New Jersey Concepts by the Wheelbrothers
Wheelbrothers fun at Ride for Heroes
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFZcPmauq8k]
WildRide! Against Cancer & 5K Trail Walk
We were lucky enough to catch up with Kim Hanna, the Major Gifts Officer of the Methodist Richardson Medical Center Foundation and were able to ask her some questions about the upcoming WildRide! Against Cancer & 5K Trail Walk happening on Saturday, May 15, 2010.
How long has the event been around and how did it start?
It started in 2004, and was the vision of cyclist Richard White and Jim Hoyt of Richardson Bike Mart
What was the motivation behind starting this event and who benefits from it?
Richard and Jim wanted to organize a bike rally to benefit the local community hospital. This year, the beneficiary is Methodist Richardson Cancer Center, home of the Lance Armstrong Shaped Beam Surgery Program.
How have they been able to utilize the funds in the past?
To build the cancer center, and to fund education and treatment programs at the cancer center
Logistically, can you give us an idea how many volunteers, finances and planning it takes to put on this event?
2000 riders, 300 walkers, 300 community volunteers, 6 months of planning, this year we will pass the $1,000,000 mark in funds raised since inception of the event.
Which was the most rewarding experience throughout the years hosting this event?
The most rewarding experience is seeing the cancer survivors and caregivers who participate in this event. They are an inspiration to everyone who participates!
What can folks do to support you and your mission?
Come and participate on the day — register as a rider or walker
Any celebrities joining the ride/walk?
Linda Armstrong Kelly(Lance’s mom) is always at this event to celebrate our success
On that note — ‘Thank you Kim for granting this quick interview and we hope we can catch up with everyone at the event.
Click here to view the event details for the WildRide! Against Cancer & 5K Trail Walk
Is Dallas bike-friendly? You know the answer. Tell City Hall on May 27
Dallas will hold an open house to discuss its 2011 Bike Plan on May 27.
The meeting at City Hall, from 5 to 8 p.m., with details available here.
The open house is co-sponsored by the North Central Texas Council of Governments, which has a whole mess of information about serious biking in North Texas, including information about next week’s Bike to Work Week.
If Great Britain can handle a prime minister who walks to work, why not give your bike a try. Or at the very least, take a moment to give us your thoughts on how Dallas ought to make itself more bike-friendly. We’re all ears, and on May 27, so is the city of Dallas.
By Michael Lindenberger of transportationblog.dallasnews.com
Click here for Original Article
Nat’l Bike Month: Ride of Silence set for May 19
Across the nation, more than 600 cyclists are killed on the road every year. A small number compared to the estimated 300,000 premature deaths estimated to result from overweight and obesity-related illnesses.
Bicycling is part of the solution to many of our nation’s problems such as obesity, traffic congestion, air pollution and the seemingly unending need to pave over land for parking lots and widen roads. As a silent but active gesture to memorialize those killed or injured while cycling on the road, Sussex Cyclists will organize its fifth annual Ride of Silence on Wednesday, May 19 beginning at 7 p.m. The ride will begin behind the Wawa off Dartmouth Road near Lewes, at the entrance of Rolling Meadows on the southbound side of Route 1.
Tony Pezone, president of Sussex Cyclists, said “This ride began as a symbolic way to pay tribute to a cyclist who was killed when he was struck by a mirror on a school bus in Dallas, Texas in 2003. More than 1000 cyclists participated in that first ride.”
Today, the Ride of Silence has taken on global proportions with rides in all 50 states and 18 countries worldwide.
Cyclists of all ages and abilities are invited to participate in the Ride of Silence. Members of Sussex Cyclists are usually joined by riders from Lewes, Rehoboth Beach and Dewey Beach. These include bike shop owners, casual cyclists, visitors from Maryland and cyclists from locations as far north as Milford and Dover.
Beginning in the parking lot behind the Wawa on Route One South, the 12-mile ride ride will be escorted by State Police from Troop 7. Riders ride in silence and at no more than 12 miles per hour to the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal bridge. Cyclists travel under the bridge onto the northbound shoulder. The police escort will retrace the route ending at the start off Dartmouth Drive near the entrance to Rolling Meadows.
