40% of all trips in the U.S. are less than two miles, making bicycling a feasible and fun way to get to work. With increased interest in healthy, sustainable and economic transportation options, it’s not surprising that, from 2000 to 2013, the number of bicycle commuters in the U.S. grew by more than 62 percent.

In fact, among the 51 largest U.S. cities, 43 hosted Bike to Work Day events in 2010. The City of Denver reported the highest rate of participation with one out of every 28 adults participating in its 2010 Bike to Work event. That effort makes a difference: Many people who participate in their Bike to Work Day promotion as first-time commuters become regular bike commuters.

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Tons of Washingtonians are heading to Olympia to learn about the issues, meet with legislators and network with other advocates. Two hearings are scheduled for tomorrow on biking-related bills. Here’s the breakdown from Bike to Work Spokane, including what’s being talked about tomorrow in Olympia and more.

January 28: Transportation Advocacy Day in Olympia, House Transportation Committee Hearings on Bike Bills
This Thursday, Jan. 28 at 3:30pm, the House Transportation Committee will hold hearings on two bills that relate to biking, both of which are actively supported by the Cascade Bicycle Club, Bicycle Alliance of Washington, Transportation Choices and other groups working on active transportation issues.

HB 2911: Creating Complete Streets Grant Program
HB 3001: Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Education in Traffic Schools

A list of House Transportation Committee members: http://bit.ly/WaHTransp. Local legislators Alex Wood (3rd District), John Driscoll (6th District), and Matt Shea (4th District) serve on the committee.

If you’d like to submit comments, contact your state representatives: http://bit.ly/WaReps

The bills are being heard on Transportation Advocacy Day, when people from around the state descend on the capitol to meet legislatures and lobby for transportation policy that addresses the needs of all users, not just some.

Vulnerable User Bill in Legislature
Introduced in the 2009 session by the Cascade Bicycle Club but not passed into law, the Vulnerable Roadway User Bill would make it easier for prosecutors to hold drivers more accountable in collisions where they kill or seriously injure cyclists and pedestrians. The bill is supported by the Bicycle Alliance of Washington and other organizations.

It has been introduced in the House as HB 2774, and in the Senate as SB 5838.

Spokane County Street Connectivity Issue Open for More Comments
Spokane County Commissioners held a hearing Tuesday, Jan. 26, concerning a policy on connectivity.

Connectivity provides for walkability and bikability within a neighborhood and for adjacent neighborhoods. It also makes providing services to these neighborhoods such as police, transit and fire much easier and cheaper.

Commissioners Todd Mielke and Mark Richard voted to hold the topic open for further comment. You can submit an email through this link provided by Futurewise. The wording they developed for the form will give you an idea of the importance of the issue for cyclists and neighbors.

You can rewrite it to be in your own words, or just send an email yourself to commissioners Todd Mielke (tmielke@spokanecounty.org), Mark Richards (mrichards@spokanecounty.org), and Bonnie Mager (bmager@spokanecounty.org).

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WSDOT is incorporating a bicycle and pedestrian trail into the new stretch of highway 395 called the North Spokane Corridor. Cyclists are invited to be the first to ride the Children of the Sun Trail, as it’s called, during the project’s August 22 ribbon cutting ceremony.

Read on for participation information from Bike To Work Spokane, including how to sign up your family and/or bike club.

Be Among the First to Ride the New Children of the Sun Trail!

Saturday, August 22, you can be in the first group of cyclists to ride the new Children of the Sun Trail, part of the US 395 North Spokane Corridor.

This short trail ride is planned as part of the ribbon-cutting ceremony being organized by Washington Dept. of Transportation with the assistance of community partners. And there’s a commemorative water bottle in it for you too!

A bike/pedestrian trail will run the entire length of the new corridor, and it is being completed in conjunction with the highway-not after the construction for vehicles is done.

Organizers of the event would like some idea of how many cyclists will participate. Please email info@biketoworkspokane.org by Thursday 8/20 with the subject line “8/22 XX,” where XX is the number of riders you plan to have with you. If you’re with a bike club, include the name of the club in the subject line as well; organizers have asked for names of participating clubs.

The new trailhead north of Lincoln on Freya has about 12 parking spots. You may want to find parking somewhere else and bike to the trailhead for the start.

We’ll take off from the trailhead at about 12:15pm and ride north to where the trail crosses Market. The ribbon-cutting ceremony takes place at 1pm on the bridge at this point.

We can lean our bikes up against the bridge side walls or keep them with us-we just need to make sure we leave a clear path for the kid cyclists who will be coming through to help with the ribbon cutting (being arranged for separately).

After the ceremony, you can ride to the end at Farwell and back, if you like. Total length from the trailhead to Farwell is under 4 miles one-way-a pleasant ride for late summer.

The post Ride Spokane’s Newest Trail appeared first on Out There Venture.

It took a while to crunch the numbers but the Bike to Work Spokane results are in:

For that reason we are recognizing teams in each category that recruited the highest percentage of new commuters, as well as high mileage totals.

Unlike Commute Challenges in some other cities, we count biking for other transportation besides commuting to/from work. When you start using your bike for transportation generally, you’re making a real shift that we want to recognize and reward.

In most cases, the team with the most miles overall in a category also had the most miles for other transportation in addition to miles to/from work. In some cases the “other miles” were higher for a different team, in which case we noted that. (We didn’t count recreation/fitness miles.)

A complete list with overall team stats is being sent to team captains.

