Bike to Work Day

May 23, 2012 12:00 am
Cascade Bicycle Club, Bike to Work Day. From 6 - 9 a.m. on Friday, May 21, 2010, bicycle commuters can stop by one of 44 designated commute stations located throughout King, Snohomish, and Kitsap counties for commuting information, snacks, Cascade Bicycle Club materials, and swag. Participants may enter the F5 Bike to Work Day drawing to win prizes, including a bicycle and bike gear, and also have their bikes spot-checked by the bike shop station sponsors. The F5 Bike to Work Day Rally will kick off at 7:30 a.m. outside Seattle City Hall and will feature several Seattle City officials and other VIP speakers, music, free water bottles, and maps. Bike to Work Day will end with a street party in downtown Ballard, beginning at 4 p.m. In 2009, Bike to Work Day rallied nearly 20,000 bike commuters. For more information, please visit www.cascade.org. Photo by Rob Sumner/Red Box Pictures.
Cascade Bicycle Club, Bike to Work Day. From 6 - 9 a.m. on Friday, May 21, 2010, bicycle commuters can stop by one of 44 designated commute stations located throughout King, Snohomish, and Kitsap counties for commuting information, snacks, Cascade Bicycle Club materials, and swag. Participants may enter the F5 Bike to Work Day drawing to win prizes, including a bicycle and bike gear, and also have their bikes spot-checked by the bike shop station sponsors. The F5 Bike to Work Day Rally will kick off at 7:30 a.m. outside Seattle City Hall and will feature several Seattle City officials and other VIP speakers, music, free water bottles, and maps. Bike to Work Day will end with a street party in downtown Ballard, beginning at 4 p.m. In 2009, Bike to Work Day rallied nearly 20,000 bike commuters. For more information, please visit www.cascade.org. Photo by Rob Sumner/Red Box Pictures.

BIke to Work Day? Not already! Not again! And not the usual excuses, either: no air in your tires, can’t find those shorts with the cushiony crotch, all the batteries in your blinky lights are dead. And think of the incentives: Over 40 sponsored stations will be offering swag, food, mechanical advice, and encouragement from Everett to Kent. (You can also buy the official T-shirt at selected stations, organized by the Cascade Bicycle Club.) In fact, the whole of May is deemed Bike Month, an ecumenical occasion when we should seek to forgive the trespasses of fixies (those red lights are for you, too), racers (do you have to pass so close?), and recumbents/unicyclists (just grit your teeth and smile at those bearded cousins). Instead of complaining about motorists for a change, today’s a day for cyclists to increase their visibility (which increases safety) and defer to pedestrians (no matter how they meander). And while some local companies are competing to log miles in the Group Health Commute Challenge, we prefer to think of today as a karmic challenge: ride politely and law-abidingly, wave and smile at drivers, and the good feeling will benefit us all during the other 364 days of the year. (Bike stations open 6-9 a.m. City Hall rally, 8-8:30 a.m. Ballard Street Party, 4-6 p.m.) BRIAN MILLER

Fri., May 18, 2012