The Centre Region Bike Coalition hopes a State College tradition next week will not only help save the environment but provide a great way to work out.
The coalition will host State College Bike To Work Week from today through May 8, with different events open to the public to promote bike riding -- an active lifestyle and State College's effort to reduce its carbon footprint, Paul Ruskin, spokesman for the Office of Physical Plant (OPP), said.
"You're not polluting, and you'll feel good all day because of how you started your morning," said Ruskin, who is helping with the event.
The weeklong event will kick off today with the "Bike to Work or School" competition. Different groups are encouraged to compete to see which one will have the most bikers going to work or school. Bikers can check in and report their group to volunteers at the corner of College Avenue and Allen Street. Information regarding sustainable transportation and safe cycling will be available from different groups on campus. Winners of the competition will receive dinner for 20 from Clem's BBQ.
On Saturday, a downtown street fair and children's bike rodeo will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the 200 block of Allen Street led by the State College Police. The street fair will feature food, fun and Bob Swain, the "Bike Guy," who will have his unusual bicycle collection on display.
Beginning at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, "Four Townships and a Borough Ride" will begin, as cyclists will depart on a route through the boroughs of State College, Harris, College, Patton and Ferguson townships. The ride will show cyclists many of the paths and bike lanes across the county.
From 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Monday, the Bohdan Kulakowski Memorial Ride will begin at the corner of College and Allen Streets. Kulakowski, a former Penn State professor, was struck and killed by a van while riding his bike home from his office in 2006. Cyclists will ride out to the site of his "Ghost Bike" on Highway 45.
"Have One for the Trails" Happy Hour at Tony's Big Easy will be held by State College's Outdoors from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Wednesday, with a $5 cover charge. The evening will feature short films on cycling.
Beginning on Monday and lasting until May 8, volunteers will be available to provide "ride guides" to any interested cyclists, featuring how and where to ride to work or campus from anyone's home.
Wall-E will be shown as the "Bike-in Movie" in Tudek Park at the end of Bike Week on May 8. The rain date will be May 9.
Bike Week has become a tradition in State College, and Ruskin said it has gotten "bigger and better every year." He added he hopes Penn State will become a hub of bicycling.
Tom Flynn, an architect in the Physical Plant Building, said he hopes to use Bike Week as an opportunity for Penn State to begin promotion of its "Bicycle Master Plan," put together by the university's transportation services, Environmental Health Services, risk management and Penn State Police.
Flynn, who is chairman of the plan, said it was created to both encourage bicycling throughout the university and to provide more routes for student bikers, who were once restricted from pedestrian walkways and many roads.
Teresa Davis, director of transportation in Business Services, said she hopes to promote the "master plan" through programs on campus and a new Web site.
"It's a community-wide effort," Flynn said.
