by John Kinney, Active Transportation Liaison, ETC

The League of American Bicyclists promote various events with the 2020 Bike to Work Week, September 21-27 and the 2020 Bike to Work Day, September 22, which coincides with the first day of Fall, being two of their premier events. Calendar year 2020 has been full of surprises across the globe, physical/social distancing with use of personal protective equipment (facemasks) has become guidance for our day-to-day interactions. Bicycling, though, is still safe and highly encouraged to help get exercise, relieve stress, and a great way to show support for Evansville’s development of a climate action plan that addresses many local concerns, particularly air quality.

Evansville and Vanderburgh County are making good progress on bike paths, bike lanes and other complete streets features designed to make safe and easy for us to walk and/or bike. Evansville Trails Coalition (ETC), ETC Trailblazers and our Partners encourage folks to show our local support of complete streets, active transportation, our local climate action plan and National Events by dusting off, or maybe washing off, your bikes to make Bike to Work Day/Week part of your “to-do” list for this year.

If you are out on your bikes and care to share your experience, League of American Bicyclists has #BikesUnite as a tool to help unite us. Your local bike/walk advocacy group, Evansville Trails Coalition uses hashtags: #walkbikeevv #evansvilletrailscoalition #activeevansville #healthyevv #trailblazer #EVVbikepedsafety #bicyclefriendlyEVV to help share experiences and information.

No advocacy to ride a bike message would be complete without promoting safety; please wear your helmet, be situationally aware and know your limits.