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Celebrating Bike to Work Day

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BTWD1Despite a drizzly morning, nearly 500 bicyclists visited refueling stations located throughout the St. Louis area on Bike to Work Day. Trailnet staffed stations at four locations, including HandleBar, Kaldi’s on Demun, Missouri Botanical Garden, and the Missouri History Museum. Private businesses set up twelve additional stations across the St. Louis area and in Illinois to provide refreshments to bike commuters. Fresh coffee and bagels were provided by Saint Louis Bread Company.  

BTWD2Bike to Work Day, the highlight of National Bike Month, was founded in 1956 by the League of American Bicyclists. Every year, the League assesses each of the 50 states in terms of facilities that encourage bicycle commuting. Missouri is currently ranked 34th in the nation.

BTWD3“We want to make St. Louis one of the best cities for walking and biking in the country by 2030,” says Trailnet Executive Director Ralph Pfremmer. “The assets of our community will most certainly attract and retain talented young people and entrepreneurs, adding to the vitality and economic prosperity of our region.”

The number of bicyclists is growing rapidly from coast to coast. The National Household Travel Survey showed that the number of trips made by bicycle in the US more than doubled from 1.7 billion in 2001 to 4 billion in 2009.

Trailnet works to make a more bike friendly and walkable St. Louis.

“We have a lot of facilities in place: greenways and infrastructure on the streets, and we have a lot of riders that commute to work. We are doing well but we can do better, and that’s what Trailnet works for,” says Pfremmer.

Many thanks to the Great Rivers Greenway District for providing funding for Bike to Work Day, to all of the businesses who hosted refueling stations, and to the bike commuters who made it all happen!

Help out with Fair Saint Louis Bike Valet

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Trailnet is again providing secure and complimentary Bike Valet for people cycling to Fair Saint Louis in Forest Park. Since the Park will be closed to vehicle traffic during the Fair, attendees are being encouraged to use bikes, walking, or MetroLink to get to the festivities.

Bike valets operate like a coat check for bicycles. Valet volunteers will give cyclists a claim ticket and park and retrieve bicycles from the bike racks. Shifts are three hours and will be staffed by 6 volunteers and one Trailnet staff member at each station.

What a great opportunity to gather friends, family and co-workers to team up and support Trailnet, active transportation, and CO2 reduction!

Click here for more information and to sign up.

Any questions, call Chris Dowling at 314-436-1324 ext. 133 or email chris@trailnet.org

Trailnet Champions – Matt LaBerta and Sons

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MattOn many Saturday mornings, Matt LaBerta loads his bike trailer with tools, tubes, a pump and his two sons to provide support for Trailnet’s Community rides. Matt has been helping our riders for five years and looks forward to each new ride season.

“The community rides are just fun,” Matt said. “Some of the stops that we make are places that I would have never thought to explore on my own. I bring the kids partly out of necessity, but mostly to expose them to these neat things about St. Louis. It shows them a whole other world and culture. Plus, it’s cool for them to see what I do.”

Matt has used his bicycle for transportation all of his life, often in places where pedaling to get where you need to go is a real challenge. Before his sons were born, Matt spent eight months living in a tent located 14,000 feet above sea level in the mountains of Colorado. He worked as a mechanic at a bike shop 9,000 feet below his campsite. “It took me seven minutes to get to work and forty-five minutes to get home.”

Although Matt prefers using a bike to get around, he does own a car and has been driving for a few years now.

“I took driver’s ed when I was thirty,” he said. “I got engaged and got my driver’s license in the same week. None of my friends were surprised that I had popped the question, but they were really shocked that I had gotten a driver’s license.”

As a bike commuter, Matt feels one of the most important roles Trailnet plays in the community is “getting people together and providing opportunities for cyclists, walkers, and other outdoor enthusiasts.” He added, “The encouragement that Trailnet provides is really important for making St. Louis a safer environment for cyclists. Drivers in St. Louis are finally getting used to having bikes on the road – lots of people ride year-round now, and it makes it better for everyone.”

In spite of these improvements, he also believes Trailnet has a lot of work to do in educating drivers, bicyclists and law enforcement.

“All of the new bike lanes and signage in town are great, but if cyclists and drivers don’t know how to use them safely, it pushes us all farther apart instead of bringing us together,” Matt said. “Cyclists know the laws because a lot of them have learned them the hard way. How to deal with pedestrians and bicycles should be a part of driver’s education and the driving test.”

