Cleveland Bicycle Week
May 15 - 23, 2010
http://www.clevelandbicycleweek.org/
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Northern Ohio’s bicycle groups organized Cleveland Bicycle Week events and forums in 2008 and 2009.
The idea is to promote cycling during National Bike Month by hosting fun and educational activities. In 2008, Bike Week included a one-day conference for government officials, health and wellness agencies, the media and other interested parties. Other events included:
- Week-long, Bike-to-Work rides with fun and educational activities
- Entertainment and social activities, including movies and bike art, for cyclists and the whole family
- Information sessions for planners and engineers
- Gathering information to identify priorities and a cycling agenda
- Highlighting and promoting interesting cycling and relates activities in Northeast Ohio (could include pedestrian and other green initiatives)
- Awarding and acknowledging progress in the region
- An address by Andy Clarke, executive director of the League of American Bicyclists
See links at bottom of this page for coverage of the 2008 Cleveland Bike Week Forum. In 2009, Cleveland Bike Week included the week long organized rides and a forum with a keynote address from Rails-to-Trails Conservancy President Keith Laughlin. Go here to read coverage of the event.
For more information, visit clevelandbikeweek.org
To volunteer, participate or to become a sponsor, email:
- Lois Moss of Walk+Roll Cleveland
- Kevin Cronin of ClevelandBikes
- Jim Sheehan of Ohio City Bicycle Co-op.
National information about Bike Week from League of American Bicyclists.
bike vs car vs bus contests??
John McGovern Says:I like the scavenger hunt idea, but would like to put a twist on it. I've seen a few events in other cities where a cyclist competes against a car to see which mode can complete several tasks, (various delivery/drop-offs or a local shopping list, etc) faster. The event could take place downtown between the hours of 11am - 2pm (very busy time - on street parking is scarce) OR it could take place in Tremont or possibly Ohio City on a weekend evening when the same parking scarcity exists.
other ideas for bike scavenger type activities:
local shopping>
http://cfa2.blogspot.com/2006/11/cranksgiving.html
bike vs. car contest w/ local senator on bike!>
http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/7502547.html
How about we call our event > Bike Bus Walk Week?
bikenet.org/events/bwbw_2007press.pdf
Weekend contest & ideas
Lois Moss Says:Great idea John!
Another weekend idea that is coming together is "Bike to River Sweep" on Saturday May 10. The gathering spots for River Sweep are Old Brooklyn, Slavic Village, Tremont, Ohio City, Clark Metro, The Flats and Parma. Maybe we can tie your contest idea into this event.
Regarding "Bike Bus Walk Week", we talked about expanding the scope of the week to include pedestrian issues and/or public transportation issues. We decided to make it "Cleveland Bicycle Week" because it is a focused, more manageable topic. I love the idea of expanding it to all forms of alternative transportation for 2009! I just saw a presentation on Dayton's "Drive Less Live More" campaign. The six-week initiative was spearheaded by their MPO, park system, trails council and transit authority. Maybe next year NOACA, Cleveland Metroparks, RTA and other leaders will support a "Drive Less Live More" campaign in northern Ohio.
Thursday Conference
jacobvansickle Says:For one of the workshops for the Thursday conference I think it would be beneficial to have a workshop about Urban Trails (to talk about the benefits to communities, some of the problems, etc.). It could either be for professional or non-professionals depending on the angle the speaker took. Just a thought.
Thursday conference
Lois Moss Says:Great idea Jacob! There are also a number of urban trails and lanes that have been completed in the past few years that lots of people don't know about. This could be an opportunity to get the word out and get more people using them for transportation, errands, exercise and recreation.
Other suggested topics for Thursday's conference:
- Funding sources for bicycle transportation projects
- The Cleveland Bicycle Plan and the last mile of The Towpath
- Current and Future bicycle facilities in the Greater Cleveland area
Weekend events before Bike to Work Week
Ohio City Bicyc... Says:Fred Oswald has long advocated a Bike To Work "practice" day on a Saturday or Sunday prior to the event, to give those who have never done it a chance to start out on a day without the time pressure of getting to work on time.
If the Ohio Bicycle Federation plans to have their board meeting in Cleveland on Sunday the 11th (Mother's Day, TOSRV, etc, I know), they have expressed interest in participating in this tie in. Even if they do not, I believe that we (the Ohio City Bicycle Co-op) would likely make this one of our contributions to Bike To Work Week, as it is very clearly in line with our mission:
http://www.ohiocitycycles.org/wiki/tiki-index.php?page=MissionAndHistory
Of course, any help from the wider cycling community would be welcome!
