Wild biking, bushwacking, and packrafting
the length of the Alaska Range:
A firsthand account and wild slideshow by
Paul Adkins.

“Forced to dismount on soft ice and slog up a 6,000-foot-high pass, three adventurers press on in their effort to traverse the rugged Alaska Range by mountain bike. On their seven-week, 775-mile expedition the trio rode on glaciers, game trails, and gravel bars.”

From “A Wild Ride: Biking Across the Alaska Range,” May 1997, National Geographic magazine

Join us for a slideshow by cyclist, dad, ex-guide and adventurer Paul Adkins. Hear stories for the whole family. It will be held as part of the GEARs Holiday Get Together held at the Bascom/Tykeson Room at the Eugene Public Library, December 23, which starts at 5:30 pm with the slides and storytelling starting at 6:15pm.

Open to everyone, bring a dessert to share if you can, and lets have a fun evening together.

Imagine getting more exercise, feeling less rushed and having more quality time with your kids.

It’s all possible if you’re willing to undergo a paradigm shift and a bit of a lifestyle change, say proponents of the latest micro-trend in transportation.

Soccer moms and hockey dads, meet your new minivan. It’s called a bicycle.

“It’s (good) exercise, we’re not burning fossil fuels, it’s slowing things down a bit,” said Megan James, a Eugene mother who has, increasingly, been using her bike, rather than her Volvo station wagon to make grocery runs, go to the bank and tote her son Elliot, 7, to baseball games.

The idea of commuting by bike isn’t new, and neither is the concept of carrying kids in a trailer attached to the back of a bicycle - Eugene’s Burley Design has been a pioneer in the bike trailer industry for 30 years. But with gas prices soaring, bikes are looking more and more attractive.

And many parents are coming to the conclusion that the bike can be a better family vehicle than you might think.

“My kids are closer to me on a bike and they talk to me,” said Summer Spinner, a Eugene mother of four who uses her ride to take her kids to school, go grocery shopping and do all the other errands that need doing. “We have much better conversations than we do in a car.”

Of course, making that Trek behave more like a Toyota Previa takes some retro-fitting. Thanks to parents such as James and Spinner there’s never been a better selection of Burley-style trailers, “Trail-a-Bikes” that make one seaters into kid-friendly tandems, not to mention bike racks, European-style kid seats and other add-ons that promise to make a cargo machine out of your two wheeler.

At Paul’s Bicycle Way of Life, assistant manager Kellen Norwood expects to sell out of popular models of the Burley trailer such as the Bee, which goes for about $250. The top of the line model, the d’lite, sells for about $500. It offers seating for two children with safety harnesses.

You can find trailers for less at discount retailers. The problem, Norwood says, is that some of those trailers have not been properly put together.

“It’s not so much the quality of the build, but the quality of the bike (or trailer),” he explained. “You get (a trailer built by) a guy who builds barbecues one day and bikes the next.”

A bike shop such as Paul’s can inspect a trailer that’s been purchased elsewhere or even assemble a new trailer for about $25.

Both James and Spinner use a device called the Xtra Cycle, which lengthens your ride by 15 inches and converts most any bike into a virtual station wagon with the addition of extra-thick tubing, a platform and “saddle bags.”

Unlike the much more common Burley-style trailers, which surround children in a roll cage with a five-point harness system, the Xtra Cycle is essentially a wooden platform that kids straddle in much the same manner as they would a horse.

Some might call such a device dangerous, but Spinner is not overly concerned.

“I’m not a safety ranger at all,” she said. “I feel like I ride pretty smart, my kids wear helmets.”

The device which costs around $400, plus $100 to $200 for installation, and can hold up to 200 pounds.

Such a set up allows parents to pack up their kids and still have a place to put the extra toys, snacks, clothing and shopping bags. Some less family-focused users of the device have found the Xtra Cycle to be a great way to carry surfboards, kayaks, even construction ladders.

A warning on the Xtra Cycle Web site suggests practicing with the bike before riding with passengers or cargo and includes a long list of safety precautions.

Nevertheless, at local bike shops such as Paul’s Bicycle Way of Life and Hutch’s Bicycles, where the Xtra Cycle was recently out of stock, interest in kid-toting bike systems is higher than ever.

“There’s definitely a big push for them,” says Darren Ohl, a service manager at Hutch’s. “Eugene is already such a bicycle friendly city. On top of that you have a couple of other factors that contribute to (people) getting on bicycles instead of (into) cars.”

Fitness, environmental concerns, quality of life and of course, the high price of gas all contribute to the trend say cycling proponents such as Paul Adkins of Eugene. He says traveling by bike instead of by minivan makes him feel closer to his community and the people who live in it.

