From the president

Bike to work kicked off with bicycle riders stopping at celebration stations in Snohomish Co.  Club members volunteered at many of them.  The Everett station logged 125 riders this year and the estimated total count was over 900

I still have Volunteer opportunities for club members.  Some are more fun than work.  Contact me for more information at president@bikesclub.org .

I have been looking at the promotional items in the storage locker and wondering if they could do a better job of promoting our club and rides (Last year nobody from the storage locker signed up for the club or rode the McClinchy)  I think it is time to start expanding the area of influence of our promotional items.  I would like some ride leaders to contact me and help spread some of them to members and riders in the community.

For those waiting for warm weather to get out and ride, it is time, the tights are off.  inflate those tire, dust off the saddle and oil the chain.  Come out and join a ride.   We know where the best bakeries are.

Keep the pedals turning

Bill Weber

1. Hundreds of Cyclists Take to the Streets

Bike Commute Challenge continues

through June

Snohomish County, Wash. – Nine hundred people tried a two-wheeled commute Friday as Snohomish County and Bothell residents and workers celebrated a sunny Bike to Work Day.

Community Transit and Everett Transit sponsor Snohomish County Bike to Work as part of the agencies’ commitment to alternative transportation. Multimodal commutes were common, as ferry commuters stopped by the Edmonds “celebration station” before hopping on the train or bus. Others biked the Interurban Trail to the Lynnwood Transit Center “celebration station,” where the city sought input on common bike routes. Lynnwood Council member and Community Transit board alternate Lisa Utter welcomed riders to the station.

Community Transit CEO Joyce Eleanor and BIKES Club of Snohomish County member Debby Grant were among those biking a portion of the 17-mile Interurban Trail. “Biking is an important part of the transportation mix,” Eleanor said. Community Transit publishes the Snohomish County bike map, and has had bike racks on all its buses since 1996.

BIKES member Debby Grant, Community Transit board alternate and Lynnwood City Council person Lisa Utter  and Community Transit CEO Joyce Eleanor discuss the impacts of the Multimodal commutes and the fun of  cycling part at the conclusion of the Lynnwood Celebration ride

At Everett Station, Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson and Snohomish County Sheriff John Lovick led the “celebration ride” for a group of about 30 cyclists including Brier City Councilman and Community Transit board chair Carlton Gipson and Everett City Councilman Paul Roberts. The mayor told the crowd about city plans to complete a bike-pedestrian path on West Marine Drive and a downtown bike lane on Hoyt Avenue. A regular cyclist himself, Stephanson said he hoped today’s numbers would multiply by the thousands in the coming years.

Everett Transit manager Tom Hingson announced that 30 bike lockers at Everett Station would be available as soon as nearby construction is complete in June

In Marysville, Mayor Dennis Kendall, also a Community Transit board member, led a group of about 16 cyclists on a ride to the “celebration station” at Comeford Park. Celebration stations were also set up at McCollum Park Park & Ride and the University of Washington-Bothell, where the college, the city and the Northshore YMCA coordinated the day’s snacks and goodies. The new Edmonds station location was coordinated by the Edmonds Bicycle Advocacy Group with support from the city, including City Councilman Steve Bernheim, who stopped by with his bike. As it has for each of the past nine years of the Snohomish County event, the Boeing station drew the most cyclists, 307.

There's no foolproof way to count how many people ride their bikes to work, but the national estimate is about 1 percent of all commuters, Kristin Kinnamon said. "We're pretty much in line with it," she said of Snohomish County. Some areas are higher or lower, she said. King County is about 2 to 3 percent and Portland, Ore., is about 6 to 9 percent. Still, Bike to Work Day and Bike to Work Week, this past week, attract more riders every year, Kinnamon said, Some of them stay on the road, even if only for a day or two a week or for part of the year.

(Information in this article was derived from a release by Community Transit and  Bill Sheets: writing for the Everett Herald.)