Click here to subscribe today or Login.
First Posted: 4/8/2012
Habitat for Humanity of Wyoming Valley would like to carve out its own little cycling tradition in the first week of May.
The group will hold its fourth annual Spencer Martin Memorial Bike Ride on Sunday, May 6, in the Back Mountain.
It’s the first charity ride of the season in the area. Something that Habitat executive director Karen Evans Kaufer hopes will help draw cyclists to the event.
“People are very happy with the way we run the ride,” Evan Kaufer said, adding that many cyclists are already making it yearly event on their calendar.
Martin was a longtime volunteer with the group and although he wasn’t a cyclist, Habitat decided a 30-mile bike ride through the scenic Back Mountain might just be the way to do that.
“We just decided to have an event to honor his volunteerism,” said Evans Kaufer.
As usual, Evans Kaufer says the ride will feature a host of volunteers, refreshments and a SAG wagon.
“We are very supportive of the cyclists,” she said.
However, the course will be a bit different this time around due to some road construction.
Tom Jones, of Around Town Bicycles in Wilkes-Barre, mapped out a new route for the ride, which takes in more of the road around Harveys Lake.
The route is both “beautiful and challenging” and runs just a little over 30 miles, according to Evans Kaufer.
The ride is the primary fundraising event for Habitat.
According to Evans Kaufer, the previous three rides have raised somewhere in the neighborhood of $100,000.
The group uses the money to carry out its mission of the helping Luzerne County families. In the last 20 years, Habitat has built 28 homes in partnership with local craftsmen and thousands of local volunteers.
So on the first Sunday in May, Evans Kaufer hopes to see 200 or more cyclists pedaling through the Back Mountain.
If you are interested in riding more information can be found at www.bikeforhabitat.org.
If you can’t ride and still want to contribute, sponsorships are available. More information about sponsorships is also available at the website.
Good news for cyclists – well at least those of us who prefer to road biking to mountain biking.
A law went into effect on Monday, setting new rules that in theory will make it safer to ride on Pennsylvania’s roads.
The law requires motorists to leave a four-foot “cushion of safety” when passing a bike rider. Drivers may cross a roadway’s center line if needed.
But wait … there is more.
Drivers attempting to turn left must also yield the right of way to bicycle riders traveling the opposite direction. I would like to think that would be common sense, but I narrowly missed becoming someone’s hood ornament enough times to know that just isn’t the case.
“The differential in speed is the biggest safety challenge with motor vehicles and bicycles sharing our state’s roadways,” PennDOT Secretary Barry J. Schoch said in a news release announcing the new regulations. “I urge all drivers and cyclists to learn the rules of the road to better share our highways and make travel safer for all.”
Schoch hits the nail on the head there.
The new rules will only have an effect if drivers learn them and follow them.
So far the results I have seen on the roads have been mixed.
I noticed no difference at all while riding through Wilkes-Barre early in the week and actually came pretty close to becoming a hood ornament once or twice while merely attempting to go straight through an intersection.
Later in the week in Hanover Township, I noticed several cars giving me wide berth. However, whether this was due to the new law or simply those drivers’ normal habits is debatable.
Still any law aimed at making it safer to ride is a good one.
Working late in the office Sunday night, I happened to catch the audio of one of local newscasts announcing the new bike regulations going into effect.
Unfortunately, I was in the middle of something and didn’t see which station or anchor it was, but the anchor did drop a real gem. In describing the new regulations, the anchor said they were aimed at “making bicycling safer both on the road and on the sidewalk.”
Seems to me, that if the station was going to take the time to do a story on the new law, they would have at least informed the anchor that it is illegal to ride a bicycle on a sidewalk in Pennsylvania. (As far as I’m concerned, not knowing that little fact should be grounds for having your license revoked).
And I would hope that cars are already giving anyone on a sidewalk a four-foot “safety-cushion.”
If you have a ride coming up, we would like to know about it.
Whether it’s a club ride, charity ride or just a weekly ride from a local bike shop we would be more than glad to list it when Cycling Scene runs and on our website at www.timesleader.com.
The same goes for your race results. Whether you have competed locally or out of town, let us know and we will publicize your results.
Send your calendar of events and race results to me at [email protected]. Please include Cycling Scene in the subject.