Thursday, May 08, 2008

The art of pedaling and smelling Shreveport's roses: bike to work! National Bike to Work Month is May 12 - 16


Bike to Work 05.18.07
Originally uploaded by trudeau
The League of American Bicyclists is promoting Bike-to-Work Week from May 12-16 and Bike-to-Work Day on Friday, May 16.
Last year a number of teachers and students biked to Caddo Magnet High on the big day. We started in the parking lot at Starbuck's, Line Ave.. A similar group biked to Montessori School for Shreveport. There were probably other bike treks going on unbeknownst to me.

This year there's a group of bike-minded people coalescing at meetings led by Loren Demerath and Maurice Loridans. Demerath's blog for A Better Shreveport will show you that plans for how best to encourage simple bicycling in Shreveport are under way. One plan is to host a bike clinic to encourage people to dust off, air up and wheel out their rarely-used cycles.

if you enjoy city biking, please get in touch. It's hard not to say that the time's right.

And, speaking of time, allow me to share my bike to work guidelines:
a) Begin your trek early so as to minimize traffic hassles. Most of Shreveport does not seem to hit the street in cars until about 7:40 am.
b) Helmet hair? Sweat? Nah, you're not going to be riding. I pack a change of shirt and trousers and a towel.
c) Ride home between the major waves of traffic. In East Shreveport there is a sweet spot from about 4:05 to 4:45 when the streets are bizarrely empty.

1 comment:

Robert E Trudeau said...

If you'd like to pedal with a whole bunch of good people and raise money for a worthy cause, check out the annual Tour de Goodwill. The fellow in the foreground of the Bike to Work Day snap is Kenneth Berg; he'll be riding in the Tour.