“If you pull up to a stop sign (next to) somebody in a car, there’s no interaction,” he says. “With a bike, we wave to each other. We might have a conversation.”

Adkins, his wife Monica and their four kids might be the ultimate example of a family using bikes to their fullest. Recently, they sold their 1993 Previa minivan. They no longer own a car.

“We were talking (the other day) about how liberated we feel,” Adkins said. “This may seem obvious to people who have already pared down, but until you start, you don’t know how free you can feel.”

For the Adkins family, freedom comes in the form of a tandem-style bike that seats three, called the Family Traveler. Made locally by Bike Friday, the machine is unusual enough by itself, but Adkins pairs it with a Burley trailer to create enough seating for two kids and bags of groceries. The family owns a second Burley trailer and other bikes as well.

Bicycling advocates such as Adkins refer to a “perfect storm” of factors that’s convincing more families to rethink the bicycle as a means of transportation for the whole family.

They point to northern European countries such as Holland and Denmark where families regularly strap their kids in and go about their daily business.

“Their cities are built a little bit differently, but there are people who do five-mile commuting with three or four kids and they have busy lives just like we do,” says bike proponent Shane Rhodes.

The program manager of the local chapter of Safe Routes to School, Rhodes promotes “active transportation” to and from school.

He says the idea of riding instead of driving your kids to school is becoming more mainstream and believes even more parents would make the decision if they saw others doing it.

“It’s not such an extreme idea any more,” he said. “Part of the reason (Europeans do it) is that everyone else is doing it, so they watch other people doing it, and they get it.”

The New Mini Van

Here are a few suggestions for parents who are contemplating the switch to bikes

Start fresh: If you’ve been thinking of riding instead of driving your kids to school, start at the beginning of the school year, says Shane Rhodes, program manager of the local chapter of Safe Routes to School. Even if you don’t do it every day, you’ll have the gear and the knowledge, and you’ll be more likely to stick with it.

Safety: Make sure both you and your kids are wearing helmets. If you’re using a trailer, make sure your children are properly buckled and use safety flags to ensure drivers can see the low-riding trailers.

Security: Be sure and lock your trailer up. A cable lock can easily be strung through the trailer and connected to the lock you use for your bike.

Safe Routes to School: For information on the organization or tips on biking to school, call 556-3553

Since January of this year, GEARs has grown nicely as an organization. We’ve just about doubled our membership with 188 members as of October 20th. We’ve had a successful year when it comes to rides too. The Blackberry bRamble & Jamboree was the highlight of the summer where we had 350 riders on the bRamble - the century, metric century or the 43 miler - and an estimated 170 riders on the first Blackberry Jamboree community bike ride. That is over 500 riders involved in a single weekend of riding — having fun on two wheels. We had several community sponsors that partnered with GEARs to promote and support these events. Bicycle education in the Eugene area is the benefactor of our efforts. As an organization we’ve offered many bike skills classes, and bike commute workshops this year. We’ve worked closely with the City staff on many initiatives. We are part of a small coalition developing and advancing the state wide Eye to Eye Campaign - working to increase awareness of road safety issues. I expect that we’ll be reviewing our successes and shortcomings in the next couple months and coming up with a plan to make an even stronger impact - building organizational capacity too.

Thanks for your support. I would like to encourage all of you to shift GEARs and come to the SWAP Meet on November 10th at the VETS Club and visit the website and see how you can get more involved — whether joining more recreational rides or volunteering to help make our community a better place to bicycle.

Paul Adkins, GEARs President
paul@eugenegears.org

The GEARs Annual Meeting will take place from 7-7:30pm, when club members will elect the 2008-2009 GEARS Executive Board and consider by-law amendments. amending the club by-laws and cast ballots for members of the executive board.

Following the Annual Meeting, the Bike Swap will offer cyclists an opportunity allow cyclists to sell and exchange bikes bicycles and bike parts. Any interested bicyclist is invited to participate.Both events are open to the general public. No commercial selling will be permitted.

Location: The Vets Club, 1626 Willamette St., Eugene.

For more information, contact Contact: Richard Hughes Ph.541-683-1409 Email:hughes97405@gmail.com

We are a bunch of biking fools. Even in the rain.

At least Boulder, Colo., has the excuse that the sun shines there about 300 days a year.

In a survey of 442 U.S. cities with a population of 57,000 or more, 8.5 percent of Eugene residents ride a bicycle to work — second only to Boulder, with 8.9 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s recently released 2007 American Community Survey.

The percentage of Eugene commuters using bicycles had fallen in 2006 to 5.2 percent, before bouncing up again last year.

High gas prices? Too many potholes to maneuver on four wheels?

