“I was starting to feel like superwoman.” - Shyra's Story
Despite being a little intimidated by what she perceived as the biking culture, Shyra jumped into bicycling and is passionate about sharing her enthusiasm with others.
Name: Shyra Holden-Allen
Lives in: Columbus, East Side
Works in: Downtown Columbus
“The ride hooked me!”
In 2014, Shyra rode Bike the Cbus with her husband. They pedaled throughout the city, eventually jumping off the route a little early because the weather was scorching. As they walked their bikes to their cars, a man – then Yay Bikes! Board President Ray George - ran after them. He wanted to know whether they enjoyed the ride and if they had any feedback. “I thought it was so cool he considered our feelings,” Shyra said.
Not knowing the organization behind Bike the Cbus, Shyra scoped out her swag bag finding a brochure for Yay Bikes! After that ride, Shyra was enamored with both bicycling and Yay Bikes! Though she was a little worried about being accepted, she decided to check out a Year of Yay! ride.
“I remember thinking, I’m just jumping into this and I’m not an athlete. I was worried that I wasn’t the rider I felt I needed to be to ride the roads.” Shyra said. “But, the ride hooked me. It was so exhilarating!”
“After that first ride, I couldn’t wait for the next one.”
Soon after her first Year of Yay! experience, Shyra became a regular at the monthly rides. She loved exploring the city by bike and the different approach ride leaders take to highlight different areas and businesses around Columbus. “It’s exciting to see what they come up with!” Shyra said.
Year of Yay! leaders are hand selected individuals whose passion and enthusiasm for riding has caught the eye of Yay Bikes! leadership. From their own imagination, they create the themes, routes and stops on our monthly bike rides. A few months after her first Year of Yay!, Shyra was invited to lead a ride of her own.
While she was nervous, she was inspired by the confidence Yay Bikes! leadership had in her. “I became a cheerleader! I just kept getting called back to support Yay Bikes!” Shyra said.
“I was starting to feel like superwoman.”
Quickly, Shyra became immersed in; not only the Yay Bikes! community, but also Columbus biking community. As she learned more, her confidence skyrocketed and she felt inspired to begin commuting to-and-from work by bike. For three weeks she rode the 7+ miles from her home on Columbus’ East Side to Downtown. “I was starting to feel like superwoman,” Shyra said.
Then one-day bad weather struck. It was raining, pouring actually, as Shyra rode home at dusk. Untethered, Shyra was committed to get all the way home on her bike. But her concerned husband showed up in the car halfway through her commute home and pleaded her to load up her bike and take the ride home.
This sentiment was shared by her concerned father who Shyra later recalled the incident to. She and her father are close and he is very supportive of Shyra’s passion for biking. In fact, her father was the one to teach Shyra to ride a bike. One of seven children in her family, Shyra was the last to learn to ride a bike. She was eight-years-old and already her younger brother was pedaling up and down the streets of their neighborhood. “I remember my dad being behind me and I told him to let go. After getting the courage to look back, I realized he had let go about three blocks prior.”
Despite his desire to see Shyra happy doing this thing she loves, her father begged Shyra to only commute by bike in the daylight and when the weather is good. Very reluctantly, Shyra made the commitment to PAUSE her solo winter commuting. “But I miss feeling like Superwoman.” Shyra looks forward to the return of longer daylight hours when she will start commuting to work by bike again, and is determined to figure out how to address her husband and father's fear about her safety before next winter.
“What I really want is to see more bikes on the street!”
Shyra talks to friends, family, neighbors and even strangers about the about the rules of the road and ease of getting place to place on a bike. She invites new people to ride with Yay Bikes! regularly, going as far to travel door-to-door through her neighborhood to do so. On another occasion, she struck up conversation with strangers out to lunch. “My husband and I were at Easton and I saw some people with bikes sitting on a patio at a restaurant so I marched right up to tell them about Year of Yay!” she said. “My husband said I was scaring people!”
“What I really want is to see more bikes on the street!” Shyra said. While she eagerly awaits the end of daylight savings time and the return to her regular bike commute, Shyra will continue to share her passion and knowledge with everyone she comes across as she pedals throughout Columbus.
Emily's Yay Bikes! Journey
Posted 1/26/16 by Tiffany Dixon, updated 5/22/17 by Meredith Reed
Yay Bikes! Journeys recount how Yay Bikes! is transforming lives and communities, from the perspective of those we’ve impacted. In this installment, we hear from board chair Emily Monnig about how Yay Bikes! is providing a way for her to create a better future for her daughter.
Emily riding with her young daughter.
““Yay Bikes! is working so comfortably to influence infrastructure because we are so good at fostering relationships. We’re having success because we’re not fighting and battling, we’re working with people.””
CRUISING WITH BIKE NERDS: “Biking is in my bones. My grandparents were total bike nerds back in the day!”
Biking is in Emily’s bones. Her grandparents, graduates of The Ohio State University, were what Emily calls “bike nerds". In the 1930s and 40s they cruised up and down High Street, and all around the Columbus of their day. Growing up in Northeast Ohio, Emily remembers when her grandparents would visit, load bikes and all the grandkids into the car and take the whole family to explore nearby trails. Their love of life on two wheels was infectious, and eventually their grandchildren caught on.
When Emily moved to Flagstaff, AZ, she met her future husband, Dan, at a bike shop he co-owned. Soon after meeting, the pair were looking for a change and settled on a move to Denver for its walkability, bikeability and liveability. “I just like to live in places where I can walk or bike,” Emily said. Their plan was to start a business. But just weeks before their scheduled move, Dan and Emily found themselves in Columbus, where they had family nearby. And their plans changed.
Emily's grandmother (pictured) and grandfather influenced her early passion for biking.
SETTING UP SHOP: “I had visited other cities and knew it was possible to get people commuting by bike.”
Having traveled from city to city experiencing various bike cultures first-hand, Emily knew the possibilities for a bike friendly community. “I had visited other cities and knew it was possible to get people commuting by bike,” Emily said. She understood the benefits biking could bring to the people who live within a city, its businesses and community at large. She and Dan wanted just that for the place they decided to grow their roots, the place they called home: Columbus!
In 2008, Emily and Dan opened their commuting-only bike shop on High Street...right before the economy tanked. The business in which they had invested their hopes and dreams was no longer sustainable. If they wanted to succeed, their whole approach had to change. So, they focused on serving the urban commuter, and helping foster a new community of transportation cyclists here.
Emily helps organize many bike events
COMBINING FORCES: “Being involved with Yay Bikes! is an extension of everything I do. It completes it.”
Over the years, Emily firmly believes that Paradise Garage has thrived through giving back to Columbus’ bike community. The shop started small by hosting community rides. Eventually they began hosting bike themed art exhibits, sponsoring film screenings and getting more involved in advocacy. In 2011, Emily joined the Yay Bikes! Board of Directors; in 2016 she became its Chair.
“I joined the board because it was like, 'I have a passion, you have a passion, let’s get together and see where it goes',” Emily said. “I liked that there was thought and intention behind the organization. Change had to happen because there was a balance between teaching people to use bikes and teaching our community how to embrace bikes.”
Emily and Dan (right) at the first Year of Yay! ride in 2012. Photo credit: Bill Ferriot
The whole fam, storefront at Paradise Garage. Photo credit: Barb Seckler
WITNESSING CHANGE: “I grew up where bikes were strictly recreational, but my daughter will grow up in a different era, where we ride on roads for transportation!”
