 10 miles to work. I can see someone peddling may be 5 or 6 miles one way-but come on folks! Who works only 6 miles away from home in Southern California? People that do not live here or have never lived here-just do NOT understand this when I say “If you live in California, you NEED a car to get back and forth to work!”
Sandra

Oh yeah. One more question for those of us that bring in a sack lunch to work. Pray tell me, where are we to keep our lunch if we ride a bike into work? You think every employer has a place to put a sack lunch-and if an employer DOES have a place to put it-who is to say that it will not be stolen? It’s just safer to keep that sack lunch in your car!
John

I bike to work 10 miles ONE WAY every day in So Cal and carry my lunch in my backpack and store it in the fridge at work and have never had it stolen? There are also 3 others in our office who bike to work in So Cal and one persons commut is 15 miles one way! Hmmmmm not all of use feels like Sandra in So Cal!
johnm

I live in Southern California, and had a 40 mile round trip bike commute for about 5 years until i retired. Now it is about 36 mile round trip to my part time work, and I now ride 50 miles round trip to the beach whenever I want. Life is good.