GO OMAHA!

Looks like Omaha is MOVING in the right direction.

Veteran’s Day Parade - Saturday Nov 5th

Saturday November 5, 2011, 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
Bellevue, NE, West Mission Avenue at St. Mary’s School

Make plans to ride with the Bellevue Bicycle Club in the Nebraska's Official Veteran's Parade.

Meet near St. Mary's School on West Mission Avenue in Bellevue. The line up spot for the Bellevue Bicycle Club is #37. Look for the number marked on the curb on West Mission Avenue.

There will be a portable restroom in the parking lot across the street from the check in point. (Near the stoplight at St. Mary’s School on Mission Avenue)

The parade begins at 10:00 a.m. with a flyover from Offutt Air Force Base.

We need as many riders as possible to show the community our interest in cycling and in improving bicycle trails.

Discover Omaha Bike Tour

Join your friends at I Ride on Wednesday for this fun event!  This fully supported walk/bike ride will give you the opportunity to learn more about the rich history of South O. 

Wednesday, July 27, 6:00 - 8:30pm.  Meet at 25th & N Street. 

If you would like to be a "bike ambassador" for this (help lead/"shepard" the group), please contact Kristine at info@iridedouglascounty.org  It will be a short ride (3-4 miles) with frequent stops to learn about the history of the area.  Great family outing!!

Adams Park Master Plan Meeting

For those of you with interest:  there is going to be a Public Meeting for the Adams Parks Master Plan:


Tuesday June 14th
From 6:30 to 8:30pm
Adams Park Community Center
3230 John Creighton Blvd

You may recall that Adams Park is where THOR, IMBA and Activate Omaha partnered with the City of Omaha and others in 2010 to create a short, beginner-friendly single track trail.  When IMBA was here, we were also able to sketch out our "dream scenario" for the park , which included an expansion of the loop, in addtion to a pump track, a more intermediate level trail and more.  We were not given the go-ahead to move forward with any of these due to the impending master plan process.

The Adams Park trail has been very well received, and Activate Omaha is leading daily rides there this summer with groups from Girls Inc., the YMCA, Salem Baptist Church and Campfire.  We'd love to expand the biking options for kids in north Omaha in Adams Park...if you feel strongly about this, too, please come out to the meeting!

Cycling for a Cause - Ride of Silence

The cycling community received some positive press, thanks to livewell Nebraska. See the article and the featured video about the Ride of Silence that took place on Wednesday, May 18th.

We are the voice of citizen cyclists, working for improved bicycling infrastructure, opportunities and experiences for bicyclists in the Omaha metro area.

http://www.omaha.com/article/20110518/LIVEWELL02/110519615#cycling-for-a-cause

Mayors' Bike Ride!!

We'd love to have the largest group of riders ever in 2011! Join mayors from Bellevue, Council Bluffs, and Omaha!

Spread the word!!

Grab your bike!!

Join us!!

Add Job Creation to the Many Benefits of Bicycle and Pedestrian Infrastructure

New research from the Policy Economy Research Institute reveals that pedestrian and bicycle projects, including repairing footways and painting bike lanes, can create nearly twice as many jobs per dollar spent than typical road projects (click here for report). In a case study of Baltimore, the report finds that for every $1 million spent, pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure projects were shown to create eleven to fourteen jobs, while "road infrastructure projects" only created seven jobs for every $1 million spent. This is because bicycle and pedestrian projects are more labor intensive, so a greater portion of money spent is spent paying workers than for materials. Typical road projects spend a greater portion on materials.

Bicycle Friendly Destinations

Omaha Bikes is excited to present a new project that will give you yet another fabulous reason to ride your bike: the "Bicycle Friendly Destination" Network.  The concept is simple: ride your bike and be rewarded.  So, we've been harassing local businesses and encouraging them to support the cycling community in Omaha and the response has been an overwhelming "Yes!"  There really are no hard and fast rules to how they support cycling; the only issue we're really pushing for is bike parking, and the rest is up to them.  Slowly but surely our "Bicycle Friendly Destination" decals are popping up around town on the doors of businesses that want to show their support for people getting around on bikes.  Whether they have outdoor seating, free air (for your tires silly), discounts, or have just agreed not to laugh at helmet hair and Lycra, these businesses are partnering with Omaha Bikes to get more folks out riding and we love them for it.