Emily has been excited to continue supporting transformational experiences for people who ride in Columbus. One development—the protected bike lanes Yay Bikes! helped facilitate on 4th and Summit—is particularly thrilling for Emily. Now she and Dan, with toddler in tow, can easily and safely commute from their home in Clintonville to their shop in the Short North. In her leadership role, Emily plans to continue developing Yay Bike!' strengths to deepen relationships and evolve Columbus’ bike infrastructure. “It’s a great thing to be in the middle of Columbus and to see the evolution of cycling here,” she says. "These are exciting times for our city, and our organization!"
Yay Bikes! is grateful to Emily for her wicked smarts, her steady leadership, her thoughtfulness and generosity. We appreciate her vast and often unsung contribution to the Columbus bike scene, and for her contribution to building a sustainable bicycle advocacy organization through service to Yay Bikes!
Helmets off to you, friend!
To share your Yay Bikes! Journey, contact Meredith to set up a chat!
Ray's Yay Bikes! Journey
Posted by Tiffany Dixon 12/21/15, updated 4/26/17 by Meredith Reed
Yay Bikes! Journeys recount how Yay Bikes! is transforming lives and communities, from the perspective of those we’ve impacted. In this installment, we hear from board member Ray George about how his leadership with Yay Bikes! has changed the city he moved to and fell in love with 10 years ago.
Ray served Yay Bikes! as Board Chair for several years.
“Yay Bikes! is pulling together the public-at-large, private business and government, to create a safer environment for cycling in Columbus. And doing it in a way that other cities should really be learning from.”
MOVING TO COLUMBUS: “I had never ridden in a city, so it was completely magical.”
In 2007, Ray moved to Columbus from West Virginia for his wife to attend law school here. “She was in school so I had a lot of time on my hands…a lot of time.” To pass it, he befriended a group of retirees who happened to be avid cyclists, and they helped Ray overcome the fear he'd had since a bad crash at age 17. He eventually found himself alongside dozens of fellow riders in Downtown Columbus near midnight on a Monday Night Ride. The streets were empty, nearly silent as the group of rowdy riders breezed past old, abandoned buildings under the night sky. Ray was captivated; he was in love.
FILLING GAPS: “You don’t see the whole city unless you’re on a bike.”
As Ray became more involved with the local bicycling community, and began to explore regionally as well, he noticed that Columbus was lacking some things that made other cities' bike scenes sizzle—a citywide ride, for one, and a powerful bicycle advocacy group for another. Ultimately, he stepped up to do something about both.
Bike the Cbus was born out of Ray’s desire to get people out on bikes so they could really experience Columbus. “Every time you get on a bike, it’s an adventure. You don’t see the whole city unless you’re on a bike.” Celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2017, Bike the Cbus introduces hundreds of riders each year to Columbus' unique and evolving inner-ring neighborhoods.
After working together on Bike the Cbus and several other initiatives, Yay Bikes! founder Meredith Joy invited Ray to join the organization's board in 2011. His natural leadership tendencies soon got him elected as Chair, a position he held through 2015. “I felt it was something I could do to help change for the positive,” he said of the experience. “Whether it’s for their health, the environment or something else, biking can be the answer. I see bicycling as the lowest hanging fruit to get people out of the car.” .
Meredith Joy with Ray at the first-ever Year of Yay! ride in January 2012.
A rare photo of Ray heading up the first-ever Bike the Cbus in 2008.
LEAVING A LEGACY: “Leading in this organization has shown me that small groups of people can make big change.”
Although others will say Ray is a natural leader, he sees himself as the creator of tools to help others create their own experiences, and always defers to the magic of the group effort. “I think my attitude has been to support programs or events that help change behavior,” he says. "I just want the organization to succeed." By all measures, it has, thanks in no small part to Ray's contribution (see more about that, below)!
Bike the Cbus 2016
Ride the Elevator 2016
A note from our Executive Director, upon Ray's resignation as Board Chair in December 2015:
It’s no coincidence that the ascendancy of Central Ohio’s Golden Age of Bicycling (in my estimation: right now, into infinity) coincides with Ray George’s move to Columbus 8 years ago. Because regardless Ray’s insistence on remaining behind the scenes, and the fact that most people don’t realize it: all of us in Central Ohio’s cycling community owe a debt of gratitude to this man. If you’re not yet inaugurated into the Cult of Ray, well pay your dues; read up on Columbus Rides Bikes; check out Tuesday Night Rides, a gravel grinder or bike camping trip; and get with it. I mean, can you imagine? Columbus didn't have a citywide bicycle ride before Ray! And because that’s just who he is, he rolled up his sleeves, got to work and made Bike the Cbus happen.
Then there’s the whole matter of Yay Bikes!, an organization that went from nothing to our region’s premier bicycle advocacy organization in just a few short years. Under Ray's leadership, Yay Bikes!:
- Launched a membership program that, 3 years later, boasted more than 850 members
- Hired 5 staff members and tripled our budget
- Brought Bike the Cbus into the fold, started Year of Yay! and created Ride the Elevator
- Prioritized the communications strategy that helped position us as the region’s thought leader
- Positioned the Board for its next transition in composition and leadership
But it is, as they say, the end of an era: after 4+ years as Board Chair, Ray George led his last Yay Bikes! board meeting last night.
We’d be devastated, of course, except that he’s agreed to stick around for a bit to serve as Immediate Past Chair on our Executive Committee, and he’ll carry on with leadership of Bike the Cbus, Ride the Elevator and other fun bike rides he will no doubt soon be dreaming up.
So things have changed, as they do, but some will stay the same. That’s right—you’ll find the two of us most Thursday mornings at Upper Cup Coffee from 7–9am just like always, dreamin' and schemin' and plottin' world domination. Come say hi!
To share your Yay Bikes! Journey, contact Meredith to set up a chat!
"It's all new for me this year, everyday biking." - Will's Story
Name: Will Koehler
Lives in: Clintonville
Works in: Clintonville
“My interest was piqued.”
Will’s love affair with bikes and biking started early. He’s been riding since he was 8-years-old, or 10, he can’t quite remember. His Dad got Will and his friends out on bikes at an early age. Together they pedaled the one-lane country roads near their home in Oxford, Ohio. Quickly, Will was enamored. He joined a bike club and became a regular recreational cyclist.
When he relocated to Columbus in 1986 Will found himself cycling the “big city” recreationally on his way out to less populated country roads. It was a client who lived in Connecticut who helped Will see bicycling a little differently. During a visit to Connecticut, Will’s client invited him to travel in to work by bike. The 30-mile commute served as training ride for upcoming bicycle races and was a better option to driving through rush hour. What was a long, congested commute by car became a scenic morning bike ride. During this trip “I realized that biking could be transportation,” Will said.
Will’s revelation left him inspired. For years he continued to ride recreationally, but started mixing recreational bike rides with occasional 12-mile commutes to work. Then, about seven years ago, Will was left without a car to get around. Building on his foundation of recreational riding and occasional commuting, Will started biking as his main source of transportation.
Hungry to learn how Columbus could make traveling by bike an option for more people, he started digging into blogs, articles, books, news, anything that could help him teach him how cities can make the roads safer. “I knew about Yay Bikes! for years. It wasn’t until the engineer rides came along that my interest was piqued.”
“I watched them begin to see things differently.”
