Enjoy National Bike Month in the Heights

Since 2010, Cleveland Heights and University Heights have joined cities nationwide to celebrate May as National Bike Month.

Activities take place in and around the Heights throughout the month, including Bike the Heights Weekend, May 3–5; Bike to Work Week, May 13–17; and the Ride of Silence, a memorial that honors those injured or killed while riding their bicycles, on May 15.

Kicking things off, the Cedar Fairmount, Cedar Lee and Coventry Village special improvement districts will host their first collaborative Bike the Heights weekend, featuring an array of bike-related activities. On Saturday, May 4, 1–3 p.m., Heights Bicycle Coalition (HBC) will hold a Bike Fix-It Day in the parking lot of the former Zoss Bakery (12397 Cedar Road). Experts will be on-hand to assess bicycles and make minor repairs. Also that Saturday, HBC will host a family-friendly ride through the three districts at 3 p.m., originating and ending at Coventry P.E.A.C.E. Park.

On Sunday, May 5, All Geared Up will celebrate its fifth anniversary with a family-centric day of bike events, including a bike rodeo, 4-mile fun ride, a used bike sale and more. Activities get underway at 1 p.m., at Canterbury Elementary School in Cleveland Heights.

On Wednesday, May 8, students in kindergarten through eighth grade, in CH-UH public schools and some private and parochial schools, will take part in Walk or Bike to School Day. Walking or biking to school is a great way for kids to get exercise while being social, and studies show that children who walk or bike to school arrive more ready to sit down and learn.

Bike to Work Week begins on Monday, May 13, and concludes with Bike to Work Day on Friday, May 17. That morning, from 7 to 9 a.m., HBC will provide free coffee, courtesy of Phoenix Coffee, and snacks at the corner of Edgehill and Overlook roads—Northeast Ohio’s most traveled commuter bike route. Stop by and say, “Hi,” and meet fellow commuters as HBC promotes cycling in the Heights, and note the construction project underway at that intersection, designed to make biking, walking and driving there safer.

The May 15 Ride of Silence—a worldwide coordinated event—takes place each year on the third Wednesday in May. Heights-area bicyclists will gather at John Carroll University's southeast parking lot at 6:30 p.m., departing at 6:45 p.m. to pedal down Fairmount Boulevard to University Hospitals on Adelbert Road in University Circle. There, they will join with riders coming from the Free Stamp sculpture in downtown Cleveland for a memorial observation, at about 7:30 p.m.

Bike Month wraps up with a Best of the Bricks ride on Saturday, June 1. Led by Mary Dunbar, HBC vice president and Cleveland Heights council member, this fun, leisurely and informative ride will depart from the Noble Neighborhood Library (2800 Noble Road) at 10 a.m. Participants will view some of Cleveland Heights’ most noteworthy, interesting and historic brick structures, located north of Cedar Road.

This is just a sampling of the many Bike Month activities happening in and around the Heights. For more information, or to get involved in bicycle advocacy, visit www.heightsbicyclecoalition.org.

Joy Henderson

Heights Bicycle Coalition is a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to educating and encouraging Heights community members to use bicycles as a sustainable and healthy form of transportation and recreation. This article was written by Jamison Babb and members of HBC's Communications Committee.

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Volume 12, Issue 5, Posted 12:38 PM, 05.01.2019