My last post

I have hinted at ending this blog in the past, but this time it is for real. This will be my last post on Bike Greenville. As some of you may have read on the Spinner’s yahoo group list, I have officially stepped down from the position of Advocacy Chairperson with the Greenville Spinners. Outside of work, I have increasingly become involved with other volunteer commitments centered around my kids. I have been spread pretty thin lately and I feel like I haven’t been able to give bicycle advocacy projects the time that they deserve. Obviously you all know that cycling and bicycle related issues are important to me, but I have come to the realization that there is just not enough time in the day to do as much as I would like. Stepping down from the board was a tough decision, but I do think it was the right one…. which brings me to the really great news that I want to share. Scott McCrary, who many of you know from Tandem, Touring & Recumbent Bikes, will be taking over the position of advocacy chair. Scott has been very active on advocacy issues in the past, and I know he will do a great job leading the effort with the Spinners. Please welcome and support him in the role going forward. Trust me; we couldn’t have asked for a better person to take this job on.

I plan to stay involved with local advocacy issues in a supporting role (including serving on BPAC and the new BFC committee) and I hope that many of you who read this will stay (or get) involved as well. Many good things are happening in Greenville right now; we have a CIP budget for bike lanes that we will start seeing soon, we are getting close to the passage of a strong bicycle parking ordinance, and we are at the beginning of our Bicycle Friendly Community application process just to name a few things. (speaking of the BFC process, check out the City’s brand new webpage for bicycling if you haven’t seen it). Yep, it is a good time to be a cyclist in Greenville and things can get even better if we continue to work together. I encourage all of you to contact Scott if you have specific ideas or would like to help with local bicycle advocacy efforts.

Finally I want to mention that I started this blog after I became the advocacy chair because the Spinners site was in a state of transition. At the time, the Spinners website was infrequently updated, so this blog seemed like the best way to get news out to all of you. That was then, but now board members can post directly to the Spinners site, so you can look for future advocacy updates from Scott and everyone else there. Thanks to all of you who have been reading my thoughts and updates here. I hope that you will all continue over to the Spinners site to keep reading about the progress of advocacy efforts in Greenville. Believe me; good things are on the horizon for cycling here.

Bikes in the news and other updates

I have just a few things to quickly pass along today, mostly national level news. The House Congressional Resolution 305 (H.CON.RES. 305) sponsored by Representative Earl Blumenauer of Oregon is scheduled to be considered by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation today. The National Bike Bill as it is know passed the House in May and you can follow its status right here. I am late in passing this news along, but you can still contact your Senator to let him know that this is something you support.

I want to mention the feature story on CBS News Sunday Morning this week about bicycling. It is great to see this kind of attention to cycling as a form of transportation. As fuel prices rise and more people turn to bicycles, I expect that we will see more stories like this one. I guess it is kind of pointing out the obvious, but I want to say that with new riders taking to the streets in the coming months and years, the need to educate drivers and cyclist about safety and sharing the road will continue to become more important. I would say more than infrastructure, education should be the primary focus of bike advocacy groups right now.

Finally, I want to pass along a recent email that Natalie sent to the PCC membership about commenting on revisions to the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices. I am in too big a hurry to paraphrase, so see her entire message below:

It looks like the deadline will be extended for comments, but please share with anyone that might be interested. This is an opportunity to provide feedback on bike design and the rules that guide engineers in best practices. I realize this is technical but I know some of you might be interested in viewing the proposed changes and learning more on what is happening in regards to new bike infrastructure, signaling etc.

Members (or anyone) wishing to make comments regarding the proposed revised Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices have until Thursday to do so.

Apbp member Richard Moeur has placed much of the needed information on his website at http://www.trafficsign.us/npa.html . Richard chairs the Bicycle Technical Committee of the National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (NCUTCD). Here one can view the proposed new MUTCD text and view new tables and figures. There is also a link to view submitted comments for docket Federal Highway Administration(FHWA)-2007-28977, plus advice on submitting comments. Part 9 deals with Bicycles while Pedestrian matters are interspersed throughout--- This link will take you directly to bicycle issues--- http://www.trafficsign.us/npa/part09compl.pdf.

Apbp president Seleta Reynolds has prepared an overview Powerpoint presentation which is posed on our website at http://www.apbp.org/pdfsanddocs/mutcd_bpdg_6.20.08.ppt which summarizes some of the changes, as well as information relative to the California MUTCD, in case you need a quick familiarization.

To submit a comment, simply go to the www.regulations.gov website and search on "28977" (the regulatory number assigned to the new MUTCD). Then follow the instructions on the webpage.

Rock Hill Velodrome

Most of you have probably already heard about the possibility of a velodrome in Rock Hill, SC. According to an email from the Carolina Velodrome Association (CVA), a group that has worked toward this goal for many years, the project is coming along:

“Earlier this year, we were presented with an opportunity to place the velodrome in the center of a 100 acre, mixed use development. The developer has already donated the land and presented his support to the City Council. We have raised $500,000 and have the full support from USA Cycling. All the economic impact studies have been done, everything is set.”

Sounds great, but they are at a point now when they need our help. The CVA is asking the City of Rock Hill to pay for construction costs, and to jointly operate the velodrome with them. All of us who would use the velodrome need to let the Mayor and City Council know that we support it by the end of July. Take a minute to contact them (download contact info here) and let them know that you support the idea of building the only world-class velodrome in the southeast right here in South Carolina. If it helps, you can also download a sample letter to use. For more information, read about the velodrome effort on the news page of the CVA website.

Coincidently, I am writing this on the same day that I am selling my track bike of 20 years. Oh well, if the velodrome gets built, I’ll just have to buy a new one. At this point, let’s just voice our support to make sure that does happen.

Photo credit: Racing at the Lehigh Valley Velodrome in Trexlertown, PA by Fußgänger

A quick BFC workshop follow-up

The BFC workshop with Bill Nesper on Tuesday was a big success. I don’t have time to do a full recap today, but I do want to pass along the summary of the action step recommendations as determined by the workshop attendees (myself included). Also, I want to ask all of you reading this to think about volunteering to participate in one of the BFC committee based on the 5 E’s:

1. Engineering

2. Education

3. Encouragement

4. Evaluation & Planning

5. Enforcement

If you would like to participate, send an email to Andrew Meeker with the City of Greenville. You are welcome to contact me as well if you have ideas or if you would like a copy of the PowerPoint presentations from the meeting. I can’t stress enough that we really need for people to get involved to make this happen. Several cities in the southeast have received bronze level BFC designation. Here in Greenville, we have an exciting opportunity to work toward silver level. It won’t be easy, but I think it is a worthwhile goal.

