What better way to kick off this year’s Bike Month than by participating in the second annual National Ride a Bike Day on Sunday, May 1. It’s THE day to celebrate the joys of bicycling! Wondering how to celebrate? Go for a ride.
“We firmly believe that life is better for everyone when more people ride bikes,” shared the League of American Bicyclists. “On National Ride A Bike Day, let’s all ride bikes together, wherever we are and at our own pace, to take part in a collective action and kick start making life better for everyone.”
Why bike? Bicycling offers a fun and healthy way to get around. Studies show cycling elevates mood, memory, and metabolism. Cycling also reduces our carbon emissions and overall environmental impacts. All great reasons to get rolling!
“When all of us who ride bikes ride together on National Ride A Bike Day,” continued the League of American Bicyclists. “We can show our neighbors and our leaders why making it easier, safer, and more accessible to ride a bike is so important to so many people.”
Please join us on Sunday, May 1, for National Ride A Bike Day and then keep celebrating Bike Month all month long.
Following Bike Day, schools across the country will celebrate Bike & Roll to School Day on May 4. Over 800 schools will participate to call attention to making routes to schools safer and kids more active.
Learn more about Bike & Roll to School Day
The Kiwanis Kool Wheels Event will happen on May 7, from 10 am to 12 pm, at the Keene Recreation Center. Kool Wheels is a free family event where kids ages 4-12 may select a new bicycle helmet and learn about bike safety. Kids can bring their bicycles to the event for a tune-up.
Learn more
Put these dates on your calendar: Bike to Work Week is May 16-22, with Bike to Work Day on Friday, May 20.
Discover more about Bike Month
Track all your bicycling miles on Love to Ride's website. Once you're registered, you can also sign up for their National Bike Challenge. Create your own goals, connect with other bicyclists, and perhaps even win a prize.
Register today
Keene’s Transportation Heritage Trail project will connect the rail trail from Eastern Avenue to the Swanzey town line. While we can’t enjoy this project until 2027, we can help fundraise for the trail by participating in Pathways for Keene’s 4 on the 4th Road Race.
This summer, the City of Keene begins work on the Ammi Brown Trail and sections of the rail trail between the intersection of Hurricane and Aldrich roads to Summit Ridge Drive. Once completed by July 31, we’ll have a new bicycle and pedestrian loop that runs along West Street, Park Avenue, Summit Road, and Summit Ridge Drive, linking to the Cheshire Rail Trail.
Another important development in bicycling this year, UNH Cooperative Extension recently wrapped up a report called “Strengthening Connections: Downtowns & Trails,” highlighting how we can better connect Keene’s rail trails to downtown businesses. Assessors walked the trails and interviewed trail users to discover ways people do (and could) connect with our downtown assets.
“For a small city, Keene seems to offer a wide variety of businesses with numerous restaurants and a variety of retail as well as office space,” cited the report. “Assessors, by and large, found the business amenities available in Keene to be great assets. From a variety of restaurants, sporting opportunities, to general shopping, there were a number of places a trail user and any visitor or resident for that matter, might frequent.”
The report recommends adding more wayfinding signs to direct people towards these attractions.
“One main feature that will help with this connection is the inclusion of information about businesses and services on signage about trails,” stated the report. “Simple statements such as ‘downtown businesses are x miles from this point and include food, retail, and services.’ There is a great display in Railroad Square that could be further enhanced with information about general downtown amenities.”
The report also calls for amplifying the amazing community art near the trails, plus adding more art along the trails.
“Community art can be a powerful value-add to a user’s or resident’s overall experience in a community. Keene is fortunate to have a strong commitment to community art,” shared the report. “The Walldog Murals are the most vivid display of this effort and are visible from the trails. In addition to this clear asset, assessors noted a potential opportunity to enhance the community art space behind the Monadnock Food Co-op and right on the Cheshire rail trail. Others also noted that there were places along the trails that could be enhanced by the addition of some community art-such as sculptures.”
Read the full report
Happy bicycling!
The Local Crowd Monadnock - Keene, NH
