Press Release: April 10, 2003

BikeSummer 2003 In NYC P.O. Box 249 New York, NY 10002-0249 tel. 212-330-7083

BikeSummer 2003 to Take Place in New York City

Visitors Invited, Event Listings Sought

Release Date: April 10, 2003
Contact: Hannah Borgeson

We are pleased to announce that the fifth annual BikeSummer, a month-long celebration of bicycling and bike culture, will hit the streets of New York City from June 27 to July 26, 2003. BikeSummer was founded in San Francisco in 1999 and since then has traveled to Vancouver, Chicago, and Portland, OR, leaving behind expanded, energized, and more effective cycling communities.

A month full of educational and fun events, BikeSummer's East Coast debut will include rides for all ages along with bike-themed workshops, competitions, exhibits, films, parties, lectures, and more, giving locals and visitors the chance to discover the unique and healthy experience of cycling in New York City. A small sampling of events includes:

• Eco-tours along the city's waterfronts
• Presentations on worldwide bike culture
• Races on the newly refurbished Kissena track
• Bike-camping trips
• The "Chunkathalon," a competition of skill and derring-do on homemade chopper bikes
• Readings from bike publications
• A Fourth of July messenger ride
• A tandem social
• Rides to city attractions such as Coney Island, Wave Hill, and City Island
• A tour of street art in Brooklyn and Manhattan
• Critical Mass
• After-dark tours of landmark bridges and parks

Almost all events are free, and the calendar is open to contributions from locals and out-of-towners alike.

BikeSummer 2003 is being produced entirely by volunteers from a broad coalition of local cycling groups. They, in turn, have contacted cycling, arts, cultural, and environmental organizations and businesses to ask that they plan bike-related events for BikeSummer. Their promotions will include a printed calendar, postcards, stickers, posters, flyers, and t-shirts for distribution around the city and across the country. The BikeSummer Web site, http://www.bikesummer.org, is packed with information and graphics, including event listings and ways to get involved.

Visitors Invited

Part of the tradition of BikeSummer is giving cyclists from around the globe the chance to experience cycling in the host city. Visitors may arrange homestays with New York cyclists, and locals can open their homes to out-of-towners. More information is available at http://www.bikesummer.org/2003/local/lodging.php.

Event Listings Due by April 30 for Printed Calendar

BikeSummer organizers are seeking event listings, and those received by April 30 will be included in the printed calendar. (50,000 copies of the BikeSummer calendar will be printed and distributed throughout the metro area in June.) Any event that is bike-related is welcome, and volunteers can help potential organizers put together an event if necessary. Presentations from out-of-towners (advocates and/or tourists), beach rides, women's rides, bike rodeos/derbies, slow bike races, bike cleaning, bike decorating, kids rides, video screenings, repair workshops, and track-stand competitions are some suggested events. More information is available at http://www.bikesummer.org/2003/calendar/plan.php.

New York City, with more than 100,000 daily bicycle trips, has the largest bicycling population in the country as well as the lowest rate of car ownership (less than 54% of New York City households own or lease a motor vehicle). Each year, the Big Apple also plays host to the country's largest one-day bike ride: Bike New York.

Highlights of city biking include safe crossing and stunning vistas on most major bridges; a growing network of on- and off-street pathways, including popular waterfront greenways; some of the most spectacular urban parks in the world, such as Central Park (Manhattan) and Prospect Park (Brooklyn); and a vibrant bicycling scene full of races, day trips, charity rides, messengers, delivery riders, youth job-training programs, and more. This diverse bike culture matched with the city's vibrant arts scene promises the most colorful BikeSummer ever.

BikeSummer 2003's fiscal sponsor is TIME'S UP!, a 501c3 New York- based non-profit environmental group focused on promoting a more sustainable, healthier, less toxic city.