One specific risk that Matt feels needs urgent attention is the use of cell phones by drivers. “I’ve been in situations where a whole line of cars aren’t paying attention to a traffic signal because they are all texting on their phones,” he said. “It’s really scary. Like a lot of different problems that we face, education and looking out for each other are the keys.”

(Note: In an effort to better educate drivers about sharing the road with cyclists and pedestrians, Trailnet has produced a Driver’s Guide to Active Transportation. Read about its development here.)

Matt’s passion for bicycling and bike mechanics began when he was his son’s age. He had a series of bicycles growing up and routinely took the bikes apart, “spreading all of the parts across the driveway.” He got into welding 15 years ago and began creating sculptures, gates, fences, and interior metalwork for residential and commercial clients. His interest in welding meshed with his love of bicycles when he took a frame-building course in Oregon 10 years ago. At his bike shop in Soulard, Matt provides a range of services, including production of hand-built bike frames.

“I start by taking biometric measurements of my client, make a two-dimensional full-scale drawing of the frame, and then cut and file all of the tubing by hand.”

LaBertaandSonsSmallVisiting Laberta and Sons Cycles on a Saturday afternoon is a little like seeing all of those bike parts spread out on his family driveway – frames at various stages of completion, components, accessories, and tools. If visitors are lucky, they’ll also get a chance to talk with Mason and Mylo, the “Sons” of LaBerta and Sons. When asked about how they like working the community rides with their Dad, the boys had ready answers:

Mason “likes going down hills and having donut breaks.” Mylo likes “the Art Museum and helping Dad fix flat tires.” Matt reports that the boys often recognize people from past rides who they have helped and ask them if their bikes are ok.

Community riders will no longer be treated to the sight of the two young LaBertas sharing their Dad’s bike trailer. Now six years old, Mason will be riding his own bike, and Mylo, five, will be traveling solo in the trailer. Mason is looking forward to being on his own bike and “racing all of the people.” Mylo said he “won’t miss Mason because Dad puts toys in the trailer for me.”

Join Matt, Mason and Mylo for these upcoming Community Rides: Tour de Museum on Saturday, June 25th, the Jazz History Ride on July 16, the Prohibition Bike Ride on September 24, and the Open Studios Tour on October 8 and 9.

 

 

Driver’s Guide to Active Transportation

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St. Louis now has more than 200 miles of bike lanes and trails, and the goal of the  Gateway Bike Plan is to nearly double that number in the next two years. The number of bicyclists taking advantage of these facilities has also increased. Between 1990 and 2013, the number of people commuting by bicycle in St. Louis nearly tripled, and the number of people taking to the roads and trails for fun and recreation has increased dramatically.

Although these improvements are a great start, bike lanes can only increase the safety of bicyclists if both motorists and cyclists understand how to negotiate these facilities safely and responsibly. When statistics on pedestrian deaths are considered, this makes the need for responsible driving habits even more urgent. Twenty-one pedestrians were killed in St. Louis City last year, the highest number in thirty years.

Trailnet partnered with Great Rivers Greenway, Alta Planning and Design and the Missouri Bicycle and Pedestrian Federation to create a Driver’s Guide explaining proper operation of a motor vehicle on roads with bike lanes and other features designed to protect pedestrians and bicyclists. If you would like to learn more about types of bike lanes, signals, road markings, and how to operate your two- or four-wheeled (or two-footed) vehicle safely, give our Driver’s Guide a look.

Have a new or soon-to-be driver at home? Please make sure and share this important information with them.

Thanks to         and   

Trailnet and the Katy Land Trust Partner to “Ride the Katy”

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RideTheKatyPostIf the Gateway Arch forms the contemporary pillars of the front porch of our region, then the Katy Trail is a meandering path through our backyard. In the city, cultural institutions and historical sites are a short walk from home. On the Katy Trail, you can set out for an afternoon and bike through woodlands and meadows, past the bluffs of the Missouri River.

The Katy Land Trust and Trailnet have formed a partnership to highlight attractions in the area accessible by active transportation.  The organizations will collaborate to connect the region and to highlight the area’s natural and cultural treasures. Join us on Saturday, July 16 to celebrate this new partnership as we Ride the Katy from Defiance to the newly-renovated Peers Store, where riders can enjoy live music and refreshments.

