Own a section of a Greenville County Greenway

Well, you won’t really technically own it, but this is a great way that you can support and help build the county’s Greenways network. Purchasers will receive a plaque that recognizes their ownership and list the GPS coordinates of their particular section. A 25 foot section of Greenway will only cost you 25 bucks, so you can give out sections as Christmas gifts (plaques are scheduled to be ready next Thursday).

To order a section, double click the form shown here to enlarge it and save to your computer. Email all the information to Ty Houck at ty@gcrd.org. If you are interested and need the form in a word doc format, leave a comment with your email address or just get in touch with Ty. I am sure he would be happy to forward it to you.

A letter to all cyclists

For those of you who may have missed it, I want to quickly pass along a touching letter that was emailed to the Palmetto Cycling Coalition membership. The letter was written by George Rice, a friend of Tom Hoskins, one of the cyclists who was tragically killed in South Carolina less than two months ago. I think George’s message is a good one; all of us who ride need to give back to cycling and try to make a difference. Sometimes it is hard to find the time, but it is important to remember those who have who have been injured or killed doing what we all love to do. Anyway, I won’t ramble on; here is George’s letter:

There aren't many cyclists who venture out cycling without their sunglasses. Rose colored glasses is a term used to describe something that inhibits us to see things for what they truly are. I had rose colored glasses on when I first thought about the value of membership in groups like the Palmetto Cycling Coalition. I had the selfish agenda of WIIFM (What's In It For Me)?

On October 21, 2007, lives were changed forever. A century ride turned into what I hoped was a horrible dream. Since that day, families, friends, and cyclists have celebrated the lives of two people who put aside selfish ambition to bring light to the tragedies of brain injuries. Tom Hoskins and Lee Ann Barry logged hundreds of miles for the benefit of others. Lee Ann wore a jersey on that beautiful, sunny day, embossed with Spoke n" Word. A church in Kentucky gave it to her. I did a Google search using Spoken Word and one web site that came up was the University of Central Florida Bicycle Team. A member of their cycling team died after being struck on his bicycle the same day, October 21, 2007.

A year prior, I stood in a line of 2000 bicyclists, waiting to finish the second day of the MS ride. We learned of the death of Rachael, who died cycling for the benefit of others. Like others, I have to live with being one of the cyclists who survived. I now know the pain others have felt as they tried to revive someone they had been drafting for or being pulled by earlier in the day.

My high school band performed "One Voice" during our field show. The words include "just one voice, singing in the darkness, all it takes is one voice. If you venture to the PCC website and click on links, you will see rows of bike clubs and bike shops. One hour of your time during 2008 may save the life of a cyclist. One hour writing letters to politicians, one hour sitting in a hearing room with your favorite cycling jersey on, or one hour encouraging someone to keep peddling on their first ride, will make a difference.Prior to October 21, 2007, I didn't see it that way. I was too busy having pitty parties because of the heat, the steep hills, or the lack of a water stop.

You and I can name someone who lived through a bicycle/vehicle collision, or died from the collision. Take a moment, fill out a PCCapplication in appreciation for that saved life or in memory of that life because your one voice singing in the darkness can make a difference.

A Greenways presentation and more

As the header says, this is an occasional blog and lately it has been very occasional. I have been posting infrequently this month, but there is still a lot of Greenville advocacy information to pass along. My travel schedule has been a bit hectic lately and will continue to be that way until mid January. Posting here might continue to be a little slow for a while, but look for an update on the Share the Road efforts and more in the near future.

One event that you will want to mark you on your calendars is a Trails and Greenways Public Presentation on Tuesday, December 11th at 6pm in the Downtown Hughes Library Meeting Room. Andrew Meeker, Greenville’s urban designer, will be presenting the newly completed 'Trails and Greenways Master Plan' and discussing what projects are currently underway or soon to be underway. Ty Houck from the Greenville County Recreation District will discuss progress on the Greenville Hospital System Swamp Rabbit Tram Trail and other County-wide Greenway efforts. I’ll be there to see the presentation and I hope that some of you will be able to attend as well.

The City is currently working on the trail section, shown here, between Cleveland Park and Greenville Tech. Andrew has some pictures of the construction progress online for those of you who are interested. By the way, this section of greenway is scheduled to open to the public in the Spring of 08. That is right around the corner.

While I am posting, I want to mention a few other things that I have seen lately. Dual Chase Productions has online some interesting Powerpoint presentations, which show ways that cyclists interact with traffic. I have only glanced at a few of these so far, but they seem like a good resource for proponents of transportational cycling. Read more here at a post on Cyclelicious.

Not too long ago, I mentioned a few interesting pedestrian and cyclist safety campaigns in other cities. Portland has a new pedestrian campaign that recently caught my attention. I think efforts like these go a long way toward helping people to remember that cyclists and pedestrians who are killed or injured on the roadways are more than just statstics. Innovative ways to alert drivers to simply watch out is something that I think we need more of.

Also at Bike Portland is a post about the bike sharing program that is soon to be implemented in that city. The Velib bikes in Paris have received the most press lately, but bike sharing or rental programs are taking off in many cities around the world. For those of you who are interested in reading more, the Bike Sharing blog covers such programs in cities worldwide. As the Greenville City/County Greenways plans come together, I think a program like this would make a lot of sense in this area. I have a few thoughts on the subject, but I am running out of time so I will have to save those for a future post.

The end of T-Mobile

This isn't exactly advocacy news, but I thought I would pass the press release along. So what does this mean for Hincapie next season? Hopefully a new title sponsor will step up soon.

Edited: It appears that both the men's and women's teams will continue on under the name "Team High Road". Read more at VeloNews.

Charges filed in October cycling deaths

I have been out of the country for the last couple weeks, so I haven’t been hearing follow up stories regarding last month’s tragic cycling fatalities in this state. When I returned, I was a bit surprised to read this story out of Columbia. As I have mentioned before, South Carolina has a poor track record when it comes to prosecuting motorists who hurt or kill cyclist, so I was glad to hear that the driver who killed Lee Ann Barry and Tom Hoskins is being charged with murder.

The article contains a statement by the Hoskins family in response to charges.

"Just like a bicycle, the wheels of justice must turn. Nothing can replace the lives of Lee Ann Barry and Tom Hoskins. It is our hope that those operating a motor vehicle will be focused on the road before them. The death rate continues to rise due to the inattentiveness of motor vehicle operators. Two spouses must now walk through life alone raising families."

Let’s hope that South Carolina continues to take cycling fatalities like these seriously. I am glad that they are doing so in this case.

Share the Road TV ads

Recently, I posted what I thought were a couple of interesting and effective ways that bicycle advocacy groups in other cities are spreading the “share the road” message throughout their communities. Here is another really great example. The San Luis Obispo County Bicycle Coalition recently created a set of Public Service Announcements that will run on local TV channels. On their website, they point out that the TV spots will hopefully “encourage civility among bicyclists and motorists and to better educate the public on safe and responsible behavior on our roadways.” They also point out that the new spots will “complement past accomplishments with the campaign, including our safety messages in local movie theaters and ads on county buses.” Great idea; take a look at the ads here.

Via Cyclelicious

A letter from the PCC

Last night, I posted about the tragic cycling fatalities that occurred this week in our state. I’ll be honest, when I wrote that post I was very tired and feeling a mix of anger and sadness that made writing anything at all very difficult. I think that I made my point about the very poor track record that South Carolina has in prosecuting those who, through reckless driving or carelessness, hurt or kill cyclists and pedestrians. I did not go into enough detail on specific actions that we need to take to solve some of South Carolina’s problems.

