Cycling Friendly Community

This weekend I ran a half marathon and walk-ran and 5K with my mom (her first!!!!!) in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois (home of U of Illinois). I was really impressed with the bike friendliness of the community. First and foremost, there were signs everywhere that said they were bike friendly. Beyond that, they had a great network of bike lanes, good markings for cyclists, etc. And I saw tons of people riding tons of different bikes for tons of different reasons.

It really made me think in terms of my biking. I would like to do more "in town commuting." I need to get a rack and some panniers or basket or something on my Trek Pure, as well as rims. But of course part of me is thinking - would there be better bike options - such as a bike truly meant for that? Such as one that comes with some of those "features" standard (especially a chainguard!)....a steel frame.....etc. Gave me lots to think about as I saw lots of bikes in action.

The signs represent a designation earned by the community in the Bike League's Bicycle Friendly America program. You can see other cities at

http://www.bikeleague.org/programs/b...iendlyamerica/

Good luck with the in town commuting! I think the statistic that the DoT has issued indicates that about 40% of car trips are within 2 miles and 60% are within 5 (if my memory recalls correctly...). Therefore, you set a very achievable goal!

Shampoo-Banana! --- locals joke about the name Champaign-Urbana! :D

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Originally Posted by WindingRoad

Shampoo-Banana! --- locals joke about the name Champaign-Urbana! :D

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Nice! I'll remember that. I'm a Leatherneck from WIU in Macomb - any good jokes about U of I or their home is good for me!

It was very refreshing to see a community trying to be bike friendly. My community has put up a few bike lanes, but frankly, it doesn't cut it at all. It is the perfect town for biking - some hills, but everything is within easy bike reach - but you simply see very few people doing it. I was really amazed by the numbers of cyclists I saw the last few days in C-U. It was really interesting.

As an example of our "bike progress," a few years ago they designated two bike lanes....both on one-way roads. When the newspaper did the feature story on them, the picture they took was a bicyclist going THE WRONG WAY ON THE ONE-WAY. Ugh.

I have to giggle at "bike friendly" signs. My suburb is pretty good, but I've seen other parts of St. Louis with "bike friendly" signs on a 1-foot-wide shoulder with 4-lane traffic going 45 mph. Rush hour on a weekday and you'd be road kill.

Bike communities are refreshing. They tend to center around colleges. Too bad bicycles weren't the rage when I wash in college--I may have found my passion sooner :)

DH lusts after a Big Dummy...which is kinda fitting, heh. ;)

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Originally Posted by TrekTheKaty

Bike communities are refreshing. They tend to center around colleges. Too bad bicycles weren't the rage when I wash in college--I may have found my passion sooner :)

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I've thought the same thing. We live in Chapel Hill now, which is where I went to school. Back in those days (I grad. in '83), no one rode bikes (or ran, for that matter). I do vaguely remember a bike rack at my dorm but no bikes on it at all. Girls were less likely to ride than guys back then, and this was an all-girls dorm. Now, we ride through campus all the time, and every dorm has a full bike rack; we see students cycling everywhere, there are just bikes everywhere you look. It would be neat to be a student in such an environment. Especially since I was so broke in my college years, it would have saved me on gas money and time (since I walked so much).

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Originally Posted by TrekTheKaty

I have to giggle at "bike friendly" signs. My suburb is pretty good, but I've seen other parts of St. Louis with "bike friendly" signs on a 1-foot-wide shoulder with 4-lane traffic going 45 mph. Rush hour on a weekday and you'd be road kill.

Bike communities are refreshing. They tend to center around colleges. Too bad bicycles weren't the rage when I wash in college--I may have found my passion sooner :)

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The designation from the bike league is based on five criteria: engineering, enforcement, encouragement, Education, evaluation/planning. I think that by casual observation, it seems that success at one of the "e's" will get you to bronze, 2-3 will get you to silver...etc

The applications can be 50-100 pages...while you may giggle, you're just observing one of the e's...and for the record, I wouldn't be uncomfortable on the road you described (I'm presuming it's near Washington University)... But I'm one of the bold 1% ;). I don't think bike friendly means paths everywhere...give me a tight road with educated motorists, and half the war is won...

I got to visit Bloomington this weekend for my sister's graduation from law school. The last time I visited was in 2006 before I became a cyclist, so I saw it differently this time.

