If this is May, there must be an effort afoot to woo Arkansans out of their cars. Advocates of alternate transportation pick May for their appeals to drivers: Join us, they cry, as the last of the lettuce crop bolts and thunder rumbles in the west. Join us, don't kill us ...
And wouldn't that make a great motto for Bike to Work Day and Ditch the Keys Week. But why May?
"That's because that's the national thing. The League of American Bicyclists designates May as National Bike Month," says Peter Mehl. "I guess it doesn't rain as bad everywhere else."
But then, April is typically rainier, and that was Pedestrian Safety Awareness Month in Little Rock.
Mehl, a bike commuter who also rides for recreation, has been part of Conway Advocates for Bicycling for six years, "maybe longer," including serving on Conway's city Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Board (walkbikeconway.com). The panel helped Conway gain its first Bicycle Friendly Community status from the league in 2011.
Over the years CAB, as the group is known, has tried a variety of May promotions, "not all of which panned out every year," he says. But "we've always done an activity on the Bike to Work Week, usually a Bike to Work Day on a Friday" -- for instance, this Friday CAB will lead a group ride from Wal-Mart on Dave Ward Drive to Simon Park for a continental breakfast. Cyclists who plan to celebrate
CAB's Bike to Work Week -- which starts today -- are on their own; but there are other group rides planned (see accompanying story).
Friday is also Bike to Work Day in Little Rock, where Ozone Action Days has folded bike advocates' May marketing pitch into its fifth annual Ditch the Keys Week -- Friday through May 27. The week includes a few organized events but is for the most part a set of suggestions tied to an incentive:
By offering participants a coupon good for discounts, Ditch the Keys attracts people to a website where they can learn about air pollution -- that autos contribute to ground-level ozone, especially on still, hot summer days; that ozone can be hazardous to health; and that they can sign up to receive alerts on days when outdoor air is expected to be unsafe.
(Ozone Action Days is a Metroplan project co-sponsored by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, Arkansas Department of Health, and the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department.)
DITCH THE KEYS WEEK
• Friday: Bike to Work. People whose destination lies downtown can join any of nine commuter convoys, a news conference at the Old State House and free breakfast at the Capital Hotel. (See below.)
• Saturday: Bike to Play. The 32nd annual International Greek Food Festival will have bike racks. See greekfoodfest.com.
• Sunday: Car-Free Sunday. (The challenge here is to rest without using your car.)
• Monday: Carpool to School or Work.
• Tuesday: Walk to School or Work.
• Wednesday: Ride the Bus to School or Work. Rock Region Metro will not charge for bus rides.
• Thursday: Telecommute to Work. (Assuming the boss lets you work from home.)
• Friday: Social Friday. Attend Barefoot Studio's free yoga class at noon in the First Security Amphitheater, or take ZenStudio's free tabata workout class there at 5:30 p.m. (Also, post evidence of your efforts to prevent ozone to your social media followers.)
By registering online at ditchthekeys.com and promising to go car-free at least two days, participants can receive via email a coupon good for discounts at more than 25 shops and restaurants in central Arkansas.
BIKE CONVOYS
Here are descriptions and contacts for nine free bike-commuter convoys planned for Friday morning in central Arkansas.
The groups will lead riders to the lawn of the Old State House Museum, with the goal of arriving in time for a news conference at 7:30 a.m. But participants are welcome to peel off earlier if they actually are biking to work and need to get there in time to clock in.
1. Park Hill Baptist Church lot, 201 East C Ave., North Little Rock
Departs: 7 a.m.
Leader: Diane Barton: dhbarton@garverusa.com, (501) 517-4184
This group will travel south on John F. Kennedy Boulevard, crossing over Interstate 40 and taking Main Street through downtown North Little Rock and the Main Street Bridge. After breakfast, Barton will take the River Trail about 7 miles west to her job in Northshore.
Leader's tip: "For those that prefer not to bike home at the end of the day, catch Bus 10 at one of the stops on Main Street in North Little Rock and load your bike on the front bike rack -- one-way fare is $1.35. Find out more at rrmetro.org."
2. Garver, 4701 Northshore Drive, North Little Rock
Departs: 6:30 a.m.
Leader: Jim Britt, jobritt@sbcglobal.net, (501) 912-1449
Britt's group will travel east on the Arkansas River Trail, a largely low-stress route for the traffic-phobic.
3. The "Cabin" at the University of Arkansas property in Cammack Village
Departs: 6 a.m.
Leader: Jon Flaxman, jflaxman@uaex.edu
Always a large group and wearing matching T-shirts, the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service cyclists invite any member of the public to join their outing -- but everyone must wear a helmet. Flaxman expects the group will include children.