The Ride of Silence has no entry fee, no T-shirt or sponsorship. Business and groups may “endorse” the Ride of Silence meaning that because there is no cost and no sponsors, the endorsers bear no responsibility (financial or otherwise) for the ride. By endorsing it, they are simply stating they believe in what is trying to be said through the many cyclists riding no faster than 12 miles per hour in silence, to support these goals that:
– Cyclists are riding to mourn those killed or injured
– Cycling is not going to be chased or intimidated off the streets we legally share
– Cyclists want only to share the road with motorists
– Motorists are made aware of the lifelong legal, as well as life changing, problems that can ensue from killing a cyclist
Endorsers can be companies, clubs, groups, driving associations, police, leaders in the community, and individuals. Any group, organization or company interested in becoming a Ride of Silence endorser please contact Sussex Cyclists at bike@sussexcyclists.org or visit the web site at www.sussexcyclists.org.
By Submission – Sussex Cyclists
Click here for original article
Cyclists Ride Across Texas in Honor of Fallen Officers; Dallas Officer Remembered
DALLAS – A group of law enforcement officers bicycling across Texas will stop in Dallas to honor a fallen Dallas police officer.
Senior Cpl. Norm Smith was shot in the head Jan. 6, 2009, while trying to serve a warrant.
The bicycle trek is part of the annual “We Remember” Memorial Trek Across Texas, which honors every officer in Texas who lost his or her life in the line of duty the previous year.
Every year, a group of state law enforcement officers takes the 2,000 mile bike ride remembering the state’s fallen officers.
As they travel across the state, the riders will carry an honor flag with the names of all the officers who died during the past year.
A ceremony honoring Smith will take place at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday in front of the Jack Evans Police Headquarters at 1400 S. Lamar St. in Dallas.
During the ceremony, the Dallas police honor guard will accept a wreath in Smith’s memory.
Smith’s widow, Lt. Regina Smith, still serves with the Dallas Police Department.
By Monique Bird of the33tv.com
Click here for the original article
Austin’s Bike Month 2010
The City of Austin joins with our many community partners to bring you Austin’s Bike Month 2010!
May is celebrated by cities across America as National Bike Month. Within the month, Bike-to-Work Week, Bike-to-School Day, and Bike-to-Work Day are all included. The goal is to get more people and kids out on their bikes for work, school or play!
Join us in celebrating the great spring weather with some great events, educational opportunities, and most importantly – riding your bike!
Click here for more info
Despite Victory, Businesses Still Riled Over Bike Plan
In the battle over the Downtown Bicycle Boulevard, it’s pretty clear that the business interests won. So why won’t they just declare victory and be done with it?
Opponents showed up in force at last week’s Urban Transportation Commission and continued to blast the boulevard proposal, watered down as it is, as a looming disaster for businesses along Nueces and Rio Grande. And Austinites for Down town Mobility, on its websitewww.keepaustinmoving.org, complains that the “number of affected roads has doubled. One of our major concerns has always been the negative impact on the area if you divert traffic from one street to another. So in ‘compromise’ the city has decided to make traffic worse on two streets.” (Repeated calls to Nueces business owner Susan Harris, a leader of the group, have not been returned.)
It’s hard to figure out how that charge can be true, since the city has effectively decided to not do anything to Nueces. As noted in previous reports (see “Bump in the Road for Bike Boulevard,” April 9), initial thoughts of doing serious traffic calming on Nueces, the original target of the bike boulevard idea, were replaced with mere bike lanes on the northern and southernmost stretches, and “sharrows” (lanes marked with symbols reminding motorists to share the road) between Seventh and 13th. It’s true that the lanes will be “enhanced,” perhaps raised or marked with bright colors, but it’s hard to see how they’ll restrict traffic in any way. (Also, in fairness to staff, a major water main project on Nueces scheduled for 2011 nixes any traffic-calming projects for quite a while anyway.)