Now, onto the 11 ACTION STEP RECOMMENDATIONS from the workshop:

1. Start a BFC Committee and set the goal of applying for the BFC application and reaching Gold by a certain time.

2. Set up a League Cycling Instructor seminar to certify instructors who can teach children, adults, an motorists. Start regular class for each of these groups.

3. Create a plan for improved signage (bike lanes, yield to bikes/pedestrians, share the road, bike parking) –start implementation on most traveled roads first.

4. Expand the bicycle network and increase network connectivity through the use of bike lanes, shared lane arrows and signed routes. This will provide a broader range of facility choices for users of various abilities and comfort levels.

5. Facilitate the creation of a stronger, more centralized advocacy group that will take the lead on education and encouragement program. Work with the PCC to launch this initiative

6. Create a bicycling website for Greenville that will act as a central hub for bicyclists and potential bicyclists to gather education tips, local bike routes, people to ride with, and news about events and other cycling-related activities. This site will also act as a place for bicyclists to comment on current bicycle projects and to report facility maintenance issues, etc.

7. Expand public education campaigns to promote the "share the road" message and the rights and responsibilities of all users. PAS'sPAS'S for TV, radio, and in print.

8. Adopt a Complete Streets policy in the community.

9. Develop a series of short (2-5 mi.) loops rides around the community and provide appropriate way-finding signage. Integrate these rides into a local bike map.

10. Improve marketing and education of bike rack and bus bike rack use. Ensure that drivers are educated as well.

11. Fill out BFC application!

Bicycle Friendly Community workshop

As hard as it is to do, I will take a break from following the web coverage of the Tour de France on my lunch hour to pass along a few updates and links.

Since Spartanburg was designated as a Bicycle Friendly Community not long ago, several people have asked when Greenville plans to apply for designation. It has been discussed among the Spinners and within the City for a long time, but Greenville just wasn’t ready… until now. Next Tuesday, the process begins with a workshop to educate City officials and business leaders about the benefits of becoming a bike friendly city. We are very lucky to have Bill Nesper, the League of American Bicyclists’ Director of the Bicycle Friendly Community program, here in Greenville next week to conduct the workshop. This workshop is the first official step toward BFC designation, so I will let you all know how it goes.

I was looking through the July/August issue of G Magazine (I think it is only the second issue) and I was surprised to see a short article about colored bike lanes (scroll down to read it here). When Portland started implementing the colored lanes in intersections in 2005 (if I remember correctly), I mentioned it to Jason V. who was the Spinners advocacy chair at the time. He was immediately interested in sharing information about painted lanes with Mayor White and City Council, so I pulled together some statistics from studies in Denmark, Sweden, and Montreal where the colored lanes were already in use. I hadn’t thought much about it since then, but it is good to know that the City is still interested. Of course, this is something that would most likely happen in the distant future; we need more bike lanes before we can start painting them green through intersections. But hey, we are making progress in Greenville and I do believe we could see colored lanes or bike boxes here someday.

Since I mentioned G magazine, I should point out that the same issue had a great article about a Main street bicycle shop from the 1800’s and a nice profile of George Hincapie. The other content is great too, so I encourage you to pick up a copy if you haven’t seen it.

This isn’t related to Greenville, but NBC Nightly News did a story on bicycle commuting this week. They mentioned Portland and pointed out that 6% of daily commuters in that city use bicycles. They also mentioned that Portland has 170 miles of bike lanes (not an unrelated fact to that commuter percentage). As someone who has commuted by bike off and on for nearly 20 years, it is great to see this kind of coverage about transportational cycling in the national news. Interest in bike commuting nationwide is at an all time high, so we need to prepare for more bike commuters here in Greenville going forward.

Finally, I just want to thank the guy with the Parlee TT bike who gave me his spare tube before the Spinners time trail at Donaldson last night. It wasn’t the first time I have showed up for a race or event unprepared and it probably won’t be the last. I offered to pay him for the tube, but he said something like “hey, we’ve all been there.” Very true, I have given people tubes, patches, etc. and have also been the recipient of such generosity on many occasions (including last night). Without getting too sappy, I’ll just point out that those within the cycling community look out for each other and that cyclists, in general, are a generous bunch. Sorry I didn’t get your name, but thanks again for the tube. Without it I would have just been sitting on the side of the road watching everyone else ride.

A convenience center for cyclists?

In keeping with the theme from my last post, I want to mention something else I would like to see in Greenville. I posted about this prototype cycling convenience center from Trek at my Bicycle Design blog. I would love to see one of these units in Greenville after the testing period is over. It’s a pretty cool idea for commuting cyclists who may be heading to and from work at times when the bike shops might not be open. I love the idea of being able to fix a flat with a tube from a bicycle specific vending machine.

While I am posting, I will mention the Bike MS ride this fall (Sept 27-28), a charity ride that is a 2-day, 150-mile event involving almost 2,000 cyclists. In past years, the ride has gone from Charlotte to Myrtle Beach, but this year they are moving it to Greenville. Cyclists will have start options on the first day in either Rock Hill or Greenville, and the second day all cyclists will ride a route in the Greenville area near Paris Mountain. Route options are 35-75-100miles the first day and 35-75 the second. More info is available on the MS ride webpage.

Why not here?

I encourage you to watch this short video of Portland’s first Ciclovia style street closure. With 6 miles of streets closed to automobiles for half a day one Sunday, residents had the opportunity to get out and walk, bike, skate and basically just celebrate being outside. Can you imagine something like this here in Greenville? The fact that Portland embraces ideas like this is exactly why they are a platinum level Bicycle Friendly Community. Greenville is not quite as bike friendly as Portland yet, but I don’t see why we couldn’t do something like this? We close off streets for events, including the US Pro Championship races, so why not close a handful of City streets for a few hours to remind everyone that streets really are for people?

While I am thinking of things I would love to see here in Greenville, I’ll mention the idea of a bike co-op workspace or a non-profit community bike shop. They vary from educational bike workspaces like the Bicycle Kitchen in LA to places like The Recyclery in Portland where they sell used bikes as well as teach people how to repair them. The common thread is these are places where old bikes can be fixed to get them back on the street, which translates to economical bikes for people who need them. Closer to home are the Asheville ReCyclery, Sopo bikes in Atlanta, and now the Hub Cycle program in Spartanburg. For now, any of you who have old bikes that you want to donate should direct them to the Hub Cycle program, but wouldn’t it be great to have something like that in Greenville?