In October 2014, Will met Yay Bikes! Executive Director, Catherine Girves. During their conversation, Catherine mentioned an upcoming bike ride with engineers from the City of Columbus. A firm believer that better road infrastructure is the key to change the way people travel, Will was excited. “I didn’t invite myself on that ride which is what I really wanted.” Luckily, Catherine saw Will’s passion and knowledge. She invited him to ride with Yay Bikes! and the engineers.
Catherine and Will showed up with bike lights and the attitude to foster a productive relationship with city engineers. “It was a great opportunity to get our voices heard and to be in front of people who can change the way our roads are designed,” Will said. For the first time the engineers experienced the road from a bicyclist’s perspective on downtown streets during rush hour.
“I watched them begin to see things differently.” This shifted Will’s perspective even more and opened up the possibilities of biking in Columbus, especially as improvements to Columbus’ bike infrastructure were made.
“It’s everyday biking.”
He still trains and rides with old teammates, but Will is learning bit by bit that biking is actually simpler than he realized. “There’s no need for fancy equipment or special clothes – slowly I’m letting go of all this baggage and the perception that biking needs to be complicated and athletic. I’m learning that a bike is a simple tool you can use in your daily life.” Will said. “Taking it to the core essence, biking is as easy as walking, only faster.”
Just in the past few years, Will’s lengthy recreational rides on country roads have morphed into weekend family excursions. “It’s all new for me this year, everyday biking.” Will and his family use bikes not only for daily transportation, but also as a way to explore the city.
On Sunday’s, Will, his wife and young daughter load up on their bikes and travel throughout the city. “As long as weather permits, we’re going to be on a bike. We can get all over Columbus pretty easily,” Will said. With help from Yay Bikes! and city-wide infrastructure improvements Will sees riding the streets of Columbus differently. He’s learned favorite routes for travel, but he and his family have also found a new kind of adventure.
Will sees this shift nationwide. People are moving away from the notion that clothes, shoes, a certain kind of bike, or specific routes are requirements to biking. Will thinks – and hopes – this trend will continue as more people start to adopt everyday biking into their lives.
“Yay Bikes! gave us a whole new perspective.”
City of Columbus Department of Public Service Engineers:
- Bud Braughton, Downtown and Special Projects, Division of Design and Construction
- Daniel Moorhead, Division of Infrastructure Management
- Steve Wasosky, Design Section Manager, Division of Design and Construction
- Richard Ortman, Project Manager and Bridge Engineer, Division of Design and Construction (NOT PICTURED)
“How can we continue to improve and take the next step to make Columbus one of the top biking cities in the nation?”
Under Mayor Michael B. Coleman’s leadership, the Columbus Department of Public Service in October 2014 escalated its commitment to supporting bicyclists and enhancing the city’s bike infrastructure. At that time, Public Service Director Tracie Davies reached out to Yay Bikes! for a meeting with City staff. With maps of the city splayed over their tables, they asked us “How can we improve and take the next step in making Columbus one of the top biking cities in the nation? They wanted feedback from real, everyday bicyclists. Our response: let’s ride!
“I need to experience it.”
A few weeks after that meeting, engineers Bud Braughton, Richard Ortman, and Daniel Moorhead, each with a different infrastructure specialization—downtown and Ohio Department of Transportation projects, bridges, and bikes respectively—found themselves riding the roads with representatives from Yay Bikes!. “I want to use good engineering judgment and keep it safe for everyone, so I need to be back on a bike and experience it,” Bud said.
Each engineer had his own previous experience with bicycling. Bud hadn’t ridden much since his teenage years when he cruised through his neighborhood on the west side before gaining his driver’s license and “freedom.” Richard biked sometimes for recreation and even to work on occasion, using the Olentangy bike path. Daniel was a seasoned bicyclist, having picked it up when he was hired by the Department of Public Service as a bike transportation engineer.
Despite different levels of comfort and experience, most of the engineers were apprehensive of this approach. None of them expected the results that came out of the initial ride. They each vividly recall that first experience riding with Yay Bikes!.
“Because I like to ride on bike paths, I typically would not ride alone on downtown streets,” says Richard. “I had some trepidation, but I never turn down a learning opportunity.”
“Yay Bikes! gave us a whole new perspective.”
“It was a lot different than we expected,” Bud said. “As engineers, we’re focused on making it work, but Yay Bikes! gave us input from a customer perspective.” This feedback has helped the engineers and their team grow in their understanding of needs for bike infrastructure and how it related to the details of their ongoing projects.
“It was nice to have Yay Bikes! share their concerns, which factor into our decisions,” Bud said. The collaboration yielded a first for Columbus. “One of those decisions was to add protected bike lanes to our roads,” Richard said. “You’ve [Yay Bikes!] enhanced our previous understanding of the danger of a door zone and the need for a buffer,” Richard added. “It’s good to see what works well in Columbus.”
“Biking is important.”
The success from their relationship with Yay Bikes! has translated to a more collaborative working environment and a bike-centric office culture. “This is the next step in the evolution of meeting Mayor’s goal of making this one of the top biking cities in the nation,” Daniel said. “The department and Yay Bikes! are part of a culture shift in Columbus. It’s really refreshing.”
The engineers now ride city streets at least monthly to check in on their projects. Representatives from the Columbus Recreation and Parks Department and the Columbus Public Health Department often join them to offer input on projects in the planning phase. And each has incorporated more bike trips into their non-work lives as well. “We just want our projects to be the best they can be for all users,” Bud said.
Looking to the future: bike design involvement is growing
You can see the evolution, the culture shift, all around Columbus. Since the City implemented its Bikeways Plan in 2008, investments in bicycle infrastructure have blossomed. The City has installed 34 miles of bike lanes, 2,400 sharrows on 60 miles of streets, constructed 11.6 miles of shared use paths, installed 320 Share the Road signs, 460 bike racks and 23 queue boxes. The City has also introduced the CoGo bike share program, with 390 bikes at 41 bicycle stations across the city.
In an effort to accelerate the addition of bike facilities and their delivery time, the Department of Public Service Design Section has begun generating plans for new bike facilities in-house. This allows for ideas to be implemented much more quickly and provides better oversight of consistent standards being used throughout the City. It is an exciting time. On-street bike facilities are an evolving part of roadway design, and new ideas are being implemented in Columbus and across the country. That’s why it is critical to make these facilities safe and understandable to all right of way users. Department of Public Service Design Section Manager Steve Wasosky joined the Engineer rides in the Spring of 2015.
“Riding these locations has been an essential tool to see conflicts and concerns that may not have been noticed when looking at only a two-dimensional plan view on paper,” Steve said. “Most of us already have a perspective on driving the roadway and the many concerns, but having the biking perspective on the same corridors dramatically helps the design provide a safer more user friendly ride,” Steve said.
Riding Columbus' first protected bike lane
The City of Columbus celebrated the grand opening of a new protected bike lane on Summit Street December 3. Protected bike lanes are physically separated from traffic and the sidewalk. The protected bike lanes are part of an effort to add standard bike lanes to Summit Street between East 11th Avenue and I-670, and on North 4th Street between East Hudson Street and I-670. The project which began construction in October 2014 is the first of its kind in Central Ohio. Along the way, Yay Bikes! collaborated with the Department of Public Service to provide ongoing feedback to city engineers.
To complete the resurfacing and bike lanes project, ODOT will resurface both 3rd Street and 4th Streets between I-670 and East Fulton Street in the spring of 2016. Following the resurfacing, the City of Columbus will install standard bike lanes on both streets between I-670 and East Fulton Street.
