The weather has broken.  We're all heading outdoors as much as we can.  It's April now, and you know what next month is... National Bike Month!  (Also known as May.)  National Bike Month features all kinds of dates of note, like Bike to School Day and Bike Week and National Bike to Work Day.  It's time to ask yourself, is this something you could consider?  Really, almost everyone can participate in some fashion.  (In fact if you work at Bucknell University, there is some groundwork being laid for you right now.  Details posted, somewhat redundantly, here.)

But, but...

Wait a minute, you may be saying, I don't live anywhere near enough to bike to work.  My workplace is not in a bikeable location.  I haven't looked at my bike in years.  Or I don't have a bike in the first place.  Or I don't even know how to ride one...

So let's look at each of those points -- all challenges, it's true.

For those who don't live near work, you may want to consider participating not as a kickoff to a perpetual committment to bike to work but rather as a celebration of this one day.  What would that look like?  You could drive yourself, with a bike, to a parking area near a reasonable route to your workplace.  A little morning adventure for a change.

For those whose workplaces are simply not accessible by bike, you could probably still incorporate a ride into your morning just that one day to see what it would be like.  Could you go for a ride before heading out that day?  Could you take your bike to a bikeable spot along the way and go for a spin?  Think about your options to fit in perhaps a 3 mile (15-25 minute) morning ride.

For those who haven't looked at their bike in years, good point!  Even people who rode last year or even those who may have continued to ride through the winter -- we all benefit from giving our bikes a good once-over.  This might mean taking it to a bike shop for a tune-up or checking out the key systems:  brakes, tires and tubes, chain and gears, and all fasteners.

If you don't even have a bike of your own -- never fear, you might be able to borrow one.  There are a lot of bikes per capita in this community.  We're giving you advance notice so this can be overcome.  (You could even enter the bike raffle Walk It! Bike It! is putting on as part of River Road Holiday on April 23.  Maybe you'll win a bike just in time!)

And for those who don't know how to ride in the first place, while it's never too late to start, aiming to contain your prospective ride to a protected location like the Buffalo Valley Rail would be preferable.  We don't want to be throwing you beyond your comfort zone.  But as with Walk to School Day which we worked on with the local school district in the fall, most of these events are Walk (or Bike) or Bike (or Walk) to the destination of the hour.  So, you, too, could participate by walking to work.  And once again if you live too far to do that, what about if you planned to drive that morning but parked your car in a relatively remote location about a mile from work and then walked the rest of the way?

Getting Started

To make all of this a little less intimidating, Walk It! Bike It! is providing some insight and tips on Bike Commuting in a series of posts.  The first one, discussing choosing your route, can be found here.  We'll go over the kinds of things you need to think about now to be sure you're ready and what you need to watch out for on the day of the event.  

This may be a foreign idea for you or maybe just something you haven't thought about in a while.  We'll be sharing some of the insights of a longtime transportation cyclist and also useful links and resources like the basic biking primer put together a few years ago by the bike issue columnist for Grist Magazine:  Everyday Bicycling:  How to Ride a Bike for Transportation..  What kinds of things will be be touching on?

• How hard would it be for you to bike to work?
• What kind of gear do you have or need?
• What are the local rules of the road?
• What would be a good route?
• What logistical hurdles will you need to overcome?
• What is your own physical condition in comparison to the challenge being posed?
• What contingency plan do you need in case it rains?

So let's think this through.  And then let's ride!  (Or walk...)