In the past they have taken the Big Dam Bridge to North Little Rock, but this year they will stay on the Little Rock side of the river.
After the news conference and breakfast at the Capital Hotel, they will push south through the city toward the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, ending at the UA Extension headquarters and the UALR Stephens Center.
Leader's tip: This route goes downhill (literally and figuratively) on Overlook Road, which has a curve and railroad tracks at the foot. There will be no shame for those who choose to dismount and walk their bikes down. "We will wait for walkers," Flaxman says. "It's a scary hill and even scarier at that time of the morning with the dew. There will be people that will be walking and/or riding the brakes down. We won't leave anyone behind."
4. Morningside Bagels, 10848 Maumelle Blvd., Maumelle
Departs: 6:30 a.m.
Leader: Susan Linck, susanlinck@gmail.com, (501) 231-6680
The convoy will take Maumelle Boulevard, cross Interstate 430 and turn right at Northshore Drive to Garver, where anyone who showed up too late for Britt's group is welcome to join Linck's. She will take the River Trail east and cross over to Little Rock using the Broadway Bridge.
Riders are welcome to ride back to Morningside Bagels from downtown after breakfast.
Leader's tip: Linck is bypassing Maumelle's cycling side path, which riders can join at Kroger and take east to Crystal Hill Road (which then leads them along the river until they curve back around to Maumelle Boulevard near the interstate) because "that's not a good option on a weekday morning. Drivers think that's a short cut and they go whizzing by. ... After rush hour it's lovely but during rush hour you don't want to be there."
5. Parking lot at John Barrow Road and Markham Street in Little Rock
Departs: 6 a.m.
Leader: Coreen Frasier, fursecl@sbcglobal.net, (501) 952-8900
This group will learn an underappreciated, winding back-road cross-town route that takes advantage of bicycle lanes on 12th Street. It's appropriate for people who work at the city's three largest hospitals or in downtown Little Rock.
Leader's tip: Rock Region Metro buses 5, 9, 3, 21 and 22 all pass the parking lot where this convoy begins, so a cyclist could leave a car there and ride the bus back to it after work.
6. Two Rivers Park restrooms
Departs: 6 a.m.
Leader: Ed Levy, tworiverslevy@gmail.com, (501) 372-2900
This is a chance to ride with the chairman of Little Rock's Bicycle Friendly Community Committee -- which is celebrating the city's about-to-be-announced bronze status as a League of American Bicyclists Bicycle Friendly Community. Levy's group will stay on the Little Rock side of the Arkansas River and follow the city bike route (such as it is) past Episcopal Collegiate School.
7. U.S. Pizza in the Heights, 5524 Kavanaugh Blvd., Little Rock
Departs: 6:50 a.m.
Leader: Jon Honeywell, director of Little Rock Public Works, (501) 416-4216, jhoneywell@littlerock.org
This group will take Kavanaugh Boulevard to Cafe Bossa Nova, where it will slow to pick up riders coming from around Hillcrest. At Cedar Street it will turn left and duck down behind the church to take the paved bike trail through Allsopp Park. It will cross Cantrell Road on Cedar Hill Road and make a behind-stores wiggle through the Riverdale Center parking lots, then turn left (briefly) on Riverfront Drive, turning right immediately onto Jessie Road, where Titus Trail will hook them up with the city bike route (and its infamous "gap").
Leader's tip: Retracing that route for a return trip after work would be the best suggestion for riders of all levels, but Honeywell says, "I go straight up Markham to Kavanaugh when possible. But some may not be comfortable with the traffic on Markham."
8. Izzy's lot, 5601 Ranch Drive, Little Rock
Departs: 6 a.m.
Leader: Janice Peters, janicep@comcast.net, (501) 952-8848
Anyone who lives west of Interstate 430 and wants to know a low-traffic route to the Arkansas River Trail can join Peters for this slightly cross-country adventure. Her route is not well depicted on the map that's posted at ditchthekeys.com, she says. She is not taking Cantrell Road to River Mountain Road's massive hill. "I will weave my way to County Farm Road and Two Rivers Park," Peters promises.
Leader's tip: "I would never ride down Cantrell Road," Peters says. Pending road construction will soon make her route more direct so cyclists can avoid Cantrell entirely.
9. Spokes, 1001 Kavanaugh Blvd., Little Rock
Departs: 6:45 a.m.
Leader: John Landosky, jlandosky@littlerock.org, (269) 370-1019
This is a chance to bike with Little Rock's bicycle/pedestrian coordinator.
ActiveStyle on 05/16/2016