Photo: kids riding at Portland’s Sunday Parkways event from BikePortland.org

Bicycle Safety Law

It’s official; the bicycle safety bill, H.3006, is now law! Governor Sanford signed the legislation yesterday at Outspokin’ Bicycles in Columbia. For any of you who don’t already know, we now have a safe passing distance law, which will make it easier to charge a driver who hits a cyclist. There is also a law against harassing a cyclist by yelling, honking, or throwing something out the window. A driver who does so will now face misdemeanor charges. Of course, those are just two elements of this legislation, which updates the South Carolina vehicle code pertaining to bicycles. All of the changes were designed to make our roads safer for cyclists, so this is a major victory for cyclists (and all road users) in South Carolina. Today’s copy of The State newspaper has a great article about the signing of the bill that I encourage you all to read for more information.

Some of you may have seen the article in The Greenville News about the legislation on Monday. Unfortunately, several of the people who chose to leave comments on the online version of that article expressed a less than favorable opinion of cyclists and our right to the road. Comments like “I too have lusted in my heart to throw stuff at bike riders” or “Bikes have no business on the road as they present an unnecessary safety issue” add no value to the news story and are most likely just attempts to cause a little trouble. Still, we shouldn’t overlook them entirely. Naturally, my first reaction to those comments is to get angry, but they do point to the fact that there is still much work to be done on the advocacy front. I hate to even acknowledge the people who left negative, even threatening, comments to that story, but I think it is important to remember that we still have a lot to do. I just want to point it out because if we don’t speak up for cycling issues and do our best to educate the cycling and driving public about sharing the road, you can bet the very small minority of drivers who want bikes off the roads entirely will make their voices heard.

Lastly, I want to share a message that Paul LeFrancois of the Palmetto Cycling Coalition sent out to thank everyone involved with the passage of this bill. Certainly, we all owe Paul, Natalie, and everyone involved with the PCC our thanks for their hard work to make this happen. This really is a big deal for all cyclist in South Carolina.

Here is the letter from Paul for any of you who missed it:

I'm not sure what role fate plays in life, but perhaps it had a little to do with the timing of today's signing of the Bicycle Safety bill by Governor Sanford. At the signing were Becky Giblin whose daughter Rachel lost her life in a automobile-bicycle crash during the 2006 MS Ride, and the family of Tom Hoskins, who died in October, 2007, in a an automobile-bicycle crash during a ride raising funds for brain injury research. As it turns out Monday, June 9 would have been Rachel's birthday and Wednesday, June 11 would have been Tom's birthday. Governor Sanford presented the two pens he used to sign the bill to Becky Giblin and to the Hoskins family. It was an emotional day with sadness for the losses these families suffered, but also a day filled with resolve and commitment to create a safer and healthier South Carolina and to reduce the likelihood of such tragedies occurring in the future. The work of the past two years did make a difference as H3006 - The Bicycle Safety bill was signed into law by Governor Sanford..

I wanted to share some thoughts on what helped us reach this achievement.

1. I'll start with the PCC's Executive Director Natalie Cappuccio-Britt and the PCC board. When you look up multi-tasking in the dictionary it should read: see Natalie. I don't think I need to go into the details of the demands on a one employee statewide advocacy organization. All I will say is that there were numerous challenges and obstacles to overcome (some expected, others not) through the two years from the initial drafting of H3006 to its signing today. Natalie handled them all with determination, endurance, professionalism and passion and with a belief that we can and will make a difference. PCC board members have given of their time and resources to invest in a better future for bicycling in South Carolina. Numerous trips to Columbia, fundraising, organizing local events, attending meetings, contacting local and state officials all took time away from what they and all of us enjoy - riding our bikes. Most of the PCC board members are also involved in advocacy activities in their local communities so they were doing double duty to advance the cause of better cycling conditions both locally and statewide. I want to thank them for the efforts they've made that led to today's success.

2. I remember a line from a movie that went something like "politics is in everything so you better get good at it." To help the PCC get good at it we hired Palmetto Public Affairs to assist us in moving H3006 through the political process. Rebecca Ramos and Matthew Van Pattern of PPA served as our eyes and ears at the State House. Their knowledge of the political process, their contacts with legislators and their ability to work with legislators across party lines were invaluable. They made a great team to support and mentor Natalie and the PCC board.

3. Politicians listen to their constituents. When we needed the cycling community to step up to the plate it did so - and it hit a home run. There were some bleak times when we feared H3006 was on life support if not dead. The contacts from constituents - in person, via phone calls, letters and e-mails proved critical to breathing life back into the bill and changing opinions of legislators about the merits of the legislation. Your voices were heard and without them we wouldn't have succeeded. Individuals matter. And each individual who contacted an elected official sent a message - I'm a cyclist, I'm a voter and I want you to support safe cycling conditions in South Carolina.

4. Champions. We had some tremendous support from legislators who went to battle for us and for a bill they truly believed could make for a safer and healthier South Carolina. Representative James Smith (D - Columbia) was the primary sponsor who the PCC worked with to pre-file the bill in December 2006. Representative Garry Smith (R - Greenville) attended every legislative event the PCC sponsored over the past two years and provided critical leadership along with James Smith in reconciling the House and Senate versions of the bill. Senator Danny Verdin (R - Laurens) moved the bill through subcommittee in the Senate and smoothed the way for final adoption when the bill came back from the House. Senators Hutto (D - Orangeburg), Hawkins (R - Spartanburg) and Malloy (D - Darlington) added amendments that strengthened the penalties against drivers at fault when cyclists are injured in crashes and those who harass or endanger cyclists. The list could go on, but needless to say these individuals were critical to passage of H3006.

What happens next?

If any of the above four ingredients had been left out of the mix we could not have succeeded. So for everyone who participated in the process please know that you did make a difference. It's now up to us to continue moving forward. H3006 wasn't a beginning or an ending - but it was a major accomplishment and part of a long-term process of advancing the idea that bicycling is a viable source of recreation, transportation, tourism and economic development in South Carolina and that bicycling can play a critical role in promoting healthy lifestyles and healthy communities and it can improve the quality of life in our state.

To all of the individuals and organizations who have supported the PCC from its fledgling years in the mid-1990s to the present - THANK YOU! Today's accomplishment would not have been possible without your support. There are still tremendous amounts of work to do in the areas of education, engineering, enforcement, etc. and we look forward to your continued participation and support in creating a truly bicycle friendly South Carolina.

Paul LeFrancois
Palmetto Cycling Coalition

A few overdue updates

At the beginning of May, I posted about a few upcoming events such as Bike to Work week, the Ride of Silence, and the Imagine Greenville County planning meetings. I have been meaning to do a follow up post on all of those, but I haven’t found the time until now.

