Gear up for some fun cycling programming, because May is National Bike Month. Each year, University of Dayton Libraries participates in our campus and community-wide cycling activities, and several library staff members serve on the UD Bike Month planning committee.
Campus festivities kicked off in April with the second annual Cycling Carnivale, featuring exhibitors with information for beginning and experienced cyclists. Exhibitors included Bike Miami Valley, a cycling advocacy organization; Five Rivers MetroParks, the regional public park system; Dayton Cycling Club, a nonprofit cycling organization with more than 400 members; Link, Dayton’s new bike-share program; and the campus bookstore, which sold cycling apparel and accessories.
Other events on campus include a “Bike to Basics” bike maintenance workshop led by a graduate student and lunchtime group rides on nearby bike paths. The campus recreation center has a fleet of bikes available for free, full-day rent to faculty, staff and students.
The culminating Bike Month event is Five Rivers MetroParks’ annual Bike to Work Day on Friday, May 15. This fun event in downtown Dayton includes a free pancake breakfast, live music and numerous vendors. Team UD has claimed the top prize for the past three years for the most bicycling participants from a single workplace. The group meets at the campus recreation center at 7 a.m. to bike downtown; people can also bike from home and meet the team downtown. The prize is a beer and food tasting for 50 people at Boston’s Bistro, a local restaurant.
Does your library want to celebrate Bike Month? Here are five free and easy ways to encourage cycling:
1. Join the People for Bikes National Bike Challenge. Log your bike miles for this month, both commute riding and recreational riding, and help your region compete nationally. Create a free login, enter your zip code and create or join a local challenge. Then, just get on your bike and ride and log your miles afterward.
2. Organize a group bike ride, beginning and ending at the library. Review basic safety information such as hand signals, obeying traffic laws and riding as a group.
3. Host a free bike maintenance workshop, possibly led by an expert from a local bike shop. The bike shop can promote its products and services while patrons learn about basic tune-ups they can do at home.
4. Plan a brown-bag lunch discussion for local cycling enthusiasts to share tips, favorite trails and photos from their favorite excursions.
5. Create a display of cycling books available at your library. Feature maps of local bike trails and a calendar of your community’s Bike Month activities.
Get out and bike!
