Annual event encourages biking

The Terrible Awful No Good Really Bad Bike Ride might not be as awful as it sounds.

Despite the menacing moniker, the seven-mile Bloomington bike ride is for the whole family, said Jacqueline Bauer, sustainability coordinator for the Economic and Sustainable Development Department.

“It’s a good way to get everyone out, especially in a season when people aren’t usually biking,” Bauer said.

Participants, ”both the fearful and the fearless,” according to bloomington.in.gov, should meet at 10 a.m. Saturday  at City Hall. Registration is not required.

The second annual ride aims to show participants biking is possible year round.

“We really are trying to encourage people to think of biking as a way to get around all the time,” Bauer said. “We are trying to show people how to get out there on their own in what they might not think of as biking weather.”

The route will take riders through neighborhoods and public areas, with few street crossings, Bauer said.  

Though the race is intended to take place in any type of weather, last year’s race fell on a sunny day.

“Last year, we did it in February, and we thought by pushing into January, we would get colder weather this year,“ Bauer said.

However, with forecasts in the 40s and sunny for Saturday, that might not be the case.
“We might just have people out and biking on a really nice day,” Bauer said, laughing.

Allen Edwards, an culinary arts instructor at Ivy Tech Community College and an IU student, is participating in the race for the first time.

“It sounds like a fun way too promote cycling,” Edwards said.

When Edwards worked as an executive chef at Four Winds Resort near Monroe Lake, he biked the 25-mile round trip two to three times a week. Now, he said he cycles to class and on short trips into town.

“I think if anyone lives within five miles of their work place, they can make the effort to bike to work, at least a few times a week,” he said.

Edwards also emphasized the environmental impact of commuting via bicycle instead of a car.

“Anytime we can get cars off the street we are helping the quality off the air,” he said.
Vince Castiro, bicycle and pedestrian coordinator for the Planning Department, said Bloomington has a higher percentage of bicycle commuters than the national
average.

He said he hopes the ride will encourage more residents to try transportation on two wheels.

“One way, is it will reach out to the people who aren’t biking very much, or biking for transportation, and it’s important for them to feel that they are part of a community,” Castiro said. “The second thing is this ride specifically is intended to show that biking is possible even in the winter.”

Bauer will be riding Saturday, and said she anticipates a turn out of about 65 people.

“Almost all of us can figure out a way to get out on our bikes,” she said. “It’s a really easy thing to do.”