Volunteers Needed

There is a program run by the Eastern PA Down Syndrome Center and they need your help.  The program is called "Lose the Training Wheels" and is a bike camp that teaches children and adults with disabilities how to ride a conventional two wheeled bike.  The camp runs June 21-25 and has five 90-minute sessions per day.  If you have some extra time - please volunteer - you will be hard pressed to find a more rewarding experience - for both the new cyclists and yourself.  Get additional info here - http://epdsc.net/LOOSETHETRAININGWHEELSPROGRAM.aspx

Ride on!

Bike to Work

It is Bike to Work Week - with Friday being the official Ride to Work Day.  Mother Nature is not completely cooperating but the temps are nice enough to pack some rain gear and suck it up for the ride home.  I hooked up the trailer and gave myself a little resistance training on my 12 mile ride in today.  Definitely got alot of second looks from motorists.  Sad to report that I only saw one other cyclist this morning - but I am hoping folks were just going in a direction oppostie mine.

I saw alot of cyclists breaking laws this weekend.  Saw two folks blow through a red light out towards the Velodrome - same rules apply to cyclists - please ride respectfully - follow the rules of the road and don't give us a bad name.  Saw two more folks further up Rte 100 that were riding against traffic - again same rules apply - you should be riding with traffic not against.  It is actually less safe to ride against traffic - especially for the person that was riding towards them on the proper side - someone is going to be forced out into traffic in that situation.

Summary:  Ride to work - following the proper rules of the road - be safe.  Ride on!

2nd PA Bike Summit

Greetings folks.  It has been way too long since something has been posted here.  Have spent much time on bikes with all this lovely weather - has made for some great commutes as well as many laughs screaming through the woods on my mountain bike.  Sprinkle in some preparation for and subsequent running of both a half marathon and the best event ever in the Tough Mudder and it becomes clear - to me at least why I have been away for so long.  No excuse for not updating this blog and will try and do better moving forward.

I spent the day in Harrisburg yesterday with Fritz Walker attending the 2nd Annual PA Walks and Bikes Summit.  Kudos to the organizers for putting on a great event - more organized than last year and leaves me excited to help in the planning of next year's event.  We met some great folks from organizations accross Pennsylvania and walked away with alot of great contacts.

Fritz and I chose to ride in with a nice sized group that had gathered at th PA Farm Show Complex - was a very leisurely paced ride led by a gal from the Harrisburg Cycling Club on a tricycle.  Other folks chose to walk in - that group included Tina Amato who had also attended a Safe Routes to Schools get together the previous evening.  Cyclist and walkers came together on the Capital steps for a rally and listened to some positive words by some cycling friendly politicos as well as folks from PA Walks and Bikes, League of American Bicyclists, Rails to Trails, Safe Routes to School and many more I am sure I am forgetting as my notes are at home.  After the rally we headed inside for some networking and lunch before heading off to speak to folks from the House and Senate to which we were assigned randomly.  Fritz and I spoke to folks in 13 offices - hopefully that will be our lucky number to garner additional support for walking and cycling.

As mentioned above - we had the chance to walk away with some great contacts.  We were also able to put BikeAllentown contact information in the hands of many and walked away with some positive input from groups such as BikePittsburgh, Philadelphia Bicycle Coalition and League of American Bicyclists to name a few.  It was a great day - we were blessed with great weather and I walk away with some great new friends.  Look up positive experience in the dictionary and I am pretty sure you will see a picture of yesterday.  Another beautiful day get out there and enjoy it - whether by bike or by foot you cannot go wrong.  Ride on!