Overall, Bike to Work week went well. I am not sure exactly how many people showed up with their bikes for the ABC quick checks on Monday through Wednesday, but I do know that Greenville’s urban designer Andrew Meeker talked to quite a few people at Piazza Bergamo who had questions about commuting and were interested in seeing the City’s trails and Greenway master plan.

I attended the Thursday evening “commuter 101” course at TTR and was pleased to see the turnout. Sally Nicholson and Paul LeFrancois did a great job of providing the group with basic safe riding and commuting tips. The group seemed to be pretty diverse in cycling experience, but I think most everyone got something out of the presentation. Many people asked questions, so I think it was definitely a worthwhile experience for all who attended.

Despite the rains overnight on Thursday, the commuter breakfast on Friday also went well. After a short ride from City Hall, Mayor White spoke about his vision of a bike friendly Greenville. He made what I thought was a great comparison between the current bike lane, trail, and greenway plans and the Liberty Bridge project that became a reality just a few years ago. Though Liberty Bridge and all of Falls Park has become a showcase for the City, it started with just a handful of people who really wanted to see it happen and were willing to put forth the effort to make that dream a reality. There was certainly some opposition to the idea of tearing down an automobile bridge and building a pedestrian bridge in its place, but now that the project is complete, almost all Greenville residents are proud of Falls Park and view the new bridge as a symbol of the City. Let’s hope that future efforts to make Greenville bicycle and pedestrian friendly will be received the same way.

Another highlight of the commuter breakfast was Greenville Spinners club president Tim St. Clair’s presentation of a “Lights for Life” light to Police Chief Wilfong. Michelle James has been the driving force behind this initiative to get free blinky lights in the hands of those who need them by partnering with local law enforcement. I think this is a great initiative, so I really appreciate the time that Michelle has put into it. I also want to mention Charleston attorney Peter Wilborn, who spoke to the Spinners at a club meeting about the importance of using lights. He is the one who donated the first 100 Planet Bike Blinky lights for this program, so we owe him our thanks for that. I almost forgot, we gave away really nice waterbottles (donated by the Great Escape) at the commuter breakfast. You can see one in the picture with the lights.

The joint Greenville/Spartanburg Ride of Silence on Hwy 101 was well attended and well organized. Hundreds of cyclists rode to remember those who have been killed or injured while riding on the roads. It would be great to say it went off without a hitch, but one incident that took place during the ride points to the fact that the “share the road” message still needs to get out. The driver of a car, who was apparently not happy to see so many cyclists on the road, swerved near some of the riders. A Spartanburg County deputy who was escorting the ride pursued the driver for a short distance, but backed off to avoid a dangerous high-speed chase near the ride. Apparently the driver continued to travel at high speed until he flipped his car near the junction with I-85. I didn’t see it happen, but as the group I carpooled with left the ride, we saw the flipped car and skid marks. I didn’t know the full story until I saw it on the news that evening.

Lastly, I want to mention the last Imagine Greenville planning meeting that took place on May 13th. As I mentioned in previous posts, Nigel Darrington attended a few of these County meetings and reported that the issue of “Bikeways” was in the top 5 vote counts for all of the meetings he was able to attend. I am happy to report that it took the top spot at this last meeting by a large margin. Everyone at the meeting was given a survey to fill out. If you missed the meeting, you can still fill out the survey online to let the County know that bike lanes and greenway trails are something you care about.

The Bicycle Safety Bill is almost law!

So many of you on the Spinners email list did a great job of contacting your Senators and Representatives over the last couple weeks in support of H3006. Some of the concerns that came up were short notice, but I appreciate the fact that Greenville cyclists really responded. The great news is that our effort, along with that of cyclists in the rest of the state, has paid off. See the message below that Natalie just sent out to the PCC membership.

PCC Members,

What a great day for cyclists! The Senate concurred with the House amendment and the bill passed this afternoon!!!!!! I cannot thank the members of the PCC enough, you all made this happen! Your phone calls, emails and passion are the reason this bill passed successfully. It has definitely been a long fight! I am so very grateful to all of you that participated in the political process in order to make South Carolina a more bicycle friendly state!! We will actually have a cyclist harassment law (this means if you throw something out of your car, honk unnecessarily, or yell obscenities at cyclists you will get a $1000 ticket!) and we will have a safe passing distance law!!!!!!! We still need the Governor to sign the bill into law.

There is much to do immediately so I have little time to write but please know that I am so appreciative to each of you that have worked so hard to make this happen. I am so grateful to all PCC members, without you the PCC would not exist!

Please read the info below for more detail, it is very important you thank your legislators. Furthermore, please take a moment to thank the legislators listed below that went above and beyond the call of duty to fight for equitable laws for cyclists.

We are truly pedaling forward.

Natalie

Palmetto Cycling Coalition

While I am posting this great news, I want to recognize Greenville County district 27 Representative Garry Smith who has worked very hard for cyclists and for this bill. Representative Smith spoke at the press conference this week and was one of the Representatives who worked to revise the language for violations involving injuries to cyclists in the final version of the Bill. If you live in his district, make sure that you let him know how much you appreciate his efforts.

And of course, thanks to all of the Greenville area legislators who supported this bill. As Natalie said, this is a great day for cyclists in South Carolina

H3006 press conference

I have mentioned H3006, The Bicycle Safety Bill on the blog a few times. This legislation, which will update our state traffic laws pertaining to bicyclsts, is extremely important. For those of you who don't know, the bill went though the House and then through the Senate. Just this week, the House adjourned without voting to approve the Senate version of the bill. One legislator is strongly opposed to the Senate amendments and is working to convince others to vote against concurrence with the Senate version and to send the bill to conference committee. We don't want the bill to go to conference committee, so please contact your representative if you haven't already.

Also, please plan to attend a press conference on Tuesday, May 27 at 11 AM in the lobby of the State House in Columbia if you can. Please wear regular clothes and the PCC will give you a sticker to identify you as a bicycle supporter. I know it is late notice on Memoral Day weekend, but attend if you can. Unfortunately, I have a speaking engagement on Tuesday at 12:30, so I won't be able to make it down to Columbia. Hopefully some of you from Greenville can attend and show our support. We really need to see H3006 signed into law.

Bike to Work Day breakfast

I have mentioned it a few times, so I won’t go into detail, but I want to remind everyone about tomorrow’s Bike to Work Day commuter breakfast at Piazza Bergamo. You are welcome to stop by Piazza Bergamo anytime from 7:15 to 9:00 for bagels and coffee. If you want to ride to the event with Mayor White, plan to meet at City Hall just before 7:15.