But sharrows? As Hill Abell, owner of Bicycle Sport Shop — and a supporter of the compromise — reminded the Urban Transportation Commission, sharrows are nothing. “A sharrow does not give me the right to take a lane if I’m on a bicycle,” Abell said. “I have the right to take that lane whether there is a sharrow on the road or not. … Sharrow or not, I can take the lane. I’m a vehicle, by the laws of Texas. And it would behoove the opponents of bicycling, or bicycle boulevards, to learn the laws of Texas as far as bicycles are concerned.” (Austinites for Downtown Mobility, for the record, has repeatedly emphasized that it is only opposed to the bike boulevard, not bicycle commuting.)
Bike boulevard opponents also brought accusations of dirty play into the mix. ADM’s Monica Thomason pleaded with bicyclists present to have a talk with their less rational compatriots about vandalism occurring at businesses on the corridor, particularly those with ADM yard signs. “Please tell these people to stop,” she said. “It started as simple sign vandalism. … It has now escalated to actual destruction of property. They’re spray-painting our property; they’re breaking fences; they’re sneaking onto the property in the evening.
“We thought … we could have an adult discussion, and that has not been the case.”
Abell fired back that the broader cycling community should not be tarred by the actions of a few idiots. Vandalism accusations are “a hard thing to prove,” Abell said, “and I’m offended that I, being a bicyclist, should be broadly swept into that group that would vandalize.”
Indeed, “evidence” of the vandalism posted on ADM’s website is inconclusive, at best. A video shows a cyclist riding up in the night and stomping on a business’ “Keep Austin Moving” sign, but photos of other damage — including graffiti that simply says “love” — don’t show a clear connection to the debate.
And Urban Transportation Commission Chair Richard MacKinnonreminded ADM that dirty tricks go both ways and complained of a “disinformation campaign” by boulevard opponents. “We do condemn the vandalism of property,” MacKinnon said. However, he said all commission members had received many e-mails with “bad information in it. And the bad information was almost duplicated from one letter to the next, talking about a bike boulevard that completely eliminated vehicle traffic. That doesn’t do any side any good, because people start to debate things that don’t exist. … What it started to feel to me like was the ‘death panels’ of bike boulevards.”
The UTC took no vote, as members wanted to wait for the results of an economic impact study due May 11.
By LEE NICHOLS of AustinChronicle.com
Click here for the Original Article
Ride for Heroes
As most of you, the Wheelbrothers attend cycling events all around North Texas. However, most of the time, we just pay our $30, sign our form and collect the T-Shirt. Outside of the MS-150, most of us never really stop to think ‘WHAT’ the event is all about. We might catch a glimpse here or there – but – overall its guesswork at best.
In order to find out a bit more, we are interviewing folks about some of our favorite races this year. Starting with the one race that seems to ‘REALLY’ kick of the cycling season for us ‘Ride for Heroes’ (No offense to the ‘Freeze your Fanny’ folks, etc.) .
A couple of days ago, we caught up with Donna Smith, the President of the ‘Ride for Heroes’ event and were able to ask her some enlightening questions!
Ride for Heroes seems to be one of the first races for a lot of cyclists in North Texas. How long has the event been around and how did it start?
The ride started 9 years ago with the vision of a cyclist, a man with a cause, and a woman who could fleece money off anyone.
What was the motivation behind starting the tour and who benefits from it?
The avid cyclist had always wanted to have an organized ride in East Parker county, beautiful country with rolling (sometimes challenging) hills, not too much traffic and close to the metroplex. The man with cause is an insurance agent that wanted to raise money for the area volunteer fire departments. These two people met and knew to have a success ride sufficient funds would need to be raised, that is when the third person entered the picture to round out the talents involved. The money is divided between the volunteer fire departments of Aledo, Hudson Oaks and Willow Park, and the Parker County Sheriff reserves. A small portion goes to Center of Hope and to the Aledo ISD high school clubs that assist with the ride. Of course we also give to the Bicycle Coalition.
How have they been able to utilize the funds in the past?