In addition to a greater sense of security for bicyclists who are less experienced in riding with traffic on the street, bike lanes result in motorists driving slower because roads seem narrower. While there are many benefits to protected bike lanes included in our roads, the addition of bus bulbs, queue boxes and a new type of traffic provide an opportunity to highlight tips for traffic safety.
MOTORISTS
Be alert for bicyclists and obey all traffic laws, signs and signals.
Do not park in the protected bike lane.
Park in the marked lane between the travel lane and the bike lane.
Cars parked in the bike lane are subject to ticketing.
Do not drive in the protected bike lane.
Motorists can make turns across the bike lane, but must yield to people riding bicycles in either direction.
Look both ways before turning across the bike lane.
Through bicyclists have the right-of-way at uncontrolled intersections, driveways and alleys.
Do not block the bike lane or turn box when waiting to turn onto Summit Street from a side street.
Do not block driveways when parking.
Under City Code, motor vehicles that block driveways are subject to ticketing and towing.
CYCLISTS
Be alert for motorists, pedestrians, bicycle signs and signals and obey all traffic laws, signs .
Yield to pedestrians and wheelchair users who may be crossing the protected bike lane.
Be alert for turning vehicles when approaching uncontrolled intersections, driveways and alleys.
Stay to the right and allow faster bicyclists to pass safely.
Be alert for other bicyclists passing.
Before overtaking and passing a slower cyclist, look to be certain there are no oncoming cyclists from the opposite direction or pedestrians about to cross the protected bike lane.
Once you are certain there are no oncoming cyclists or pedestrians, give an audible signal by saying “on your left” to the slower cyclist in front of you before overtaking and passing them.
Be aware the bike lane may weave as it approaches intersections to make bicyclists more visible to motorists.
Use caution when exiting the bike lane.
If crossing Summit Street, wait in the green turn boxes to wait until it is safe to proceed.
PEDESTRIANS
Be alert for motor vehicle and bicycle traffic.
Look both ways, watch and listen for bicyclists traveling from either direction before crossing the protected bike lane.
Always cross the street at a crosswalk.
Use caution when crossing the protected bike lane at other locations, such as when entering and exiting parked vehicles.
The protected bike lane is for bicycles only.
Use the sidewalk when walking along the street if it is practical.
Do not stand or wait in the protected bike lane.
Use the concrete island bus bulbs to wait for buses.
"The culture of biking is changing in Ohio..." - Michelle's story
Name: Michelle May
Lives in: Clintonville
Works in: Columbus - West Side at Ohio Department of Transportation
“We were much more focused because they demanded it."
Led by ODOT’s Highway Safety Manager, Michelle May, a group of transportation engineers, roadway designers and safety professionals from ODOT spent three hours riding city roads with Yay Bikes! on a gorgeous July afternoon earlier this year. “I credit those focused on biking and walking. We are much more focused because people are demanding it,” Michelle said.
“I learned so much that day.”
The ride was transformative. “It’s been completely eye opening,” Michelle said. The group travelled a route that was deliberately designed to showcase a variety of bike traffic scenarios including those with great bike infrastructure, those with challenging bike infrastructure and those with well-intentioned bike infrastructure that just doesn’t work well for many bicyclists. “I learned so much that day,” Michelle said. “But more importantly, the folks who designed our roadways learned so much.”
Specifically, Michelle and team were able to identify potential safety issues by experiencing them on a bike rather than seeing them on paper. “I learned the value of riding with folks who do it every day” Michelle said. “It allows us to take what we learn and translate it into making roads safer.”
“There’s no substitute for seeing things for yourself.”
While she isn’t a regular bicyclist, Michelle considers herself a bike supporter. Her initial hesitation to riding – fear of motorists. “I worry about other drivers not paying attention,” she said. But riding with Yay Bikes! changed that. They didn’t have any scary interactions with motorists on their July ride. “Riding with Yay Bikes! changed my mindset because the vast majority of drivers were accommodating to our presence on the road.”
Michelle hopes to see the expansion of relationships like this to other areas of the state. “Yay Bikes! encouraged us to investigate concerns about road design with their non-adversarial approach. I’d like to think the culture of biking is changing in Ohio and these relationships between engineers, transportation professionals and bike advocates like Yay Bikes! are to thank.”
"My feet were moving. I forgot there were cars." — Jamilah's story
Name: Jamilah Tucker
Lives in: Hilliard
Works in: Downtown Columbus
“I only went where the sidewalks could take me.”
A co-worker was championing Ride Buddy, a program Yay Bikes! hosted to teach downtown workers to ride bikes instead of drive. Jamilah was curious. “People were doing it and I was like ‘oh, that looks fun!’”
Riding with Yay Bikes! helped Jamilah see the roads differently.
But she hadn’t been on a bike since junior high and she was scared, never having traveled by bike anywhere besides the sidewalk. “There are all these reasons not to get on a bike. I was nervous about getting hit by a car,” she said. Jamilah needed direction before she felt comfortable riding a bike on her own. Determined, she asked co-worker after co-worker to join her on a downtown bike ride with Yay Bikes!. Finally, a friend agreed.
“Building up to it was the worst,” Jamilah said. She was sweaty and shaking as she tried to remember the mechanics of working the pedals. She climbed upon the seat of a CoGo bike and moved with as much ease as she could muster. “A few minutes into it, my feet were moving. I forgot there were cars.”
“We feel comfortable to ride our bikes at home.”
Soon after, Jamilah found a bike at a garage sale. For $15 she bought it, cleaned it up and made it her own. She rides it regularly with her 11-year-old daughter on her own bike just ahead. They ride the road, mostly to and from the park or around the neighborhood. “It was a good thing to be in that group and to gain education so we feel comfortable to ride our bikes at home,” Jamilah said.
The biggest change was her awareness of bicyclists on the road which she shared with her husband. “We didn’t used to pay attention to bicyclists,” Jamilah said.
“The road was created for moving people.”
Now Jamilah and her husband are aware of the need to share the road. “Not everyone has a car. The road was created for moving people; we have to respect each other.”
She’s grateful for the experience to learn a new approach to getting around downtown every day. While she does not commute to work by bike, Jamilah hopes to start integrating CoGo bike rides into her lunch hour, inviting friends and co-workers along when she can. “My mentality about getting around and paying attention to roads has changed. I wouldn’t have gotten back on a bike without the Yay Bikes! experience.”
"Biking gives me freedom." — Cassie's story
“That wasn’t working for me.”
Cassie's social life is full since she found Yay Bikes!. Here she is riding in the annual Columbus Tweed Ride.
Cassie was feeling dissatisfied. She had moved to Columbus from Southern California in 2007 for graduate school and was spending most of her time working. “I was kind of at a point in my life where I was bogged down in work,” she says. She spent the little free time she had cuddled on the couch, watching T.V. in an effort to clear her mind. “That wasn’t working for me. I needed something to change so I could feel happier.” Trolling Facebook in early 2014, she came across a post about Year of Yay! ride. She gave it some thought. “It looked like you could just show up, so I went...by myself.”
“I felt like I did something.”
Cassie arrived to her first Year of Yay! ride in July of 2014 on a new bike she had purchased just a month before. Previously, she had commuted three miles on the Olentangy bike path to OSU, rarely on the road. Though she felt hesitant about jumping into a new experience without anyone she knew, Cassie is a self-described social butterfly so she embraced the discomfort and was excited to try something new.
The group welcomed Cassie with open arms, making sure she never felt alone during her first ride. Many miles later, she was pleased. “When I got home I felt like I did something I wanted to do. My body felt good!”