“We don’t know what accounts (for the increase),” said David Roth, an associate transportation planner with the city of Eugene who provided the numbers. “Obviously, we’ve got a lot of things going on.”

All but one of the cities in the top 10 are full-fledged college towns, so some biking professors and graduate teaching assistants probably figured into the numbers. And part of Tufts University is in Somerville, Mass., which was No. 8 on the list.

Six Oregon cities — Eugene, Portland, Bend, Medford, Salem and Hillsboro — made the top 100. Portland ranked 14th on the list, and No. 1 among the 50 American cities with the most workers, according to the survey.

The new numbers for Eugene — an estimated 6,243 residents out of 73,576 commuters — are close to the city’s 2005 numbers, when 8.4 percent of commuters rode bikes to work, Roth said.

Eugene ranked 44th in percentage of residents walking to work with 6.5 percent. Portland ranked 95th with 4.4 percent. Cambridge, Mass., home of Harvard University, ranked first with a whopping 20.1 percent, or one in five residents, walking to work. Cambridge also ranked fifth on the bike-to-work list.

The American Community Survey is produced annually from information gleaned from surveys mailed to about 3 million addresses in the United States and Puerto Rico. The 47-question survey asks about race, martial status, education, income levels and work history. Question No. 30 is: “How did you usually get to work last week?”

The answer for Eugene’s Paul Adkins is the Bicycle.

The president of the Greater Eugene Area Riders, or GEARs, a local bicycle promotion group, works at Bike Friday in Eugene. He and his wife, Monica, and their four children, moved to Eugene from Ithaca, N.Y., 16 months ago because of Eugene’s bicycle culture, Adkins said. And just a few months ago, the family sold its last car, he said. Paul Adkins rides with his children, 7-year-old Rainy Day and 5-year-old Torrent, to Cesar Chavez Elementary School every morning, then hits the bike path out to Bike Friday in west Eugene. His wife rides over to the school in the afternoon, then rides home with the children. Twins Dare and Sanguine, 3, are already riding, too.

“The gas thing really pushed us over the edge,” Adkins said of $4-a-gallon gas prices. “I couldn’t be happier that we are among the highest-ranking (cities),” Adkins said. “A lot of people are doing it out of necessity” though, he said. GEARs is working to break in the next segment of the population who are close to making the switch from driving to biking to work, “Because I really do believe that once they make the change, they will become more capable and realize it’s not that dangerous.”

Safety issues are often cited as a top concern among those considering riding bicycles to work. GEARs just encourages common sense, he said. Wear proper clothing and use a light at night. And here in the rainy Willamette Valley, have the proper gear. Not wanting to bike in inclement weather is another excuse, Adkins said. “There’s no bad weather, just bad gear,” he said.

GEARs also has partnered with the city of Eugene to hold recent events called “Breakfast at the Bridges,” Roth said. Held on Aug. 22 and Sept. 26, with another planned for some time later this fall, bike riders on their way to work are served coffee and bagels at three locations at bridges along Eugene’s Ruth Bascom Riverbank Path System.

Wednesday brings another bike-riding promotion — the national Walk and Bike to School Day.

Shane Rhodes, the Eugene School District’s new Safe Routes to School Coordinator, got his new job thanks to a bike-safety grant application written by Roosevelt Middle School students. In fact, his office is at Roosevelt. Rhodes, who formerly worked at both the Berkeley, Calif., and Eugene chapters of the Center for Appropriate Transport, has motivated 24 schools in Eugene and Springfield to participate in Wednesday’s event, along with the University of Oregon and Lane Community College. Last year, just eight schools participated, he said.

Rhodes, too, has been car-free for a year now. He bikes to work about 2½ miles from his home in west Eugene.

“I can’t imagine not riding now,” he said. A major reason parents give for not letting their children ride bikes to school is concern about traffic, he said. But if fewer adults drove their kids to school, there would be less traffic, he said. “Sometimes we’re our own worst enemy.”

GEARS Cycling Club By-Laws states “Elections for the executive board shall be held annually at the November general club meeting from candidates nominated at the October general club meeting”. Since we are not having an October general meeting, we will take nominations and/or volunteers for the various board positions throughout October. All members are also welcome to attend the October board meeting on the 14th, 6:30 p.m. at Countryside Pizza and Grill, 645 River Road and you can place the nomination(s) or volunteer for a position. I will send out ballots the first week of November. Please return your ballot no later than the Swap Meet and General Meeting scheduled for November 10th. Ballots will also be available at the Swap Meet and General meeting. A list of the executive board positions is available at the website. If you have any questions, nominations or want to volunteer, please email Paula at paula@eugenegears.org or call her at 953-2894.

