It does my heart good to see people–especially grown ups–discover how much fun it is to ride a bike. The photo here is of a new neighborhood ride near Tampa. The palm trees and Spanish moss look especially nice to this winter-weary rider.

A 1World2Wheels reader, Alan Snel, shared his story about the Seminole Heights Riding Club.

According to Snel, “I’d been leading bike rides on neighborhood streets for local folks who fear Tampa’s roads since September. I decided to lead 6-mile rides for newbies, and casual hybrid-bike types in our neighborhood, which has lots of old oaks and bungalow houses.

The weekly bike rides became the foundation for the Seminole Heights Bicycle Club. The club formed when 25 people showed up at Snel’s house and together they organized the club right on his front porch.

The inaugural ride of the Seminole Bike Club was 2 weeks ago and 60 cyclists showed up. Starbucks chipped in with free coffee and water for the bike ride that included Tampa mayor Pam Iorio.

One outcome of the ride is that Mayor Iorio pledged to paint a bike lane on a wide, one-way road that leads into downtown Tampa.

The Seminole Heights Bike Club is grassroots in the purest form; no hierarchy, no connection to an agency, no dues. Just people of all biycling levels and types of bikes and ages coming together for the pure love of biking and neighborhood spirit. Sweet!
You can find more photos and information here: http://www.seminoleheightsbicycleclub.com/rides.html

The rider in this photo is Dr. David C. Joyce, President of Ripon College. Ripon College is a private university set in the scenic Kettle Morraine area of southeastern Wisconsin. I got wind of their “Velo-ution” and was able to talk to the publicity director, Cody Pinkston, to get some photos of Dr. Joyce who is driving the Velo-ution. The press release Ripon College sent out follows. For the record, I want to go back to college–at Ripon. Who wouldn’t want to go to a school with a President that can tear up a trail and thinks progressively?

Ripon, Wi; Among the many choices Ripon College’s class of 2012 will face is whether or not to bring a car to campus this fall. Those who pledge not to do so will receive a big incentive: a brand-new mountain bike to keep. Dubbed the “Ripon Velorution Program (RVP), it is the first of its kind in the nation.

Incoming students starting their first college semester at Ripon will have the option to sign an RVP pledge this spring saying that they will not bring a car to campus for the duration of the upcoming academic year. Those who participate will be given a brand-new Trek 820 mountain bike, a Trek Vapor helmet and a Masterlock U-Lock to keep.

Here’s a link to more of the story on the Ripon College website:http://www.ripon.edu/velorution/

On a mid-November day with a chill in the air and a dusting of snow on the ground, Boulder resident Leslie Bohm, CEO of Catalyst Communications took this observer on a tour of Boulder that included a stop at an elementary school.

This was not your normal American elementary school. The day we observed the morning routine of kids arriving at school there was one noticable difference.

Even with a temperature near 30 degrees and fresh snow on the ground the kids arriving at school on bikes outnumbered the mini-vans and cars dropping off kids by about 10:1.

Read more >

What do Boulder, Colorado and Madison, Wisconsin have in common? Both have earned the designation of a “Bicycle Friendly Community.” That means that the cities have incorporated bicycles into their infrastructure planning and have passed a rigorous rating system managed by the League of American Bicyclists.

We’ll explore here what it means to be a bike friendly community and how to encourage your city to apply for the status.

Read more >

Say Louisville and immediately the Kentucky Derby comes to mind. The city is known world wide for hosting the “most exciting two minutes in sports.” While the Derby and Louisville are well over a century old, the city has stayed fresh by welcoming new ideas and no one personifies that more than the city’s mayor, Jerry Abrahamson.

Two years ago, Abrahamson set a goal of making Louisville a Bicycle Friendly Community, the designation given by the League of American Bicyclists. Louisville applied and earned the designation of a “Bronze” community.

Read more >