Yesterday, Natalie Cappuccio Britt, executive director of the Palmetto Cycling Coalition, sent a letter to all members that mentioned a few of the projects that the PCC is working on to improve conditions for all cyclists in the state. Training law enforcement regarding laws that affect cyclists and pushing for a minimum safe passing distance law are just two of the things that she mentioned in the letter. Those of you who are members have already seen this letter, but I am posting it (with Natalie’s permission) for those of you who have not yet seen it. Again, if you are not a PCC member, I encourage you to join today to help with the “fight for a more bicycle friendly South Carolina.”

Now on to Natalie’s letter:

PCC Members,

By now all of you are aware of the horrific crash that took two avid cyclists lives earlier this week. A hit and run fatality killed a third cyclist in SC on Tuesday. No one has to die on a bicycle, but they do. Contrary to popular belief, bicycling is not inherently dangerous, especially when everyone follows the rules of the road particularly motorists. What is dangerous are the often-illegal interactions that occur between bicyclists and motorists every day, increasing the danger for everyone. Cyclists must deal with careless unyielding drivers, the threat of bike theft, and undereducated authorities and institutions. If everyone followed existing laws more carefully, we would be able to share the road safely. If motorists remembered to be a little more considerate, patient and respectful we would have fewer fatalities across the board. Motorists by law have a responsibility to look for bicycles in traffic just as they do other automobiles. Unfortunately, when a car meets a bicycle in a collision, it is almost always the cyclist that loses. At motor vehicle speeds above 35 mph, the result is almost always a bicyclist fatality. Even if the bicyclist does not die, they may suffer life-altering injuries. We are all responsible for traffic fatalities when we drive a car or bicycle carelessly or lawlessly. Don't think it could happen to you? How often do you "zone out" while driving? How often does a motorist who has just hit a bicyclist say "I didn't see the bicycle"? Did they not see? Or were they not looking...not paying attention. Cell phones and radio’s are potential recipes for disaster while operating a vehicle. A crash is no accident...a crash can be prevented.

Many of you have written me in the past few days wanting to know what you can do to advocate for cyclist rights in SC. First, I want to say this anger, this passion that you all feel now as a result of three cyclists being killed, please keep it up. Do not let the momentum die down. All too often after a fatality, cycling advocates are fired up and ready to work. However, far too quickly this energy dies down and we all seem to go back to our normal daily lives. In order for cyclists to have an impact on the decision makers in this state we must forge a united front. We need THOUSANDS of cyclists to stand together and tell our elected officials, “enough is enough”!

The PCC is working harder than ever on the fronts of enforcement and education in order to prevent more unnecessary fatalities. Just last week we hosted a law officer training course. The major objective of the training was to give law enforcement officers of all backgrounds the tools they need to properly enforce the laws that affect bicyclists and to protect cyclists. The course aims to change officers sometimes negative attitudes toward cyclists. Peter Wilborn traveled to Columbia to assist in teaching the course which included a speaker from the National Center for Bicycling and Walking. Over 65 officers participated. Currently we are working on making this a statewide program. Last year we hosted a law officer training course in the upstate. We plan to host our next training at the SCDOT bike/ped conference in December and then in the lowcountry.

In addition to this you are all aware of the legislation the PCC proposed last year. PCC volunteers worked tirelessly with legislators to educate them on the bicycle legislation. The bill went through the house committee and will go to the floor for a vote in January. The bill still needs to go before the Senate Transportation Committee. I do not need to explain how vital this piece of legislation is to you (visit our website for more detailed information). It is the stepping stone to introducing additional legislation proposing specific fines and penalties against motorist that kill cyclists. The creation of a minimum safe passing distance law will save lives and ensure prosecution of motorists that hit cyclists. As we approach the legislative session, I will be calling on SC cyclists to support the successful passing of this bill. We will need you all to call, write and even come to Columbia to interact with your elected officials. If you do not do it, who will?

Finally we will continue to work on public service campaigns with PSAs, literature, classes and much more. We must work to change perceptions regarding cycling and educate the general public on the rights of cyclists. Currently there are PSAs running in Charleston and the Midlands. The PCC worked with the SC Department of Public Safety to include bicycle related questions on the SC Driver’s exam. The PCC submitted new revisions in 2006 to improve the bicycling and Share the Road section of the SC Driver’s manual. It now states that drivers should give bicycles a minimum three foot clearance when passing. The PCC provided scholarships for 8 individuals to go through the LAB’s Road 1 and League Cycling Instructor courses and worked with Partners for Active Living to hold these courses in Spartanburg in January and March of this year. We now have 14 LCIs in South Carolina because of this initiative. The PCC produced several thousand bicycle safety bookmarks in English and Spanish for law officers to distribute. Several hundred bookmarks were also distributed to children through the Spartanburg County library. A few years ago we successfully moved a Share the Road license plate bill through the SC legislature becoming only the second state (behind Florida) in the country to do so. We raised $4,000 to produce the first 1,000 plates. With 2800 plates sold it is now the most popular non-profit specialty plate in the state. In 2003 the PCC worked with SCDOT to get their board to adopt a complete streets policy – one in the first half-dozen states to do so. The PCC is working with BCDCOG on educational programs aimed at cyclists and motorists. We are working to distribute bicycle lights throughout the state in conjunction with law officers.

There is way too much happening to mention here, but none of this would be possible without the support of cyclists statewide. We have a long uphill climb but we cannot do it alone. I ask you to join me in the fight for the rights of cyclists. I ask you to give your precious time to fight in honor of all those cyclists that died doing what they loved on SC roads. I ask you to stand with me in front of elected officials this session and demand better laws to protect cyclists. I ask you to the support the PCC, local cycling organizations and national groups as well. If you are a PCC member, I would strongly encourage you to ask other cyclists to join. There is a lot of power in numbers, the more members we have statewide, the more influence we have when we go to the statehouse! Let us work together to prevent future tragedies and work in honor of those that are no longer with us. I hope you will join me in our fight for a more bicycle friendly South Carolina!

I am so grateful to all of the PCC members, I thank you!

Cycle Safe

Natalie Cappuccio Britt
Palmetto Cycling Coalition
http://www.pccsc.net/

A tragic week in South Carolina

I was out of town earlier this week, hiking and mountain biking with my family in western North Carolina. Since I was away from the internet, television, and newspapers, I did not hear about the horrible tragedy that I would read about when I picked up the Tuesday edition of the Greenville News upon my return. By now, anyone reading this has probably already heard about the untimely deaths of Lee Anne Barry and Thomas Hoskins, who were both struck by an SUV on a rural South Carolina road this past Sunday. Mrs. Barry, the founder and executive director of The B.I.G. Ride, was on the last leg of her latest cross country ride to raise awareness about brain injuries. You can read more about her and the great work she did with her charity group in this article in the Charlotte Observer. Mr. Hoskins, an avid cyclist for 20 years, had just joined her for the last leg of the ride into Charlotte on Sunday. His funeral took place in Columbia today, with members of the local cycling community wearing jerseys and serving as honorary pallbearers. Just a couple days after this tragedy that took two lives, a third cyclist was killed in a hit and run near Beaufort. It is unbelievable and terribly sad that these three deaths occurred in the same week, but unfortunately, fatalities from cyclist/motorist crashes are more common in South Carolina than they are in most other states.

