Get on your bike and join the Northside Fun Ride

Bike Walk Northside, a neighborhood bicycle and pedestrian advocacy group, will be kicking off Bike Month (May) early with the Northside Fun Ride to be held on Saturday, April 30.

April 21, 2016; 10:37 AM • by Richard Hayes

Full press release:

Bike Walk Northside, a neighborhood bicycle and pedestrian advocacy group, will be kicking off Bike Month (May) early with the Northside Fun Ride to be held on Saturday, April 30. The 2.5-mile ride will connect the first two Bicycle Friendly Businesses Districts in the Richmond region, starting on MacArthur Avenue in Bellevue and ending at the Pedal and Gears Bike Festival at the Lakeside Farmer’s Market.

A Bicycle Friendly Business District is typically accessible by bicycle, has amenities like bike racks, and seeks to encourage customers to use bicycles for shopping. This can boost sales, free up parking, and enhance neighborhood identity and quality of life.

Several businesses in Bellevue and Lakeside are now offering discounts or other promotions every Saturday to customers who arrive by bicycle. Participatingbusinesses will display a green sticker with a bicycle logo in their window.

“The Northside area is very bicycle friendly. By organizing the ride and promoting the Bicycle Friendly Business Districts, we hope to remind residents of that, and also just have fun,” said Bike Walk Northside member Jason James. The group has sponsored several family-friendly rides in the past with the goal of encouraging the use of bicycles to get around the neighborhood and call attention to the need for bike lanes.

Riders should gather at 9 am at the Once Upon a Vine parking lot, and are invited to take advantage of discounts at local restaurants to eat breakfast prior to the ride or lunch afterwards. A guided return to MacArthur Avenue will leave Lakeside at 12 pm.

Northside Fun Ride Information:

Where: Meet at Once Upon a Vine, 4009 MacArthur Avenue, Richmond; ride to Pedal and Gears Bike Festival, Lakeside Farmer’s Market, 6106 Lakeside Avenue.

When: April 30, 2016. Meet 9 am, ride 9:30. Return 12 pm.

About Bike Walk Northside: Bike Walk Northside is a group of neighborhood residents working to promote bicycling and walking, as well as advocating for bike lanes, crosswalks, and other things that make bicycling and walking safer and more appealing.