Also, don’t forget the Commuter 101 course tonight at TTR. More information about both events can be found here. I hope to see some of you downtown later today and in the morning.

By the way, these are photos of the 2007 Bike to Work Day event courtesy of Jonathon Pait. I think the turnout last year was pretty good, and this year promises to be even better.

Events in May

I have mentioned that next week is Bike to Work week a few times so I won’t elaborate on that. I do, however, want to point out a couple of other events that are coming up soon.

Next Tuesday, May 13 at 6:30pm, will be the last public meeting for the Greenville County comprehensive plan. This meeting, which should last no longer than an hour and a half, will take place at Greenville County Square in Conference room D. Nigel Darrington has attended a few of the meetings and has done a great job speaking for all of us who regularly ride in the County. He reports that the issue of Pedestrian/ Bikeways was in the top 5 vote counts for the three meetings he was able to attend. Let’s show up at this last meeting to help shape the future of Greenville County and to support the great advocacy work that Nigel has started.

Also, mark your calendars for the Upstate Ride of Silence which will take place on Wednesday, May 21st. This ride, which will take place on the same day in cities all over the world, was started in Dallas, Texas in 2003 to honor cyclists who have been killed or injured while cycling on public roadways. Riders will proceed in single file at no more than 12 mph to pay respect to fallen cyclists and to raise public awareness about the presence of cyclists on the roads in our communities.

Following are the details of this year’s ride from Kimberly Morgan and Richard Dillard, both of whom did a great job organizing the event last year:

What: Upstate RIDE OF SILENCE (For ALL abilities) We need/want veteran cyclists and beginning cyclists.

Why: Bring attention to the huge population of cyclists in the Upstate and need for safe roads. Tribute to fallen/injured cyclists

Goal: 200+ cyclists riding single file 10 yards apart, stretching over a mile.

Date: Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Time: 7:00 P.M (Some will again be riding to the Ride of Silence)

Place: Bruce Group Auctions - (2.5 miles south of I-85 on Highway 101 in Greer.)

Pace: Maximum 12mph

Route: South on Hwy. 101 bike lanes toward Woodruff for 6 miles to Bellview Church and return.

Course: Flat, Flat, Flat !!!

Helmets Required

Calling Greer cyclists

I just want to pass along this information from Chip Radford, who will be serving on one of the Greer Citizen Committees to help shape the city’s new Comprehensive Land Use Plan. As I mentioned earlier, I am serving on one of the Greenville Citizen Committees (transportation), and I think this is a good opportunity for local cyclists to get involved at the early planning stage. Here is the info from Chip for any of you Greer cyclists who want to help shape the area’s future:

Greer is embarking on the Comprehensive Land Use Plan. There will be a kick off tomorrow (May 6) at the new Police station. I was asked and will be serving on the planning committee. There will also be a lot of sub-committees in which local and county input will be invaluable. Below are a couple of links; one outlining the meeting tomorrow and another to the Citizens Theme Committees. If any of you can find some time, I hope you will entertain providing some expertise with the future growth of Greer.

Click for meeting information

Click for Committee themes

Bike to Work Week events flyer

May is upon us and Bike to Work Week is just a couple of weeks away, so I want to remind all of you of some of the events that the City, the Spinners, and the other generous BTWW sponsors have planned. As I mentioned earlier, you can keep checking the City’s bike2work website for the latest information and scheduling. Also, you can click on the attached flyer and print it out to let your friends and coworkers know about the events planned that week. If you would like a higher resolution file of the flyer to print and distribute, shoot me an email and I will be happy to send you one. Speaking of the flyer, I want to credit Richard (aka Fritz at Cyclelicious) for the photo. Thanks for giving me permission to use it.

The free ABC quick checks at Piazza Bergamo on Monday though Wednesday from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm will provide a great opportunity for those who haven’t ridden in a long time to dust of the old bikes in the garage and have them checked out by a professional mechanic. Be sure to tell all your friends who don’t ride often about this great opportunity to get that old bike rolling again. Thanks to TTR, Carolina Triathlon, and The Great Escape for donating their time and resources to make this bike safety check up happen.

The Commuter safety 101 course, which will take place at the new downtown location of Tandem, Touring, and Recumbent Bikes on Thursday evening, is an event that will be great for cyclists of all skill levels. You will benefit from the knowledge of two LAB League Certified Instructors who will cover the basics of riding safely with traffic. TTR has generously donated door prizes and will have commuter oriented demo bikes and products available for you to try out, so plan to be there. I want to remind you that pre-registration is required, so email Andrew Meeker with the City if you plan to attend.

Finally, the Bike to Work Day commuter breakfast will take place on Friday, the 16th . Stop by during your bike commute anytime between 7:15 and 9 am for free coffee and bagels from Coffee Underground. Mayor White will be there to update us on the progress toward making Greenville a Bicycle Friendly Community. While you are there, you can pick up your free Greenville BTWW event waterbottle donated by the Great Escape. There will probably also be an informal “ride with the Mayor” right before 7:15 from City Hall to Piazza Bergamo for those of you who will be downtown early (more information on that will follow). Overall, it should be a great event to cap off Bike to Work Week in Greenville, so I hope that many of you will join us to fuel up before your ride to work.

TdG photos

This is not really advocacy related, but I wanted to go ahead and pass along a couple links to the shots I took at the Tour de Georgia last week. I had fun photographing the race and I think some of the pictures turned out nice, like this one of local Greenville pro George Hincapie (who had a great race).

If you are interested, you can see a collection of my shots from the stage 4 team time trial at Road Atlanta right here. My pictures of stage 6, which finished on Brasstown Bald can be found in this set. It was a great race this year; makes me look forward to the US Pro races here in the fall.

“Lights for Life”

Yesterday, I was at the Tour de Georgia team time trial at Road Atlanta. It really was a great stage and I had a lot of fun photographing it. To say that I was excited about the race, and cycling in general, as I drove back to Greenville would be an understatement. To be honest, advocacy was not on my mind as I sorted through and cropped my pictures, but unfortunately it came to the forefront when I checked my email this afternoon. I saw a couple of messages about a tragic cycling fatality that occurred last night in Greenville and the news certainly put a damper on my excitement.

It appears from the news story that a cyclist was killed by an 18-wheeler while riding on White Horse road at around 9:30 pm. I don’t know any details about the accident, and I don’t want to speculate. No matter what the circumstances were, this is a horrible tragedy. If the cyclist was riding at night without lights though, it is all the more reason that we should support the Greenville Spinners new “Lights for Life” project that Michelle James has been putting a lot of effort into lately. Basically, the idea is to give away free rear lights to those who ride for transportation and who really need them. The Spinners are teaming up with the Greenville County Sheriffs Department and the Greenville Police Department to distribute the lights. Charleston cyclist Peter Wilborn, who spoke to the Spinners at a club meeting about bicycle safety and pointed out with statistics how lights can save lives, will supply the lights.