Here in Greenville, the number of cyclists on the roads seems to be increasing all the time. Greenville already has a great cycling community and is geographically located in a wonderful part of the country for cycling. Add in factors like the US Pro Championships and George Hincapie’s Pla d’ Adet development in the northern part of the county, and it is no wonder that the number of cyclist on the roads continues to grow. I like to promote cycling in this area as much as anyone, but it is important to always remember that this state has a very BIG problem to address when it comes to cycling safety. South Carolina ranks consistently near the top of all 50 states in the number of bicycling fatalities per capita. According to the SCDOT website, in 2004 South Carolina's fatality rate stood at 5.24 per 100,000 population, the fourth highest death rate in the nation. In that same year, 12 hit and run bicycle “accidents” occurred in this state, one of which was fatal. 2004 happens to be a year for which I have statistics, but South Carolina’s record has been about the same every year since at least 1999. As I stated before, our rate of cycling fatalities per 100,000 residents has ranked us near the bottom of U.S. states in recent years (we have consistently ranked between the 2nd to 6th worst state every year since 2000).

A total of 101 cyclists died in collisions with automobiles on the roads of South Carolina between 2000 and 2004. In all of those cases, only 18 citations were issued to the motorists involved (some drivers may have received multiple citations so the total number of drivers charged could be less than 18). To me, that is a sickening statistic. In South Carolina, only around 5 percent of drivers are charged with anything at all when they “accidentally” take someone’s life? Nationwide, between 2000 and 2003, only about 18 percent of drivers were charged in fatal cyclist/motorist crashes. That is still a low number, but as you can see, South Carolina’s prosecution rate in cases involving the death of a cyclist is much lower that the national average.

Since I already mentioned the Tuesday edition of the Greenville News, I’ll point to another very sad article that appeared in the paper that very same day. The number of traffic deaths in this state is up from this time last year. The article stated that, as of Sunday, 870 people had died on South Carolina’s roads. The article points out that 651 of those people were in motor vehicles, which means that 219 were bicyclists, pedestrians, and motorcyclists (who apparently aren’t classified as motor vehicles by the state). I have mentioned before that the act of driving a car is something that most people take way too casually. Driving requires complete attention to the road and those who hurt or kill others when they fail to do so should be held accountable for their carelessness. I don’t want to turn this post into a rant about inattentive drivers; I’ll save that for another time. I also don’t want this post to come across as bashing the state in which I live. I am very happy to live in Greenville and I truly do believe that this is a great town for cycling (and is going to get better). My point in bringing up the state’s poor track record regarding cycling fatalities is to encourage all of you to get involved in improving conditions for cycling, not only here in Greenville, but all over the state. If you are not already a PCC member, you should join today. That organization is doing great work to make conditions safer for all cyclists in South Carolina. I also encourage all of you to write your elected officials to ask them, not only for bicycling infrastructure improvements like “Share the Road” signs and bike lanes, but also for driver education and, perhaps most importantly, better enforcement of existing traffic laws. Let’s not let the tragic deaths of three cyclists in our state pass by unnoticed. We can’t expect our elected officials to do anything about the issue of cycling safety in South Carolina if it is not brought to their attention. I encourage all of you to let them know how you feel and to tell them that we need their help to reverse our state’s extremely poor cycling safety record. If we all work together, we can make positive changes for all cyclists in South Carolina.

Recent Greenville News articles

I have been meaning to post this for the last few days, but I haven’t had the chance. If you have not already seen it, check out the article about the Greenways plan that ran in Tuesday’s Greenville News. I liked this quote from Ty Houck toward the end of the article (referring to the County greenways plan):

"We want to build the trails that are fastest and easiest first. Then, once people get to use those, they'll hunger for more."

I think that is a great approach. Of course, I want to see the greenway trail development balanced with more on-street bike lanes and “share the road” signage as it is being developed. Without the other two components, the presence of greenway trails alone can falsely reinforce the impression some drivers have that cyclists do not belong on the roads. Don’t get me wrong, I think that greenway trails are great, but I think that an effective share the road campaign becomes even more important once they are in place. The City and County jsut need to make sure that there is a balance as they facilities are being built.

Also in Tuesday’s paper was an article about Spartanburg’s bronze BFC designation. I was glad to see that the Greenville News picked up that story. We can learn something from our neighboring city as we work toward the goal of designation.

Trails and Greenways Master plan

Several months ago, I posted a preliminary draft copy of the City of Greenville’s trails and greenway plan. Since then, a few people have asked where they could find a high-res version of that map. Well, the City now has the completed Trails and Greenways Master Plan available on-line. From the webpage you can download a large pdf file of the map. The completed plan is a hub and spokes model that links parks and other points of interest (hubs) with trails that connect them (spokes). This plan calls for an additional 50 miles of greenway trail, an additional 53 miles of street based trail, and an additional 10 miles of natural surface trail, all within the city limits.

Preliminary work has already begun toward construction of the new 1.5-mile trail between Cleveland Park and Greenville Tech. The scheduled completion date will be spring/summer of 2008.

Walk (or Bike) to School Day

This week, October 1-5, is International Walk to School Week. More specifically, Wednesday, October 3rd, is Walk (or bike) to School Day. My kids walk to school most days, so they will be participating this week by default. Having both walked and driven my kids to school on separate occasions, I can say that walking is definitely the better way to go for our ¾ mile trip to school. Not only is it healthier; considering the length of the car drop off line most days, walking is usually also faster. Of course, biking would easily be the fastest way, but we are a few years away from my youngest being able to do that.

If you live near your kid’s school and haven’t tried walking or riding to get there, I encourage you to give it a try this week. You can get more information on the resources page of the International Walk to School website.

Congratulations Spartanburg!

Shortly after I mentioned Spartanburg in yesterday’s post, I heard the news that they were designated as a Bronze level Bicycle Friendly Community by the LAB. Congratulations to Spartanburg on being the first city in South Carolina to earn that designation. Many people in Spartanburg have worked hard in recent years to make this happen, and they deserve to be commended. Let’s hope that this news encourages all of us in Greenville to step up our efforts toward reaching the same goal of BFC designation.

You can read more about Spartanburg’s designation in the following press release:

Spartanburg Recognized as the First City in South Carolina to Receive Bicycle-Friendly Community Recognition

SPARTANBURG (September 25, 2007) The City of Spartanburg has been nationally designated as a Bronze Level, Bicycle-Friendly Community from The League of American Bicyclists and proclaimed as the first city in South Carolina to receive such an honor.

The criteria used by national reviewers are:

• The community had systems in place to train children and adult cyclists.
• 
  Bicyclists were included in the City’s transportation plan.
• 
  Police officers understood and enforced bicyclists’ rights and responsibilities.
• 
  The community participated in Bike Month, hosted community bike rides and overall encouraged cycling.

The City of Spartanburg was recognized for the recently completed two-mile rail-trail through downtown which was financed with more than $1 million in local funds.

The City of Spartanburg’s Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee was established in February 2006 under the direction of Mayor Barnet. Its chartered purpose is to promote policies, practices and attitudes to increase safety and accessibility of bicycling and walking for both transportation and recreation throughout the City of Spartanburg.

The Bike Town Initiative was created in 2004 with the goal of earning Spartanburg the designation as a Bicycle Friendly Community by 2007. It is funded by Mary Black Foundation and directed by Partners for Active Living.

