GOFO Urban farm bike tours

The second annual Greenville Urban Farm tour, presented by Greenville Organic Food Organization, will take place next Saturday, May 12^th. As part of Bike Month in Greenville, Bikeville Volunteers (myself included) will be guiding bicycle tours of select urban farms near the downtown area. There will be morning and afternoon rides, which will each visit 5 to 6 different locations. Preregistration is required, so check out the bike tours section of the UFT website to get more information and to register. 

Remember to visit the Bikeville Bike Month page for a complete list of events planned for the month of May. You can also find a poster/flyer there to download and share with others.

Sad news from Simpsonville

If you are reading this, you have probably already heard about the tragic crash last week in Simpsonville that took the life of Walter Glenn Brackin Jr. while he was cycling. I didn’t know Mr. Brackin personally, and I don’t know any details about the incident other than what is stated in the news story. As always though, I feel deeply saddened any time I hear of the death of a fellow cyclist on our roadways and I urge you to keep Glenn Brackin’s family in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.

While overall traffic fatalities have dropped slightly in South Carolina in recent years, there is an “upward trend in fatalities among pedestrians and cyclists who are considered Vulnerable Roadway Users.” We need to reverse that trend, so please remember to be careful and alert anytime you are out on our roads…especially if you are driving a car.  Watch for pedestrians and cyclists and be extremely careful as you pass. That person walking or on a bike is someone’s son, daughter, wife, father, husband, sister (I could go on, but you get the idea). It is up to all of us to pay full attention and watch out for each other on our public roads. Many accidents can be avoided with a little extra vigilance from everyone, so please remember to always pay full attention to the road and your surroundings when you are behind the wheel of a car.

Dinner and Bikes hosted by Pedal Chic

Pedal Chic is hosting an event this weekend that may interest many of you. Portland based bike blogger and author Elly Blue will be in Greenville as part of her Dinner and Bikes tour of the southeastern U.S. Joining her on the tour are Joe Biel, founder of Microcosm Publishing, and Joshua Ploeg, vegan chef and author. As stated on the Dinner and Bikes website, the goal of the tour is to “bring people together to eat delicious food and get inspired about bicycle transportation.” Sounds like a great combination, so plan to be there Saturday evening if you can. Elly is covering the tour on her blog, so check it out to read about the places that they have visited so far.

The dinner and event will take place at the Caine Halter Family YMCA (721 Cleveland Street) this coming Saturday, April 28th at 7p.m. Tickets are $15 in advance or at the door.

Bike Month is coming up!

For any of you who may have missed it, the latest City of Greenville Bicycling and Greenways e-newsletter is out… and it is a good one. May is National Bike Month, and as always Bikeville is coordinating events in the city throughout the month. See the Bike Month page for a listings and descriptions of the bike related events and activity that are planned next month.

On the Bike Month page, you can also find information about the Get Up and Ride : National Bike Challenge. “Sign up as an individual or as a team, log your miles, share your stories and encourage others to join you. Riders will compete for prizes and awards on the local and national level, including a Grand Prize trip through California wine country from Trek Travel.”

Also on the City’s website, find out more about the new Swamp Rabbit Trail Interactive Map. The map was developed by the City, with support from the Greenville County Recreation District, and features “trail amenities, on-street bicycle facilities, points of interest, as well as special considerations for a safe experience.”

Speaking of the Swamp Rabbit Trail, you can join Greenville Rec, Upstate Forever, and Furman University tomorrow, April 18th, at the Swamp Rabbit Café (205 Cedar Lane Road). They will be making an announcement about the sucess of the trail and will share results from the first year of a three-year impact study. If you can’t attend the event, the full presentation will be available soon after on the County's Swamp Rabbit page. I won't be able to make it in person, but I am looking forward to reading the good news about the impact of the SRT on our community.

Important bicycle legislation to be heard this week

photo credit: Charleston Moves

As a recent post at the PCC blog points out, “the bicycle ban that went into effect earlier this year on the James Island Connector in Charleston has brought attention to the fact that South Carolina law (56-5-3860) prohibits bicycle use (and other activities) on state controlled access highways.”  You may remember that signs like the one shown here were posted on the James Island Connector following the tragic death of Dr. Mitchell Hollon, who was killed while riding his bicycle across the bridge last year. 

The Coastal Conservation League and Charleston Moves have worked with Senator Chip Campsen (R-Charleston) to introduce a bill (S.1375) that will allow local governments the option to file exemptions to the law, putting decisions about restricted highway access in the hands of the local municipality and not SCDOT. Local governments know better than the state how to manage the roads in their communities, so please take a minute to voice your support for the amendment.  You can also show support by attending the Senate Transportation Subcommittee meeting this Wednesday, April 11^th at 10am at the Gressette building in Columbia.   

Good things are happening here

I have been too busy to update this blog lately, but I want to take a few minutes to quickly pass along a few links that I have been meaning to share.

Charleston Cycling Attorney Peter Wilborn will be the guest speaker at the next Greenville Spinners club meeting (Monday, April 2, 2012, 6:30 pm at the Caine Halter YMCA). According to the Spinners website, Peter “will speak about the lost art of the group ride and provide an update on legal issues for SC cyclists.” This is one meeting that you won’t want to miss, so mark your calendars and plan to be there one week from today.  

The National Bike Summit took place last week, and eight advocates from South Carolina were there representing our interests as cyclists in the state. You can read a recap post on the Palmetto Cycling Coalition blog and see the Summit leave-behind that the PCC developed along with the Palmetto Conservation Foundation. 

