UPDATE: DUE TO INCLEMENT WEATHER THIS WEEK, I AM NOW EXTENDING THIS EVENT BY ONE WEEK. YOU WILL HAVE UNTIL OCTOBER 5 TO BOTH BIKE AND SUBMIT YOUR ROUTE DATA. (Data submitted after Oct. 1 will not be used at the ETSU Elevates Pitch Competition, but you will still be eligible for a water bottle.)

Tired of being stuck in traffic? Why not take a break from your car and enjoy a nice bike ride on your way to work? Biking to work is a great way to get some exercise, reduce stress levels, and start your day off right. I challenge you to use your bike for transportation at least once between September 22 through October 5, 2024. You might even win a prize for participating! This article will lay out what exactly “bike to work” means and some helpful tips for it.

“Bike to work” is exactly what it sounds like! Using a bike to commute from your house to your work and back again. Biking to work is a great way to get a little bit of exercise, help reduce stress, and start your day off right. Bike-to-Work Week doesn’t even have to include biking to work, silly as that may sound. It can encompass all sorts of places you can ride your bike to: school, parks, coffee shops, restaurants, and more. Bike-to-Work Week is more about the “bike” than the “work” part. Some people do not have jobs, others work from home, and even more work too far away for a bike ride to be feasible without a well planned bikeway.

You may be wondering “But I don’t even know where to begin…” and that is okay. The reason I started this whole Bike Layne project is to encourage people to join the bike community as well as make this area a better and safer place to bike. I have run into many people who are open to commuting by bicycle, but are too nervous to try because they feel that they lack the skills and knowledge to do so.

If you are nervous about bike commuting, read this article to help guide you through the progress. It seems daunting if you have never done it before, but planning ahead can save you in the present. It only has a few steps, really. One: get your bike and make sure it is in good condition. Two: plan your route start to finish before the ride. Three: have a reliable way to carry anything you might need to have with you. Four: enjoy your experience!

Participation Prizes

I mentioned at the beginning of this article that you could win a prize if you participate in the Bike-to-Work Week event. The prizes include a 20 oz. water bottle that fits in a bike cage and an athletic t-shirt (great to wear while biking) with the Bike Layne logo on it. The water bottle will be given to anyone who sends me their route data and a short feedback form about their bike commuting experience. I will use this data to help find which areas are in the most need of improvement when it comes to bicycle infrastructure. The t-shirt will be drawn randomly from the pool of people who submitted their routes. The submission form will be available during the event. More information about how to share route data and what kinds of feedback I am looking for can be found here.

I am super excited to be organizing a Bike-to-Work event and I hope you are excited to participate. Get your neighbors, kids, friends, and more involved. The more, the merrier after all. I will be posting several articles and infographics leading up to the event in order to help make sure that everyone who wants to join is able to despite skill level. I hope to organize more events like this throughout the next several months. With the new bike lane on W. Walnut Street in JC, there’s lots of opportunities to look forward to and celebrate.

If you have any suggestions of events, please let me know. I am always open to feedback and ideas from the community.