The Bicycle-Friendly Community Campaign is an awards program of the League of American Bicyclists that recognizes municipalities that actively support bicycling. On September 29, 2006, the City of Spartanburg was the first in the state to receive Honorable Mention from the Bicycle-Friendly Community Campaign.

"We Are Traffic!" movie showing

This Thursday, September 27^th, Hub-Bub in Spartanburg is showing “We Are Traffic!”, a documentary by Ted White which chronicles the history and development of the Critical Mass movement. The free screening will begin at 7pm and a discussion of the film will follow. I have not seen this film, or Ted White's earlier film, “The Return of the Scorcher”, from which the name Critical Mass was taken, but I have heard good things about both. Regardless of your opinion about Critical Mass, the showing and discussion should be interesting and worth your time. I haven’t checked my calendar at home yet, but I really hope that I will be able to make it to Hub-Bub on Thursday. I have been wanting to check that place out anyway, so this is a perfect reason.

Find out more about the film at the Hub-Bub website or at the "We Are Traffic!" page on Ted White’s site.

Share the Road related links

In keeping with my recent “Share the Road” post, I want to pass along a few related links that I have come across in the last week or so.

The first link I want to mention is the “Share the Road for Rachel” website. Just over a year ago, fifteen year old Rachel Giblen was tragically killed while riding a tandem with her brother during a charity ride here in South Carolina. Rachel’s family set up the website to raise awareness about the presence of cyclists on our roadways and to push for improved education and legislation for cyclists. Read more on the website for Rachel and also at Biking Bis.

Last week, I also noticed an interesting safety campaign on Bike Portland called “And we bike”. The website for the campaign, which was inspired by the death of Washington cyclist Tim O’Donnell, explains:

“The campaign will include life-sized cutouts of people with their bikes that will remind motorists that bicyclists are their relatives, friends, coworkers and neighbors “and we bike”. The cutouts will be placed around in front of businesses and community gathering spots around the county. The message is, “Be careful; the cyclist could be someone you know.” Printed material will include a list of ways motorists can more safely interact with bicyclists. Presentations will be made to community groups throughout the month.

I was in Atlanta a few weeks ago and took the picture, seen here, of the back of a MARTA bus. The “I’m on that bike” message comes from the Atlanta Bicycle Campaign (a group that I belonged to many years ago when I lived in Atlanta). This bus signage is another great of example of personalization of the Share the Road message. As I have said before, I think that Share the Road traffic signs are effective, but putting a human face with the message helps to reinforce the point that cyclists are real people; friends, parents, neighbors, etc. I think that these are both great driver education campaigns and that Greenville can learn a lot from the efforts by these groups in Portland and Atlanta.

The last link I want to mention is a little different than the previous ones. In a post not too long ago, I mentioned the weak but often heard argument that cyclists don’t pay their fair share for use of the roads. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer recently ran a good article to refute that very argument.

“Share the Road” in Greenville County

A little over a week ago, I asked the members of the Spinners email list for input on locations in Greenville County where they think “Share the Road” signs would be the most effective. I received quite a few responses, and I plan to pass the list on to County Planning and to County Councilman Jim Burns. I should note that County Planning has done a great deal of great work in planning for bicycle lanes and “Share the Road” signage. Many of the proposed routes that can be seen in the bicycle and pedestrian element (chapter 6) of the GPATS plan are a result, in part, of input from members of the Spinners a few years ago. The long-range plan is great, but I am asking you for additional input now because I would like to see more “Share the Road” signage in the short term as well. Your responses are helpful in establishing priorities to push for. If you have not yet provided your input, or have comments or suggestions about the responses so far, please leave a comment on this post so that your suggestion can be added to the list.

Here is the list that I have received so far:

US Pro Route, particularly Old Buncombe toward Paris Mountain- Old Buncombe was the most popular response. Seven different people mentioned this particular road to me. I personally ride this road most weekends as well, so I know that it is a visible spot for cyclists with a few fairly narrow two-lane sections.

Bakery Route, include both Dividing Waters Rd. and Callahan Mtn. Road - This was another popular response. I don’t ride this route often, but I would like to hear specific locations where signage might be needed.

Old US 25 watershed- another location mentioned by a few of you. Any suggestions for specific spots?

Little Texas Rd- mentioned by 3 people.

Roper Mt Rd- I ride short sections of Roper Mountain when I commute to work; once between Riley Smith Rd. and Independence Blvd and again to cross 385. The first section has narrow lanes with fairly fast automobile traffic, so I was glad that one other person mentioned Roper Mountain as a road that needs “Share the Road” signage.

Hwy 14 from Pelham on to Simpsonville, Roe Ford Rd- I have never ridden on Hwy 14, but a couple of you mentioned it.

The remaining roads were each mentioned as well, by at least one person (there may be some overlap with the routes already mentioned):

River Road

Belue Mill Road

Oak Grove Road

Hwy 11 between Gowensville and the western border of Greenville County

Tigerville Rd from TR up to NGC and Hwy 11

Hwy 101

Hwy 414

Stallings Road

Anderson Ridge Rd

Abner Creek Rd

Stallings Rd

North Main St from downtown to 291 N.

Groce Meadow Rd toward Lake Robinson

Reedy Fork Road in Simpsonville

Jonesville Road in Simpsonville

Miller Road

Georgia Road

Holland Road

Verdin narrows from 5 lanes to two lanes and changes names to Holland (S-23-333) with some rolling hills. A sign on one of the uphill stretches south of Bethel Road would remind motorists of the presence of bicyclists.

Rutherford, just after crossing Locust Hill Road

That’s the list for now. Again, please comment if you have anything to add and thanks for the responses so far.

George thanks Greenville

George Hincapie wrote a nice “thank you to Greenville” article in the paper this week. Following the US Pro races last weekend, he had quite a few nice things to say about the fans, the sponsors, the organizers, and about his adopted hometown in general. Jonathon archived the full article on his Greenville News cycling blog, so be sure to go there and check it out if you missed the print version.

Thanks to you as well George. Greenville's cycling community certainly thanks you for being an ambassador for cycling in this area.

US Pro races and advocacy updates

As anyone who rides a bike in this town knows, the USA Cycling Championship races took place last weekend in Greenville. You can see television coverage of the races this Sunday at 5:00 pm on the Versus network. I enjoyed seeing how Greenville and the Upstate were portrayed during last year’s TV coverage of the races, and I expect similar positive coverage of our City this time around.

As I mentioned in the last post, I attended the initial Plan-It Greenville open house last week. Everyone who attended filled out a survey that covered general quality of life as well as specific issues in Greenville. The survey provided several opportunities to make suggestions for future improvements in the City. As you may be able to guess, more provisions for cycling are something that I stressed in the survey. I encourage all of you who were not able to attend to go to the Plan-It Greenville website and take the survey online.

For those of you interested in off road advocacy, the Upstate SORBA chapter is now official. Check out the website for more information about how the group plans to improve Upstate South Carolina’s mountain biking opportunities.

The SCDOT has a new section on their website that allows the public to see where resurfacing efforts are underway or planned. This is a great opportunity for us to look for places that are heavily used for cycling and to request bike lanes or wide outer lanes as part of the resurfacing.

Photo: George Hincapie on the second to last lap on Broad Street. You can see more of my race photos here.

