Cyclists to rally commuters

National Bike to Work Day is Friday. Do you know where your bike pump is?

"I tell kids if you have a flat it doesn't mean your bike is broken," says Coreen Frasier, one of the League of American Bicyclists' 16 licensed cycling instructors in Arkansas.

Some adults also don't know that tires go flat all by themselves if you don't keep them pumped up.

Just pump them up again. Biking isn't rocket science.

That's the reassuring message bicycling advocates want to convey Friday through organized rides in honor of Bike to Work Day.

• In Little Rock, Frasier and four other cyclists will lead five bicycle convoys to the Old State House Museum downtown and a rally, followed by free breakfast.

• In Conway, Conway Advocates for Bicycling are encouraging people to bike to work or school on their own all week. CAB will serve its annual Bike to Work Breakfast in Simon Park on Friday. A group will pedal to the park beginning at 7:30 a.m. from Walmart, 3900 Dave Ward Drive. Breakfast provided by Panera will be offered until 8:30 a.m.

See "Conway Advocates for Bicycling" on Facebook or cycleconway.org for more information, including a map of bike routes in the city.

• In Bentonville, Bike­NWA is holding a party from 4:40 to 7:30 p.m. at its headquarters, 501 S.E. Third St. Included is free beer from Bike Rack Brewing Co. (for adults); food from Bentonville Butcher & Pint; music by Silano, Cook & Hall and Aboriginal Productions; and giveaways.

• Instead of a specific event, Bike Alliance of Northwest Arkansas offers the NWA Bike Month Challenge, which carries prizes for riding the most miles, logging the most trips or having the best team name. Participants form teams, join the "NWA Bike Challenge" Facebook group (139 members as of Friday) and register at lovetoride.net/nw-arkansas.

Highroller Cyclery, 402 S. Metro Parkway in Rogers, is supporting the challenge by serving free drinks and doughnuts in the shop from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. and other beverages and leftover doughnuts from 5 to 6 p.m. Mondays, all month.

LITTLE ROCK

Little Rock's five convoy leaders are Frasier, Jim Britt, Debbie Hayes, John Landosky and Katie Helms. They plan easily paced, no-drop group rides that will obey all traffic laws. Everyone is welcome. Helmets are required.

Meeting sites are:

• 6:30 a.m., Garver, the engineering firm at 4701 NorthShore Drive in North Little Rock. This group will pedal the Arkansas River Trail to downtown.

• 6:30 a.m., Hillary Rodham Clinton Children's Library & Learning Center, at the corner of 10th and Jonesboro streets. The group will take the 12th Street bike lanes; they will pass Arkansas Children's Hospital on Battery Street, and other cyclists are welcome join them there between 7 and 7:15.

• 6 a.m., River Mountain Park lot on the Little Rock Rock side of Two Rivers Park Bridge. This group will take the River Trail and city bike route.

• 7 a.m., Meteor Bicycle Shop parking lot at Kavanaugh Boulevard and West Markham Street.

• 6:30 a.m., the circle drive in front of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Donaghey Student Center. This group will take the bike route through campus headed for the bike lanes on 12th Street.

From the rally at the Old State House at 7:30 a.m., registered participants can pedal to Cathead's Diner, 515 Shall Ave., for breakfast.

Register at ditchthekeys.com.

RIDE OF SILENCE

Another traditional bicycling event in May is Wednesday's 16th annual Ride of Silence. Groups will ride in Little Rock and Fort Smith.

Open to all bicycle riders at no cost, these group rides are really funereal parades to honor bicycle riders hurt or killed in traffic. Led by volunteers, they follow a pattern begun in Dallas in 2003, when friends of a popular cyclist, who was hit by the side mirror of a passing bus, gathered at White Rock Lake to read a poem and ride.

Hundreds of similar rides are held around the world on the third Wednesday in May. Traditionally, participants saddle up and pedal in silence.

• Central Arkansas cyclists' ride is set for 6 to 7 p.m. and hosted by Jim Britt. They will gather on a gravel lot next to E-Z Mart, 1321 Main St. in Little Rock. They will pedal two-by-two no faster than 12 mph from Main Street to Capitol Avenue, which they will follow in silence to the steps of the state Capitol. After a brief ceremony they will disband.

• In Fort Smith, host Gabriel Edmonds invites riders to gather at 121 Riverfront Drive between 6:30 and 7 p.m. Riders will line up at 6:50 and roll at 7. They will ride between 5 and 10 mph on a 5-mile loop course that includes bike trail, secondary streets and one part of a major street.

Both events require helmets and recommend lights.

­-- Celia Storey

ActiveStyle on 05/14/2018