Bend Green Bikes

Bicycling isn’t about lycra or spandex or ultra lightweight this or that. It’s about much more than that. it’s about connecting with your surroundings, seeing the moment, and being in the moment. it’s about awareness of your surroundings and understanding that you are not separate from your surroundings.

We stumbled upon this well stated manifesto of sorts about reasons for riding. Here’s a snippet:

“It’s about baby steps. It’s about starting small. It’s about doing what’s significant to you, even if it’s riding around the block only once a week.”.

- via I Ride blog on June 15, 2008

Here are 17 Reasons Why Bicycles Are the Most Popular Vehicle in the World Today. It’s definitely a comprehensive list of reasonable, well, reasons. And here’s an interesting bit of information: the average American car-owner can expect to pay between $240,704 and $349,968 during his driving lifetime. These figures will increase with the price of fuel and the rising cost of the vehicles themselves. Read on…

Here’s an excellent idea we came across in our daily search for interesting bicycling information. It’s a new program called Bicycle Benefits (http://www.bicyclebenefits.org/).  The program is designed to reward individuals and businesses for their commitment to cleaner air, personal health, and the use of pedaling energy in order to create a more sustainable community. The program’s continual growth decreases parking demand, increases helmet use, and improves cyclists’ safety and health by putting more people on bikes.

Basically, businesses sign up with BB after paying a small fee and become a participating member. Bicyclists who visit a member business receive a small discount on purchases after signing up as an individual member of BB. Bicyclists are provided a cool sticker that is affixed to the helmet so that they can be easily identified as a BB member. Really, it’s a simple idea that encourage participation from both sides of the economic equation.

Bend Green Bikes thinks it’s a great idea. We look forward to BB hitting Bend with a promotional tour.

From the Fresno Bee June 3, 2008:

Fred Mathes, 92 years young, still rides his 1952 Schwinn bicycle regularly around town. In fact, he says his typical rides are usually 14 miles out-and-back. For him, riding his bike is just fun. He says bicycling is about “the breeze in your face, the exercise, and the constant change of scenery.”

He says he sent Schwinn a photo of him and his bike in 2002 and let them know they could use it for advertising free of charge. They sent him (wait, are you sitting down?) a pair of socks! Impressive, Schwinn.

Anyway, Mr. Mathes should be an inspiration to each of us. Let’s hope the trend for older people riding bicycles in town catches on.

Final quote from Mr. Mathes: “I don’t like to throw anything away that’s valuable. We’re very careful with gasoline, electricity, water,” he says. “We try to make things last. We’re real conservatives unless you’re talking politics.”

Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski rode a bike to work this morning. With passion and energy in his voice, it was clear the Governor was “trying to send a message to the every citizen in this state.”

Watch the brief clip from The Oregonian.

Stay tuned for more information. Interested in getting involved?

Email - info@bendgreenbikes.org