They use the money mostly for equipment and some training. The one thing I know they have purchased is a portion of a police car for the Sheriff’s reserve. We are a designated 501c3 and have donated over $225,000 in 7 years.
Logistically, can you give us an idea how many volunteers, finances and planning it takes to put on this event?
It take approximately 350 volunteers, $15,000, and 8 months of planning
Seriously, how many port-a-potties do you have?
18, however remember we have the lovely stadium facilities at the beginning of the ride.
What brings you personally to this event?
As a real estate agent, East Parker County has been very good to me in my business. I found this as a great way to give back to the community that has done so much for me.
What can folks do to support you and your mission?
Money, Money and more money! I am still looking for in-kind donations for such things as printing, t-shirts and hamburger meat! The more money we make or in-kind donations we receive the more we can give.
What were you thinking OR drinking when deciding to ‘run’ the whole show?
I was asked to consider running the show by someone very dear to me, someone I just can’t say NO too. Of course the two gin martinis were influential as well.
Which was the most rewarding experience throughout the years hosting this event?
Actually the most rewarding experience was not during the event. It was at the annual parade of lights in Fort Worth. We had a float and a banner with volunteer Firemen in complete “bunker” gear walking along (we also had some people riding bikes) the parade route. As we came by people were cheering, giving “high fives” to the firemen, etc. At that moment it really struck me that these guys are the real deal. They risk their lives for us in what may be one of our darkest moments AND they volunteer to do it! Needless to say I was overwhelmed and became determined to raise as much money to help these departments as I could.
What was the strangest thing anyone has left behind at the race?
Probably their Pride. I have heard many a cyclist say, they had no idea such hills existed just outside of Fort Worth
How many riders do you medically assist during the average race?
2 or 3
Did you ever wanted to say to someone in your medical tent “Oh, just suck it up!!!”?
I would have to ask my safety director on that one, and he is out of the country!
Ever feel strange having that many guys wearing spandex around?
Are you kidding? I’m a single, middle-aged woman, bring it on!
Butt Butter – Gay or not Gay?
Essential
Anything you would like to let folks know about this years ride?
We will have bluebonnets in bloom for the first time, the scenery will be stunning.
Thought about – “Jeez, can they not ask MORE questions – yet?”
We can discuss that over a cold beer!
Did someone just mention ‘BEER’?????
On that note – ‘Thank you’ Donna for granting this quick interview and we hope we can catch up with everyone at the event.
Remember to say ‘Hi’ if you see one of the Wheelbrothers!
WE WANT YOU!!! Public Open House, City of Arlington, April 7th, 2010 6:30pm-9pm
We need as many Arlington residents as possible to attend this open house to show the city council that there is wide spread support for their proposed Hike and Bike System Master plan:
Public Open House for the City of Arlington’s Hike and Bike System Master Plan
Date: April 7, 2010
Time: 6:30-9:00 PM (come and go)
Location: Arlington City Hall
101 W. Abram Street, Arlington, TX
Take the time to fill out this online survey that was commissioned by the city! Arlington, TX Survey
Arlington, Texas is currently developing a Hike and Bike Master Plan for the city. For this, the city council has hired Greenways Incorporated, a company out of North Carolina, that has done similar projects around the country. In order to show the city council that there is widespread public support for this project we need as many folks as possible to attend.
A wealth of information about this project is found on the Greenways website:
Greenways Incorporated has been commissioned by the City of Arlington, Texas to prepare a pedestrian and bicycle (Hike and Bike) master plan for the community. The City of Arlington is looking to address both the health of its citizens and access to outdoor resources through the development of this master plan. The proposed on-road and off-road network of pedestrian and bicycle facilities will be designed to link residents and visitors to popular destinations, the workplace and school. Emphasis will be placed on integrating walking and cycling into the lifestyle of Arlington residents. This project is being done in coordination with the Arlington Parks and Recreation Department and the Community Development and Planning Department. The planning process began in November 2009 and is scheduled to be completed by November 2010. http://www.greenways.com/arlington
Slides from their January 27th, 2010 presentation