Tim St. Clair sent out a great email about this to the Spinners list, but I want to mention it again for any of you who might not have received it. Next Tuesday, the 29th at 5:30 before the Donaldson ride, Peter and the Spinners will meet with law enforcement and provide them with lights to distribute to those they see riding at night without them. WHFF-TV will be on hand to cover the event, so show up a half hour early for the ride if you can to show support for the “Lights for Life” initiative. Hopefully this effort can save some lives. Thanks to Peter, Michelle and everyone else for making this happen.

Bike to Work Week

I mentioned in my last post that the City of Greenville will be taking part in National Bike to Work Week on May 12th through 16th. The City's official 2008 BTWW website is now up, so check out the schedule of events here.

I am adding a permanent link to the side bar as well, so keep watching the site. If you have never tried bike commuting before, start planning now to ride to work next month. You won't be alone and we will provide resources and information to make it easy and fun.

Bicycle infrastructure funding update and more

Thanks to all of you who attended the City Council meeting last night. A fairly large group of cyclists showed up in support of funding for bike lanes and greenways; in fact, the Greenville News mentioned us on the front page of today’s paper (though I couldn’t find the article online). As expected, City Council passed the C.I.P budget, which includes just under 5 million dollars over the course of the next 5 years for greenways and bike lanes. That is great news and I am looking forward to working with the City as a representative of the Spinners to get some of these projects implemented. Before I move on to another subject, I want to again express thanks to the Mayor, City Council, and the City Manager and his staff for including this funding for cycling and pedestrian projects in the budget.

Good things are happening in the City, but don’t forget the County Comprehensive plan workshops that are also happening this month. I plan to attend the next one on April 17th , 6:30pm at Hillcrest High. After that, only two more meetings are left; Traveler’s Rest on the 22nd and Woodmont on the 24th. Nigel Darrington attended the meeting last week at Mauldin High, and he said that his topic of Pedestrian Bikeways was voted as the number one topic at the end of the meeting. The data collected at these meeting will be used to direct funding, so it is important that cycling interests are represented at each. I hope that some of you will join Nigel and me at the next meeting at Hillcrest. Lets carry some of the positive momentum from the City efforts on to the County.
Updated 4/16: I just found out that I have a scheduling conflict and won't be able to make it tomorrow night (scheduling anything is tough with three young kids). Hopefully some of you who live near Simpsonville can attend the workshop and speak up for cycling.

Finally, I want to mention Bike To Work Week, May 12th – 16th. Planning is underway and many more details will follow, but I want to mention it briefly now so you can all plan to ride to work that week. The focus this year is “Encouragement and Education” and great events along those lines will be taking place all week. I’ll post a schedule of events here soon and I will link to the City’s official BTWW website. For now though, here are just a few of the events planned for Bike to Work Week in Greenville:

- May 12th, 13th, and 14th, we are offering FREE bicycle safety check-ups during lunch. Bring your commuter bike to Piazza Bergamo anytime between 11:30am-1:30pm to have a local bicycle mechanic get it ride ready. We'll provide air for your tires, check out your brakes, and look over your drivetrain. There will be bicycle demos and lots of commuter information available.

-Thursday, May 15th at 6:30pm on the Swamp Rabbit Trail in Downtown Greenville, the Greenville Spinners are hosting a Bicycle Commuter Training Course. This 1-hour course will give you the knowledge and confidence to safely ride your bike with traffic. This course is geared towards individuals who would like to use a bicycle as a form of transportation while getting exercise, having fun, and saving gas money. Pre-registration is required, so please visit the Bike-to-Work website (soon to come) for registration information.

-Friday, May 16th, National Bike-to-Work Day. Try making that trip from your house to your office by Bike! You'll be rewarded if you stop by Piazza Bergamo anytime between 7am-8:30am with free Bagels and Coffee.

Spartanburg in American Bicyclist

I received the March issue of American Bicyclist (the LAB magazine) yesterday and it features short write-ups about all of the Bicycle Friendly Communities that have been designated so far. As you all know, Spartanburg was designated at the Bronze level recently after a lot of effort from local cyclists and City leaders, so naturally that was the page I turned to first.

The article points out the Bike Town initiative, which helped to make bike infrastructure, and funding for it, a priority in Spartanburg. It also mentions popular events like the Assault on Mt. Mitchell and the Smith Barney Classic (now the Steadman Hawkins Classic). Interestingly, the unanimous passing of Complete Streets resolutions at both the City and County level was listed as Spartanburg’s most significant recent accomplishment. Best of all, it points out that Spartanburg has made a commitment to continue funding the Bicycle Friendly Community campaign in order to reach more ambitious goals. Congratulations again to Spartanburg. Hopefully we in Greenville can join them as a BFC designated community soon.

While I am posting, I want to mention the article in the Greenville News this morning about City greenways. For those of you who haven’t seen it, progress on the Reedy River Greenway from Greenville Tech to downtown is coming along.

“Imagine Greenville”- The County’s Comprehensive plan

This is something that I completely missed until today when I saw a message about it on the Spinner’s list (thanks Nigel for getting this info out). Greenville County is in the process of updating its comprehensive plan and is holding a series of public meetings to get input from the community. Bike lanes were discussed at the meetings that have already taken place, so we need to make sure that the cycling community is represented at future meetings. Bike lanes, Greenways, and the County “Share the Road” effort are all topics that are worth bring up in this public forum.

Each meeting starts at 6:30pm and should end at around 8. A couple of the meetings have already taken place, but here is the schedule for future meetings:

Monday, April 7th Mauldin High School

Tuesday, April 8th Berea High School

Thursday, April 10th Carolina High School

Thursday, April 17th Hillcrest High School

Tuesday, April 22nd Travelers Rest High School

Thursday, April 24th Woodmont High School

Find out more about “Imagine Greenville” on the County’s website. I will make it to at least one of the future meetings and I hope that some of you can attend these as well. As Nigel pointed out in his message to the Spinner’s list, “It is crucial that we as cyclist get involved and make a difference about the future of Cycling in Greenville, before someone else does it for us!”

Bicycle infrastructure funding

I already mentioned this on the Spinner’s email list, but it is worth mentioning again here for anyone who is not on that list. At the upcoming meeting on April 14th at 5:30, City Council will vote to approve the Capital Improvement Budget, which includes the following items.