Cassie’s free time shifted. She ditched the T.V. for a more social kind of relaxation. “I liked going on the ride because it was an easy way to be with a group, but I didn’t have to orchestrate anything.” She immediately decided to become a Yay Bikes! member.
“It’s easier than driving!”
Riding with Yay Bikes! expanded Cassie’s knowledge of hand signals, traffic laws and bike safety, but it also gave her a nudge to be more adventurous on her bike. “It made riding on the road part of the experience and helped me to be more brave to try new routes.” Most importantly, it helped her to feel comfortable to commute the streets of Columbus by bike multiple days a week. “Now I drive only on the weekends.” Without the hassle of managing her car, searching for parking, paying for parking, Cassie’s mornings are stress-free. For her, biking is much easier than driving.
“It’s our duty to teach others.”
Cassie feels confident in her new lifestyle. Soon after her introduction to Yay Bikes!, she was asked to become an ambassador for our How We Roll program. She gleefully accepted the opportunity to teach college students to ride bikes. With ease, Cassie transitioned into a role that has her leading new bicyclists through the streets of Columbus like ducklings following their mother. In the two hours they ride with her, the students’ demeanor goes from stressed and scared to calm and confident. She adores it. “To see someone walk away with something they didn’t have before is really cool”
Armed with her heightened awareness, deep knowledge and passion for bicycle commuting, Cassie takes her role as an educator to the next level. “It almost feels like a duty to teach others how to interact with us [bicyclists] and to know what to expect.”
“I feel like I’m doing something for myself without doing something extra.”
Bicycling has brought a sense of community and a new purpose to Cassie’s life that didn’t exist before. Instead of spending her time watching T.V. at home, she needs to schedule time to herself. “It feels like biking gives me a lot more freedom. I have options.”
In this community of bicyclists, she has made countless friends with whom she explores the city, she has learned new skills that she is sharing with others, she has come to love Columbus and she thinks of it as home. “I’ve built a good life for myself.”
"My bicycle saved me." — John's Story
Name: John Bannon
Resides in: Old Town East
Works in: Easton Town Center @ Trader Joe's
“My bicycle saved me.”
One morning in 2010 John jumped in his old beat up truck, but this time it wouldn’t start. Rushing to get to work on time, he unburied an old mountain bike from its hiding place in the basement. He hadn’t ridden a bike in years except for a short trip here and there. That day he rode from Old Town East to Easton. “It’s 9 miles to work, not a short jaunt.”
John couldn’t afford to have his truck fixed for two more weeks. His best solution - continue commuting by bike. “I experienced this revelation, I don’t need my car. My bicycle saved me.”
“Every time you’re on a bike, something weird can happen.”
John knew he wanted to continue biking, so he started searching for guidance on safe bicycle commuting. “I came across Yay Bikes! stuff that said it will teach me to ride the road.” He soon found himself at the first ever Year of Yay! ride in 2011 on a snowy, slushy January day. Despite the weather, John was hopeful the ride would still go on. “I think these people still ride in the snow,” he thought. And they did.
He participated in the first Year of Yay! ride skeptically. On the second ride in February he considered quitting all together. He remembers the weather was freezing. “At one point I thought I was going to throw up.” But, he made a friend who gave him tips to a more comfortable ride and encouraged him to keep pedaling. “Yay Bikes! came along and it’s like, I can do anything on my bike,” John says. That year he ended up riding 1200 miles. He also made many new friends who would end up being his support system in a time of need.
“I don’t remember getting hit.”
Three years ago today, John’s regular route was under construction. He was traveling home from work, biking through roads at the airport after 10pm on a Sunday night. His last memory was glancing behind him while stopped at a traffic light, the red blinking light attached to his seat flickering on the road. “The good news is I don’t remember getting hit.”
Somewhere near the long-term parking lot entrance, a motorist clipped John’s rear wheel. It sent him spinning. He landed, head first, into the pavement. His helmet cracked in half. “I woke up on my back with my feet facing the curb. I’d done a half turn.”
The rest of his memories are a little fuzzy. What he can remember is the people who were by his bedside when he came to at the hospital. Many of those people he hadn’t met until just a year before when he found himself in the midst Columbus’ bike community.
“That’s the thing about the bike community…”
Following his accident, John posted a photo to his Facebook page from the hospital. Only a few hours later, the first person to visit was a fellow Yay Bikes! member who had also been struck by a motorist less than three months prior. “That’s the thing about the bike community, you know everyone. We all talk to each other.”
The outpouring of support John received from his fellow cyclists was humbling. They helped him get in and out of the hospital, they helped him navigate the legal proceedings and insurance, they helped him get his bike fixed, they helped him get to and from if he needed it. Two weeks later, he needed it. His truck, the same truck that made him a bicyclist, broke down again. Still weary of riding, his Yay Bikes! friends drove John and his bike to work. “I had to ride home,” he says.
“I’m not scared.”
Since his crash in 2012 John has steadily increased his bike mileage each year. Physical limitations from the accident prevent him from commuting as much as he did before, but he does it. He rides to the grocery store, to coffee dates, to meetings around his neighborhood. “I’m skeptical [of motorists] but I’m not scared.”
Frustrated by the frequency of bicycle related crashed and deaths, John knew he needed to do something. Last year he joined the planning committee for Ride of Silence, a silent promenade of cyclists in tribute to riders who have been injured or killed in crashes. “There’s this idea that only cars belong on the road.” He wants to change that. Ride of Silence is a way to pay tribute while educating motorists about the need to share the road. “This whole thing means something.”
"When I'm biking, I'm saying thank you." — Yolande's Story
Name: Yolande Berger
Resides in: Reynoldsburg
Works in: Downtown Columbus @ the Ohio Department of Education
“Columbus is a bike city!”
Yolande moved to Columbus in 2009. Inspired by the cyclists she saw riding the road, she was immediately compelled to commute by bike.
“I always knew I was going to do this commuter gig, but I didn’t know how,” she says. Fresh from a 1-mile ride to our lunch date at the North Market, Yolande’s enthusiasm for her new-found passion radiates. “Columbus is a bike city!”
Knowing her desire to ride, a friend gifted Yolande a bike soon after her move to Columbus. But, at that time, her physical abilities were limited and riding a bike was out of the question. The bike sat, collecting dust in the garage of her Reynoldsburg home for more than six years.
“Just keep moving your legs.”
Fast forward to early 2015, Yolande’s health had improved and she felt confident from achieving her first half marathon the prior year. At the urging of a friend, she and her 24-year-old daughter found themselves at a Year of Yay! ride in March with an Underground Railroad theme.
That day Year of Yay! travelled from Upper Arlington to Clintonville, through Linden to Sunbury Road where they pedaled uphill before stopping at Ohio History Connection. It was 17 miles in a cold, miserable drizzle. “It was intimidating, but the welcoming and patient community [of Year of Yay riders] made it accessible. I kept thinking, just keep moving your legs.” Yolande pedaled with purpose during that first ride.
“A different face of Columbus.”
Along the way, kids peeked from windows in neighborhoods along the route while business owners cheered from shop entrances. Despite the weather, or perhaps because of it, the group of more than 50 Year of Yay! riders brought the energy of a holiday parade. The community was excited to see them. “You see different face of Columbus when you’re on the bike.”
Her first ride since childhood sent a spark through Yolande. Just a few weeks following her initial ride, she sought out a Yay Bikes! Ride Buddy to help her learn to navigate the roads. The experience riding the busy streets allowed Yolande to gain comfort in the skills, signals and rules of the road she had learned during Year of Yay!. After that, she was hooked.
