Category: Uncategorized (Page 5 of 7)

The 2013 National Bike Challenge ends September 30th. If you haven’t signed up yet, please do so at nationalbikechallenge.org, and start logging your miles!  Kansas is sitting at #12 nationally, and well behind #11 & #10 but there’s still time!

KanBikeWalk is the statewide coordinator for the National Bike Challenge, and have done a great job working to get the word out.

We need to contact all the bike clubs, health organizations, community clubs, civics organizations, cities, and businesses in the state, to ask them to tell their members, their employees, their customers, about the National Bike Challenge. Ask them to print out the flyer and post it to bulletin boards, ask them to include it in their paper and electronic newsletters, ask them to encourage everyone they know to ride their bikes and log their miles.

Here are some images that individuals, organizations, and businesses can use to publicize the National Bike Challenge. Feel free to copy these images and share them widely.

This is the main 2013 National Bike Challenge poster, formatted to print on 8.5″x11″ paper. Please download the PDF, print in either color or black-and-white, and distribute widely.

Here are some additional images, in various formats, from the official National Bike Challenge marketing materials:

Use this 600×200 banner image for your e-news, email blasts, or web page. Download and save on your computer for use. Link this web banner directly to nationalbikechallenge.org.

Use this 200×200 button image for a smaller space on your website or e-news and link it directly to nationalbikechallenge.org.

Other marketing material available include an 11 x 17 Poster, an 8.5 x 11 One Pager, and a Postcard. All of these are in PDF format for easy printing.

If you have questions about the National Bike Challenge, please refer to the Frequently-Asked Questions (FAQ), the Guide for Groups, the Guide for Businesses, as well as the Official Rules and information on awards and the prize program.

If you’re looking for content for a newsletter, this Guide to Bike Safety is a great starting point, and may be freely republished and redistributed.

Comment opportunities available for Multimodal Studies

Public involvement and input are essential to the success of the Multimodal Studies planning effort. The goal of this planning effort is to identify transportation needs and to prioritize multimodal improvements for commuters, pedestrians, cyclists and transit riders. This study is specifically focused on:

• Developing plans for park and ride facilities within Douglas County
• Enhancing pedestrian accessibility to fixed-route transit in Lawrence
• Developing a countywide bikeway plan by enhancing existing facilities within Lawrence and expanding facilities throughout Douglas County

Take the Survey

The Lawrence-Douglas County Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), in coordination with the City of Lawrence, Kansas, has launched an online survey for the Multimodal Studies. This survey includes questions on all three elements of the Multimodal Planning Studies. While we understand that you may not be interested in all three, it is important that you answer all of the survey questions as this will help the project team better define the mobility needs and priorities of the region. The survey should take approximately 10 minutes and all responses are confidential.  A link to the survey is available on the project web page at www.lawrenceks.org/mpo/study now through October 15. Public participation in the survey will help the study team better define mobility needs and priorities in the region. 

Attend the Open House

The public is invited to share their thoughts about the Multimodal Studies on Wednesday, October 9 from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Tom Wilkerson Room of the Indoor Aquatic Center (4706 Overland Drive) in Lawrence.   The meeting will be an open house. No formal presentation will be given. Representatives from the MPO and the study team will be present to answer questions and discuss issues or concerns.

The information presented at the open house will describe the overall study, potential policy changes, short-term capital improvement projects, and long-term improvement concepts that would contribute to making the region’s multimodal transportation vision a reality. During the meeting, the public will be asked to comment on mobility needs and transportation priorities for the region. Thereafter, the feedback from the survey and open house will be blended with the transportation planning analyses and incorporated into drafts of three transportation studies: Commuter Park-and-Ride, Fixed-Route Transit and Pedestrian Accessibility, and Countywide-Bikeway System Plan.   

For more information, visit the project web page at www.lawrenceks.org/mpo/study.  You can also contact Todd Girdler, Senior Transportation Planner, Lawrence-Douglas County Metropolitan Planning Organization, at (785) 832-3155 and [email protected].

This a repost from the League of American Bicyclists, but we want to share it with our readers.  Please check out their additional resources and extensive linbrary of .pdf’s at: http://bikeleague.org/content/women-bike-resources

_________________

Women’s Bike Resources

Looking for facts and figures? Trying to find the latest research on women and bicycling? Need an idea to kickstart a campaign in your community? Women Bike is committed to being your go-to source of information and best practices in engaging and empowering more women to ride a bike — and rise in the movement.

Women on a Roll

A first-of-its-kind report from the Women Bike program, Women on a Roll compiles more than 100 original and trusted sources of data to showcase the growth and potential of female bicyclists in the United States. It also suggest five key focus areas — the 5 Cs — to increase women’s ridership. Download the full report and read the press release.

FreeWheels for Kids, a Kansas City-based nonprofit that gives away repaired bikes and helmets, will be collecting donated bikes during the Tour of Lawrence’s Sunday’s criterium.

Members will be set up outside of Sunflower Bike and Outdoor, 804 Massachusetts St.

Free Wheels for Kids teaches youth to repair bicycles and ride safely, in order to increase exercise and fight obesity, provide mobility and empower participants, and provide leadership opportunities and experience to at-risk youth. Through their Earn-a-Bike classes, youth in low-income neighborhoods repair bikes for younger children and earn a refurbished bike, helmet and tools. After completing the repair course and safety training, graduates are encouraged to participate in regular group rides around the city and to form ride clubs in their neighborhood. One dedicated FreeWheels graduate said it best.

When asked why he wanted to earn a bike, he responded: “I really like riding a bike. The one I had broke and I [don’t want to] spend my time inside with nothing to do.”

Participants have enthusiastically gone on rides up to 25 miles (with a cold!), sometimes in snow, in neighborhoods they don’t know, after falling off their bikes and all with a smile because the next best option is video games or the graffiti-covered park in their neighborhood.

More than one FreeWheels participant has told staff that he or she would barely leave the house were it not for FreeWheels events! We are always working to provide new opportunities for graduates to be involved.

In 2012 FreeWheels has given over 1,460 bike to kids in need and ridden hundreds if not thousands of miles together.