Plan-It Greenville and other updates

Before I pass along a few updates, I would like to thank those of you who attended the Spinners advocacy meeting on Monday. It was the first time in a while that the advocacy group has met and I think we had a few good discussions about topics that have been on the table for quite some time. I won't go into detail right now, but I will recap some of the important points at a later date.

I was able to attend the GPATS (Greenville-Pickens Area Transportation Study) Regional Transportation Plan presentation on Tuesday afternoon. Overall, it was very encouraging. Much of the presentation about a proposed 30-year plan for the region was focused on Complete Streets, which by nature include bicycle and pedestrian elements. According to a recent GPATS Long range Transportation plan survey, most residents rated this area’s current level of bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure as poor. In keeping with other survey results that I have seen in the region (like the City’s recent Bike to Work day survey), safety issues seem to be the biggest factor that prevents people from considering cycling as a transportation option. Despite the low percentage of trips by bike in the Greenville area, I do believe that many people would ride to nearby destinations if they felt safer doing so. People who don’t currently ride often ask me questions about the logistics of bike commuting, so I know there is at least some interest. Some people, like me, ride mainly because of the love of cycling, but you don’t have to be a hardcore cyclist to ride for transportation. John Burke, president of Trek Bicycles, pointed out recently that 50% of all car trips are under 2 miles in length. I don’t expect everyone to replace their cars with bikes, but for those many short trips, cycling really can be a viable option for a lot of people. I am starting to ramble a bit, so let me get back to the GPATS presentation. One question the survey asks is “If you had $100 to spend on transportation improvements, how would you spend it?” There are several options to choose from, but on average, respondents wanted to spend a total of $28 of those dollars on bicycle, pedestrian, and streetscape improvements. That is a pretty impressive figure and, again, it shows that a real interest in complete streets does exist in this community. The survey is still active on the Greenville Planning website, so I encourage those of you who have not taken a few minutes to fill it out to do so here.

I was not able to attend the GTA bikes on buses press conference, but from what I hear, it went well. Fifteen GTA buses will get racks by Labor Day weekend, with the rest to be completed by the end of September. The Greenville News ran an article about the announcement this morning. Check it out here.

Finally, I want to mention another opportunity for the cycling community to get involved in shaping the future of this area. The Plan-It Greenville website has just been launched by the City. Greenville is getting ready to develop a new 10-year comprehensive plan and they want input from the community. To get more information, you can sign up to be on the email list. Also, plan to attend the Community Open House on Thursday, August 30 from 6:30 - 8:00 p.m. at the Hughes Main Library. Several of you have mentioned that it is hard to make it to public meetings that take place during the workday, so this is your opportunity. I hope to see many of you there next week.

Bikes on buses follow-up

I mentioned this briefly last week, but now it is official. GTA is installing bike racks on all 27 buses in the system. Each bus will be outfitted with a Sportworks rack that will have the capacity to carry two bicycles. Currently 62.7 percent of public buses in this country have racks for bikes, so this is definitely a step in the right direction for Greenville. Thanks again to all of you who asked for this through your emails or through the transit survey at the beginning of the summer.

There will be a press conference and an official announcement about the bike racks at 10:00 am on Wednesday, August 22nd (two days from now) at Linky Stone Park (below the Academy Street Bridge). I have a conflict at work and will not be able to attend, but Steve Baker, president of the Greenville Spinners, will be on hand to say a few words and to demonstrate the new racks for the press. If any of you can make it out there Wednesday morning to show your support, I encourage you to do so.

If you didn’t see my post on this subject a few months ago and want to learn more about bikes on transit, I encourage you to download this pdf document from the Federal Transit Administration titled Bicycles & Transit: A Partnership that Works. The document points to success stories in other metro areas that have added provisions for bicycles to their transit systems. In most cases, bus ridership has increased dramatically. In a speech at last year’s National Bicycle Summit, Louisville, Kentucky Mayor Jerry Abramson mentioned that his city’s transit system has seen a double-digit rider increase every year since bike racks were added to buses. Pretty impressive, let’s hope for a similar result here in Greenville.

Bike Friendly South Carolina and the PCC

It was great to see a post recently on the Bike Commute Tips blog titled “South Carolina: Becoming more bike friendly.” The post points to an article in the Columbia Free Times about local efforts to make that city more bike friendly. The article is worth reading and quotes several bike commuters in the area, including Natalie Cappuccio-Britt, executive director of the Palmetto Cycling Coalition.

Unfortunately, our state has a poor track record when it comes to cyclist / motorist injuries and fatalities, but the PCC is a group that is working hard to change that. If you are not already a member, I encourage you to join. If you let your membership lapse (as I did recently) I encourage you to renew. This article was a good reminder for me. I’ll be sending in my membership renewal this week to support the PCC’s efforts to make South Carolina as bike friendly as possible.

August Spinners Advocacy meeting

Earlier, I mentioned an upcoming Greenville Spinners advocacy meeting that was tentatively scheduled for this week. Due to unforeseen scheduling conflicts, the meeting has been postponed to Monday, August 20th 7:00pm at Coffee Underground. I hope that many of you will be able to attend.

I also want to pass along a piece of good news. A few months ago, I mentioned that Greenville should have provisions for bikes on public transit. I asked several of you Spinners cycling advocates to take the transit survey and mention the need for bike racks on buses. Now the GTA Board has announced that they will be installing Sportworks bicycle racks on their fleet of buses. Each bus will have the capability to carry 2 bicycles. Great news! That is one less topic that we will need to discuss at the meeting next week. Thanks to those of you who took the survey and wrote letters on this issue. Your involvement really does make a difference.

A 19th century solution

Last Saturday, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 2776, the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2007, which will, among other things, defines the bicycle as a form of transportation covered by the qualified transportation fringe benefit. The Bike Commuter Act provision, originally introduced by Congressman Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, calls for a $20 monthly benefit for bike commuters.

Unfortunately, Patrick McHenry, a republican representative from neighboring North Carolina, argued against the plan saying that bicycles are a “19th century solution to a 21st century problem.” You can read additional excerpts from Congressman McHenry’s statement on this post at Bike Portland. You can also watch a video of his statement on YouTube or even on the Congressman’s own website. I understand that Representative McHenry would like to see funding for completely new alternative forms of energy. Fine, but to completely discount the bicycle as a form of transportation is just absurd. Perhaps, instead of his poster featuring a vintage photo of a couple posed on an antique quadcycle, he should have, as one of the Bike Portland commenters suggested, shown a highway congested with gridlocked cars at rush hour. Bicycles may be old technology, but human powered transportation can be a viable component in a comprehensive solution to our energy problems. In addition to saving energy, transportational cycling addresses the growing problem of traffic congestion (a problem that alternative energy sources alone will never solve). Also, it is worth mentioning that Congressman McHenry represents a state that has an adult obesity rate of 24.7 percent; yet another problem that the “antiquated” solution of bicycle commuting can help to solve.

I know that a few people in North Carolina read this blog. If you do live in the 10th district, or anywhere in the state for that matter, I strongly encourage you to write Representative McHenry and let him know that you do not appreciate his complete dismissal of the bicycle as a form of transportation. I realize that bicycles are not the sole solution to all of our transportation problems, but they certainly can play a bigger role in this country than they do now. Most bicycle commuters that I know aren’t trying to get everyone out of their cars and onto bikes. We just want complete streets that are designed for all types of road users so that all citizens can get around safely no matter how they chose to do so. Can someone please explain that to Congressman McHenry, who apparently opposes any funding for pedestian and bicycling enhancements?

