East coast ridin’
One family’s journey on a multi-state bike tour PAGE 4
g’s r u b n o Harris routes bike s ich route h w n r a e L n town are new i PAGE 7
Tricked out rides Local bikers display their customizations PAGE 3
es are Bicycl Transportation!
TWO-WHEEL TALK Bicycling in Harrisonburg A NEW COMMUNITY PROJECT CREATION SPRING 2015
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S T C FA You are 7 times more likely to be hospitalized playing football than riding a bike.
You can fit 30 bikes in one parking space!
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STATS
You can bike 3 miles on the caloric energy of one egg. A fully loaded bus going the same distance burns the equivalent of 24 eggs per person.
3 hours of bicycling per week can reduce your risk of heart disease (the #1 cause of death in the U.S.) and stroke by 50%.
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People who are auto-dependant spend 25% of their income on transportation compared with 9% for those who bike, walk or take public transit.
The average person loses 13 pounds their fIrst year of commuting by bike.
SOURCES: 1 WORLD 2 WHEELS, THE INTERNATIONAL BICYCLE FUND, SIERRA (2010), WORLD WATCH (2010)
TRICKED OUT RIDES
This cute decoration not only spins but makes lovely ringing sounds when the metal of each garden spur collides.
Daniel Brumbaugh-Keeney demonstrates a bicycle powered washing machine.
Sam Nickels stands behind a double-decker bicycle.
These wheels are sporting Monkey Lights: LED lights attached to the spokes that change pattern and color.
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A different path
Local family turns full-time bikers, takes 2,106-mile journey Michael, Grace, Naomi and Etienne Young leave their new home in Harrisonburg, Virginia, to run an errand. The family biked more than 2,000 miles from Pennsylvania to North Carolina and back to attend the Wild Goose Festival in the summer of 2014. They have recently moved to Harrisonburg.
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BY HEATHER HUNTER-NICKELS
hen Grace Young, 26 years old and four months pregnant, was ready to have a melt down, she would say to herself “I want to do this. This is the tour.” With that reminder she would push through the most challenging moments. Along with her husband, Michael Young, they sold their car, loaded up their two kids, 4-year-old Naomi and 1-year-old Etienne, and began pedaling their bikes out of Sunbury, Pennsylvania, toward the Wild Goose Festival
in Hot Springs, North Carolina. Their tour, ending back in Pennsylvania, lasted three months and three days, cost an average of $2,000, and spanned more than 2,106 miles. Many lessons were learned on the road as the family constantly felt like they were “out on a limb.” They learned to trust that they would find a place to stay each night. While they often camped, sometimes stealthily, Grace says people constantly offered hospitality without them having to ask. They also found
Tyler Sheaffer, right, met up with the Youngs during their bike adventure from Pennsylvania to North Carolina. found warmshowers.com, a website that connects travelers with hosts offering a place to shower, a handy resource. Their perception of the world outside of their community in Pennsylvania changed throughout the journey as well. “We had a really negative perception of our surroundings because of the news, but … we made so many friends, and people are just generally good,” Grace said. The ride remained exciting as the family experienced their share of frightening moments. Once, a major accident occurred in the exact spot where they had decided to get off the road just minutes before. Noting that you can’t go far out of your way to avoid dangerous roads when you’re on a bike, the couple had to accept a degree of risk for their children’s safety. “Traffic patterns change pretty often, so you can wait it out,” Grace said. “[But] sometimes you just gotta pray a lot and push through.” One surprise was how addicted they became with biking
throughout the trip. “I can recall every single day … and having one focus every day (their destination) does wonders,” Grace said. According to the Youngs, the highlight of their trip was riding through the Blue Ridge Parkway. “It was the most challenging and most rewarding,” Michael said. Reiterating his comment, Grace said, “It felt like we were in a different country. There were no commercial businesses on the side of the road.” After riding through Harrisonburg on their tour, the family decided to make a move and now reside in the Friendly City. Grace and Michael have had their third child and since they enjoyed their life on the road so much, they have set future sights on riding the entire Blue Ridge Parkway and for a separate trip, riding to the West Coast. For more details about the Young’s bike tour, check out their blog at brotherchicory. blogspot.com.
MICHAEL AND GRACE’S LIST OF: Top 5 most essential gear 1. Nothing supports you like a Brooks Saddle. 2. Bike repair kit. Prepare for maintenance. 3. Safety Equipment: helmet, head lamp, lights, and reflective gear. 4. Waterproof everything. 5. A mess kit, home made rocket stove, and water filter.
Top 5 least essential gear 1. Clip in shoes and pedals. They resulted in sore feet. Sandals were preferred. 2. Padded bike shorts. 3. Rain pants. Because it was often hot, rain was welcomed. 4. Excess saddle bags. At most you only need four. 5. Sleeping bags. We ended up using mats, a sheet and a cotton blanket.
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When parking outside in wet weather, bring a plastic bag to cover your seat to keep it dry.*
Avoid ridin drive g in r’s b a lind spot.
en passing parked Give yourself a buffer wh doors. vehicles to avoid opening downshift t o an easier gear when c to a stop f oming or an easie r start.
ten especially if Oil your chain of t avoid wearing ou it is grinding to cassette. your chains and williams at -Advice from Adam Rocktown Bicycles cross d railroa at as tracks o a close t ngle right a ible.* as poss
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“a path, a park, a prototype.”