Anywhere I go now, I'm aware of how many cyclists and pedestrians I see. There were plenty--but it is a college town, so I would expect that. My sister lives down the street from the biggest park in town. All weekend we saw dog walkers heading there. Even during the cloudy rainy part of the weekend I saw cyclists regularly. When we walked to the luncheon we 2 bikes & a car pass so we could cross a street.

Perhaps more revealing than how many cyclists & pedestrians you see on a nice weekend in a college town is the infrastructure. On the one-way street that we waited for the bikes to pass: Concrete curbs divide it into a bike lane and a regular lane. The curbs don't run the entire length of each block, only the last few feet before each intersection. The regular lane is narrow which causes vehicles to slow down as they approach. These curbs look like they've been there a while. I thought this was a clever design and it proves that Bloomington has been taking its bicyclists seriously for some time. There were also plenty of bike lanes, bike routes and sharrows. We didn't go many places in town, but where we did walk there were sidewalks. I did see one bike lane that includes parked cars and is a risk for getting doored.

I wondered who provides the purple Bicycle Friendly Community signs? The reason I ask is because they are the same as the ones I saw in Lawrence, KS, and Lawrence is only bronze while Bloomington just got its silver. I can't remember seeing them in Columbia, MO yet and it got silver last year. I mention it because I'd like to see it as a big deal for cities to announce on every major road that enters the city, the way Ernie Pyles was announced repeatedly as we drove through some part of Indiana. I don't know who Ernie Pyles was but he was clearly important to the area! (I just wiki'd him--he was a WWII journalist.) Anyway cities should be very proud of the designation and should be able to proclaim their silver or bronze status.

The road we came in on (Hwy 46) looked like one cyclists might take, in fact we passed two scooters, but I can easily see a serious injury or fatality happening on it. Half-shoulders "invite" the scooters & cyclists to ride there but they aren't really wide enough for them. I suspect in the surrounding areas are probably some great roads for recreational or training rides, and Hwy 46 is not one of them, but those who live on that road may be hoping for some improvements, given that some of them are riding scooters.

In my brief visit I could only see a couple's of the E's, but from what I did see, it seems further ahead than Lawrence (a bronze BFC--at least it was a few years ago) and at least on par with Columbia (a silver BFC). So my impression is that it merits its silver status. :)

By the way--I got to meet Mr. Bloom this morning as a great end to our visit to Bloomington. So I actually did get a little more insight into what Bloomington is doing to earn its BFC status than just what I saw. Bloomington has a great advocate working for it in Mr. Bloom!

It was great meeting you and your family! DD was a sport! I can also vouch for the fact that your dad has a VERY PRECISE cyclists' tan line on his sleeve!

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Originally Posted by Melalvai

I wondered who provides the purple Bicycle Friendly Community signs?

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Since we just got upgraded, I imagine they're ordered and on the way...it will takes months before we see them everywhere.

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Originally Posted by Melalvai

The road we came in on (Hwy 46) looked like one cyclists might take,

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Yes, you won't see many using it...but on the Hilly Hundred weekend, most people will park at their hotels in Bloomington and ride 46 into Ellettesville. Most of this highway is in the county...but the county is placing a priority on "interconnectedness"...there are multiple, lower traffic routes that are frequented...

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Originally Posted by Melalvai

In my brief visit I could only see a couple's of the E's

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Education is one that you wouldn't see...but it's a big deal here...but lots more that we can do...particularly with the "invincible" college students:eek:


Let's look forward to riding together sometime!

Dad's doing Bike Across Kansas. He "retired" in December, meaning he is still teaching & taking care of Granddad, the only thing he stopped doing was his full-time job, but he has a lot more time for biking, especially once his class ended. I was really surprised at how much weight he has lost already. He said he weighs about the same, it's just shifted from body fat into leg muscle! He's been putting in a lot of miles.

I'll be picking your brain about bike advocacy as our efforts in Kirksville get underway. Well, actually before then...but after we move!