Check out the "Bicycle Friendly Destinations" tab above for all the details and a map of all the current destinations.

We would also like to give a special thank you to the destinations that helped us get the program started.

• Alley Poyner Macchietto Architecture
• Barley's
• Blue Line Coffee
• Blue Line Coffee
• Blue Planet Natural Grill
• Caffeine Dreams
• Crane Coffee
• Daily Grub
• Greenstreet Cycles
• Jane's Health Market
• Jones Bros Cupcakes
• Patrick's Market
• Slowdown
• Wohlner's Grocery

Bike Boulevards & Greenways

Streetfilms posted this video today. Bicycle Boulavards and Greenways would fit nicely into a well rounded Omaha transportation network.

Can you think of other ways Omaha could change to be a more healthy city and support all modes of transportation more effectively?

Don't forget the Transportation Master Plan Public Meeting is only 8 days away. If you are interested on how the Omaha transportation network will function in the years to come, please plan to attend.

Allergic to spandex?

Let's face it, not everyone wants to put on some tight fitting spandex, hop on a skinny bike seat, and ride down the trail leaving very little of your anatomy to the imagination. If spandex isn't your thing, but riding your bike in "Classy" attire sounds like fun, then have we got just the thing for you.

This weekend is the inaugural ride of the L&G Cycling Club (L&G stands for Ladies and Gentleman). You can find all the details on the facebook page or on tritter.

The ride starts at 1:00pm this coming Sunday at Greenstreet Cycles. Check the map for route information.

Bicycle Maintenance & Repair Classes

As an icebreaker at the League of American Bicyclists' League Certified Instructor class that I took recently, we were asked what our first bike meant to us. The most common answers from our class of 15 were freedom and fun. You know what doesn't make for freedom and fun? A broken bike!

That's why the Community Bike Project Omaha has started a series of 12 bike maintenance and repair classes to teach you the skills you need to keep your steed in tip-top shape and to learn how to mend it when it's not. Whether you want to learn how to fix a flat tire or how to adjust your hub cones, we've got a class for that. We love nothing more than helping to empower people so that they feel the freedom that comes with the confidence and independence of working on your own bike, all in a stress-free, hands-on, fun learning environment.

Our next upcoming class is on Brakes, something we all could probably use help with! Here's the list of all our classes, which run every other Tuesday at 6pm and are held at our Shop at 525 North 33rd Street:

2010
10/10 Pedals, Saddles, Seatposts, Handlebars, and Stems
10/26 Brakes
11/9 Derailleurs
11/23 Chains & Chainwheels
12/7 Hubs and Quick-Releases
12/21 TBD

2011
1/4 Headsets
1/18 Cranks, Bottom Brackets
2/15 Wheelbuilding
3/1 Wheels—Truing & Dishing
3/15 Frames
TBD: Tires & Tubes

All classes are taught by experienced local bicycle mechanics who will mix instruction and discussion with hands-on practice. You can bring your own bike or use one of the bikes we'll have set up at the Shop. Cost is a suggested donation of $10/class. Space is limited, so please RSVP for any class you'd like to attend by emailing me at matt@communitybikeproject.org. If you have any questions or would like us to cover a topic you don't see in the list above, please email me.

Thanks to OmahaBikes for helping us get the word out about these classes!

Matt Martin
Community Bike Project Omaha

Volunteers Needed This Sunday!

Bike-friendly non-profit Emerging Terrain is hosting a fall harvest dinner this Sunday, October 3, and could use your help. If you haven't heard about it, here's a description from their website:

Stored Potential

Repurposing the Mid-Century Grain Elevator

As Midwest metropolitan landscapes undergo change — from agrarian to suburban — the systems of earlier settlement become obsolete; farmsteads, rail, grain silos, etc. Many of these are demolished to make way for the new, with the exception of the mid-century concrete grain elevators and their assembled silos. Thick, heavily engineered construction renders them too expensive for demolition. These structures, with their economic condition and cultural narrative, are opportunity for compelling regional land use discourse.
Emerging Terrain is spearheading a collaborative endeavor to re-purpose a derelict, yet iconic, historic landscape structure as contemporary cultural awareness. Designers, artists, etc. will submit ideas for 20’ x 80’ images to hang on the exterior of a vacant grain elevator near downtown Omaha. Concurrent with fall harvest, a dinner table at the base of the elevator will host an epic dinner to celebrate the exhibition.