Members of the Executive Board are elected for a term of one year and may hold no more than two (2) consecutive terms of office.

The President shall preside over meetings of the Executive Board and over general club meetings, and represent the Club in matters of policy. The President may also call special meetings of the Executive Board.

The Vice President shall perform the duties of the President in the absence of the President. The Vice President shall also chair the Nomination Committee.

The Treasurer is responsible for management of Club finances. The Treasurer shall receive Club monies and pay bills; keep accurate records of income and expenditures; prepare monthly financial reports and a yearly Club financial statement; and file Club tax returns. Club financial records shall be kept according to generally accepted accounting principles.

The Secretary shall keep minutes of Executive Board and general Club meetings; and is responsible for official Club correspondence. The Secretary shall prepare and mail an Executive Board meeting agenda to each member of the Executive Board one week prior to each Executive Board meeting.

Directors-at-Large (3) shall assist officers of the Executive Board as needed. A Director will also be one of the following:

Newsletter Editor is responsible for the preparation of the monthly newsletter (May, June, July, August, September, and October) and the bi-monthly newsletter (November/December, January/February, and March/April). These duties also include the electronic and hard copy distribution of said newsletter. Monthly commitment is approximately 15 hours on the newsletter months and 5 on the months without a newsletter mailing.

Ride Coordinator – is responsible for providing the newsletter editor with a list of rides for the month. A list of rides has already been compiled. Additional rides are always welcome.

Membership Chair is responsible for the maintenance of membership which includes keeping waiver records and assisting with the mailing of the newsletters.

Other Club Committees, which are not members of the Executive Board that will require volunteers are:

General Membership Meetings and Programs Coordinator is responsible for suggesting and chairing general membership meetings and various programs (get-togethers) throughout the year.
Advocacy (Education and Safety) is responsible for attending the advocacy meetings and bringing their suggestions to the executive board.

Kitty Piercy - Mayor of Eugene
Christine Lundberg - Springfield City Council President
Paul Adkins- GEARS President
Karl Rhode - Government Relations and Public Affairs Director for BTA
Barbara Nichols - Regional Manager for AAA Oregon/Idaho
Senator Floyd Prozanski
Lt. Rex Barrong - EPD
Fire Chief Randy Groves 
Tom Jefferson - Jane Higdon Foundation

It was a great start to some of the events that we are working on that will “foster a culture of awareness and respect on our shared paths and roadways and to make the streets of our communities safer for everyone.”

There are some photos here on Flickr from today’s event.

For more information see the Eye-to-Eye website.

Along with encouraging respect on the roadway, the Eye to Eye message will be used in conjunction with specific information to educate all road users in what they can do to be safe, including making eye contact with and communicating with other road users, looking for bicyclists and stopping for pedestrians, using lights at night, and following traffic laws.

The Eye to Eye campaign will kick off August 13 with news conferences in Eugene and Portland. Several community events are scheduled to follow, including bell and light giveaways, a family bike ride, crosswalk awareness education, a bike light parade at the Eugene Celebration, Breakfast on the Bridges, professional truck driver/cyclist awareness events and more (contact Lindsay Selser for a detailed event schedule). In October the campaign will unveil the first Eye to Eye public service announcement — a piece targeted at young drivers. The City of Eugene and partners will show the PSA in movie theaters during the holidays and continue to develop the campaign into 2009.

The Eugene-Springfield area news conference will be held Wednesday, August 13, at 10 a.m. at the intersection of 24th Avenue and the Amazon Path (just east of Amazon Parkway). Participants include Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy, Springfield Mayor Sid Leiken, State Senator Floyd Prozanski, AAA, GEARs, the Jane Higdon Foundation, and Eugene’s Fire & EMS, Police and Public Works departments.

Interviews and visual opportunities will be available at the news conference. The Eye to Eye web page will be live by August 13th at SeeingEyetoEye.org. For more information, contact Transportation Planning Technician Lindsay Selser at 682-5094 or lindsay.r.selser@ci.eugene.or.us

Please call Paul Adkins at 687-0487 with any questions.

Brief film synopsis:
A story of hit-and-run, recovery and the triumph of the human spirit. THE LONG BIKE BACK follows lifelong bicyclist Pearson Constantino as he battles back from a crippling hit-and-run accident and attempts with his brother Pete to ride across America to raise awareness for safety on the roads. Beginning August 12th in Newport, OR Pearson and Pete will cycle for 50 days to Cape Cod, MA along US Route 20.

In the next couple weeks we’ll be busy doing a wrap up of this weekend, getting ready to release the new eye-to-eye traffic safety campaign, and working on more adult bike education classes. Stay tuned for more!