D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
November
2008
Pedal Power
Advocacy groups for local cyclists and walkers push for safer routes and promote biking for women.
Story and photos by Donna Clayton Lawder
Imagine a specially designated around-town route that enables children and adults to walk and bike safely to daily activities: children biking and walking to school, adults heading to work on two wheels or their own two feet, senior citizens biking and walking to the grocery store.
 |
Some of the movers and shakers of
the walking and biking advocacy groups, participating in the "Take
Back the Night" event at Gila Hike & Bike: (L-R) Rebecca Summer,
co-chair of BAG; Michelle Giese, co-writer of the Silver City Inner Loop
Project safe biking and walking corridor plan; Carolyn Smith, a cycling
advocate and ride leader for a women's biking group; Marguerite Bellringer,
biking advocate and co-chair of BAG; and Erika Burleigh, biking advocate
and volunteer presenter on bike repairs and maintenance. |
Now imagine a scenic, continuous River Walk/Bicycle Trail running the entire length of the city, built for cyclists and pedestrians alike, allowing and encouraging yearlong vigorous exercise and enjoyment.
There's a movement afoot — and a-wheel, one could say — to make these imaginings a reality for Silver City. And its advocates are in high gear.
Poring over a pile of papers spread out on an outdoor table at The Curious Kumquat, a Silver City eatery and gourmet grocery store, avid cyclists Rebecca Summer and Marguerite Bellringer talk about the plans they've outlined. They enthusiastically describe the proposal they've written and presented to the Town Council, and the grassroots efforts they and others are undertaking to encourage safe biking and walking around Silver City. Getting ready for the recent "Take Back the Night" event, the two women are particularly charged up over biking — in particular, getting women up on two wheels.
"Look at her!" Bellringer says excitedly, putting forth a flyer with the image of a woman in winged helmet — kind of a cross between a superhero and a Viking — leather shoes laced up the thigh, standing beside a bicycle. "She's the 'Liberator.' She's perfect for our message to women and girls, that a bike can mean freedom, liberation."
"And fun!" puts in Summer, who says her bike — parked nearby — is her main mode of transportation. "I bike for a lot of reasons, you know, all the good reasons for the planet and saving gas. But I also bike because I enjoy it. It's fun!"
Bellringer continues, "We want to show more women and girls that biking is for them." A domination of male role models in the sport and bike shops mostly staffed by male mechanics, she says, have made women and girls feel like two-wheeled transport and recreational enjoyment is a man's world. "We want to get women up there, comfortable in the saddle, having fun on their bikes. We want them to have fun in groups and to feel safe on their own, to know what to do in emergencies. They need to know the rules of the road, how to fix their own bikes. All that stuff."
Though Bellringer is tall and larger-framed, Summer compact and athletic, both are vibrant and fit. They readily acknowledge being "over 50" and credit their biking habits for their admirable physical shape. Both are lifelong biking enthusiasts, Bellringer having worked in bike shops, including one back in Saratoga Springs, NY. Summer says she's biked "as long as I can remember, wherever I've lived," from Boulder, Colo., to Texas to chilly Minneapolis and Duluth, Minn. Acknowledging those formidable winters, she says with a smile, "Yeah, pretty much nothing stops me from biking."
Bellringer and Summer, with help from a number of other advocates, movers and shakers and volunteers, are developing a series of workshops and educational opportunities to help more local women get into biking. The two were also major players in the town's recent "Night Out" event, a part of the national "Take Back the Night" crime prevention and safety event that celebrated its 25th anniversary this year.
Pulling out flyers on "bike fit," basic riding skills, simple bike maintenance, proper clothing and stretching, Bellringer highlights some of the educational modules offered at Gila Hike & Bike for the event and — no pun intended — down the road.
Need to learn how to get a popped chain back on your bike's sprockets? Check. How can you tell if your bike is the proper fit for your frame? They can show you. There are informative flyers and workshops and clinics planned on a plethora of topics, like the "ABC Quick Check" that anyone, regardless of gender, should do before heading out biking. All are, well, geared to enable safe, enjoyable experiences up on two wheels.
"We're at the point where it's hitting the road now," Bellringer says. "These are things we hope will get women up there, feeling confident and enjoying riding."
A particular passion Summer and Bellringer share is developing networks for women who'd like to hook up with other riders. They describe local groups already getting together and always looking for new members, "of all ages and abilities, really," Bellringer says. "It doesn't matter what kind of bike you have. There's always someone to match up with, and it's about camaraderie, not competition."