Future bicycle/ped developments in the City and County

I have a couple of pieces of information that I want to pass along today. First is an announcement from City Manager Jim Bourey that construction is soon to begin on a new 1.5-mile long section of Greenway Trail. The RiverWalk trail, which will connect Cleveland Park to Greenville Tech, will be 13 feet wide with 8 feet of asphalt and 5 feet of rubberized asphalt for runners. The trail will run along the Reedy River and will connect to the Swamp Rabbit trail as it goes through town. Read more about the new trail on the City’s news release document here.

I also want to let you know about an upcoming public presentation of the proposed GPATS (Greenville-Pickens Area Transportation Study) Regional Transportation Plan. The presentation, which will cover proposed highway improvements as well as mass transit, bicycle, and pedestrian improvement plans, will take place at 1:00pm on Tuesday August 21st at the Carolina First Center (formerly the Palmetto Expo Center). A drop-in open house will follow the presentation from 2-6. I encourage all of you who are interested in bicycle transportation to attend this event. You can find out more about it by following the “transportation planning” link from the Greenville Planning website. I would also encourage you to check out the Pedestrian and Bicycle section of the proposal document. A pdf of that section can be downloaded here. It is a large file, but it is full of great information and is worth reading before attending the presentation. This is definitely something that will be worthwhile for those of you who have expressed interest in bicycle projects in the county. I hope to see some of you at the Carolina First center in a few weeks.

Greenways Master plans

Click on the image to the left to view a draft map of the City of Greenville’s Greenways Master plan. Working with the city, Greenways Incorporated developed this plan based in part on feedback from interested citizens at a public meeting in April. You may notice that there are few prominent greenway “dead ends” at the city limits. That is where the county’s Greenway master plan will come into play.

If you want to find out more about the Greenville County Master Plan, which is currently in the proposal phase, come to the next Spinners advocacy meeting, which is tentatively scheduled for August 15th at Coffee Underground (update: the meeting has been rescheduled for Monday August 20th at 7:00pm) . Ty Houck will be available to discuss the plan and to hear your comments at this early stage. I will post again with details about the meeting, but for now, mark your calendars and plan to attend.

Contact your Congressional Representative

See the urgent request below from an LAB email. Click here to find contact information for your South Carolina Congressperson or click here to identfy your Representative using your zip code.

Support the Priorities Established in SAFETEA-LU

Oppose the Mica Amendment to H.R. 3074

Sorry for the extremely short notice, however we just received word that Congressman Mica, (R- FL), will be offering an amendment to H.R. 3074, the fiscal year 2008 Transportation-HUD Appropriations Act, that strikes a provision that is necessary to ensure that rescissions of unobligated highway contract authority are implemented in a manner that does not undermine the priorities established in the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users ("SAFETEA-LU").

In implementing previous rescissions, some States have consistently chosen to target specific programs for disproportionate cuts, programs such as Transportation Enhancements, and Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality, which are both major sources of funding for bicycle related projects.

For those of you who have a chance, please call your Congressional Representative immediately to oppose the Mica amendment to H.R. 3074.Thank you in advance for your efforts.

Trail Work days at Paris Mountain

A lot has been happening on the bicycle advocacy front lately, including preliminary work on a bicycle parking ordinance for the city of Greenville. I have received quite a few ideas for new bicycle related projects from readers of this blog and I greatly appreciate all of them. Keep the ideas coming with comments or emails and, as always, let me know if you are interested in getting involved with local advocacy efforts.

As I suspect is the case with most of you, the type of riding that I do varies from day to day. I commute to work by bike a few days a week, but I also enjoy recreational road riding and mountain biking on the weekends. The latter is what this post is about.

A recent article in Bike Magazine pointed out that Chattanooga is building 100 miles of singletrack trail within 10 miles of the city limits by 2010. That is an ambitious goal, but SORBA Chattanooga is on track to complete the trail network in that time frame. The goal is to turn Chattanooga into “a world class destination” for mountain biking on par with destinations like Moab or Whistler. The effort is not only great for mountain bikers in the area; it is also part of the city’s overall plan to become bike friendly. In the League of American Bicyclists’ 2006 Bicycle Friendly Communities case study document, Chattanooga’s “Singletrack Mind” initiative is listed as one of the highlights that led to the city’s Bronze BFC designation.

Like Chattanooga, Greenville is geographically located in an area that is perfect for mountain biking and hiking. Adding to our existing trails network is just another piece of the puzzle in turning Greenville into a world class cycling town. You can help right away. Paris Mountain State Park urgently needs volunteer help and donations to match the current trail building grant. I encourage all of you who ride at the park to show up for at least one of the scheduled trail work days. See the message below from the park for more information and to sign up. Paris Mountain has a great system of trails that many of us enjoy riding, so this is a great opportunity to give back. I won’t be able to make it the first weekend, but hope to see some of you out there on the weekend of August 11th and 12th.


Hello Friends,

The final stage of our trail grant is approaching here at Paris Mountain State Park. We are going to need a lot of help in building this new section, as well as meeting our projected deadline of September 30th. Your help in meeting this match will help ensure that trails in the South Carolina State Park system continue to grow. Above all you will be able to become part of the legacy of Paris Mountain State Park.

This legacy includes the hardworking members of the Civilian Conservation Corps that built this park in the 1930s from the natural resources found on the park. Our trails are built in the same way, and by getting your hands dirty you become part of this growing legacy.

Bring your family and friends. Trail work is also a great teambuilding exercise for companies.

Our trail work days are:

Saturday July 28 and Sunday 29, 2007
Saturday August 11 and Sunday August 12, 2007

We will be meeting at the Park Center parking lot (2nd lot on the left) at 8am. We will be breaking for lunch and heading back out around noon for anyone who wants to work in the afternoon – admission is free for all volunteers. Be sure to wear boots, pants and work gloves.

To sign up for a work day, or if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call us at 244-5565 or e-mail the Trail Crew Boss, Shawn Llewllyn at splspokes@hotmail.com.

Come out and take advantage of this opportunity to be involved in the completion the Paris Mountain State Park trail plan that has been 4 years in the making.

Come to Tour Tuesday

It’s already Tour time again and Greenville’s own George Hincapie will be competing in the race for the 12th time. Come out next Tuesday night, July 10th, to watch the day’s stage commercial free at Caesar’s restaurant in McAlister Square. The showing starts at 8:00 and all are welcome to attend. Click on the flyer above for more details.

The Greenville news has already started its coverage of the Tour. Check out the special Tour de France section of the website to see all of the articles together. Also, you can follow Rich Hincapie’s blog as he chronicles his brother’s race this year. He talks to George often during the Tour, so his blog offers an interesting perspective into the race.

Meet Ty Houck, Greenways Director

You may have seen the latest article in the Greenville News this morning about the Swamp Rabbit Tram Trail, which will soon run from downtown Greenville to Travelers Rest. Ty Houck, the newly hired Director of Greenways for the county, is one of the people quoted in the article. For those of you who don’t already know Ty, I want to take this opportunity to briefly introduce him.

Ty recently moved to the Greenways Director position after serving12 years with the South Carolina State Park Service. Many of you in the local cycling community already know him because he served nearly six of those years as Park Manager of Paris Mountain State Park. Two of Ty’s top priorities in his new position will be getting the Swamp Rabbit Tram Trail built and creating a Greenville County Greenways Master Plan. The Swamp Rabbit will create the first greenway link with a paved trail from Travelers Rest to the greenways inside the city limits of Greenville.