Northend Greenway The Northend Greenway will be a 2.5 mile, 8-10 foot wide, paved multi-use path. The Greenway will be completely off-road and limited to bike, foot and other forms of non-motorized traffic. The path, which will be handicap accessible, will also feature sitting and picnic areas, informational signs and potential field and stream restoration sites. While the process of implementing a city project takes time, Harrisonburg City Council has unanimously approved full funding of the first phase. As of February 2015, a firm has been selected to provide engineering services for the project and construction is anticipated to begin in 2016.
The Northend Greenway is Bicycle and pedestrian transportation infrastructure A safe, affordable, healthy, attractive, carbon-free transportation route Easily accessible public green space A way to connect neighborhoods and diverse communities — students, elderly, international — to each other and businesses
COURTESY OF THE CITY OF HARRISONBURG
Bluestone Trail After eight years of planning and engineering, The Bluestone Trail was completed this past fall. The path is a 1-mile, 10-feet-wide, paved bicyclist and pedestrian path that runs from Stone Spring Rd. through Purcell Park to Hillside Ave. and Port Republic Rd. (JMU). It will ultimately extend south to Ramblewood Park and north into downtown. Connecting the Bluestone Trail and the Northend Greenway is a future element of Harrisonburg City’s master plan.
COURTESY OF THE CITY OF HARRISONBURG
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BY ERIC KING
n an article in World Watch magazine, “Power to the Pedals,” writer Gary Gardner compares transportation dynamics to an ecosystem, in which automobiles, bicycles and pedestrians are each a species with their own niche interacting to form a productive whole. In many places, it is a continual battle against marginalization for the biking community, as cities cater to cars. For myself as a biker, it’s easy to want to take inappropriate liberties in the name of advocacy and comfort, but as a ‘species’ trying to survive in this car-dominated system, what is the right balance between assertion, safety and respect? We can start with the understanding that sidewalks are for pedestrians. Besides being illegal in downtown Harrisonburg, riding on the sidewalk creates the potential for dangerous (not to mention awkward) walker-biker interactions. It also cultivates the idea that the bicycle is solely a leisure or fitness medium and diminishes its credibility as a legitimate mode of transportation. If you don’t feel safe riding on a particular road and feel the need to utilize the sidewalk, at least ride in the direction of traffic and make your presence and intentions known when passing persons on foot. Lane-sharing and bicyclist conduct at intersections is a point of greater contention. When traveling at a speed less than that of traffic on a road without a bike lane, one should stay as close to the right side as possible. However, when turning left as well as going straight through an intersection, one should ‘take the lane’ in order to avoid a vehicle turning across his or her path, and always signal! Perhaps the greatest temptation for a biker is to pedal through a red light when the intersection is clear. This is actually legal if you are alone and your bike has not triggered the light after two minutes, otherwise be patient and wait for the vehicles around you to activate the signal. The more cyclists ride confidently among motorists, the more comfortable and responsible they will be driving alongside us, but if we expect them to give us room to do so, we must observe the rules of the road. Respect is a two-way street.
Respect: a two-way street The more cyclists ride confidently among motorists, the more comfortable and responsible they will be driving alongside us, but if we expect them to give us room to do so, we must observe the rules of the road.
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Cycling around the world
Colombia Every Sunday, Bogotá, Columbia, celebrates ‘Ciclovía,’ in which 121 kilometers of the city’s roads are closed to motor vehicles from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event creates space for safe walking, biking and a variety of other festivities. This 41-year-old tradition has inspired nearly 200 other similar events across North and South America today.
Netherlands 26 percent of all trips are made by bicycle in the Netherlands (compared to only 1% in the U.S.). In the capital city, Amsterdam, this number rises to 38 percent and 60 percent downtown.
China & New York City Bike sharing thrives in 91 cities around the globe. New York City has the largest program in the U.S. with 10,000 bikes and 600 stations. China boast the highest national numbers with over 2,500 stations and 61,400 bikes.
Take the 2 mile challenge! For any location that is within two miles of your home, ride your bike.
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Community creation Add your sentence and pass it on!
Once upon a time while on a bicycle path, I saw a tiny door in the side of a tree ...
MAY IS NATIONAL BIKE MONTH Costume Bike Parade • Bike to Work Day • Women’s Ride • Commuter Workshop • Glowstick Ride • More! Visit the Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition’s website (svbcoalition.org) for a full list of events as well as information on other annual events, cycling classes, weekly rides and joining SVBC.
BIKE SHOPS IN THE ’BURG Shenandoah Bicycle Company 135 S. Main St., 540-437-9000
BIKE BUCKETS Equip your bike with a New Community Project Muddy Bike Bucket; the recycled, locally constructed, bike pannier. Proceeds support people in need. Look for them at: SBC, Rocktown Bicycles, Friendly City Food-Coop, Wyse Cycles, Bluestone Bike and Run, and Mole Hill Bikes (Dayton).
Rocktown Bicycles
50 S. Mason St., 540-689-0070
Bluestone Bike and Run
1570 S. Main St., 540-434-5151
Wyse Cycles
Mobile bike repairs, 540-383-4119
Everyday Bikes (at OCP)
17 E. Johnson St., 540-432-3696
Questions? Comments? Ideas for the next issue? Contact us at ncpharrisonburg@gmail.com. We want to know what you and your bikes are up to! Bikezine staff: Eric King, Heather Hunter-Nickels and Sean Cassidy. Special thanks to Melissa Howard, The Breeze and the Bee Hive Collective.