Bike Month is underway!

I mentioned in my last post that Bike Month almost here. Well scratch that now…it is upon us, and it is going to be the best one yet! Be sure to check the list of events again and plan to get out on your bike and join us this month. In addition to the scheduled events throughout the month of May, don’t forget the ongoing Bikeville Commuter Challenge (sign up at WorldCommute.com first) and the photo contest that are underway now. 

You can keep checking the Bikeville site for information. I’ll also be posting links and info on the Bike Greenville Facebook page, so “like” it if you haven’t already for updates throughout Bike Month.

Just a couple other things to mention while I am posting…

Tonight, May 3^rd, from 5:30 to 7:00 there will be a sign up for the Stars and Stripes Challenge at Pedal Chic in downtown Greenville. Those who sign up tonight will be eligible for some great prizes including a Jamis bicycle courtesy of Fairway Subaru. Check the Pedal Chic Facebook page for more info.

In a recent profile of Upstate South Carolina, Southwest Airlines’ Spirit magazine called Greenville “Cycle City”. Read the section about cycling here in this pdf of the “Play” section. It’s great to see more positive coverage of Greenville’s cycling scene in a national publication. Let's keep the good things happening here.

Bike Month is almost here!

I have been traveling for the last three weeks, so I haven’t been able to post anything about Bike Month events in Greenville. May is almost here though, so I want to quickly mention the many scheduled events that Bikeville, the City, and other sponsors have planned.

The full list of events is below, so mark your calendars to attend (and maybe volunteer for) a few of these. You can download the official Greenville Bike Month pdf poster for times and more information about each event.

• TUESDAY, MAY 3 & 17 - ICAR Family Fun Ride
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  SATURDAY, MAY 7 - Free Bike Valet - Saturday Market
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  SUNDAY, MAY 15 - Drive Me to Wellness Event
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  SUNDAY, MAY 15 - Greenville Drive Bike Valet
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  MONDAY, MAY 16 - Free Bike Commuter Course
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  WEDNESDAY, MAY 18 - Ride of Silence
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  WEDNESDAY, MAY 18 - Free Bike Valet – Moonlight Movie
• 
  FRIDAY, MAY 20 - National Bike-to-Work Day
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  SATURDAY, MAY 21 - Mountain Bike Skills Clinic
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  FRIDAY, MAY 27 - Critical Cruise Community Bike Ride
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  SATURDAY, MAY 28 - Community Bike Ride and Free Bike Valet - USA Cycling Championships Time Trial
• 
  MONDAY, MAY 30 - Free Bike Valet - USA Cycling Professional Championships Road Race

Bikeville has a new Pedal Power Generator that will be featured at many of these events. You can drop by to take a spin and generate some electricity to “help keep us off the grid with some old fashion human power.”

A photo contest is new for this year. The winner in each of 5 categories will receive a prize, and more importantly will help to promote bicycle awareness in Greenville. Read more about the contest here on the city’s website.

Finally, I want to mention the Commuter Challenge, which is probably the most exciting new addition to Bike Month in Greenville. To participate, sign up at WorldCommute.com and join the Bikeville group. Once registered, you can log your bicycle commuting mileage and track the fuel and CO2 emissions that you (and the group as a whole) save by riding a bike in place of a few car trips. Just by participating you will feel great, do a good turn for the environment, and save a little money. The savings won’t just stop at the pump though. Anyone who joins the Bikeville World Commute group will also receive a 10% discount on parts and labor from several local bike shops. Sounds like a win/ win, so get that old bike ready and plan to participate.

Support Greenville County trails today!

Ty Houck, the Director of Greenways, Natural and Historic Resources for Greenville County, sent out an email last week about four possible grants for the Swamp Rabbit, the Gateway Bike Swills Trail, and other trails in the county:

‘The Greenville County Recreation District is applying for 4 grants for trails. Part of the grant application includes a public meeting.  It seems responsible and fitting that we find a way to have those meetings without asking everyone to get in a car to drive to somewhere to sit and watch a PowerPoint presentation. So I am bringing the presentations to you. Please take a few minutes to view the presentations attached and send a confirmation e-mail through the link on the presentation.  Strong public support has a significant impact on winning these grants.’

All four presentations can be found online here, so please take a minute to view the powerpoint slide shows and send a confirmation email to the address provided. The deadline for your response is today (Tuesday, March 22^nd), so please take a minute to do this right now.

As Ty said, strong public support is needed to secure these grants. Let’s make a big push on this final day and bring that grant money to Greenville.

Bike Sharing in Greenville?

The Bicycle Master Plan public meeting on Tuesday night went well. About 200 people showed up, and almost everyone was there in support of the plan. John and Jean from Alta did a great job with the presentation, which should be available to view on the BMP website soon. For those of you who couldn’t make it, I’ll go into more detail when the slides are online.