As for other weekend activities, OCBC will be holding our Saturday Social rides before and after BTWW as usual, and will be sure to feature special destinations to correspond with the week's activities:
http://www.ohiocitycycles.org/wiki/tiki-index.php?page=SaturdayRide
We also have a Bike Drivers' Ed class Road 1 class scheduled for the 10th or 11th, so this may be combined with the BTWW practice day:
http://www.ohiocitycycles.org/wiki/tiki-index.php?page=RidingClasses
Jim Sheehan
Friday Night Critical Manners/scavenger hunt ride?
Ohio City Bicyc... Says:I have always thought there should be a LEGAL Critical Mass ride, and now someone has gone and done it -- see the article in the March Bicycling Mag. or the SF Chronicle article at:
http://groups.google.com/group/critical-manners-ride-sf/web/press-opinio...
This answers lots of objections that some bike advocates and others have to Crit Mass
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_Mass
but for me there is still one problem: it is still just a group ride, esentially a parade.
So: would anyone like to help take this one step farther, and produce an event for Friday night of Cleveland Bicycle Week that would be a cross between Critical Manners and an alleycat race
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alleycat_races
with no set route, just a list of destinations that could be done in any order, with an integreal part being some way to remove any incentive to break traffic laws?
This would create real bicycle traffic, as people cycled between say, a coffee shop, a secondhand boutique, a library, etc., meeting other cyclists along the way, and at a gathering at the end.
Any ideas?
other suggestions: 1) sunday expo, 2) night ride, 3) pgh bike wk
vinniekowalski Says:has anyone considered including a day or two from the preceding weekend into the schedule for all the people otherwise too busy during the week to take part? after all, people who aren't already biking a lot may feel more comfortable attending events and riding around during their day off.
for example, bike week could start on sunday, may 11, with more introductory type tables/stations designed for newbie riders and other tables for more experienced riders:
- planning bike routes (http://www.2milechallenge.com/home.html or googlemaps),
- good places to get on the emerald necklace or towpath, etc.
- good places to trail bike
- commuting equipment (waterproof pants, panniers, racks, etc.)
- simple bike maintenance
some friends of mine also had put together a night ride through downtown - a view of downtown most of us don't see often from the bike - several months ago and it was a blast! perhaps we could do the same thing, with several starting points on the east & west converging downtown or on the near west side (e.g., ohio city or tremont) for a drink or coffee.
additional inspiration for events could probably be drawn from other cities' bike week. the pittsburgh one was always a blast - one of my favorite events was the critical mass ride on friday that ended up at an art gallery for a massive pasta dinner. it was a great way to get to know some of the other people moving around on two wheels, which would be especially nice in a town that is considered by some as relatively bike unfriendly.
Weekend activities
Lois Moss Says:Great ideas! We have had a little bit of discussion on having activities on either the weekend before or the weekend after. The weekend prior includes Mothers Day, TOSRV and River Sweep so we were thinking that might not be a good choice. We were also concerned that we don't want to take on more than we can handle. We'll look at the weekend after and see if we can find a way.
If we do it, can we count on you to help?
i'd like to, but i can't
vinniekowalski Says:i'd like to, but i can't guarantee anything since i might need to be on call during the weekend in question. i think i might be able to help with one table or course, but that would probably be the most i could do with my time constraints. sorry - i wish being a resident was more flexible! keep me posted on the developments.
Controversy On Bike Friendly Community
Kevin Cronin Says:Thank you, in all honesty, for the comments about the idea that Cleveland might be applying and receiving recognition as a Bike Friendly Community (as far as I know, this is still a theoretical discussion). Talk and disagreement is encouraging. Critical posts that cite problems are helping define what it truly means to be a "Bike Friendly Community." These are very important questions -- What should be expected of cities? What's the standard? What does it really mean to be "Bike Friendly"? Previously awarded cities have significant cycling and safety problems, some linked to the very object of their awards and recognition (like Chicago bike lanes that have "door zone" problems). From my standpoint, I hope Cleveland gets an award and I hope it's a meaningful one, which, in my mind, is one that sets the stage for further improvement. I welcome everyone to participate in Bike Week, not just because it's a good thing to do (though it is), but because it, like an award, will contribute to a better Cleveland region in the future. Thank you all.
Kevin Cronin