Exit133.com: May is Bike to Work Month

May is Bike to Work Month (28. April 2008, 15:18 by Derek Young) ~ On Your Left

With April just about done, Bike-to-Work month is just about to begin. Is your bicycle ready to roll? Find a friend. Pump up the tires. Put on that helmet.

Besides, if you live in Tacoma and work in downtown Tacoma, it’s most likely downhill from your house… we won’t mention the ride home.

Our bikes are dusted off and ready to go. Hmmm… maybe we should go one month without a car. Now that could be interesting.

A bit more information at PierceTrips.com

And here’s a City of Tacoma calendar of bike to work related events

Commenting Is Closed
Comments are allowed for two weeks from the posted date. If you want to make a comment or reopen this discussion, please contact us with your request. Thank you for visiting.

Tacoma Wheelmen’s Bicycle Club invites all to a very special Monthly Meeting in May to celebrate National Bike to Work Week. On May 20, we will have Joe Kurmaskie, author and better known as the “The Metal Cowboy”, speak and sign books. Also, check out our May Newsletter for rides. All are invited and maybe you will become part of our club.

1 | Posted by Carla Gramlich | Apr 28, 04:00 PM

Tacoma is 70% a good city to bike in. I’m comparing this against the two other cities I’ve regularly bike commuted in, Seattle and Portland.

Good points:

-Wide roads designed for more cars than they usually see
-Generally flat (once you get out of downtown) streets so you can keep a good pace with cars
-Lots of opportunities to take quiet residential streets instead of main arterials

Bad points:

-Drivers in Tacoma aren’t very savvy to how to behave around cyclists. This ranges from silly stupid things like pulling in front of bikes that are going way faster than they think to ignorent hateful stuff like yelling slurs out their windows as they aggressively pass you. In general, riding a bike around town makes me like Tacoma citizens less.

-Pavement in dangerous state of disrepair, especially downtown

-Someone decided it was a good idea to put 2 inch grooves perfectly fitted to trap a bike wheel all over downtown so a silly train could zoom around

That’s my assessment after being a daily bike commuter in Tacoma for the last 8 months. Ok, I’m going to go hop on and ride. Hope to see a lot of you out there!

2 | Posted by Elliot | Apr 28, 05:31 PM

Hi Elliot,

I’m an intern working at the city on many of these events and I just wanted to especially invite you and everyone else interested in making Tacoma more bike-friendly to the Happy Hour at the Hub event on Wednesday May 14th. More information is on the calendar but basically city staff, myself included, will be at the Hub to discuss the state of biking in Tacoma. We’re hoping for a diverse group of people including both regular bike commuters and people who may not bike because of some of the barriers you mentioned. As a regular bike commuter myself, I know that biking in Tacoma can be a mixed bag and it’s important that these comments get heard. If you can’t make it to the Hub and want your comments included in the discussion or have any questions about Bike Month events feel free to email me at ekaster@cityoftacoma.org.