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Indy Bike Hub YMCA
Scheduled to open in early August, the new Bike Hub YMCA in the east wing of Indianapolis City Market will provide a central location for bicycle commuters to meet and connect. The Hub will feature a bike shop operated by Bicycle Garage Indy, secure indoor parking for 148 bicycles, showers and free towel service. The shop will offer service, repairs and accessories, as well as bike rentals. The YMCA wellness center, scheduled to open Sept. 7, will boast multipurpose rooms in which aerobics, cycling, clinics and other exercise classes will be offered. www.indybikehub.org
Downtown is shifting gears
By the end of 2011, The City of Indianapolis will boast more than 64 miles of biking lanes! In addition to The Indianapolis Cultural Trail: A Legacy of Gene and Marilyn Glick and a flat geography with relatively slow traffic speeds, Downtown Indianapolis is the ideal setting for urban biking adventures! With several bike lockers accessible via cell phone throughout Downtown, Indianapolis has the most sophisticated bike parking facilities in the nation. No need to worry if you find yourself Downtown without wheels. Wheel Fun Rentals on the Canal offers everything from surreys and road bikes to tandems and beach cruisers. Bikes can be parked at any of Downtown’s conveniently-located racks. And if biking with cars isn’t your thing, be sure to check out the path along The Canal, Monon Trail and Indianapolis Cultural Trail.
Tour de Indianapolis
Okay, so you may not be Lance Armstrong, but that doesn’t mean you can’t join in on the fun! Lead the pack with a new bike from Bikes on Mass Ave, scheduled to open mid-August. Bikes on Mass Ave plans to sell a full selection of bikes, bicycle parts and accessories, as well as bike rentals and maintenance clinics. If you already own a bike, tap into one of these local groups and businesses for resources and events: The Indy Cog, Indiana BikePort, Bicycle Indiana and Sustain Indy.
Upcoming biking events:
- Tweed Ride (for turn of the century bike riders): Throw on your favorite tweed garb, grab your bike and join in on the fun Oct. 29. This ride travels from Broad Ripple to Downtown and back. For more details, visit www.theindycog.com
- Car Free Fridays (ongoing): Who said Bike to Work Day only happens once a year? Leave the car in the garage and pedal your way to work.
- Courteous Mass, Critical Manners: This event emphasizes bikers becoming a part of traffic rather than apart from traffic, as well as providing a visible and positive example of the cooperation that can exist between cars and bicycles. CM/CM meets every second Friday of the month at the American Legion Mall, across from the Central Public Library. Next ride: Sept. 9
Safety tips for biking Downtown include:
- Always allow 3 feet of space between a vehicle and a bicyclist
- Use extra caution when entering a green lane area where bike lanes and car lanes cross to allow drivers to make right turns
- Pay extreme caution on roads without a bike lane that have a sharrow, or image, of a bike with two chevron arrows, because they do not contain a traditional bike lane but are identified as a bike route
- Cyclists should ride with traffic; it is extremely dangerous to ride against traffic
- Bicyclists should always wear bright-colored clothes, use front and rear lights during dark hours, signal turns and wear a helmet
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