“The CityArchRiver project reminds us that St. Louis is the door that opened to the west,” says Dan Burkhardt, author and founder of the Katy Land Trust. “Many who focus on the rejuvenated Arch already have an interest in river-related activities. This ride will be a prime time to showcase our other ‘just around the river’s bend’ attractions: trails, rivers, parks, farms and forests that are closer than most visitors realize. The variety of natural and scenic wonders surrounding St. Louis is truly remarkable and they distinguish our region from many other cities.”

Experience Missouri’s spectacular countryside and meet the directors of Trailnet and the Katy Land Trust who will be on hand to discuss this exciting partnership.

For details about the ride and to register online, click here.

Trailnet Champion Harold Karabell

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For ten years, Harold Karabell has led bicycle tours that highlight St. Louis’ unique neighborhoods and interesting inhabitants, both living and deceased. Riders on his tours have pedaled their way through Calvary and Bellefontaine cemeteries, LaSalle Park and Soulard, Old North and “North of Old North” (Hyde Park, College Hill, and O’Fallon Park), exploring the history and architecture of these fascinating parts of St. Louis. He recently led Trailnet’s Literary Tour, winding through the Central West End, Academy, and Fountain Park neighborhoods, regaling riders with the life stories of local writers such as Tennessee Williams, T.S. Eliot, and Kate Chopin while reading selections from their works. Of all of the tours that he leads, Harold lists the cemetery and literary tours as the most popular, though he himself plays no favorites.

“People seem truly fascinated by well-known authors and tombstones,” Harold says.

Harold is also a dedicated bike commuter, using his bicycle as his principal mode of transportation, a lifestyle that he concedes is a relatively new phenomenon.

“Forty-five years ago, I didn’t know a single adult bicycle commuter,” Harold says. “You would see children on bikes using them for fun and recreation, but seeing an adult bike commuter was even more unusual than dining with a vegan. My wife and I used our bikes much of the time when we became parents and were able to serve as a model of alternative transportation for the next generation. Now bikes are accepted as a legitimate and even preferred form of transportation for increasing numbers of people. We’re not marginal any longer, we’re almost mainstream.”

Harold believes that this shift came about in part because of people’s concerns about our energy dependence and related environmental issues, such as global warming.

“It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by some of the big environmental problems that we face. Riding a bicycle is the single most important thing that an individual can do to make a real contribution and feel good about yourself.”

A long-time resident of the Central West End, Harold feels fortunate to live in a “self-sufficient and sustainable neighborhood.” He describes St. Louis City as “a bike commuter’s paradise – it’s very easy for an educated cyclist to get anywhere they need to go in the city.”

Harold also sees Trailnet as an important agent for change in transportation habits.

“As the pre-eminent bicycle enthusiasm organization in the region, Trailnet builds a constituency of bicyclists and pedestrians and helps move alternative forms of transportation from the margins to the mainstream,” he says.

Going forward, Harold believes Trailnet’s most important focus should be education.

“One can learn, as I have, to ride safely and successfully anywhere in the absence of separate infrastructure, simply by taking one’s place on the road as part of the normal flow of traffic,” Harold said. “Nonetheless, we’re seeing more and better infrastructure each year. The best local example is the City’s protected bike lane on Chestnut Street, a considerable step forward compared to St. Louis’ older door-zone bike lanes. But even the best-designed infrastructure contains not-so-obvious dangers and won’t automatically prevent conflicts between bicyclists and other users of the road. Cyclists need to educate ourselves not to run red lights, not to ride in the door zone, not to be victims of the ‘right hook’ at an intersection, not to be nighttime ninjas, and not to ignore the risks inherent in riding even in state-of-the-art separate facilities.” 

Whether commuters or recreational riders, people have many reasons for riding a bike – they might do so to lose weight, to save money at the gas pump, or to do their part for the environment. Harold agrees with his long-time friend Paul McFarlane from the former St. Louis Regional Bicycle Federation (which became part of Trailnet in 2011), who sums it up this way: “The bicycle is the answer to every question.”

For Harold, the most important motivation for riding a bicycle is that it’s simply the most pleasurable way to travel.

“If it weren’t just joyful to get on a bike, most of us wouldn’t do it in the first place,” he says. “Being on a bike opens up the sights and sounds of the city in a way that no other vehicle can. Not being confined inside a car allows you to see your neighborhood in a new and exciting way, to hear the birds, to discover that very large part of the world that remains unknown and unknowable when speeding along in a car.”

In that spirit, Harold says, “Nothing makes me happier than to be on my bike heading toward a dinner date with a good veggie burger. Forty-five years ago, who would have imagined that such a thing would be possible for so many of us on an everyday basis?”