Overall Results, All Categories

United Airlines: Highest % new commuters in ALL categories (80%)

Bikes Baseballs and Pucks (Spokane Indians/Spokane Chiefs): Tied for #2 overall ALL categories for highest % new commuters (78%)

Cranky Bureaucrats (Spokane Regional Transportation Council): Tied for #2 overall ALL categories for highest % new commuters (78%)

Spike’s Spokes (Gonzaga University): #3 overall ALL categories for highest % new commuters (75%)

Spokesman-Review: Highest mileage in ALL categories (448 work+406 other=854, 94.89/member)

sn-w’ey’-MEN (Spokane Falls Community College): 2nd highest mileage in ALL categories

Mountain Gear: 3rd highest mileage in ALL categories

Cycling Sasquatch (Spokane Falls Community College): 4th highest mileage in ALL categories

Spokane Community College: 5th highest mileage in ALL categories

Spokane Falls Community College: 6th highest mileage in ALL categories

Ferris Wheels (Ferris High School): Highest mileage in K-12 category; 7th highest mileage in ALL categories

Go Orange (Washington State Dept. of Transportation Eastern Region): Highest mileage in Public Agencies category; 8th highest mileage overall

Sustainability Bikers (Spokane Community College): 9th highest mileage overall

Rehab Rollers (St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Institute): Highest mileage in health care; 10th highest mileage overall

Special Recognition

Top Overall Employer for # of employees participating: Spokane Public Schools

Top Higher Education Employer for # of employees participating: Community Colleges of Spokane

“Bikingest” College: Spokane Falls Community College, with all 3 teams in the top 10 for mileage

Top Health Care Employer for # of employees participating: Sacred Heart Medical Center

Top state agency (not including public colleges/universities) for # of employees participating: Washington State Dept. of Transportation Eastern Region

Century Club: 158 people rode 100 or more miles during the week.

Half-Century Club: 330 people rode 50-99 miles during the week.

Quarter-Century Club: 363 people rode 25-49 miles during the week

For the rest of the results by organization type and size, see our 2009 Commute Challenge page.

Watch for more emails to come with info on Bicycle Benefits: where to get your sticker, and where the deals are from the bike-friendly places that want your business.

We’ll also send occasional bike news updates: rides, events, commuting workshops and more. Send your news our way and we’ll share it.

Thanks for registering and riding! We hope you’ll continue to bike to work–and everything else–every week.

barb

Barb Chamberlain
Chair, Bike to Work Spokane
On Twitter: @Bike2WrkSpokane

The post Bike To Work Commute Challenge Results appeared first on Out There Venture.

Bike To Work Spokane party at the Steamplant Grill, 2008. // Photo Jeff Ferguson.

If you’ve never biked to work before these classes are great way to start:

Bike Workshops Scheduled

Spokane, WA – Bike To Work Spokane’s commitment to bike education continues with four local bicycle workshops that are being presented as a prelude to Bike To Work Week (May 10-16).

Whether you are interested in biking to work, cycling with friends, or riding to the store with your kids, these presentations will teach you skills that make cycling safe and fun.

All of the workshops are taught by Eileen Hyatt. Hyatt, a retired school teacher, is a nationally certified instructor through the League of American Bicyclists, with over 15 years of experience teaching safe cycling practices.

Workshops will feature traffic skills, tips on clothing, gear and lighting as well as prize drawings and refreshments.

The workshops are free and available on a walk-in basis. There is no need to register. Workshop times, dates and locations are:

Thursday, April 9th, 7:00 – 7:45pm at REI, 1125 N. Monroe

Tuesday, April 28, 6-7:30pm at Shadle Library, 2111 W. Wellesley*

Wednesday, April 29, 6-7:30pm at Mountain Gear, 2002 N. Division*

Monday, May 4, 6-7:30pm at North Spokane Library, 44 E. Hawthorne Rd*

*These workshops will also feature roadside repair instruction by techs from North Division Bicycle Shop

Eileen Hyatt is also the coordinator for the Bike Buddy program, which matches new bike commuters with a trained volunteer familiar with the commute between their neighborhood and workplace. These volunteers will help you choose routes, gear, and other basics for a safe commute. For more information on the workshops or the Bike Buddy program, contact SpokaneBikeBuddy@aol.com.

Bike To Work Week is supported by the following sponsors:
Gold Wheel: The REI Foundation, Group Health, Unico Properties, Alt 29, Spokane Public Radio
Silver Spoke: Out There Monthly, City of Spokane, Steam Plant Grill/Coeur d’Alene Brewing Company, Mountain Gear, Cuda Apparel
Bronze Gear: Lee & Hayes, REI Spokane, Silver Collector Car Auctions

Bike to Work Spokane is organized by a volunteer committee as a project of the SpokeFest Association, in partnership with the City of Spokane Advisory Board and the Bicycle Alliance of Washington, a 501c3 non-profit organization.

Registration for Bike To Work Week 2009 begins next week! More information coming soon.

For More information:

Barb Chamberlain: 509-869-2949 Andy Billig: 509-990-9219
biketoworkspokane@gmail.com abillig@msn.com

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BTW Party at the Steam Plant Grill On Friday 5/16 // Photo Jeff Ferguson

By any measure the first big Bike to Work Week Spokane in many a year was a raging success. Read a wrap-up of the week at Cycling Spokane, or at Spokane Bike Work.

Next on the agenda: keeping up the momentum for cycling in Spokane. My hope is that the degrees of separation dividing cyclists and non-cyclists is diminishing. I hope anyone looking to bike commute now has a least a friend of a friend to help them get started.

The post Basking in the Glow of BTW appeared first on Out There Venture.

The things I enjoy about riding a bike aren’t kid stuff.

I like how the air feels and seeing lights come on as I quietly roll into downtown at dawn and reconnect with my city.

Nicely done Paul.

The post In Praise of Paul Turner appeared first on Out There Venture.