Though it was a hard winter, the weather is clearing. Lots of things happening locally on the cycling front. Read on for info about rumble strips, local rides and charity rides and advocacy activities.
Penn State Cycling Nittany Cycling Classic: The Penn State Cycling Club still needs volunteers for its bike race this Saturday out at Black Moshannon from 11:30am-1:10pm. If you or anyone else you know would be willing to marshal a corner of the race course it would be a huge help to them. Contact Andy Artz at ada5145@psu.edu or Cici Cruz-Uribe at amc472@psu.edu. You can also ride the race! Come out and strut your stuff up Black Moshannon for the chance to win prizes and glory! The winner of the Cat 4 race will also receive a free one-month membership to Fitology. INFO: http://collegiatecycling.org/eccc/wiki/uploads/Calendar/2014-Road-PennState.pdf REGISTER: https://www.bikereg.com/nittany-cycling-classic
Bike Month – May is bike month. CRBC is not currently planning any major events due to volunteer shortages, but the School district will be holding many events including a photo scavenger hunt, school challenge rides, and bike fair and group rides on May 31st. Stay tuned for more details.
A Centre Region Bicycle Advisory Committee (CRBAC) has been formed from CRBC members, local bike club leaders, COG planners, police, and others. The committee’s purpose is to promote a safe bicycle experience through awareness, proper enforcement, intelligent planning and effective education in the Centre Region. This is part of our next steps in taking the region from Bronze to a Silver Bicycle Friendly Community!
RUMBLE STRIPS: PENNDOT District 2 announced at the State College Transportation Commission meeting that the district adopted a policy of no new side rumble strips unless the road shoulders are at least 6 feet wide. This exceeds PENNDOTs criteria of 4 feet and should be welcome news to area cyclists.
Charity Ride season starts early this year. Here’s the lineup of local charity rides
Many thanks to Dr. Melissa Bopp for attending Wednesday’s CRBC meeting and presenting her findings from recent studies about active travel in Centre County. Melissa is a researcher in Penn State’s Department of Kinesiology. She discussed some of the significant influences on biking for transportation in our community and also examined some of the economic implications of active travel in downtown State College. It was a great presentation and gave us a lot to think about in terms of what we can do to further bike/ped travel in the Centre region.
The Centre Region Bicycle Coalition (CRBC) and the State College Area School District Physical Education Department (SCASD-PE), in conjunction with the State College Cycling Club (SC3), the Nittany Mountain Bicycling Association (NMBA), Rock Hill School at Linden Hall, The Women’s Adventure Club, and the League of American Bicyclists (LAB) are joining together to celebrate and support Bike Month in the Centre Region during May, 2013.
Apr 26 – Bike Information Table at PSU’s Allen St. Gate
Stop by the table and pick up maps, bicycle registration information and lots more!
Apr 26 – May 11 – Bicycle Photo Scavenger Hunt
Individuals, pairs and teams of 3 to 5 riders will be given a list of 50 destinations around town to bike to and photograph between April 26 & May 11. Try to get all participants, their bikes AND their helmets to appear in each photo of each destination’s sign. List of locations and map will be posted on Thursday, April 25 (evening) in this article (CLICK HERE FOR LIST)and the SCASD-PE website (http://www.scasd.org/Page/215). No sign-ups or registration needed.
Bring your prints, camera or camera phone with pictures on it, to the Bicycle Extravaganza at Mount Nittany Middle School on Saturday, May 11 at 3pm for validation – remember, each photo must include helmets to be valid. A top prize will be awarded in each category (single, pairs, teams) for the most locations ridden to and photographed. Also, a raffle ticket will be given to each individual for every 5 locations. Raffle tickets can be used in drawings for various other prizes. Have fun exploring the SC area with your family and friends. All ties will be broken by coin toss.
May 1-31 – Elementary School Bicycling Activities
Elementary students will be issued “Bicycle Calendars” at their schools. They will color in a spoke for every day that they ride their bicycle at least 15 minutes. If that accumulates to 20 days or more during the month of May, they may bring their calendar to their PE teacher. A prize drawing will be held for eligible students.
Individual schools will be offering a variety of bicycling events during the month of May as well. Corl Street Elementary will celebrate Bike Day on May 22 (rain date May 23) at 3 pm, with a Bicycle Tour de Corl Street supervised ride for students, faculty and interested family members. This will be about four mile ride through the Holmes-Foster and Greentree neighborhoods starting and ending at the school.
May 4 – Linden Loop Bicycle Ride
Join us as we support the work to restore and maintain historic Rock Hill School. Register at 11:30. Ride at 12:30. Two rides are offered, a five mile recreational/family ride and a twenty eight mile supported ride, starting and finishing at 111 Linden Hall Road, near Boalsburg. Cost to register is $20.00 Website for the event: http://rockhillschoolatlindenhall.blogspot.com
May 6-10 – High School Bike to School Week
Students will be encouraged to ride to and from the high school during the entire week.
May 6-10 Middle School Bike to School Rides
Battle of the Bikes at the area middle schools: More info will be provided on the schools’ websites:
At Park Forest Middle School on May 9, there will be a Bike-to-School ride through the Park Forest neighborhood.
Beginner mountain bike rides will start May 9, Thursday evenings at 6pm in the Galbraith Gap parking lot.
May 10 SC3 and the Women’s Adventure Club Fun Formal Flat Ride
6pm-7:15pm meet at Westside Stadium Bar & Grill GIGI’s 2080 Cato Ave. Black tie attire/formal wear (biking shorts accepted!!). Happy Hour after the ride (in your formal wear, of course)! Be sure to bring a camera – you WON’T want to miss this!
May 11 Bike Rides and Bike Extravaganza
at Mount Nittany Middle School (rain or shine!)
Community Bike Rides from Mount Nittany Middle School Parking Lot
23-25 miles – Organized and lead by the CRBC leaves at 12:30 PM
10 miles – Organized and lead by the CRBC leaves at 1:30 PM
4 miles – routes pre-arranged with maps available 1:30 – 3 PM
2 miles- routes pre-arranged with maps available 1:30 – 3 PM
Bike Festival at Mount Nittany Middle School Parking Lot (3-4 PM)
Live Music, Food, Raffle Tickets and Prizes. Drawings and prizes @ 3:30 PM.
Bicycle Scavenger Hunt Check-In @ 3 PM
May 10-12 Bike to Worship
Bike to your favorite worship service May 10, 11 or 12. It’s a great way to get in touch with the wonders of creation (even rain is a wonder after all), do something emission-free for the earth, and care for your body as well.
May 17 – National Bike to Work Day
Join our crusade for a happier, healthier, greener community and ride to work!!! CRBC has a list of local cyclists who will help you figure out the best route for you to commute in to work. These Bike-to-Work Mentors are listed at http://centrebike.org.
May 17-19 Dirt Rag’s Dirt Fest at Raystown
Dirt Rag’s annual celebration of bikes, presented by SCOTT Sports, Allegrippis Trails at Raystown Lake, Pa, 30 plus miles of singletrack bliss.. Dirt Fest is a gathering to promote the mountain bicycling community in an environment of inclusion not based around ability, but rather hearty spirit for adventure, festivity, and camaraderie.
May 28 – SC3 and the Women’s Adventure Club Ice Cream RideTuesday May 28th at 6pm. Meet at Bernel Road Park for SC3’s regular Tuesday ride , stopping at Berkey Creamery on campus mid-ride.
