When you live in parts of the world that celebrate four seasons, April is famous for the rain it brings.
In sunny Tucson, April is the month of the bicycle. Itβs a time when life on two wheels is celebrated, with organized rides, events, a bicycle scavenger hunt, a two-mile or workplace commuter challenge, prizes and deals from local merchants.
Living Streets Alliance has hosted Bike Fest since 2009, but setting aside a week or month to celebrate car-free days or biking to work has been going on since the early 1990s in the Tucson area, said Kylie Walzak, program manager.
The purpose of Bike Fest is to help people overcome the mental barrier people may have about bicycling by encouraging riding in a fun, safe way. More than 60 percent would like to ride a bicycle more for transportation, but have safety concerns about doing it, Walzak said.
βHere in Tucson where we have relatively high bicycle ridership rate of about 3.5 percent, compared to a national average of only .62 percent, and where we have an abundance of options like bike lanes and paths to support riding, people are still fearful,β Walzak said. βThe start of 2016 has not boded well for changing peopleβs minds with so many cyclist fatalities, but I think people falsely believe that driving around in an automobile is a safer option when statistically it is not.β
Bike Fest usually brings more than 85 cycling events to the community during the month of April.
Those who want to host an event can do so by going online to bikefesttucson.com and listing it.
βYou just pick a meeting place, public places are usually best, and choose a route,β Walzak said.
Main events of Bike Fest include the Workplace Commuter challenge, in which area employers can compete for the title of most trips made by bike by their employees, and the 2-Mile Commuter challenge, in which participants log the number of trips they used a bike instead of a car, to win prizes.
To compete in either challenge, go online to bikefesttucson.com, create a profile and log bike trips from April 1 through April 30.
Here are three more events you wonβt want to miss:
Cyclovia Tucson: Lost Barrio to Himmel Park takes place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. April 10. The roads on this new route will be closed to vehicles, allowing families to take to the streets on foot, bicycle, roller skates, skateboards and more.
El Grupo Bicycle Scavenger Hunt is from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 16. Riders will get a map of downtown at check in. On the back there will be 10 riddles to solve and 10 objects to find within a three-mile radius. Along the way, riders will tackle βfeats of strength and stupidity.β The family distance will include five locations within a 1.5-mile radius.
The GABA Bicycle Swap Meet is from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 17 at the North Fourth Avenue shopping district, where riders can buy, sell and trade bicycle related goods.
