Bike to Work Week is Coming... Join the Fun!!

MAY 12-16, 2008 is Bike to Work Week in Iowa City & Coralville!

Come join the fun, food and festivities. Celebrate a simple and graceful form of transportation that can make you thinner, fitter and wealthier. So join us and together we'll tell the oil companies.... we don't need no stinkin' gasoline!

Monday, May 12

Bike Commuter Breakfast, 7 to 9am

College Green Park

Bike/Car/Bus Race

12:30pm Depart Coralville City offices

Conclude at Iowa City City Hall/Chauncey Swan Park

Bike Rodeo

6pm Sugar Bottom Bikes, North Liberty

Tuesday, May 13

Bike Commuter Breakfast, 7 to 9am

On Melrose, in front of Kinnick Stadium (Krause Family Plaza)

Wednesday, May 14

Commuter Doughnuts and Coffee, 6:30-7:30am

Sugar Bottom Bikes, North Liberty

Bike Friendly Cities Forum, Noon-1pm

Iowa City Public Library, Meeting Room A

A lunchtime discussion on how to make Iowa City more bike friendly. Sponsored by the Bicyclist of Iowa City.

Mayor’s Ride from Old Pi to New Pi

Riders meet at Chauncey Swan Park in Iowa City beginning at 5:00pm. The ride will depart for Coralville’s New Pioneer Coop at 5:45PM.

Reception at the end of the ride hosted by New Pioneer Food Co-op with prizes and refreshments. Everyone is welcome! Interesting or dressed-up bikes encouraged. First 150 riders receive a free bike light courtesy of World of Bikes in Iowa City

Friday, May 16

Bike to Work Week Celebration, 6-9pm

(Location to be announced)

Join fellow biking/walking enthusiasts for an end-of-the-week party. There will be food, drink and live music—as well as lively conversation and drawings for prizes, including a grand prize.

Bike Library in the news

Iowa Independent did a story on the bike library.

Check out Jen doing the bike library thing:

Rental Bench cancelled...

on April 26th for the commuter class. Otherwise, we will continue our regular 2-4 hours every Saturday.

Preliminary Bike to Work Week Class

In preparation for upcoming Bike to Work Week, the Iowa City Bike Library will offer a beginning bicycle commuter class specifically geared towards women yet open to the public on Saturday, April 26 at 2:00. This hour-and-a-half class will focus on the very basics of bike commuting including how to get started. The goal is to demystify bicycles and help remove barriers to cycling. The class is free and limited to 15.

Email iowacitybikelibrary (at) gmail (dot) com or stop by the Bike Library to reserve a spot.

Pedal Car in Hell's Kitchen

Thanks to Bike Hacks for the image.

See? Not all cars are bad. Check out the video at Michel de Broin's website.

The Rights and Duties of Cyclists

This and other cycling videos are at Cyclist View.

Rental Bench has moved...

to Saturdays, 2-4. These hours, of course, are subject to change, so check back here before stopping in to avoid disappointment.

Rental Bench opens use of Bike Library tools and equipment to the public for $5 per hour or free for Environmental Advocates, Bicyclists of Iowa City, or Bike Library volunteers.

One caveat: volunteers on hand may or may not help you with your wrenching, so the risk is yours!

Well, maybe we won't have Wheaties, but it is time for our monthly Breakfast for Champions of Bike Commuting!  Come on down to the BL between 7:30 and 9:30 on Friday, April 4th.  We'll have coffee, fruit, and assorted baked treats.  If we're not out on the College St. sidewalk, look for us indoors.

Rental Bench Reopens

Starting Sunday, March 30th the Bike Library's rental bench will be open from 2 until 4. This two-hour window opens up tools and equipment to the public for $5 per hour.

This is also an opportunity for BL volunteers, Environmental Advocates members, and BIC members to get their own projects in the stand for no charge.

For now the rental bench will be on Sundays, but it may move to Saturdays soon. Of course, we'll update here when that happens.

Springtime Bike Paths

The massive, melting snows help raise the Iowa River, sometimes over the River Trail. The trail is pretty impassable under the Hwy 6 bridge. Sometimes you can climb up the retaining wall on the left, but yesterday I didn't even attempt it as the wall disappeared under the water. The trail was uninterrupted by water all the way to City Park.













Melting snows really have nothing to do with this astounding project of humankind, damming up the Iowa River in order to move water from one side of campus to the other. What was thought to be a short-term project is now becoming a vanishing point for the lines on our horizon.


















Turn here? This is the ped/cyclist detour option to join the sidewalk along Riverside Dr., or you can go back to the intersection and get on the sidewalk there.


















The corridor trail that cuts behind part of the strip in Coralville was partially covered, but as you can see by my tracks, it is passable. I dunked my pedals several times getting across, but my drive train came out mostly dry.