“It’s a moment of gratitude.”
Just a few months later, Yolande is a proud bicycle commuter motivated by the benefits to her health, the environment and her pocketbook. Each morning Yolande travels from Reynoldsburg to the near east side by car before parking and riding the final 2 ½ miles to downtown Columbus on her bike. Commuting by bike has added a time of quiet reflection and peace to Yolande's day. Removed from the chaos of the typical morning commute, Yolande now rides streets lined with oversized trees and picturesque homes. “The only word I can use to describe how it makes me feel is calm,” she says.
And Yolande is grateful. “I don’t take physical activity for granted. When I’m biking, I’m saying thank you. It’s a moment of gratitude.”
'Architechtouring' ride recap
[Ed note: Special thanks to September's ride leader and special guest blog contributor David Curran!]
First of all - a big thank to the almost 70 riders who showed up for the September Year of Yay! ride! I hope everyone enjoyed themselves. I thought the ride went well despite it going long and having what I was told was a record number of flat tires and maintenance issues. This was not a record that I had hoped to break.
A big thank you to Molly Patterson and Columbus Architectural Salvage for hosting the first stop on our ride. It was great seeing so many bicycles scattered all over the front lawn. Some of my favorite comments were "I had no idea Columbus had something like this" and "Discovering this place is going to cost my husband and I a lot of money". This shop is really unique and I wish more people in Columbus were aware of it.
Maddy Davis was our guide for the tour of MAPFRE Stadium. Another big thank you to Maddy for cheerfully leading a group that was almost double the size I guessed it would be. It was an interesting experience to be in the stadium without the crowds and the noise of a game day. Getting to tour the locker rooms and stand on the pitch was a real bonus. Since the tour went long, some opted to head back after this stop.
One funny highlight of the ride for me was on our next leg through east campus. While going down 11th Ave, we passed a pre-football game college party on the front lawn of a house. They saw us coming and several came to the streetside and jokingly held out their red solo cups as an impromptu beverage station for the bike tour going by.
The ride got longer as we had more maintenance issues on the next leg of the ride and had an extended stop on Michigan Ave. Kudos to everyone who helped out with maintenance. Additional thanks to everyone for their patience as we worked to get going again. Since the ride's progress was slow at this point, more opted to head back after this impromptu stop as well.
Once we got going, the final 12 continued to the Toledo & Ohio Central Railroad Station at Broad and Starling. This is the last remaining downtown station in Columbus. Since we weren't able to tour the inside, I would encourage everyone to visit it if they are ever downtown during the day and have a few minutes to walk in. It's been well taken care of and the main waiting room has the original ticket windows and some railroad memorabilia and photographs.
The final 7-mile leg back to Whole Foods was without incident and was quickly followed by a well-deserved refreshment. Thanks to everyone who helped out as leads and sweeps and to Ken for planning a great route!
YB! leads professional development ride with ODOT safety team
On July 21, 2015, Yay Bikes! ride leaders Catherine Girves and Meredith Joy, along with trusty sweeps Steve Puhl Jr and Julie Walcoff, led a group of 8 Ohio Department of Transportation professionals on a tour of bicycle facilities on Columbus' South and East sides. This group represented the Safety Team, aka the folks determining which safety projects -- including bicycle infrastructure projects -- throughout the state will receive funding. Most of them had ridden trails but not roads, and a couple hadn't ridden a bike since childhood, so this ride proved the first urban riding experience for our group.
Split into 2 groups of 4, the cyclists rode a challenging 10-mile (or 12-mile, if they were in the accidental wrong-way group!) route beginning at the Grange Audubon Center and hitting the following streets: Front, Main, Grant, Town, Parsons, Livingston, Ohio and Champion, Oak, Washington, Gay, Broad, 3rd, Fulton, High and Whittier. Along the way, they got to experience sharrows, bike lanes to nowhere, bike lanes in door zones, unmarked narrow lanes, freeway on- and off-ramps, multi-lane one-ways and more. As well as the overwhelming heat of the day and, of course, the typical sights, smells & sounds that make bicycling so damn lovely. Everyone was heroic! Everyone was also very very hungry when we sat down to share our delicious post-ride meal at El Arepazo.
Here's some of our early feedback from the ride:
What was your favorite part of the ride?
Trying the different bicycle treatments like the sharrows, the bike lanes and bike boulevard to see how each performed.
...being able to see the integration between the designs on paper, the cyclist themselves, and the driver interaction and how it all comes together. There are definitely eye opening things when riding out on the streets first hand and would recommend all designers/operations people to experience it first hand to have that background knowledge.
Stopping periodically to discuss various aspects of the ride. It helped solidify or reinforce important design and riding concepts in my mind.
What did you learn?
I learned there is a huge difference between a good designed bike lane or facility and one that is just thrown in last minute to a project to make it a complete street ... The narrow bike lanes, especially next to parked cars, was a huge eye opener. Also, understanding why the rider must own the lane for their safety was an eye opener on the City streets. Most of my bike riding experience has come on the bike trails or residential streets.
Was there anything different than what you expected?
I felt way more comfortable riding through downtown and the various other streets than I thought that I would.
It was a lot less scary than I thought it would be.
I didn't expect to feel so comfortable riding downtown streets. I think it helped that we rode as a group with a calm, experienced ride leader.
We at Yay Bikes! are honored to have hosted such a thoughtful group of professionals on this ride, and look forward to more such rides with professionals throughout the state. Thanks to ODOT (and let's not forget MORPC!) for investing in these training opportunities.