1) $45,000 per year for bicycle lanes and bicycle infrastructure in the City limits. This 45k will be available each year for the next 5 years for a total of $225,000. The money will begin implementation of the Bicycle Infrastructure Master Plan that the Spinners and the City developed 3 years ago (see a map of that plan here).

2) $4.5 million over the next 5 years for City-wide trails and greenways. This money will continue implementation of the City's Trails and Greenways Master Plan, which was developed last year by Greenways Incorporated and the City staff.

This is great news so I hope that many of you will join me at City Hall in a couple of weeks to express your support. We have a Greenville Spinners club meeting planned that same night at 6:30 at Coffee Underground, so please plan to come downtown one hour earlier to let the Mayor, City Council, and City staff know that we support this effort and that we appreciate all of their work on cycling issues.

Plan-it Greenville Theme Committees

I received an email this week about committees that are being established for the different Plan-it Greenville themes. Basically, if you live and/or work in the City of Greenville, you can volunteer to participate on any of the different citizen advisory committees based on the themes that have been identified so far. Each committee will meet 3 times during the spring and summer to discuss goals and make recommendations related to the theme. The meetings will most likely take place during the lunch hour and each committee will select the dates to meet. I encourage you to read about all six of the Plan-it Greenville themes right here, but I want to point out (directly from the Plan-it Greenville email) the three themes that I think impact us the most as cyclists:

Transportation: The theme committee will address public transportation and providing adequate infrastructure so that individuals have sidewalks, bike lanes and roads for travel options. Also Transit Oriented Developments (TODs) will be studied and transit corridors will be identified.

Healthy Living and a Pedestrian-friendly environment: The theme committee will address creating walkable spaces, green spaces for parks and community vegetable gardens, sidewalks, cross walks, bike lanes, smaller streets with slower speeds, and neighborhood commercial and mixed use areas.

Green/ Environment: This theme committee will look at ways to protect natural spaces such as the Reedy River, landscaping requirements, encouraging Green development, reducing greenhouse gases through reduction of vehicle miles traveled, and sustainability in future development and redevelopment.

I have already expressed interest in participating on the Transportation committee. If others of you are interested in that one as well, I encourage you to email planit@greatergreenville.com and let them know that you would like to participate. I hope that a few of you will choose to participate on the other two committees as well. It would be really great to have representatives from the cycling community serving on all three committees, so please let me know if any of you decide to sign up.

STR update

As I mentioned before, new Share the Road signs are up on Chick Springs Road. In the City of Greenville, signs are soon to be up in Cleveland Park, on Roper Mountain Road, and on Villa Road to name a few locations. As you know, the effort is moving a bit slower in the County, but I did recently hear from SCDOT that they are going to “make up work orders for sign maintenance crews to implement installation” based on the list of locations that the Spinners members helped to put together. The SCDOT district office can’t promise to include every route that we mentioned, but I am glad to hear that they are going to try to “fulfill the current list.” I will continue to post updates on the County Share the Road effort as I have them.

Swamp Rabbit Trail Roadzyme Demonstration

For those of you who might be interested, I want to pass along the following message from Greenville County Director of Greenways Ty Houck. Sounds interesting; I’ll have to see if my work schedule will allow me to get out and see this demonstration next Tuesday.

Tuesday February 26th all day, weather permitting we will be doing a demonstration of Roadzyme. Engineers will be on-site all day next Tuesday for questions.

Roadzyme is a road building product that is:

- non-toxic, made from sugar beet extract
-will not leach a pollutant like asphalt
- significantly less expensive than asphalt
-environmentally friendly
-quick and easy to install

The demonstration site is at the southern end of the Furman lake across the dam. Park at the public parking at the student center and take the short walk over the dam, at the end of the road is an access gate to the trail. This is an exciting green product that we want your opinion on so hope to see you there.

Update 2/26: Due to the rain today, the demonstration will probably be moved to Thursday or Friday. Stay tuned.


Update 2/28: Friday it is. Check it out if you can.

More Share the Road news

In a recent post, I mentioned a few places in the City of Greenville where “Share the Road” signs will soon be installed. I just found out about one more road, Chick Springs. It sounds like two signs have been approved for that road and are currently being fabricated by the City. Many local cyclists use Chick Springs as a route from Altamont/ Paris Mountain to downtown, so it will be great to have the signs there to remind motorist of the presence of cyclists. Thanks to the City Staff for getting this done. I hope to see many more STR signs popping up in the City limits as the year progresses

So far, my attempts to get more “Share the Road” signs in the County have not been very successful, but I still consider that to be a major advocacy goal for 2008. I don’t want to blame the County entirely though; part of the problem has probably has been that I have not had the time to spend and have not been talking to all the right people. Any help that all of you can provide with contacts would be greatly appreciated. “Share the Road” signs are a cost effective way to spread the message that cyclists have a right to use the roadways, so there is no reason that we shouldn’t be able to get signs installed on the routes that we most often use.

One thing that all of you can do is use the form that is shown here (click to enlarge) to let the SCDOT know which roads in Greenville County need “Share the Road” signs. I encourage any of you who have a specific route in mind to identify specific locations on that road (with pictures if possible), fill out this form, and send it to the SCDOT (or just send it to me and I will forward it for you). As I mentioned before, Old Buncombe is the highest priority road in my opinion. Let’s work to get signs installed along that road before the US pro races in August.

Some good news

The Palmetto Cycling Coalition recently sent out a press release to announce that South Carolina Bicycle Safety Bill H.3006 passed in the House in January by a vote of 105-0. That is great news and we owe the PCC our thanks for their hard work on this for the past couple years. Those of you who have been following the progress of this bill know that it revises South Carolina bicycle statutes to bring them into greater conformity with the Uniform Vehicle Code. Two of the reforms in the bill that stand out to me are the establishment of a minimum passing distance (five feet) and the elimination of a mandatory sidepath law.

In the PCC press release, Paul Lefrancios, President of the PCC is quoted as saying “We are so excited about the House passage of this bill. South Carolina is 4th in the nation for cycling fatalities. This is unacceptable. And House members agreed.” I have mentioned South Carolina’s terrible record on cycling safety before on this blog, and you can view the 2004 NHTSA statistics on cycling fatalities for yourself right here. Our state’s rate of 5.24 cycling fatalities for every million state residents is well over twice the national average; a fact which, as Mr. Lefrancios stated, is quite unacceptable.

