‘Dirt Kids’ 5/10 postponed until 6/7/08

Due to the large number of involved ‘Dirt Kids’ families that are attending the Lake Eden Arts Festival on May 9th-11th, Jon & I are re-scheduling ‘Dirt Kids’. We have set the date to Saturday, June 7th. We tried to do it sooner, but there are bike events every single weekend the we are already committed to.

We apologize for this, but LEAF is all about the kids, as well.

Thanks for understanding. -Matt J.

Register for Strive Not to Drive

Strive Not to Drive
18 Years and counting!
This year celebrate: May 12th - 16th, 2008

- Register NOW & get your co-workers to register

- then get free breakfast

- then the employer with the largest participation will be recognized in the paper

Be green, save money & have fun! Please view this poster; SNTDPoster final 2008.pdf

Register & learn more at:
www.blueridgecommute.org    

Cincinnati - Final CORA Mitchell Memorial Trail Day Saturday May 10th!

Mitchell Memorial Forest Trail Build - 5/10/2008 at 9am

Directions: Take Rybolt Rd exit off of I-74. Turn right onto Harrison. Go a few miles, turn left onto Wesselman. Go a couple miles, turn right on Buffalo Ridge. Climb hill and turn right onto Zion. First right into park. Park vehicle at Tall Trees lot, last lot on left.

We have ~1/2 mile of trail to build and the loop will be 99.9% complete! All that will remain are the two openings going into the woods at the trail head, which we will complete on the June fine tuning trail day. But, that won’t happen unless we have a turnout in May like we did in January. There is no doubt in my mind we can do this. The majority of what is left will be only raking and clearing. Most of the 0.42 mile we did in January was bench cut. There is still quite a lot of dead fall on the route, so I’m hoping to get most of that cleared prior to the trail day.

Jonathan Walters
Cincinnati OMBA Representative

PARK(ing) Day- San Francisco

Check this out! www.youtube.com/results?search_query=parking+day+san+fran&search_type=

Cincinnati Earth Day April 19

Malaprop’s event with author from book on Bicycling!

Portland Considered Most Bicycle-Friendly City in North America

Check out this video & audio piece on Bike in Portland!   Gives us a set of goals in Asheville.
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/4/15/portland_considered_most_bicycle_friendly_city

For many, Portland is a haven of green-friendly urban planning. It recently topped Popular Science‘s list of the Greenest Cities in the United States. A big part of that is bikes. Portland is widely considered the most bicycle-friendly city in North America, so much so that bikes are on display throughout the Portland airport. Worldwide, it’s seen as only second to Amsterdam. We speak with two local Portland transportation activists.

Wheel Ride For Food : Metric Century & Family Fun Ride is part of ‘08 Mountain Sports Festival

“Wheel Ride for Food” (WRFF) has 2 distinct goals; 1) Provide an event for beginning & intermediate cyclists, their familes & friends to ride the beautiful backroads of rural WNC, & 2) Raise funds for “Meals on Wheels”-Buncombe County. Each day in Buncombe County, over 550 homebound elderly depend on Meals On Wheels for a hot, nutritious meal and a friendly visit. We believe these seniors deserve our respect and the opportunity to live in their own homes among familiar surroundings and maintain their dignity while aging. By helping them, we are assisting the families who love them and the community we live in.

Here is the printable Wheel Ride For Food flier

Follow this Link to the interactive Ride Map

This exciting event is part of the 2008 Mountain Sports Festival, with the support of Asheville Parks and Recreation Department.

We will gather at Carrier Park, with registration in Festival Village at the Deltec tent, near the Track. Riders should make their way into the circle of the track, as we all ‘roll-out’ after a parade lap. We will hold a brief riders meeting at 8:45 to discuss the rules of the road & answer questions. We will begin at 9:15 am.

The Road Ride will consist of a Metric Century (65 miles) and Half-Metric (30-ish miles).
Both routes offer a challenging and scenic ride throughout the river district and various parts of Asheville and Buncombe County before returning to Festival Village and joining other WRFF riders in a finish line party. Continue reading Wheel Ride For Food : Metric Century & Family Fun Ride is part of ‘08 Mountain Sports Festival…

Check out this book

Bicycle: The History
by David V. Herlihy

YEAR OF THE BICYCLE?

For Release Sunday, March 2, 2008
© 2008 Washington Post Writers Group

YEAR OF THE BICYCLE?
By Neal Peirce

Bicycling’s best year since the start of the auto age?  That’s the argument likely to be made March 4-6 as hundreds of cyclists from across the nation gather in Washington for the National Bike Summit sponsored of the League of American Bicyclists.

A crescendo of trends and developments makes the case.

First the trends: oil costs are surpassing $100 a barrel, global warming alarm calls are mounting, polluting autos and trucks increasingly clog city streets, and health concerns about a sedentary and fattening society are mounting.

And now the developments: Handy bike-for-hire stations are proving instant hits in Paris and other European cities and seem poised to invade urban America.  Moves to add painted bike lanes along city roadways are being eclipsed by proposals for entire networks of “bike boulevards” — roadways altered radically to accommodate cyclists and pedestrians. And a companion “Complete Streets” movement — making roadway space for cyclists and pedestrians, not just cars and trucks — is gaining traction
nationwide.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), founder of the Congressional Bike caucus (now 160-bipartisan members strong), claims a new pro-bike politics is forming, that it can mobilize a 1-million-plus national constituency and force clear recognition of the role of bicycles in the next (2009) federal transportation bill.  He and the Bike Summit will be pushing a sense of Congress resolution recognizing the potential of bikes to undergird a greener, healthier and more efficient national future. Continue reading YEAR OF THE BICYCLE?…