Winter Cycling Clinic

We promised you some additional information on the upcoming Winter Cycling Clinic and here it is.  The Clinic is coming up quick (this Sunday) so make sure you chisel out a block of time to join us.

Riverside trails status

One of our local cyclists (Scott Redd) took some time this weekend to document the flooding along the Missouri River.  Head on over to his blog to see all the pictures and details.  Thanks Scott.

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!!

Bike Friendly Business Lunch & Learn

We know that you are all doing a lot at your place of employment to encourage people to bike to work. Many of you are also lucky enough to work places that also go above and beyond to encourage bicycling. Here is an opportunity to get your business nationally recognized for your efforts while also helping Omaha’s vision of becoming an officially designated Bike Friendly Community!

Several Omaha businesses and organizations have already applied for and received League of American Bicyclists’ Bike Friendly Business designation … and we know that there are many more out there that easily fit the requirements. During a presentation at last year’s National Bike Summit, Omaha received special recognition for the number of BFB awards that were given out, and we’re hoping to blow them away again this year!

Check out the League of American Bicyclists’ website and then attend a lunch & learn to find out more about the application process and how Activate Omaha can help!

Thursday, December 2
12:00 – 1:00
Alley Poyner Macchietto Architecture (Bronze level BFB!)
1516 Cuming Street (next to Barley’s Bar & Grill)
Bike parking available in front; Metro line 14/44

Tuesday, December 7
12:00 – 1:00
Activate Omaha (Silver level BFB!)
12565 West Center Road, Ste 220
(SW corner of 125th/Center, across from IHOP)
Bike parking available on north side; Metro line 15/55

Feel free to bring your lunch to either location.

Please RSVP to Julie Harris jharris activateomaha org; likewise, if you are interested but unable to attend, contact Julie and we’ll make sure you get all of the information.

Winter Bicycle Commuting Clinic

Experienced cold-weather cyclists will discuss bike commuting in winter. The clinic will begin with a panel discussion followed by an open discussion addressing such issues as safety, gear, and other tips on how to continue riding through the cold-weather months


Thursday, October 28, 2010
6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Barley’s Bar & Grill (1510 Cuming Street)

Cost: FREE (but please RSVP)

Bicycles are welcome.
Presented by Omaha Bikes and the Community Bike Project Omaha

For more information, contact Ananth: ananthkalyan@gmail.com

High School Bike Bus

Great video of a High School Bike Bus in Florida.

Winter riding is just around the corner

Recent LCI graduate Butch Johnson of Cycle Works in Lincoln talks to News Net Nebraska about commuting in winter.

Planes, Trains, and Bicycles

So, Julie and I rode our bikes out Eppley Aiport not too long ago to find out what I'm sure legions of silently suffering travelers have found out before us: our Omaha airport has been woefully lacking in bike racks. But never fear!

Two bicycle racks will soon be installed in the main parking garage, in the southeast corner. Now, one more excuse for not pedaling your way out of town is wiped away!

Who will be the first one to have an actual sighting of the airport racks in situ? Post it here!

BOCC Wrap Up Shindig/Tuesday Ride

Don't forget Activate Omaha's Bike Omaha Commuter Challenge Wrap Up Shindig!

(**NOTE: this will take the place of the previously scheduled Handlebar Happy Hour on this date)

Tuesday, Sept 28

5:30ish - awards begin around 6:15

Jimi D's (6303 Center Street, just off the Keystone Trail and the 15/55 Metro line)

Light appetizers will be served; other food and beverages will be on your own. 

Prizes/drawings furnished by BOCC sponsor Trek Bicycle Stores of Omaha! 

Open to all BOCC riders! 

Our friend Sean Morrison, team captain for the Physician's Mutual BOCC team is organizing a group ride to work on Tuesday the 28th, followed by a group ride back after work to attend the Shindig:

"There are several of us planning a group ride from there to downtown in the morning for those that want to join (snaking through Elmwood Park and across on Leavenworth).  As well, we will likely have cars in the covered parking of Aksarben Village.  We will be meeting at the Liv Lounge patio and riding out at 7am."

Sean reports that all are welcome; if you live east of the Aksarben Village area, watch for the commuter peleton to be rolling down Leavenworth and join in the fun.   

Hope to see you there!  Lots to celebrate!!

Traffic Skills 101 - Deadline TOMORROW!!!

Would you like to take a bicycle traffic skills class?

Consider registering for this Wednesday evening series offered by Steve Draper. I understand he will need to cancel the class if it does not fill and (surprise!) the deadline is tomorrow.

OmahaBikes will also be organizing several more classes in the spring.

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

The view from a bike seat

I have lived in Omaha most of my adult life.  Up until about 5 years ago, the only parts of Omaha that I was familiar with included the places I could see from Fort, Maple, Blond, Dodge, Pacific, West Center, and the Interstate.  If I couldn't get there quickly by car, it was not a place I would typically visit.  About 5 years ago I started bike commuting.  Since then I've seen a lot more of the interesting, but slightly less traveled, places in Omaha.  Now that I've started seeing Omaha from a bike seat, it has been amazing to see how much of Omaha's interesting places I was missing.