Ty feels fortunate to have another opportunity to be involved in quality of life improvements in Greenville. If you are interested in being involved or if you just want to be kept up to date on the progress of the Greenways plan, send Ty an e-mail at ty@gcrd.org.

Share the road (warning: a long rambling post)

Any of you who subscribe to the Spinners email list have seen quite a few messages in the past few weeks about recent instances of tension between cyclists and motorists in Greenville County. It is unfortunate that the subject has to come up, but I think that it is something that is not going to disappear on its own. Greenville’s cycling community is growing all the time and for good reason; the topography of the region truly makes this a great place for cycling. Most residents recognize the value that the cycling community brings to this area, but there will always be a vocal minority of people who simply do not want to see any change. Events like the US Pro Championships and developments like Pla d’Adet will continue to fuel the growth of cycling in Greenville, so drivers need to get used to seeing more and more cyclists on the roads. As cyclists, we need to be courteous road users, but so do drivers. Unfortunately, the importance of that mutual courtesy is not evenly balanced. If a cyclist acts irresponsibly, drivers will most likely be inconvenienced. If a motorist acts irresponsibly in the presence of a cyclist, serious injury or death can be the result. We DO have the right to use the road, but it is easy to point out, as some have, that rights don’t really matter if a confrontation occurs between a rider on a 20-pound bike and a driver in a 2000-pound car. That is why I think driver education is extremely important. Some (very few) drivers are just belligerent and don’t care about the rights of a cyclist, or anyone else for that matter. A larger group of drivers out there just don’t realize that bicycles are vehicles and that we have the right by law to use the roads. The latter is the group that we need to reach with the “Share the Road” message. The members of the former group just need to be prosecuted when their behavior leads to an “accident.”

I posted a message to the Spinners group last week during the thread about courtesy. Many of you probably already saw it, but if not here is an excerpt:

I commute on some fairly busy suburban 2-lane roads for short stretches. I ride fast on those stretches to minimize anydisruption to traffic flow, but I also ride about two feet to the leftof the white line so that cars are forced to go wide if they want topass me. Not every driver is a good judge of the width of his or hervehicle, so hugging the white line can be a recipe for disaster, aloneor in a group. Cyclists should be courteous to other road users, butwe do not need to have an inferiority complex just because we areoperating slower vehicles. A small percentage of drivers may honk oryell if they think you are taking too much of the road, but it isbetter to make them wait a few extra second to pass than to give themthe temptation to squeeze by and put you in a ditch. I have beencycling on the road for over 20 years and I do feel like drivers ingeneral are getting more and more impatient these days. The US has ahorrific traffic fatality rate per capita compared to otherindustrialized nations and, unfortunately, South Carolina is one ofthe worst states for fatalities in the nation. The bottom line is thatdrivers need to slow down and get in the habit of waiting until it issafe to pass another road user, whether it be a cyclist, a group ofcyclists, or just a slower moving car.

I received a few offline emails from other cyclists in response to the posting. Most were positive, but a couple of them were negative. I was really quite shocked to hear that some cyclists think riding a couple feet to the left of the white line is somehow antagonizing motorists. I consider myself to be a very courteous road user whether I am riding my bike or driving a car, so the negative comments kind of got to me. Anyway, as I rode to work on Monday, I thought about the discussion and I was conscious of my position in the lane. Most of the time, I was riding 1 to 2 feet from the edge of the white line. During the short but heavily trafficked stretch of my commute, I was (as always) careful to ride far enough to the left to avoid being sideswiped by a car trying to squeeze by. After that stretch, I settled back in to comfortable riding on a 2-lane road without much morning traffic. While I was riding about a foot or so from the line, a driver in an old red Cutllass passed me very closely (maybe within a foot). The driver did not gesture. He did not honk, yell, accelerate, or do anything to indicate to me that he was trying to send a message. He simply stayed in his lane and passed me uncomfortable closely because another driver was approaching in the opposing lane maybe 50 yards up. Even though I know that hugging the edge is not a safe way to ride (especially during rush hour), I let my guard down and put myself in a dangerous situation.

I am rambling a bit, but the point of this post is to stress the importance of driver education regarding the rights of cyclists. A few drivers just don’t like to see cyclists on the road, and we will never change their minds. Those few people still need to understand that they HAVE to comply with the law or they will face consequences. The bigger group that needs to be educated consists of drivers who are simply unaware of the laws regarding cyclists. I have commuted by bike in other cities and have seen first hand the positive effect of “Share the Road” signage. It may not seem like much, but a simple visual reminder that bikes do belong on the roadway can help to alleviate a few of the driver/cyclist confrontations that are often born out of frustration and misinformation. I would like to see “Share the Road” signage throughout Greenville County and I consider that to be a major goal of my advocacy work in the coming year. Of course, that is just the first step in a comprehensive driver education plan. If any of you have other ideas, let me know. I would live to hear them.

PS: Here is a link to a great website for bicycle safety tips. The site addresses common bike/car accident scenarios and offers tips for avoiding those situations. Thanks to Chris McCarter for sending me this useful link.

Swamp Rabbit Press Conference

Wow, this takes place tomorrow morning. I would really like to attend this press conference, but unfortunately, I won’t be able to make it. I would like to hear from any of you who are able to attend. Please comment if you have the chance to get out there.

If you are not already familiar with the Swamp Rabbit “Tram-Trail” plan, read a little bit about it here, or click here to see the Greenways Master Plan slideshow.

Downtown Master Plan Work Shop

For those of you who haven’t heard about this workshop, here is the some of the official information from the press release:

The City of Greenville has hired Sasaki Associates, an international planning and design firm based in Boston, to help establish a comprehensive vision for downtown and to develop a master plan that will provide a framework to guide future development activities.

As part of the planning process, the public is invited to participate in a two-day design charrette, or workshop, to share ideas and suggestions to help shape the future of downtown. A variety of sessions will be held over the two-day period and participants are welcome to attend all sessions or choose the ones they are most interested in. The meetings will take place on Tuesday, June 26 and Wednesday, June 27 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Regency A Ballroom. Refreshments will be served. We hope to see you there!

For additional information and a complete schedule of events, check out this pdf file on the City’s website.

Though this workshop is not specifically related to bicycling, it will be a great opportunity for the cycling community to voice opinions, share ideas, and to help shape the future of downtown Greenville. The consultants in charge of next week’s design charrette, Sasaki Associates, are focused on fostering bicycle and pedestrian friendly environments. You can check out their website to learn more about them. If any of you are able to attend a few sessions next week, I encourage you to do so. I won’t be able to make it to the daytime sessions, but I hope to be able to attend the later sessions both days. It should be quite interesting.

Who is subsidizing whom?

When cycling is discussed on the editorial page of the Greenville News (or any local paper for that matter), someone often follows up with a letter to the editor pointing out that cyclists do not pay gas taxes or vehicle registration taxes and therefore are not paying their fair share for use of the roads. You can see the latest letter along those lines right here. Of course, cyclists DO have the right to ride on the roads, but I understand that there will always be a few people who do not believe that should be the case. Those who don’t like the presence of cyclists on our roadways have the right to express their opinions, but I just want to point out that the financial argument against cyclists using the roads is a very weak one.

