LITTLE ROCK — When Brad Joseph, 57, left his Little Rock home Sunday morning to volunteer at the Wolfe Street Foundation Inc., he said, the temperature was about 37 degrees.
Since Joseph began primarily commuting by bicycle seven years ago, he has lowered his blood pressure, has cut his medication intake in half, has lost 50 pounds and has had less trouble with asthma. He said he has put a total of about 33,000 miles on his two bicycles.
“It helps to keep the lungs clear,” Joseph said. “The doctor says this is the best thing we can do.”
Joseph was one of many bicycle enthusiasts offering advice at Sunday’s “Mayor’s Car-Free Challenge Learning Fair” at the River Market in Little Rock to promote the use of bicycles rather than cars.
Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola inspired the fair with his pledge to commute by “bus, biking, hitching rides [with friends], walking” from Saturday to Nov. 11 instead of using his vehicle, he said.
Stodola challenged Little Rock residents to join his pledge and provided scorecards at the fair that allow residents to track their different ways of commuting for the week. According to a news release, scorecards can also be obtained by emailing Melinda Glasgow at mglasgow@littlerock.org.
The first 200 people to take their scorecards to the post-challenge party at Mac-Arthur Park from 1 to 3 p.m. Nov. 13 will receive ankle reflectors.
Aly Signorelli, a member of the Little Rock Bicycle Friendly Community Committee, organized the fair, which consisted of 12 booths. Advocates were on hand to answer a variety of questions, including which bicycle and bus routes are best and how to best clean up at work after commuting by bicycle.
“The goal is if people want to ride a bike more, we want to give them the tools to do it,” Signorelli said.
Harrison Maddox, 24, said he has been “car-free” for three months and commutes to work by bus or bike, which takes about 20 minutes from the Hillcrest area to downtown Little Rock.
“It’s a lot less stressful for me. There’s no traffic on the bike trails,” Maddox said. “When I get to work, I just feel better. I have more energy.”
A Central Arkansas Transit Authority bus was also there, with representatives showing how to use the bicycle racks on the front of the buses, which hold two bikes.
“If you are a bike rider, you may not want to ride all the way to work, ride halfway with us,” said David Fowler, the safety training coordinator for CATA.
Willa Williams, a member of the League of American Bicyclists, said she is one of 18 certified league cycling instructors in Arkansas who help teach classes to children as young as 18 months to adults in their 80s.
“They’re really surprised to learn they need to act like a car,” Williams said. “We do need to stop at stop signs ... we basically need to follow all the traffic laws.”
Tom Ezell, the president of Bicycle Advocacy of Central Arkansas, said with gas prices at “3 and a half bucks a gallon,” it’s more sensible to commute on two wheels.
“Some people have to choose whether to put gas in the cars or food on the table,” Ezell said. “Bikes can solve that.”
Arkansas, Pages 7 on 10/31/2011