How You Can Help

The fall harvest dinner is this Sunday, October 3 at the grain silos at 3407 Vinton Street (at the end of the Field Club Trail). Emerging Terrain is encouraging guests to bike or walk to the dinner, and will be providing bike parking for guests, so that they can ride right to the site, park their bikes where the bikes will be monitored, and go enjoy the dinner. They need volunteers to help out at bike parking. (GreenStreet Cycles will also be providing a pedicab from the parking lot along the trail where those who need to drive will park.)

Bike parking will be available between 12:30pm and 5pm and volunteers are needed then. If you have some time and can help out, please contact Matt Martin (matthewsmartin@gmail.com or 402-305-1111) and let him know when you can be there. If you haven't seen the banners up on the silos yet, it's pretty amazing--and you'll be helping out a great public art project.

Thanks!

BYOKTMTB?

What exaclty is BYOKTMTB you might ask. It stands for Bring Your Own Kid Mountain Biking Day.

To honor IMBA's national holiday, THOR is celebrating Bring Your Own Kid Mountain Biking Day.

This is a chance to bring the whole family out for a fun, guided ride, followed by some awesome food and drinks. It's the best way to introduce your kids to the most fun they'll have on two wheels!

Manawa has been off limits all year because of flooding but we are finally able to ride the short loop, and we want to celebrate. The short loop is perfect for the kiddos and first time riders. It's flat and fun! After the ride, head across the street for some grub and good times on the Dream Land playground, which was designed by children! It's huge!

We hope to see you and your family. Bring 'em all. The more the merrier.

If the trails are too wet to ride, we'll ride the paved trail instead. Keep an eye here and Face Book for details.

Click here for the flyer.

We could use volunteers. Please contact Dave Packard at 402-926-9696 or David.A.Packard@usace.army.mil.

Bicycle Pedestrian Coordinator Press Release

The press release from yesterday's press conference announcing Omaha's first Bicycle Pedestrian Coordinator can be found by clicking on this link!

Very exciting for the city of Omaha, the health of Omaha, and the quality of life in Omaha!

In the photo are community partners that made this happen: Kerri Peterson, Live Well Omaha; Rick Cunningham, City of Omaha Planning Department; Carlos Morales, new Bicycle Pedestrian Coordinator; Paul Mullen, MAPA; Mikki Frost, Alegent Health Systems; Jim Suttle, Omaha Mayor.

The Underwood and Overhill Expressway

Today, like not a few days, I had the opportunity to pedal from midtown Omaha to the Missouri River and back to midtown. Along the way, my mind wandered to a car trip I need to make tomorrow--from midtown way out to far, far southwest Omaha. I may even drive on the West Dodge Expressway.

Which got me thinking. The purpose of the WDE is to reduce congestion at Omaha's busiest intersection (114th & Dodge) and generally ease the commute from Central to West Omaha and beyond. Maybe I'm still suffering the aftershocks of watching "Beyond the Motor City" the other night, but building stronger, faster, higher automobile-only expressways to the suburbs seems so 20th century to me. Shouldn't we be more focused on multi-modal transportation options that interweave Omahans together, rather than car-exclusive chutes that fling us further apart?

And, I don't know what the final cost of the WDE was, but a quick Google search shows it was budgeted for $100 million. Compare that to the cost to complete the initial 20 miles of bike lanes now underway: $600,000. And that wasn't even paid for by the City (i.e., by us)--all the funding came from grants and donations.

Which brings me to the Underwood and Overhill Expressway. One of the major objections I hear from folks reluctant to start bicycling more in Omaha is that the city is so hilly! Riding around it nearly every day, I can't argue with that one. For instance, coming west out of downtown north of Dodge, once you ascend to the top of the hill on 40th, you're plunged back down into the valley of Saddle Creek. Then up again to the summit at 50th, then down again to Happy Hollow. Then up a third time to Fairacres/64th-ish. We might as well name all the storied peaks, like in Le Tour--but instead of Tourmalet, Alpe d'Huez, and Galibier, how about (all with proper French accent, please) Cathedral, Dundee, and Vieux Riche (Old Money)?

