A short film from 1st Annual “Wheel Ride For Food”

Enjoy this 3-minute film that documents Asheville’s 1st Annual “Wheel Ride for Food” bicycle ride to Benefit Meals on Wheels.

The music is Australia’s Xavier Rudd with the song “Shelter” from Rudd Live.

Hot Doggett 100 - Sponsored by BioWheels & Deltec Homes

HOT DOGGETT 100
Saturday July 12, 2008

‘Wheel Ride For Food’ was a Great Success!

INAUGURAL “WHEEL RIDE FOR FOOD” WAS A HUGE SUCCESS!

May 31, 2008 – On a warm spring morning about 8:30 a.m., around 140 cyclists lined up in great anticipation of rolling out in Asheville’s newest cycling event – the Wheel Ride For Food.  As part of the Mountain Sports Festival, the WRFF event was created to raise money for Meals On Wheels.  Billed as an all-level family ride, the half-metric and full-metric routes took cyclists through the scenic communities of Weaverville, Marshall, Ox Creek, Town Mountain and back through downtown Asheville. 

Thanks to the generosity of over 25 sponsors including The Catherine McAuley Mercy Foundation and Mountain Health Contracting along with 140 riders, the first Wheel Ride For Food raised over $35,000 to help feed the homebound elderly in Buncombe County.  Full sponsors link page list is here.

The ride kicked off with a raffle drawing for several prizes including a set of customized wheels from Industry Nine, a BioWheels Wool Jersey, a cycling gift basket from Park Ridge Hospital and a gift bag from Hammer Nutrition.  Riders were well supported throughout the day thanks to Information/Registration volunteers, SAG personnel, Ham radio operators, well-stocked rest stops and the BioWheels and VeloSports race teams who rode sweep along the 32 and 65-mile routes.  Over 60 volunteers were on hand during the event to make sure that the WRFF participants enjoyed a safe, challenging and fun ride.  Upon finishing, riders were treated to a tasty wrap lunch from Feel Good Flatbread. 

Marilyn Carter (Executive Director for Meals On Wheels) explained, “This started out as an idea to raise money for MOW by David Hall (Deltec Homes) – a longtime volunteer and friend to MOW.  Thanks to David and the other members of our WRFF Committee – Alan Brookshire (UBS Financial), Matt Johnson (BioWheels), Charles Pine (Retired) and Katie Smith (Dixon Hughes) and our MOW staff, we were able to put together a ride designed by cyclists to appeal to the cycling community.” 

Click on this group picture to go to a Flickr Slideshow of WRFF.

Organizing a first-year event was no easy task!  Continue reading ‘Wheel Ride For Food’ was a Great Success!…

The Inaugural Asheville Mayor’s Ride

In an effort to highlight the upcoming “Strive Not to Drive Week”, we created the “Asheville Mayor’s Ride”. BioWheels owners Matt & Eric pedaled the “commute” from the Asheville Chamber of Commerce to City/County Plaza with Mayor Terry Bellamy and a host of other Asheville dignataries and bike commuter activists. City Council Members Brownie Newman & Robin Cape were on hand. Commitments were made, in writing, as well as spoken, to push the alternative transportaion agenda at all levels of government & planning. 

The Mayors’ Ride Event was produced by all of the folks that have been pushing the bike plan; UNCA, Asheville on Bikes, Liberty Bikes, ProBikes, and BioWheels. Thanks to the Asheville Chamber of Commerce, the Asheville Police & Buncombe Cty Government for their participation.

We were even joined by a environmental superhero - The ‘Air Avenger’ on his 8-foot tall bicycle.  Follow this photo of the Mayor Bellamy to a slideshow of the entire event.  You must check out these photographs!

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    

PARK(ing) Day- San Francisco

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

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

Some information may change & will be updated here & at our website: WheelRideForFood.org

Here is a great article from Mtn Xpress on the ride.

“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.

(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.

(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…

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?…