You can read the PCC position paper on the legislation here. The bill will now go on to the State Senate for consideration as S.0354. In the Senate, the PCC is working to improve the bill by removing the Single File amendment, which would require cyclists to ride single file rather than two abreast. As the PCC’s Executive Director Natalie Cappuccio Britt points out, the Single File amendment “would prohibit parents from riding next to their children” and “It is far more difficult and dangerous for a motorist to pass a long line of cyclists riding single file versus two abreast.”

The bill is expected to pass in the Senate this year, but it still needs support from all the cyclists in South Carolina. If you are not already a PCC member, I encourage you to join them in their effort to make our state bicycle friendly.

While I am posting good news, I also want to mention that the Greenville City Council officially adopted the “Trails & Greenways Master Plan” at Monday evening’s City Council meeting. In addition, some good discussion took place at that meeting regarding implementation of additional bike lanes downtown in the near future. A few of you have mentioned that the downtown bicycle plan, which City Council endorsed in 2005, seems to have stalled a bit recently. That may be true, but I am still optimistic that we will see some progress in 2008. Mayor White, the City Council, and many members of the City staff openly support bicycle infrastructure projects, so we just need to continue to communicate our needs and desires to them. I received very positive responses from several City Council members to my comments, and to a follow up email that I sent, about a greater emphasis on bike lanes and “Share the Road” signage in the city of Greenville. As I said before, the City is working on several projects and I think we will see some notable improvements this year. Still, we can’t just wait for things to happen. We need to keep communicating with the City and helping them to pinpoint areas where improvements to make cycling safer are necessary. I don’t have all the ideas, so I am asking all of you to let me know what improvements you would like to see to make Greenville a bike friendly town.

Share the Road update

In September, I asked members of the Spinners email list to suggest roads in Greenville County that would be good candidates for “Share the Road” signage. Many of you responded to help me put together a great list. Some routes on that list stand out as clear priorities and work still needs to be done to get signs installed in several of those locations. To be honest, the effort to get additional “Share the Road” signs in the County has been slow, but I do want to share with you a few locations where you will see new signs soon in the City of Greenville.

Cleveland Park will get six new “Share the Road” signs very soon, most likely by the end of February. Many local cyclists ride through Cleveland Park so we all owe Greenville’s Urban Designer Andrew Meeker a big thanks for his efforts to get these signs approved and implemented. In this case, the City's Traffic Engineering Division is doing the sign fabrication and installation, so I think we can expect to see them installed without much delay.

Another location where signs have been officially approved and will appear soon is on Roper Mountain at the 385 bridge crossing and also on Roper Mountain as it crosses Woodruff. Though this seems like a busy location for cycling, it is a route used by several cyclists (myself included) to get to the ICAR/Millennium Campus/Verdae area. As this area develops further, bicycle traffic on the roads leading in will greatly increase, so it is important to get out the Share the Road message early. I brought this location to the attention of City Councilman Sudduth, and I really would like to thank him for his prompt attention to my emails on this subject and for his support of cycling in general.

In my mind, the next big priority for “Share the Road” signs is Old Buncombe. That road is heavily used by local cyclists and came out at the top of my informal poll. As I mentioned early, efforts to get signs in the County have been slow, but I think we can do it if we focus on locations one at a time. I don’t know if it will happen, but my goal is to have new “Share the Road” signs installed on Old Buncombe before the US Pro Championships at the end of August. I’ll let you know in the future what you can do to help make this happen. It is a slow process and it takes a lot of support from the public to get these things done. Thanks again to those of you who have helped so far. Trust me, I will be calling on you again.

I also owe you all an update on the progress toward new bike lanes, both downtown and beyond. Some of the news is good and some is not so good, but I will save that for a future post. Again, making Greenville a bike friendly place is something that we can do if we work together as a cycling community. I would love to see it all happen faster, but sometimes it takes baby steps to make a positive change.

"Reward" for the apprehension of the white pickup

I briefly mentioned the troublesome white pickup in my previous post. Bill Reichert is offering a reward of sorts for the capture of the driver. He will donate $100 to the Palmetto Cycling Coalition when the pickup is apprehended by law enforcement officials.

Bill challenges other cyclists that ride Dividing Waters and nearby roads to pony up and make cycling safe again. If you are interested, email me your reward/donation commitment now and I'll see all are complied and posted later.

Threats to cyclists, here and elsewhere

Some of you may have seen the December 27th article by Matthew Parris in the London based paper, The Times. The column, titled What’s smug and deserves to be decapitated?, has sparked a bit of outrage among cyclists on the Internet. In his column, Parris says "A festive custom we could do worse than foster would be stringing piano wire across country lanes to decapitate cyclists." In the course of his article he goes on to make several more threatening statements aimed at the “panting, sugar-gulping, chocolate-chewing, Lycra-clad leisure-cyclist?” Read the article for yourself to see how truly sickening it is.

Bike Biz, the British trade journal for the cycling industry, now reports that the Press Complaints Commission has received over 200 complaints making this the 3rd most complained about article of 2008. Parris has since apologized saying, “It was meant humorously but so many cyclists have taken it seriously that I plainly misjudged. I am sorry." Yeah right. It just sounds to me like he just wants to keep his job (for the record, I don’t think he should).

Since Parris' column appeared in a major world newspaper, it has received a lot of attention. When I first read it though, it reminded me of the article that was recently written by a columnist in the nearby Boone, NC newspaper, The Ashe Mountain Times, about cyclists on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The author of that column, Ron Fitzwater, though less directly threatening, was just as ignorant as Parris saying things like, “Roads are made for cars and are not safe for bikes, these are facts that are not debatable and it is time cyclists came to grips with them.” Fitzwater also suggested to cyclists, “when cars are coming, get off the road. After all, having to stop and start over again is better than getting a real close look at the undercarriage of a Cherokee.” For those of you who have not seen the Fitzwater article, The Incidental Cyclist posted about it a month ago and his post includes a link to a pdf file of it.

The Boone article hits closer to home than the London one, but even closer to home for cyclists in Greenville are the repeated threats and attacks on individual riders that have been made by the driver of a white truck on the route to Saluda. As has been mentioned on the local cycling clubs’ email lists, several local cyclists have had altercations with this driver who obviously wants us off the road. Hopefully, with renewed attention on these incidents, the driver will be caught and off the road himself soon.

Though only one of the people I mentioned in this post is physically acting on his aggression, the behavior of all three of these cyclist-hating individuals should be cause for great alarm. Unfortunately there are others out there who feel the same way and don’t want us on the roads. Personally, these attitudes only increase my resolve to work on “share the road” initiatives and other local cycling advocacy issues. I hope that many of you will join me in 2008 to really push for a cycle friendly Greenville County. We may not be able to win over everybody, but we can definitely work make the streets of Greenville and the surrounding area safer for all users.