By Ali Siemens (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: June 6, 2012
Chicken burgers, veggie burgers, hot dogs, watermelon and vegetables lined tables at a free outdoor BBQ that started the kick off to “Bike to Work Week” running from May 28 to June 3. Bikers of all ages peddled over to Clearbrook Library where Abbotsfordians visited and talked to local programs about the benefits of biking to work, getting healthy, saving money and putting the bike lanes to use while doing it.
Abbotsford is one of 23 communities in BC to participate in Bike to Work Week, and according to Mayor Bruce Banman, the amount of biking in Abbotsford should only increase.
“It is terribly important, the city has gone to great expense to put in bike lanes and I hear from residents all the time, ‘we never see anybody use them,’ so I think this is a great opportunity where people can actually use the bike lanes out there.”
Making the switch to a more eco-friendly and bike-friendly city has been on Abbotsford’s agenda, so an important part of Bike to Work Week is changing the way people think about biking around town.
Banman went to school in Portland, Oregon, and is confident it is possible for Abbotsford to become more like the bike-friendly town he was educated in.
“Portland is the number one bicycle-used city in North America and if they can figure out how to do it, we can do it. They live in a very similar climate, and it’s a mountainous region, the same as our city is, lots of hills, and what we need to do is encourage people to do it and make it easy for them.”
Harv Bergen, owner of Life Cycles, a bicycle shop located near the University is a biking enthusiast and avid supporter of Bike to Work Week. Life Cycles donated a $1000 prize that was raffled off at the end of the week – as well as free bicycle tune-ups at the BBQ.
Biking to work himself, Bergen said, “It’s a great opportunity to bring some focus to the idea that [a bike] is not just a toy, it can be a vehicle, and it can be used for practical purpose. There are really very few pieces of sporting equipment that have that level of practicality that is attached to them. People can say, ‘our second vehicle is a bicycle.’”
Along with biking participants, local businesses such as Neufeld Farms, Abbotsford Parks and Recs, and Healthy Abbotsford also supported the cause.
Banman encouraged cyclists to crowd the bike lanes and make it impossible for residents to complain about their implementation.
Deemed a success from all people involved, all that is left is making Bike to Work Week an event that takes place every day, all year round.
With a busy week at the shop, Bergen has nothing but praise for the event, “I’d like to see more of it, it helps the environment, [prevents] obesity, it only has advantages.”