Announcing the official 2015 Bike the Cbus tee
In addition to being a bicycle enthusiast, Thom Glick is an award-winning illustrator. For over a decade he has worked with clients from all over the world, producing illustrations for magazines and newspapers, galleries, greeting cards and apparel. In 2015, Thom completed an MFA at Columbus College of Art & Design, with a focus on visual narrative and animation. Currently, Thom lives with his partner, Zuzana, and their dog, Pilot, in the German Village area. You can follow Thom's work online
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Out & About with Yay Bikes! — June 2015
Welcome to the monthly feature in which we round up all our events, earned media, program delivery, meetings and speaking engagements for the month. Representation and outreach like this is what you fund with your membership dollars and major gifts, folks! Behold, June:
June 1
Urban Cincy article: "Ohio Maintains Position as Nation's 16th Best State for Bicyclists"
Leading 3 How We Roll educational rides with OSU First Year Peer Leaders
Information session @ MORPC
Regular meeting of MORPC’s Community Advisory Council, on which Catherine serves
June 2
Ride Buddy a.m. commute with an Ohio Consumer Council employee
Ride Buddy p.m. commute with a MORPC employee
June 3
Ride Buddy a.m. commute with a Nationwide Children's Hospital employee
Ride Buddy p.m. commute with an NBBJ employee
June 4
Ride Buddy lunchtime ride with 3 Grange Insurance employees
Meeting with MORPC's Ride Solutions team
June 5
Leading 3 How We Roll educational rides with OSU First Year Peer Leaders
Yay Bikes! employee Steve Puhl Jr and super volunteer Shyra Allen earned League Cycling Instructor certification
June 6
Ride Buddy practice commute with a Nationwide Insurance employee
Ride Buddy practice commute with 2 Grange Insurance employees
June 8
Information Session @ Bricker & Eckler
June 9
Regular meeting of the CoGo Advisory Group
June 9
Ride Buddy p.m. ride with a Columbus Public Health employee
June 10
Ride Buddy lunchtime ride with 4 Ohio Board of Regents employees
Ride Buddy professional development ride with 4 City of Columbus Public Service employees
June 11
Regular meeting of Mayor Coleman's Green Team, on which Catherine serves
Ride Buddy professional development ride with a City of Columbus Public Service employee
Ride Buddy p.m. commute with a CoGo Bike Share employee
June 12
Ride Buddy a.m. commute with private attorney
Ride Buddy downtown tour with an ODOT and a MurphyEpson employee
Leading 2 How We Roll educational rides with OSU First Year Peer Leaders
June 13
Year of Yay! "Oddities" theme with stops at the Early Television Museum and Bill Moose Memorial
June 14
Ride Buddy practice commute with 2 Grange Insurance employees
June 15
Ride Buddy a.m./p.m. commutes with an Ohio History Connection employee
June 16
Ride Buddy a.m. commute with a City of Columbus Public Service employee
Pelotonia How We Roll ride with a Safelite Autoglass employee
June 17
Information session @ NBBJ
Board meeting of the Downtown Residents Association of Columbus, on which Catherine serves
June 18
Information session @ Stantec
Ride Buddy lunchtime ride with 4 Ohio Board of Regents employees
June 19
Information session @ Ohio History Connection
Pedal Instead @ Columbus PRIDE
June 20
Pedal Instead @ Columbus PRIDE
Pedal Instead @ Buckeye Country Superfest
June 21
Pedal Instead @ Buckeye Country Superfest
Pedal Instead @ Creekside Blues & Jazz Festival
Ride Buddy practice commute with a Grange Insurance employee
June 22
Business First article: "MORPC, Yay Bikes! launch Ride Buddy program to get more people to bike to work"
Ride Buddy a.m./p.m. commute with a COTA employee
Ride Buddy lunchtime ride with 2 Ohio Board of Regents employees
Yay Bikes! Board meeting
June 23
Attending MORPC's Regional Education Forum
Information session @ The Columbus Foundation
Ride Buddy downtown ride with an Ohio History Connection and an OSU Wexner Medical Center employee
Ride Buddy professional development ride with 3 City of Columbus Public Service employees
June 24
Information session @ Grange Insurance
Information session @ Capital Crossroads SID
Ride Buddy a.m. commute with a Bricker & Eckler employee
Bike the Cbus planning meeting
June 25
Ride Buddy east side ride with 3 Columbus State Community College employees
June 26
Pedal Instead @ ComFest
Ride Buddy a.m. commute with an Ulmer & Berne employee
Ride Buddy a.m. commute with 3 Bricker & Eckler employees
Ride Buddy lunchtime ride with 3 Ohio Board of Regents employees
June 27
Pedal Instead @ ComFest
Pedal Instead @ OhioHealth's Neuroscience Center Open House
June 28
Pedal Instead @ ComFest
June 29
Ride Buddy a.m. commute with a Mount Carmel College of Nursing employee
Ride Buddy p.m. commute and bike shopping with a MORPC employee
June 30
Presenting about Ride Buddies at the Central Ohio Greenways Forum
Information session @ Nationwide Insurance
Ride Buddy lunchtime ride with a Franklin County employee
Ride Buddy p.m. commute with a Franklin County employee
Out & About with Yay Bikes! — May 2015
Welcome to the feature in which we round up all our events, earned media, program delivery, meetings and speaking engagements from the previous month. Behold, May:
May 1 — Leading a How We Roll educational ride with Bexley's Mayor Kessler, Councilwoman Owen, Chief Rinehart & Service Director Dorman
May 2 — Presenting @ Bexley's Safety Education & Expo
May 2 — Pinchflat Bike Poster Show
May 4 — Fundraiser @ Lineage Brewing
May 6 — Delivering the safety speech @ North of Broad & Near East Side Neighborhood Pride community bike ride
May 6 — Meeting with Greg Lestini @ Bricker & Eckler LLP
May 7 — Regular meeting of Mayor Coleman's Green Team, Transportation Committee, on which Catherine serves
May 7 — Planning meeting for Central Ohio's 2015 Ride of Silence
May 9 — Year of Yay!ride
May 12 — Columbus Dispatch article: "Annual Ride of Silence"
May 12 — Addressing the regular meeting of the Franklin County Board of Commissioners
May 12 —Sharing “How We Roll” @ Pelotonia’s Captains’ night
May 12 — 5th annual Ride the Elevator
May 12 — Chamber of Commerce guest blog post: "The 'Big 3' Benefits of Riding a Bike to Work"
May 13 — Yay Bikes! button photo 'cameo'! Member Keith Lugs' photo, with YB! surreptitiously featured, was recognized among 23 others in the international bicycle photography competition: "24 Snapshots of Bikes"
May 13 —Board meeting of the Downtown Residents Association of Columbus, on which Catherine serves
May 13 — Board meeting of Community Shares of Mid Ohio
May 14 — Promoting Bike to Work Day on the CD102.5 Morning Show
May 14 — Planning meeting for Central Ohio's 2015 Ride of Silence
May 15 — Leading 2 routes to Columbus Commons on Bike to Work Day, winning the annual participation award and riding with Mayor Coleman and Stinger from the Columbus Bluejackets
May 15 — Information Sessions (2) @ Nationwide Insurance
May 15 — Panelist for the Ohio Young Professionals Weekend & Leadership Summit presentation "2015: The Future of Transportation" w/Wiliam Murdoch MORPC, Curtis Stitt COTA, Julie Walcoff ODOT, Chuck Dyer ODOT, Patty Austin City of Columbus, Chet Ridenour Car2Go, John Justice Café Brioso
May 16 — Columbus Dispatch article: "Coleman, Stinger join hundreds who bike to work today"
May 17 — Pedal Instead @ Columbus Underground's Urban Living Tour
May 20 — Attending MORPC's Bike Safety Lunch & Learn
May 20 — Regular meeting of MORPC's Active Transportation Plan Work Group, on which Catherine serves
May 20 — Participating in COTA NextGen's Project Advisory Group
May 20 — 9th annual Ride of Silence
May 20 — nbc4i report: "'Ride of Silence' Draws Awareness to Cycling Safety"
May 21 — Information Session @ Ulmer & Berne LLP
May 21 — Information Session for OSU's First Year Peer Leaders
May 21 — Columbus Dispatch article: "'Ride of Silence' fills streets with bicyclists"
May 26 — Ride Buddy morning commute with an OSU employee
May 27 —Regular meeting of Columbus’s Bicycle Working Group, on which Catherine serves
May 27 — Presenting at the Columbus Young Professionals Club's Musical Chairs for Charity event
May 28 — Ride Buddy morning commute with a Franklin County Juvenile Detention Center employee
May 28 — Information Session @ NBBJ
May 29 — Ride Buddy lunchtime ride with an Ohio Department of Education employee
May 29 — Ride Buddy evening commute and downtown tour with an NBBJ employee
May 30 — Planning meeting for Bike the Cbus
May 31 — Ride to begin vetting Bike the Cbus routes
Yay Bikes! announces new downtown-area Ride Buddy program
Ride Buddies Cassie & Catherine arrive to their final destination — OSU's Center for Folklore Studies! Make this the year your commute becomes active! Now through June 30, all downtown-area workers and residents have a FREE opportunity to practice riding to and from work by bicycle, with extensive support from the certified cycling experts at Yay Bikes!.