Thanks where I went to college--Kirksville:D

I'll be sharing that ;)
When I came to C-U in 1999, there were lots of people on bikes then... but genuinely Crappy and Dangerous so-called paths through campus.
I found some other people interested in making CHampaign County a really good place for bicycling, and we (mostly they) researched and brainstormed about how other "change your community" campaigns had succeeded ... lots of people did lots of work, and we're still doing it. People found grant funds; people went to city council meetings and found allies... when people write letters to the editor about bicyclists 'playing car' and not behign Good People and riding on the sidewalks, there's a small barrage of replies. And yes, we find things like the LAB's "bicycle friendly community," and politicians like to have their towns have those labels even if they aren't sure what a bicycle looks like. Then we have tow ork like crazy to make sure the execution is actually functional -- but very, very happily we have people who do the planning who *do.* Jennifer Selby ROCKS. Unfortunately, too often community leaders who really don't know biking infrastructure will do things that look good on paper, but when executed sometimes do more harm than good. We're lucky -- When a property owner downtown does a little campaign of her own so she can go to council and say "Look at all these business owners who don'tw ant bike lanes on Main Street -- it's just not safe for the bicyclists!" and presents her case effectively... unless you actually know the facts... they know to reply with the facts... and the other owners at that meeting end up pretty much changing their minds, especially when the real issue -parking spaces - was addressed.
That said, it's a *constant* fight. Even here, with a ton of bike riding students and people from countries where biking is part of the culture, Car Culture Rules. So the guy that actually painted the sharrows on my street has them hugging the right gutter... when we had a fatality and critical injury involving two bicyclists who were on sidewalks, a Champaign council man got on the news saying that cyclists needed to ride as close to the curb as possible... and oh, yes, if you get flat out run over by somebody downloading ringtones or looking at maps, gosh, that's a shame, you're dead, but it's "improper use of lane."
And, of course, a lot of the peopel who sometimes ride bikes are still imbued with car culture and/or are "guerrilla riders" who make their own rules. We're working on a campaign to put signs in busses and around the community to emphasize the importance of visibility and predictability -- but also emphasizing the fun and practicality of cycling.
I took a survey from "bikesbelong.org" and one of the multiple choice radio button questions had two choices: I rode on the street regardless of conditions or traffic or b: I would ride if there were separate facilities or bike lanes. No middle ground. Oh, and what kind of events did I participate in -- races of this length or that? Not a single option for good old centuries.
The Internet has been a huge help -- f'rinstance, when I blogged about a bike path and had pictures of some pavement problems, they were patched inside of two weeks. (Yes, I updated with thanks.) We have an active discussion board so we can bounce ideas around and prioritize where we're focusing our energies. It means that when, say, that business owner posts her views online we can have somebody ask her reasonable questions that point out the flaws in her logic (such as "you have said that cycling on the sidewalks endangers your customers; wouldn't bike lanes help that?") without getting silly or ugly.
Still, our IDOT people f'rinstance don't want to add pedestrian or cycling facilities to any of the ways to get over interstates, which means it's ***hairy*** to get out of town... or to the quickly developing parts of the community just over those overpasses. They've frustrated our local planners with their refusal to even support their attempts to get grants. They simply don't believe that people should even consider something besides a car to get across town -- that's for the hippie fringe or something. Sigh.

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Originally Posted by Kerry1976

This weekend I ran a half marathon and walk-ran and 5K with my mom (her first!!!!!) in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois (home of U of Illinois). I was really impressed with the bike friendliness of the community. First and foremost, there were signs everywhere that said they were bike friendly. Beyond that, they had a great network of bike lanes, good markings for cyclists, etc. And I saw tons of people riding tons of different bikes for tons of different reasons.

It really made me think in terms of my biking. I would like to do more "in town commuting." I need to get a rack and some panniers or basket or something on my Trek Pure, as well as rims. But of course part of me is thinking - would there be better bike options - such as a bike truly meant for that? Such as one that comes with some of those "features" standard (especially a chainguard!)....a steel frame.....etc. Gave me lots to think about as I saw lots of bikes in action.

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Oh, and getting a commuting bike is really, really fun and a good idea. It can be a whole lot cheaper and the specific features make more sense. You don't even want to park a bike with all kinds of quick-removal pieces on campus for five minutes. Those pieces and/or the whole bike *will* depart.
On of the best and sweetest aspects of riding my Xtracycle is that people see it and for many of them, it shifts their whole perspective. I'm not a poor soul who can't afford a car -- I'm riding a vehicle *designed* to get me places and haul things. (On the other hand, on my old Schwinn with the big baskets, I get some pity...)