 

Win a bike during National Bike Month!

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Sixty years ago, the League of American Bicyclists designated the month of May as National Bike Month. This is a perfect time to celebrate the many benefits of bicycling and to encourage more folks to give biking a try.

Here at Trailnet, we’ll be celebrating bikes all month long with a Shift Your Commute May Challenge, with National Bike to Work Day, and by giving away this great Electra Cruiser to the lucky winner of our bike raffle. This 7-speed classic aluminum cruiser features a step-through frame, twist shifter, fenders, a comfy seat, and balloon tires.

Here’s how you can enter to win:

The drawing will be held on June 1st. Spend the Summer cruising around town on your new wheels!

For information or to buy tickets by phone, contact Carol Schmidt at (314) 436-1324 ext. 103 or carol@trailnet.org.

Thanks to for the generous donation of the bike.

Volunteer for 2016 BFC Rides

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Help to put the FUN in our Bicycle Fun Club rides!

These rides, which take place throughout the region, typically draw hundreds of riders. We need help from lots of volunteers so that everything runs smoothly. There are plenty of volunteer opportunities, including:

  • Registration Setup
  • Rider Check-in
  • Membership Table
  • Group Ride Leader
  • Rest Stop Help

On regularly priced rides, BFC volunteers ride free at the close of registration and receive a voucher for another regularly priced BFC ride of their choice.

Pick a ride and sign up here – and THANKS for helping!

Century Club 2016

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA - MARCH 06:  during the Cape Town Cycle Tour 2016 on Match 06, 2016 in Cape Town, South Africa. EDITOR'S NOTE: For free editorial use. Not available for sale. No commercial usage. (Photo by Cindy Taylor/Slingshot Media/Gallo Images)

The 2015 ride season was the first year for Trailnet’s Century Club. Riders that completed five centuries on Trailnet BFC and/or partner rides earned a Century Club patch and recognition on our website. Last year, ten riders pedaled through this daunting feat, one of whom completed nine out of the ten eligible centuries!

For 2016 we challenge our riders to more than double the size of the Century Club – be one of the riders who helps us reach our goal of 25 members! Eligible events include the Ride the Rivers Century, other BFC rides that include century options, or any of our partner fundraising events that include a century ride.

Eligible BFC rides:

Partner fundraising rides with century options:

It’s easy to “join” the club.  For each ride, the online registration page includes a check box to participate in the century. If you are riding for one of our partner fundraising rides, let them know you are participating in Trailnet’s Century Club.

As the season goes on, we will keep you updated on the list of riders pedaling their way to their 500 mile goal!

Host a Bike to Work Day Station

Celebrate the 60th anniversary of Bike to Work Day on Friday, May 20 by hosting a Refueling Station at your workplace. Join Trailnet in counting 500 cyclists throughout the STL area. We will help promote your station and your business!

How it works:

  1. Recruit co-workers to run the station with you.
  2. Decide what “fuel” you will provide. Beverage and food items may be purchased or donated by partner businesses.
  3. Fill out the online Refueling Station form. Trailnet will arrange for delivery of educational materials to be displayed at your station.
  4. Promote Bike to Work Day at your workplace through flyers, employee newsletters, email, and social media.
  5. If your workplace doesn’t have one already, create a team on ShiftYourCommute.com. Celebrate the benefits of biking throughout National Bike Month by logging your car-free miles (biking, walking and using public transit).
  6. Provide support and encouragement for your co-workers leading up to Bike to Work Day. Some ideas include:
    • Route mapping – provide links or maps in your company newsletter featuring bike-friendly routes; if you are a regular bike commuter, list your favorite streets, shortcuts, and parks to ride through.
    • Bike mentors – pair novice cyclists with experienced bike commuters who can accompany them on their first ride to work.
    • Bike trains – identify meeting locations to “pick up” fellow bike commuters; designate an experienced commuter to lead the group from each spot, ending at your workplace’s refueling station.
  7. On Bike to Work Day, track the number of people who visit your station (don’t forget to count yourself and any colleagues who help run the station), and send your final tally to Taylor March at taylor@trailnet.org by Monday, May 23.
  8. Thank your volunteers, pat yourselves on the back, and start thinking of ideas for next year. Share your success through your company’s social media, employee newsletter, and partners. Share the experience with Trailnet and send any photos or quotes to taylor@trailnet.org.