Last week, MORPC selected Yay Bikes! as the contractor for their Downtown Modal Shift Pilot Program, decisively investing in our work to encourage more trips by bicycle. And the mode shift program we've developed is—go figure—the perfect expression of ourtheory of change! We're excited for the opportunity to offer extremely targeted programming that engenders meaningful change in the lives of downtown-area workers and residents.
For the entire month of June 2015, Yay Bikes! will offer ANYONE living or working in Downtown Columbus a personal Ride Buddy that escorts them and/or a small group of colleagues by bicycle on work-related trips, whether that be to/from work, to/from lunch or to/from other frequent destinations. Fully customized rides might be:
Work commutes: Over custom rides before or after work, we will ride with employees of downtown area businesses on their first bicycle commutes, whether directly from/to their homes or from/to a designated Park & Pedal location.
CoGo rides: Over lunch hour rides, we will familiarize employees with the CoGo Bike Share system and escort them to destinations downtown, e.g. their favorite lunch spots or frequent meeting sites.
Professional development rides: Over workday rides, we will showcase sites specific to employees’ profession (e.g., bicycle infrastructure for public service employees or neighborhood rides for charitable foundation staff) that engage them in a deeper understanding of their work.
Social / team-building rides: Over rides following work, we will offer unique educational experiences to groups of employees who want to explore downtown destinations and/or a particular theme by bike (e.g., touring the facilities offered by several bike friendly businesses).
Additionally, the program is open to downtown-area employers who want a more robust experience extended to all their employees—with information sessions, corporate communications and ride experiences intentionally designed as an expression of their mission and culture. Organizations that have already signed on are: Ulmer & Berne, Bricker & Eckler, Grange Insurance, Capital Crossroads SID, City of Columbus Department of Public Service, City of Bexley, Nationwide Insurance, State Auto, Huntington, MORPC and COTA. Space is available for 3 additional organizations of any size ready to roll with a fast-paced onslaught of rides, communications and data collection during the month of June.
Contact usto schedule a ride that works for you, or to become a participating organization! It is really, truly, for seriouslyjust that simple.
2015 Ride of Silence Recap
We have so many people to thank for making this year's Ride of Silence experience such a meaningful one:
Event Planning Chair—Kathleen Koechlin
Planning Team members—John Bannon, Eliza Farrel, Rob Hendricks, Pat Landusky, David Curran, Jeff Gove, Rahel Babb, Abby Rhodebeck
Sponsors—Ohio Department of Transportation, Westerville Bicycle Club,
Speakers—Mark Gibson (reading the Ride of Silence poem), Columbus Chief of Police Kim Jacobs (her comments are here), State Representative Mike Stinziano (his comments are here), Yay Bikes! Executive Director Catherine Girves (her comments are here).
Escorts—The Columbus Police Department
Media—The Dispatch and nbc4i
Food truck—Tatoheads
Photographer—Bryan Barr
Bagpiper—Scott Caputo
And—Leslie Strader, Office of the Mayor; Julie Walcoff and Michelle May, Ohio Department of Tranpostation
And+—All the riders who braved the chill, followed the rules and made a silent statement of solidarity with those whose lives have been impacted by unsafe driving.
Below is the official report we will be submitting for the international Ride of Silence website, written by our Event Planning Chair Kathleen Koechlin.
It was a chilly, gray day in Columbus, Ohio, but that did not stop the 333 or so cyclists from gathering at City Hall to make the eight mile ride in honor of those killed and injured while riding on our streets. This was the first year that Yay Bikes!, a local bicycle organization whose mission is to increase trips by bicycle and reduce bicycle crashes in the Central Ohio area and beyond, organized this event. The core planning committee was deliberately comprised of persons directly impacted; four have been seriously injured and one has a brother who was killed while cycling on a public road. It was very important to the planning committee that onlookers understand the purpose of the ride; in past years, this was not always the case, leading to some hostility when cyclists did not respond when spoken to. To this end, ghost bikes were placed around town several weeks before the event with signs linking people to the Yay Bikes! Ride of Silence webpage for information about the ride. Posters were printed and hung in windows along the route as well as in bike shops and local businesses around town to raise awareness and encourage participation.
People began gathering at 5:30 pm and the program started at 6:30 pm. Volunteers greeted cyclists, had them sign waivers, provided them instruction, and tied on armbands – red if they had been injured and black for everyone else.
The friend of two cyclists struck by a minivan on April 23, 2015 near Zanesville, Ohio (who was also hit by a car in the past) opened the program by reading the Ride of Silence poem and giving a brief biography of Brenda Hoffman who died in the collision and an update on Brad Hollingsworth who survived but was seriously injured. Brad’s wife, mother, and mother-in-law were there and rode with us. The Chief of Police, Kim Jacobs, spoke briefly, followed by State Representative Michael Stinziano. The final speaker was Catherine Girves, Executive Director of Yay Bikes!, who made a call to action for peaceful streets. Cards with information on specific local and statewide initiatives around safer streets for pedestrians and cyclists were distributed, and people were encouraged to get involved. After reviewing how to ride public roads safely, Catherine ended her time at the podium by reading the names and dates of death of all bicyclists killed on public roadways in Ohio in 2014.
Cyclists rode off in silence, riding two abreast, to a bagpiper playing in the background. We were led by Columbus police officers on motorcycles, followed by a cargo bike with banners announcing the ride. While some police were paid to lead and protect us, several police on bicycles joined the ride on their own accord and helped at intersections, including the Chief of Police, herself. As we rode, some people on bicycles who were not part of the ride joined in as well. The cargo bike set the pace at approximately eight miles per hour to simulate a funeral procession, and the police treated the ride as such, blocking intersections as we rode an eight mile loop on two busy urban roads. Signs were mounted to the bicycle racks of 15 cyclists who were dispersed throughout the large group of riders, again to alert onlookers as to what they were witnessing since we all rode in silence. The final cyclist pulled a ghost bike which was so impactful that one onlooker was brought to tears.
A food truck was provided at the end of the ride to encourage people to stay and reflect on their experience. The event was well covered by media, both through a blog post from a fellow bicyclist at the local newspaper, the Columbus Dispatch, and at the event by all three local television stations. A press release was also issued.
This ride could never have been so successful without the support of the Westerville Bicycle Club, the Ohio Department of Transportation, and individual donations. We thank them all from the bottom of our hearts!
Columbus Police Chief Kimberly Jacobs — 2015 Ride of Silence
The following is the full text from Chief Jacob's comments at the Ride of Silence. We thank Chief Jacobs for her presence at the event and for her work to ensure the safety of everyone in our community.
My name is Kim Jacobs and I'm the Chief of Police for the City of Columbus. I'm here to speak and ride with you tonight on behalf of Mayor Coleman.
Recently many of us took to the streets to celebrate National Bike to Work Day. That was a fun and exciting day, seeing so many cyclists together making a statement. Today, the statement we make is a somber one as we remember and honor those who have tragically been killed or injured while riding a bike.
Many of you probably read about a great city employee, Bill Lewis. Bill and his intern Stephanie Fibelkorn were walking to a meeting, and had nearly made it to the bus stop just a block from where we stand now, when they were hit and killed as a result of a reckless driver. No, Bill wasn’t on his bike at the time, but he was using a public street, like we all do when we ride, with full rights to be there. Bill spent many years of his professional life advocating, planning and designing roadways to accommodate all users. We will continue this important work always in his memory. We miss him and fondly remember him and the others who have been killed while cycling.
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