The Chain of Life

Customized cars have always been a big deal for any car aficionado. So why not do the same with bikes? A local group is doing just that and raising money for a good cause.

RSVP Plus, a group that organizes area volunteers, is hosting the Custom Cruiser Contest. Anyone can participate, and “anything with wheels will be accepted,” said organizer Sara Watson Curry. “I’m curious to see how people’s creativity comes through.”

This event is not just being held to show off the bikes and custom creations however; the contest will be raising money, through donations and food purchases, for Mentoring ChIPS (Children of Incarcerated Parents). “The program has been going for the past few years, getting all the groundwork done,” said Aaron Bach who came up with the idea for the contest along with a partner.

The program ChIPS looks for mentors with a year to commit, and Bach said, “The one year commitment has shown a drastic improvement for the kids.”

Across the state the program serves 47 of 53 counties and has matched 52 mentors so far. Now the program is looking to increase its visibly and bring out more mentors and mentees. Specifically in Fargo, one young girl is looking for a mentor after her previous mentor moved out of the area.

“We know the population exists,” Bach said. Now it is just a point to get to them.

The Custom Cruiser Contest will begin at 10 a.m. in Oak Grove Park, Saturday, Sept. 26. Island Park Cycles will be providing prizes for first, second, and third place. Games Galore has donated games to the event as well. After the judging a 7-mile ride for bikes—or anything with wheels—along the Red River will take place.

Biking for a Cause

Events like the Custom Cruiser Contest are a great example of how the reemerging popularity of the bicycle is being put to good use.

The Fargo-Moorhead Community Bike Workshop has been using bikes as a form of fun and community empowerment for just over a year now.

“Through popular education we aim to promote the ideals of empowerment through self-reliance, sustainability, healthful living and anti-oppression politics in the Fargo-Moorhead metropolitan area,” says the FMCBW website.

I got a chance last summer to volunteer with the crew, and see first-hand the impact one bike can make. The FMCBW takes in old, beat down bikes, and bike parts, then turns them right back around with a little elbow grease. The old-to-new bikes go out to deserving members of the community, who may not have any other means of transportation. The program strongly encourages those receiving a bike to work alongside the shops mechanics in the refurbishing process, empowered the new owner with the ability to attend to their bikes mechanical needs in the future.

According to the FMCBW website, “We believe that the simple act of building and riding a bicycle is a first step towards a more socially and economically equitable future for the Fargo-Moorhead communities, one to which every community member is capable of contributing.”

On the Grow

Rising gas prices, concern over CO2 emissions, and country-wide efforts of private and public organizations have brought a lot of new bikers into the saddle. Many are now targeting commuters as a means of increasing bicycle use.
“I ride my bike to every reasonably distanced destination because it doubles as my workout, as well as my transportation,” said NDSU junior, Brianna Ehley. “Biking is much more efficient and a lot more fun.”

City planners are taking notice. Across the country and here in the FM area infrastructure is being built up to allow for a growing number of bikers.

Biking.com ranked Fargo-Moorhead as one of the future best cities for biking, along with Boston, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, and Columbus, Ohio. Of the positives mentioned in the article, in 2006 Fargo hired a bicycle coordinator to help connect our 204 miles of bike paths, in addition to “a 4-mile shared use path downtown.”

But getting the average commuter enticed to ditch the car keys and put on a helmet is one of the challenges of getting more people off the roads and on to bike paths. Biking.com called Fargo a “car-oriented culture.”
The same report named Minneapolis as a runner up to the best cities. Donald Pflaum of the Minneapolis Bicycle Advisory Committee had some advice for Fargo, and any city looking to support their bikers. New projects should give a nod to bikes Pflaum advises. “If you have a new project [road/sidewalk construction] you should think about how to accommodate bikes,” Pflaum said.
Minneapolis also uses bike lanes, which could be implemented. “In general the thought is good, if you have the space, why not put in a bike lane?” Pflaum said. “I wouldn’t recommend them with angled parking.”

The Bicycle Advisory Committee’s advice is often sought by warm weather cities. So Pflaum was glad to give a fellow four-season city a last bit of advice.

“Snow removal has to be done, people bike year-round.”

For any further advice Pflaum points to the League of American Bicyclists. The League, which has been around since 1880, works to promote biking for “fun, fitness, and transportation.” They also rank bicycle friendly communities across the state—Minneapolis made the list, Fargo has yet to.

The League encourages communities to stress the five E’s. Engineering looks at the basic infrastructure required for a bike friendly community. Education for everyone, motorists included, of biking skills and safety. Encouragement to the community, which includes the promotion of biking. Enforcement of the rules of the road equally for bicyclists and motorists. Evaluation of the current biking climate, and planning for its future. All these things, says the League of American Bicyclists, are necessary to a bike friendly community.

It’s all fun and games till someone loses an eye.

“Safety is always paramount,” Pflaum told HPR.

To this day, the only significant damage I personally have ever done to my body happened on a bike. I found myself flying headlong over the handlebars, and face first into the concrete. My front right tooth is half fake (O.K. so I haven’t taken a lot of hits. Knock-on-wood), and still occasionally reminds me of the long ago accident.

Apparently, I am not the only one out there getting thrown around by my bike.  The Center for disease control reported that in 2007 there were 500,000 people treated for injuries due to bicycle accidents, 700 of these resulted in death. Kids are at a higher risk, accounting for 59% of all those accidents. Some safety tips might be in order.

The Bicycle Safety Education Resource Center has a few ideas for avoiding injury.
—Always ride on the right side of the road
—Wear a helmet every time you ride
—Obey all traffic laws – stop for all STOP signs and traffic signals
—Signal when making a turn
—Be seen, wear bright clothes, and get a bright helmet

For more tips head to www.bicyclinginfo.org.

Happy trails.

Questions and comments: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

INFO:
What: Custom Cruiser Contest
When: Sat, Sept 26, 10am
Where: Oak Grove Park