Pamela Wood Browne was the lone representative from Greenville in DC last week, and she shared her thoughts about her first Summit experience at Carolina Cycling News. Of particular interest to me was her mention of the “Finally, the Racing and Advocacy Worlds Collide” session and the discussion of multiple U.S. Cyclocross National Champion Tim Johnson’s Ride on Washington. As someone who has been involved with both racing and advocacy for a long time, I am really glad to hear of real discussion on this topic. In the past, I have witnessed some tension between recreational/racing cyclists and those who ride strictly for transportation (with some valid concerns expressed by both sides). I really hope that we are a point where ALL cyclists can see the benefit of working together toward a common goal of making our roads safer, and kudos to Tim Johnson for raising awareness and spreading that message within the racing community. 

If you haven’t already seen it, be sure to read Spinners advocacy chairperson Frank Mansbach’s March update on the Spinners’ site. Also see his guest post on the PCC blog about Greenville County Transportation Spending, which highlights just how little actually goes toward bike/ped projects currently. Hopefully though, that will change as advocates like Frank help to raise awareness about the need for creating a safer environment for bicycling and walking in the County. 

The City of Greenville’s 2011/2012 Annual Report was released recently, and bicycling is mentioned a few times throughout the report. Links to the Trails and Greenways Master Plan and the Bicycle Master Plan can be found on page 23. The USA Pro Cycling Championships are mentioned on page 31, and Greenville’s National Bike Month events (coming up again in May) are covered on page 34. These are all things that enhance quality of life here in Greenville, so it is good to see them recognized as such in this document. 

Greenville is offering a Bicycle Traffic Skills 101 course at McPherson Park on Sunday, April 29th (scroll down for information and to register online). According to the description, “participants will learn things like bicycle safety checks, fixing a flat, rules of the road, and crash avoidance techniques. On-the-bike training features certified instructors and real-life experience on Greenville streets and bicycle facilities.” It is also worth noting that the Traffic Skills 101 course is a prerequisite for the League Cycling Instructor (LCI) training seminar, which qualifies you to teach the courses in the League of American Bicyclists’ “Smart Cycling” curriculum.

Finally, I want to mention that TTR Bikes was recently recognized as a Platinum level Bicycle Friendly Business by the League of American Bicyclists. They are one of only seven companies in the entire US to be recognized at that highest level, so congratulations to Nathaniel and Scott on the designation and everything it represents!

Update 3/28: I want to add one more “good thing” happening in Greenville that Bo Campbell mentioned yesterday on the Bike Greenville Facebook page.  On April 21^st from 9 to 12, TTR Bikes, the Greenville Spinners Safety Foundation, First Baptist Greenville, and the Nicholtown Neighborhood Association are hosting their 2^nd Annual Youth Bike Safety Rodeo (and helmet fitting) in support of the Nicholtown Bike Share program. 

I have a hard time keeping up with all the bike related events in Greenville these days…and that is definitely a good thing. Feel free to add any more in the comments.

Salters Road widening project

Salters Road, between Verdae and ICAR, will be resurfaced and widened soon by the SCDOT. According to the handout from a public information meeting that was held earlier this month, the “proposed project would widen the existing roadway to four 12-foot travel lanes and include a grassed median, bike lanes, and sidewalks.” A new wider and longer bridge would be required over I-85 as part of the project, which would also include bike lanes (and I assume a taller and safer guardrail).

I have been out of the loop on this project, but from everything I have seen the proposed road layout sounds great. You can read more about it in the SCDOT document mentioned previously and this article in the Greenville News (do a Google search for “Salters Road project may include bridge replacement” to see the full article if you are not a Greenville News subscriber). When the redesigned road is complete, it will be a great bike friendly connection to ICAR, but it is a major project that will take up to 12 months to complete. During that time, Salters Road will be closed completely with the detour shown above as the suggested alternate. Verdae and Laurens are not ideal roads for cyclists to use as an alternate route to ICAR, so Spinners advocacy chairperson Frank Mansbach has proposed a few good ideas that could make the detour safer for all users during the year of construction :

1) Adding share the road and /or bicycle route signs on Verdae Boulevard from Rocky Slope to Laurens.

2) Reduced speed limit on Verdae from current 45 mph.

3) Re-striping all or part of Verdae to add bike lanes or shared lane markings (sharrows).

Rather than turning from Verdae onto Laurens, Frank suggests that the designated bike detour would cross to Parkins Mill, then left on Ridge Road and left on Fairforest to get to ICAR (signage and/ or sharrows would be required on Ridge Road and Parkins Mill as well).

I personally think these are great suggestions that should be considered by the SCDOT as this project is being planned. They have opened the project to public comment until February 24th (this Friday), so if you agree that a safe alternate detour for cyclists is a good idea, contact SCDOT Program Manager Tommy Elrod at (864) 241-1010 or elrodjt@scdot.org to express your support for the ideas above and any others that you might have.


Switching gears, I want to mention an event that is taking place this weekend. The BMW Performance Center and the Greenville Spinners Bicycle Club are hosting a special showing of the movie “Chasing Legends” at the BMW Zentrum this Saturday, February 25th at 6:30pm. “Chasing Legends” Director Jason Berry will there, so don’t miss your chance to see the film, meet the director, and possibly win some great prizes. You read more about the event, and purchase tickets, at Go Green Events. All proceeds from the evening are going to the United Way of Greenville, so it’s for a good cause as well. I am looking forward to it, and I hope to see you there.