Biking is a great aerobic exercise and it's not concussive, she says. "Even people with knee injuries from the past or who have had surgery can bike. It's easier on the body than running," she points out.
Summer adds, "The pace of biking is appealing. You can do it and still converse and visit. You see more along the way."
Summer then adds a bit of personalized, direct encouragement.
"I'd love to ride with you!" she says enthusiastically. "I mean it. Give me a call. Let's go riding!"
Both women also are heavily involved with local biking and walking advocacy efforts, participating in and helping organize outreach events for the Bicycle Advocacy Group (BAG) and the Walkability Accessibility Advocacy Group (WAAG). They describe some of the recent strides BAG and WAAG have made to promote walking and biking on the local scene, including having recently submitted a proposal to Silver City's Town Council.
Their mission: Keep the city accessible and inviting for more biking and walking.
In their documentation, the groups point out that other New Mexico cities, such as Santa Fe and Albuquerque, recognized early on the importance of developing bicycle paths and scenic pathways. Such places have ensured the means for their citizens to use these pathways, enjoying better health through exercise, decreased traffic congestion, noise and pollution, improved quality of city life and a reduced carbon footprint.
With just a little paint and signage, the local advocates contend, Silver City can take a big step toward making safe avenues for its citizens to become more mobile, keeping existing city streets and routes safer for people of all ages to use and enjoy. The proposal notes health issues among its key talking points, pointing out that obesity rates in Grant County have increased over the past five years, particularly among school-aged children.
"At present 35 percent of our kindergarteners are overweight or obese and 40 percent of students in the 4th, 7th and 10th grades" are overweight or obese, the advocates write. Getting kids up on bikes, they say, would go a long way to improving children's health and encouraging lifelong healthy habits of improved mobility.
Looking at the numbers of people employed at Gila Regional Medical Center and WNMU, as well as traveling to local schools, the group has made some impressive calculations. They've come up with "best guess estimates" of economic savings and reduced emissions — showing the potential benefits in gas saved and carbon emissions prevented by swapping out cars for feet and bikes. The savings are in the tens of thousands of dollars and 168 tons of emissions per year.
Talk about "clearing the air"!
BAG is lobbying for non-motorized travel corridors throughout Silver City, highlighting the need for a "Safe Routes to School" transportation network. The bike group is pushing for promotion of the "Silver City Inner Loop" — identified as a route incorporating Little Walnut Road, Cain Drive, Swan and Silver Streets, Gold Street and 12th and Grant Streets.
"Sharrows" — arrow-like designs painted on roadways to mark bicycling routes — and other traffic-calming mechanisms would establish safer routes for cyclists by setting aside space for two-wheeled travelers and identifying them to the four-wheeled traffic.
"This is basic 'share the road' stuff," says Bellringer.
The group also would like to see reduced vehicle parking facilities at the high schools, encouraging automobile-based drop off at all schools, as well as improved bicycle parking and pedestrian access. After-school and weekend cycling programs for youth, along with bimonthly or semi-annual cycling events, would educate and could encourage more youths to ride, rather than drive.
Along with BAG's efforts, the WAAG walking advocacy group promotes safer roads and infrastructure to ensure citizen safety and access to more sidewalks, trails, bike trails, crosswalks and medians. Members of the group have met with the Silver School Board, the Planning and Zoning Commission, the Silver City Town Council, the Comprehensive Plan Committee, and the state Department of Transportation to create new, and improve existing, pedestrian and bicycling corridors.
The WAAG Action Plan has identified several routes as high priority, particularly because they serve areas with one or more school facilities. These include 32nd Street from Swan Street to Pinos Altos Road, Silver and Swan Streets, 12th Street and Mississippi to Silver, Alabama Street and Little Walnut Road. The Town Comprehensive Plan calls for developing safe and scenic trails along Silva and Pinos Altos Creeks, and San Vicente Arroyo, a.k.a. Silver City's "Big Ditch."
"There's a lot in motion and I feel the groundswell. People are interested," Bellringer says. "It's so encouraging that people here want to be more active and take advantage of our scenic area — it's just great biking territory — and our great weather. And it not only makes our own lives better right now, to be more active, but we can preserve and enhance Silver City's walkability and bikeability for the benefit of all of us and for the future."
For more information on BAG and WAAG activities, rides and biking events or to hook up with a cycling buddy, contact Marguerite Bellringer at schumbill@aol.com, Rebecca Summer at becsummer@gmail.com, James Thompson at 534-9040, or Michele Giese at the Grant County Public Health Office, Health Promotion Team, 2610 N. Silver St., Silver City, 538-8573, ext. 121, michele.giese@state.nm.us