But I digress--back to the Underwood and Overhill Expressway. Imagine a connecting bike/ped pathway near California/Underwood streets that erased the dips between these HC peaks and made the trip from 40th to 50th to 64th a coast-able level grade! Perhaps something ala the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge over the Missouri--a graceful, suspended, elevated ribbon of commuting and recreational cyclists and pedestrians. Suddenly, one of the major impediments to cycling in Omaha is greatly diminished, all the while encouraging development in the heart of the city.

How much would it cost? Well, the best figure I found for the Bob Kerrey bridge is $22 million. Triple that to make 3 sections, and you get $66 million--still only 2/3 the cost of the WDE--leaving $34 million left over for other multi-modal transportation projects (assuming you were trying to match the cost of the WDE, of course). A bargain!

Now, I'm not going to the City Council with my Underwood and Overhill Expressway idea yet (it could use some fleshing out and the cost estimates are a bit, um, back of the envelope, let's say), but the Omaha metropolitan area has clearly found funding for transportation and infrastructure projects it deems worthy in the past, and chances are that trend will continue. Omaha has made significant strides in encouraging bicycle and pedestrian traffic with its trails system, the 20-mile bike lane plan, and some great new plans currently in development. Now's the time to come together to think big and creatively on what we want Omaha to be and how transportation and infrastructure help make that possible. Now's our chance to make Omaha a more livable community.

A few links:
http://passthepotatoes.com/
http://rallyomaha.ning.com/

And a link to a previous OmahaBikes blog entry with a longer link list:
http://bikeomaha.blogspot.com/2009/12/what-is-omaha-bikes-reading.html

OmahaBIKES Monthly Meeting This Tuesday!

It's that time again! The next OmahaBikes monthly meeting will be on Tuesday, July 13 at 11am. We'll be gathering at the Courtyard by Marriott on S. 67th in Aksarben Village. (It is #3 on the map here.)

Bikes can be locked to the patio fence on the east (back) side of the building, or out front. The 15/55 MAT bus can get you to 67th & Center, just a short distance from the location.

OmahaBIKES meetings are open to the public.  So if you have an interest in the future of transportation cycling in Omaha we would love to have you there.

Is this in Omaha's future?

Streetfilms posted a video of the "Oaklavia" that took place on June 27th in Oakland.

Would you like to see Omaha do something similar? If so, where would you choose to have such an event?

Adams Park Trail Day Party!!!!

Join us for a family event!!!!

Saturday, June 26th at 12noon
Adams Park
(3230 John A Creighton Blvd)

Celebrate with us the opening of a new hiking/biking trail!!! Bring your kids, bikes and helmets or try our demos!!! Snacks and drinks will be provided!!

This is an organized event sponsored by Activate Omaha, THOR, YMCA, City of Omaha, National Parks Service, and the North Omaha Development Project.

The 15-year report, unlike its two predecessors, examines a range of efforts to increase bicycling and walking in the United States. Programs at the Federal, State, and local levels are included, as well as case studies on best practices. Finally, the report makes recommendations for research, policy, and other measures that can be taken to meet the goals of the original study.

Federal Safe Routes Program Under Attack	Take Action!
Urge Your Representative to Support Safe Routes To Schools
House Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) has targeted the federal Safe Routes to School program established under the 2005 Federal Surface Transportation Bill (SAFETEA-LU) as wasteful government spending in his weekly "YouCut program". Each week representative Cantor asks people to vote for which of five options they would cut from the federal budget. Republicans then hold a floor vote in the House of Representatives to try to eliminate the program that gets the most votes. This week, the federal Safe Routes to School program is one of Rep. Cantor's targets. He argues that SRTS duplicates other bicycling and walking programs, and that bicycling and walking infrastructure is a local government responsibility. We need your help making sure that Members of Congress understand the value of Safe Routes to School and support it. Please take a few minutes to send a message to your Member of Congress to ask them to vote against any effort to cut Safe Routes to School. Thank you in advance for your assistance in this matter.