One topic that seemed to generate interest Tuesday night was bike sharing. There has been talk about a bike sharing program in Greenville for a while now, and the B-Cycle system is certainly a possible option. If you are not already familiar with B-Cycle, check out the video demo on their “how it works” page. About a year ago, after an email campaign the Spinners list, a few tweets and Facebook posts, and a big push from the Urban Planet forum, Greenville moved into the #1 spot on the B-Cycle “Who wants it more?” map…for a while at least. Today, we rank #29 on that same map, but that is still a lot of support for a town this size.

Yesterday, the B-Cycle team was at CU-ICAR in Greenville demonstrating the system to city officials and members of the business community.  I got a chance to check out the solar powered station and ride one of the bikes, and I was pretty impressed. I have been a fan of B-Cycle since it was announced a couple years ago, but I am even more excited about it after the firsthand demonstration. If you are interested, you can see a few more of my photos of the bikes and the station on Flickr or the Bike Greenville Facebook page.

If Greenville is to join Denver, Chicago, San Antonio, Des Moines, and other cities that have successfully implemented the B-Cycle system, the business community needs to get involved. There are 3 different types of sponsorship opportunities- named bike-share sponsor, station sponsor, and single bicycle sponsor. At the basic level, you get your logo on a bike in the fleet and on the bike share website. You also get 25 free bike share memberships and Confident City Cycling classes for organization’s employees. At the top level (named bike-share), your logo appears on both sides of every bike in the fleet (estimated to be around 50). Your logo will be featured on the website, promotional materials, maps that will be distributed throughout the city, etc. You will get 100 free bike share memberships and Confident City Cycling classes for all employees.

That is just a quick overview of some of the sponsorship benefits. If you are interested in one of the sponsorship levels, let me know and I will put you in touch with the people at Leadership Greenville, Class 37 who are leading this effort.

I really hope to see bike sharing become a reality in Greenville soon. Hopefully as a community we can make this happen.

Update: Leadership Greenville Class 37 has set up a Facebook page for their effort to Bring Bike-Sharing to Greenville. Please ‘like’ the page to stay informed about the project and to show your support.

Bicycle Master Plan workshop tomorrow night

Don’t forget that the 2^nd public workshop for the development of Greenville’s Bicycle Master Plan takes place tomorrow night (Tuesday, March 15^th). Plan to be at the Hughes Main Library at 6:00 pm to learn more about the work that has been done so far by the City of Greenville, Alta Planning, Bikeville, and concerned citizens like you. More importantly, you will get the opportunity to share your input as a local cyclist and shape the future of Greenville as a bike friendly place.

Check out the Greenville Bicycle Master Plan website for more information, or download a pdf flyer for the workshop here. This really is a big deal for all of us who ride in Greenville, so I hope to see many of you at the library tomorrow.

Bikeville in the Charleston Post and Courier

Photo credit:

Grace Beahm

If you haven't already seen it, check out the recent Charleston Post and Courier article titled, Bikeville, S.C.: Scenic Swamp Rabbit Trail gets Greenville moving. It is really nice to see positive press about the trail, but it is even better to see that this story goes beyond the success of the greenway. As Scott McCrary, of TTR Bikes, says in the article, "greenways can be a lovely subset to a biking community, but greenways can't be the biking community.” Brian Graham goes on to explain that Greenville is building on the success of the Swamp Rabbit by “looking at inexpensive ways to get people from their front door to the trail.” The article mentions bike lanes, sharrows, bike-sensitive signal detectors, and other improvements that are already underway in the city. It goes on to mention the Bicycle Master Plan that is currently being developed in partnership with Alta Planning + Design.

Overall, this really is a great article about what is happening in Greenville right now. It is certainly true, as Andrew Meeker says, that “we still have a long ways to go." Greenville is definitely on the right track though, and it is great to see other cities recognizing that. Now lets just keep that momentum going and get beyond our “infancy stage” to become a true bike friendly town.

Volunteers Needed for Bike Month

Bike month is coming up in May, and though that seems like a long way off, Bikeville is already planning some great events for the City of Greenville. The US Pro races will take place in May this year, and Bikeville volunteers will again be staffing a booth at the races and providing free bike valet to spectators. There will also be a bike themed Moonlight Movie, group rides, and other fun bike related activities in the city throughout the month. To make it all happen though, Bikeville needs volunteers. It doesn’t have to be a huge time commitment on your part, but if you think you could volunteer for a couple of hours in May, please let us know now. As the latest Bicycling and Greenways newsletter says:

“We plan to build a database of volunteers and will communicate specific needs and opportunities as event plans solidify. Volunteers would assist with event planning, bike valet, and group rides. If you are willing to donate a few hours of your time throughout the month of May to support our various initiatives, please send an email to bikeville@greenvillesc.gov.”

Also, I want to remind you all that the second community workshop for the development of the City’s Bicycle Master Plan will take place on Tuesday, March 15 at 6pm at the Hughes Main Library. At the meeting, representatives from Alta Planning + Design will share an overview of the draft bikeway network and will detail the critical programs from the Bicycle Friendly Community Action Plan. Please mark that date on your calendar and plan to attend and participate in the planning process. If you haven’t already done so, take a minute to view a copy of the presentation that was made at the first workshop and complete the online survey. I hope to see you at the library on the 15^th!