The first and most obvious point to bring up is that most cyclists are also drivers. Most of us own cars and do see the situation from the driver’s point of view. We pay the same taxes as other road users, with the exception of a little less in gas tax if we choose to replace some car trips with bicycle trips. For the sake of argument though, let’s look at the situation of a cyclist who does not own a car. That person still pays income, sales, and property taxes that heavily subsidize the construction and maintenance of the federal, state, and county road systems that we all use. Furthermore, the bicycle that he or she rides does not cause the damage to roadways that cars and large trucks do (when is that last time you saw a pothole caused by a bicycle?). Each year in the United States, 20 billion dollars is spent just repairing our existing roadways. Only a small amount of that money comes from our relatively low taxes on gasoline, especially in a state like South Carolina that has one of the lowest gas tax rates in the nation. If nationwide user fees such as gas taxes and tolls cover less the 20% of the cost of driving, then where does the rest of the money come from? It comes from all of us in the form of other taxes. The US spends 200 million dollars a day constructing, improving, and rehabilitating roads, so maybe those of you who are so concerned that all road users pay their fair share should start lobbying for higher gas taxes to cover those expenses. I doubt I will get many takers on that, but really, please stop falsely accusing cyclists of getting a “free ride” on the roads.

I could go on, but I don’t want this post to turn into a rant. The point I want to make is that bicyclists, like all citizens, DO help pay for the roads that we all use. Let’s get that issue behind us so that we can discuss the real obstacles that prevent us from creating roads in South Carolina that are safe for all users. As a cyclist, I am happy to share the road with motorists. I just hope that my fellow motorists are willing to give me the same consideration when I am out on my bike.

New BFC Web Site

The League of American Bicyclists has recently launched a new website for its Bicycle Friendly Community program. The U.S. map on the first page allows you to quickly see which cities have been designated and at what level. When you click on the cities, you can read a little bit about out why each city was designated. It is great to be able to compare and contrast the strongest bike related programs in each of the current BFC cities.

As you can see from a glance at the map, no South Carolina cities have been designated yet (though Spartanburg did receive an honorable mention). With a bit of work we can put Greenville on this map. In the mean time, this site is a great resource for good ideas that have been implemented elsewhere.

Also, while I am posting, I want to point out the gas savings calculator that I added to the sidebar. It is a nice tool to provide a little extra incentive to those of you who are considering riding a bike to work. Thanks to Commute by Bike for providing this great little widget.

Bikes on buses

Many cities in the U.S have benefited by strengthening the connection between bicycles and public transportation. To read about a few of the success stories, check out this pdf document from the Federal Transit Administration titled Bicycles & Transit: A Partnership that Works.

Personally, I would like to see bike racks, such as the one pictured here, on all buses in Greenville County. Bike racks on buses are economical to install and have been shown to increase ridership in other metro areas. As a long time bike commuter, I have used public transit as a backup for bike commuting in other cities. As much as I love riding to work, there are times when it is more convenient to use public transit for part of the trip. If an unexpected afternoon thunderstorm pops up or you end up working late, it is nice to be able to get home safely, with your bike, on a bus or train.

If you agree that bicycle friendly public transit is right for Greenville, please take a few minutes to let the County know. They are currently conducting an online survey to find out what residents want from the transit system. With a large and growing population of cyclists, bikes on buses make perfect sense for the Greenville metro area.

Photo from Bicycling 511

Update: According to the recently released 2007 Public Tranportation Fact Book, 62.7 percent of the buses in the U.S. now have bike racks. That is over 51, 000 buses total with racks! Thanks to the LAB website for that info. Now lets add to that number with racks on our buses here in Greenville.

My morning routine

Last Thursday, Justin Chappell from Link filmed me as I rode to work. From the shots on the road and some interview footage that he filmed in my driveway, he put together a short video titled “A bike commuter's morning routine.” His idea with the video was to briefly explain the logistics of a typical bicycle commute to those who are interested, but have not yet tried riding to work. I really like the way the clip turned out; nice work Justin.

A few of my coworkers watched the video today and immediately started poking fun at me for saying that a shower isn’t always necessary in the morning and that I often just “clean up with deodorant.” Yeah, I admit it was a little funny the way I phrased it. Maybe I should have been clear and said that it isn’t always necessary to shower at work (for the record, I do shower at home before I leave). All jokes aside though, I think it was an important point to mention because I have heard people use the “lack of shower facilities at the workplace” excuse as a reason for not commuting by bicycle. In many cases with a short commute, a pre-ride shower followed by a post-ride cool down and clean-up in the sink is sufficient. Showers at work are nice if you have them, but as with most other obstacles to bike commuting, there are viable alternatives. If you are interested in bike commuting, I suggest you give it a try before deciding whether or not it works for you. I think you will find that the benefits outweigh any minor inconveniences that you have to overcome.

Bike2Work survey results

Results of the Bike2Work survey are now posted on the city’s website. See them for yourself here. Just over half of the respondents said that they had not ridden a bike to work in the past year. Still, almost half of you who took the survey did ride to work in the past year. That is great.

What stood out to me when I saw these results though, was the fact that over 20 percent of respondents had only ridden to work once or twice. Those people obviously have an interest in bike commuting, but, for whatever reason, don’t feel comfortable doing it on a regular basis. As I expected, the biggest obstacle chosen was “not feeling safe riding with traffic.” These results just confirm that there is work to be done on the local advocacy front. Improving the infrastructure for cycling is part of it, but educating drivers and cyclists about sharing the roads is at least equally important. Stay tuned here for more on that subject in future posts.

BTWD pictures

Yesterday, I requested pictures from the BTWD event. Jonathon emailed me a link to a post on his blog that features three pictures he took with his camera phone. Here you can see a few riders assembling at Hincapie Sportswear for the morning ride with the Mayor (I am right in the middle of this picture scratching my neck or something). Jonathon has two other pictures on his blog. The bottom one shows the crowd at Piazza Bergamo, but it looks like it was taken after people had already starting clearing out.

Anyway, Thanks again for the pictures Jonathon. If anyone else has shots from the event, please send them to me or let me know where I can find them on the web.

We had a great BTWD event

Greenville’s Bike to Work Day event last week was a great success. Over 60 cyclists showed up at Hincapie Sportswear early Friday morning for the ride with Mayor White and city council members to Piazza Bergamo. I want to thank those of you who got up early to participate in the ride on Friday. I think that Mayor White was impressed with the crowd as well. In his speech, the Mayor mentioned that it was a good turnout, but that next year we would shoot for an even 100 participants. Building on the success of this year’s event, I think that we, as a cycling community, can reach that goal for BTWD 2008.

I also want to again thank the sponsors for this year’s event. Atlanta Bread Company, Carolina Triathlon, Great Escape, Hincapie Sportswear, and Pulze Fitness all donated items that helped make this event a success. While I am thanking people, I should mention Greenville’s urban designer Andrew Meeker, who did the bulk of the work in putting this event together. I was glad to help him out a bit, but he deserves the credit for pulling this all together. Also, of course, thank you to Mayor Knox White for his participation and his continued dedication to making Greenville a bicycle friendly community. The Mayor mentioned a few projects in the works, including a planned underpass below River Street for the Greenway trail. This will link the busy path by Riverplace with the newest section of trail that currently begins at Linky Stone Park (the section that was part of the route on Friday morning).

If you were unable to attend, you can download a copy of the handout here (front and back) which has some basic commuting information. I would love to post pictures of the event, but somehow I forgot to pack my camera before I rode down on Friday. If any of you have pictures that you took on Friday and wish to share, please let me know.