Week of events focus on bike commuting, safety
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By Tom Saul | Monday, May 12, 2008 |
Participants in Bike to Work week gather Monday morning in Bechtel Park, downtown Davenport. (Mark Ridolfi/Quad-City Times) Buy this Photo
Beth Janicek, 23, stood out among the spandexed and helmeted crowd that gathered at Davenport’s Bechtel Park on River Drive Monday to mark the start of national Bike To Work Week.
She is not “a hard core biker,” Janicek admitted. Wearing a spring overcoat and regular work clothes instead of biking gear, the Web site designer planned to bicycle from her downtown Davenport apartment to her job in downtown Rock Island via the Government Bridge.
“It’s flatter and you get a little bit of nature when you go past the lagoon,” said Janicek of the one-and-a-half-mile commute that takes her across the western end of Arsenal Island. “The Centennial Bridge isn’t very good to bike across.”
After the ride, when she gets to work, Janicek said she feels refreshed and “I think I work better.”
The Quad-City Transportation Advocacy Group, or QC TAG, sponsored the pre-work breakfast and get-together to encourage people to leave their cars at home and rely on pedal power to get to their jobs. Throughout the week, the group will host events focused on bicycling and bike safety.
Today, a bicyclist, a car and a city bus will leave from the area of Spring Street and East Kimberly Road in Davenport to see who can get to the Figge Art Museum first. Davenport’s Citibus and Bettendorf Transit are also offering free rides throughout the week to those who bike and ride the bus.
In a metropolitan area with a good system of recreational bike trails but not well-suited to bicycle commuters, QC TAG wants to see two-wheeled, human-powered transportation become just as common on Quad-City streets as cars and trucks, said Chuck Oestreich, 70, secretary of the group.
“We should be able to use bikes for all the normal things you would use a car for, like grocery shopping or getting to work or anything else,” Oestreich said. “It will take getting together with city planners and saying that bikes are an important element of our transportation here and how can we make our streets safe for biking.”
Currently, only two sections of street in the Quad-Cities, both in Rock Island, are marked with bike lanes, Oestreich said.
Dan McNeil, 37, of Moline and a QC TAG member, bikes to his job in downtown Davenport nine months out of the year, about an eight-mile trip, he said. In December, January and February or when he has an appointment out of the office, he drives or takes the bus. The ideal bike commute distance is no more than four miles, he added.
For him, McNeil said, biking to work offers the obvious benefits saving on gas and parking, reducing pollutants and keeping him physically fit. But it also allows him to spend more time with his family.
“I don’t have a gym membership,” McNeil said. “This is my workout. So, instead of running off to the gym at night, I can spend the time with my wife and son.”
Tom Saul can be contacted at (563) 383-2453 or tsaul@qctimes.com.
MORE INFO
National Bike To Work Week events sponsored by the Quad-City Transportation Advocacy Group:
Tuesday — Car, bus and bicycle riders will commute from Spring Street and East Kimberly Road to the Figge Art Museum to show the efficiency of each mode of transportation.
Wednesday — Ride of Silence begins at 7 p.m. at the Quad-City Botanical Center in Rock Island to commemorate those killed and injured while cycling.
Thursday — A movie called “You Never Bike Alone” will be screened beginning at 7 p.m. at the Augustana Science Building, Room 102, with a discussion on bike commuting in the Quad-Cities to follow.
Friday — A bike to work week wrap-up party will be held starting at 5 p.m. at the Bier Stube in Moline, 417 15th St.
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