The next time your out riding and see one of those "interesting" places in Omaha, snap a picture and send it to us at omahabikes AT gmail DOT com and we might post it here.

Here is a picture I took on my way to work today.  Does anyone know where I took this picture.

Bike Omaha Red Route

City crews have already started painting and striping the first route of the Bike Omaha bike lane network.  Here is what the Benson (Red) Route looked like "Before" they got started.  Omaha Bikes will have an "After" video of this route once it is finished.

Bike Omaha Benson (Red) Route - BEFORE from Omaha Bikes on Vimeo.

This video show the Bike Omaha Benson (Red) route before any work was done to add bike lane markings and sign-age. Lanes are being painted now, and we will have an "After" video up once the signs and paint are completed on this route.

Mayor Suttle is a Bike Commuter

This year, Mayor Suttle joined us for the Mayor's Ride.  If you couldn't make it to the ride, here is a helmet camera view of the ride.  Make sure you join us for this event next year if you didn't ride this year.  Hopefully, the 2011 Mayor's Ride will be a bit earlier so that more people can participate.

Two Mayors on Two Wheels

Last Friday morning was the Mayors Ride, which is the kick off event for Bike to Work Week.  Omaha Bikes was on hand for the ride.  We have some footage of the actual ride along with this video of the proclamation by Mayors Suttle and Hanafan.

Register now for the Urban Omaha – The Ultimate Adventure Race on June 5^th!!

Click here to register today!!!

Thank you to all the people who attended the Governor’s Proclamation Signing for Bike Month and Bike to Work Week. There were 15 individuals representing Omaha, Lincoln and several local and state advocacy groups promoting biking in Nebraska. It was a tremendous turnout and we hope to continue to build momentum for multi-modal transportation in the state. To view who attended please click here.

Here is the proclamation that was signed:

Bike Month Proclamation

Nebraska Bicycle Month, May 2010

WHEREAS, for more than a century, the bicycle has been an important part of the lives of many Americans, and today residents of all ages throughout Nebraska engage in bicycling for transportation, recreation, physical activity, environmental preservation, and fun; and

WHEREAS, increased bicycle usage will promote health and wellness in Nebraska and is an important part of encouraging all citizens to develop habits of physical activity to become or stay fit, avoid overweight and obesity, and reduce the risk of many chronic diseases and conditions; and

WHEREAS, increased bicycle usage will promote the development of livable communities and foster policy changes at all levels to incorporate Complete Streets that provide the opportunity for cyclists, pedestrians, and drivers to share the road; and

WHEREAS, the education of cyclists and motorists about the proper and safe operation of bicycles is important to ensure the safety and comfort of all users; and

WHEREAS, bicycling offers a unique perspective from which residents and visitors may discover Nebraska’s natural beauty, history, and culture; and

WHEREAS, Nebraska’s vast network of scenic rural roads, multi-use and rail corridor trail systems, and pleasant weather conditions make the Cornhusker state a favorite destination for bicycling enthusiasts; and

WHEREAS, May is Bike Month and Bike to Work Week is May 17 through the 21 and provides an opportunity to increase public awareness of the many benefits of bicycling, to promote bicycle safety, and to encourage bike riding through organized events such as Bike-to-Work events, club rides, family rides, and bike rodeos for children;

Thanks again for your efforts, passion, and energy!

Brian Coyle, Michelle Stryker, and Tim Montgomery

ride of silence - wed may 19

From the contact person, Brian.

The Ride of Silence is a ride to honor & remember cyclists who have been hit by a motorist & were injured or killed as a result. Join cyclists worldwide in a silent slow-paced ride (max. 12 mph) in honor of those who have been injured or killed while cycling on public roadways. The ride is approximately 10 miles long. A motorcycle escort will be provided by city and county law enforcement. The ride begins at 7:00 p.m.

The ride begins and ends at the Keystone Trailhead parking area near 3600 Raynor Pkwy, Bellevue, NE (near Culvers). The ride proceeds east on Hwy 370, then north on Ft Crook Rd, then west on Cornhusker Road and south on 48th St back to the starting point. There is no registration or registration fee, just show up for and ride.


The Ride of Silence...

Tonight we number many but ride as one
In honor of those not with us, friends, mothers, fathers, sisters, sons
With helmets on tight and heads down low,
We ride in silence, cautious and slow
The wheels start spinning in the lead pack
But tonight we ride and no one attacks
The dark sunglasses cover our tears
Remembering those we held so dear
Tonight's ride is to make others aware
The road is there for all to share
To those not with us or by our side,
May God be your partner on your final ride

- Mike Murgas

http://www.rideofsilence.org

Pics from 2008: