Bike to Work Day set for Friday in Richmond

By: Katherine Calos | Richmond Times-Dispatch
Published: May 11, 2009

Commuting to work by bicycle was an easy decision for Sarah Weisiger. It's a quick way to get from her home near Byrd Park to her office downtown.

"It's very easy, and it's fun," said Weisiger, who coordinates the Safe Routes to School program for the Virginia Department of Transportation. Biking to work takes her 20 to 25 minutes, about the same time as it would take her to drive her car, park in a garage and walk to the office, she said.

"I walk in with my bike and park it at an empty cubicle next to my desk," she said. She gets good exercise, and she doesn't have to pay for gasoline or a parking pass.

"As long as it's not raining too hard when I leave for work, I ride. Coming home, I don't care."

On Friday, Weisiger will have more two-wheeled company on the roads. It's Bike to Work Day, an event sponsored by RideFinders, the Richmond Area Bicycling Association, VDOT, BikeWalk Virginia and the city of Richmond.

Commuter convoy groups will cycle to Monroe Park from five locations on Friday. Cyclists will meet at 6:20 a.m. at Laurel Park Shopping Center and 6:30 a.m. at Forest Hill Park, Rocketts Landing, Bryan Park and Ellwood Thompson's Local Market.

At Monroe Park, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine will greet the cyclists at 7:15 a.m. before leading them down Franklin Street to Capitol Square.

Organizers have put together tips for cyclists and drivers so they can share the road safely Friday and beyond.

The need is clear in view of two recent accidents involving veteran cyclists. Neither motorist was charged.

In Virginia Beach on April 19, Daniel Hersh, a 54-year-old ex-SEAL, was killed when hit by a sport utility vehicle on Shore Drive during an early-morning ride.

In Hanover County on April 4, Chris Tompkins, 60, was partially paralyzed when he collided with a car on Blunts Bridge Road during a weekly group ride.

Tompkins was injured after a motorist passed the group, honking the horn, and then braked to turn left into a driveway. Tompkins swerved left to avoid other cyclists and was not able to stop before hitting the side of the car. He landed face-down and injured his spinal cord. After surgery at VCU Medical Center, he went to the Shepherd Center rehabilitation facility in Atlanta.

"Recovery is a lot slower than I was expecting," he said by telephone last week. "I was expecting to walk out of here in a month. I was expecting to be well following surgery. It looks like I'll be in a wheelchair for at least a year or so."

Champe Burnley, president of the Richmond bicycling association, called Tompkins' situation tragic. "We are legal vehicles. We had every right to be there. When people are impatient and blood pressure is going up, bad things can happen."

To Sheryl Finucane of Caroline County, who teaches physical therapy at Virginia Commonwealth University and is certified by the League of American Bicyclists as a cycling instructor, "the most important thing to get across is that bicyclists and motorists share the road and share the same rules.

"The cyclist is much more vulnerable. I tell people to drive as if it's the one you love the most on the bicycle ahead of you. If that were the case, what would you do?"

Jakob Helmboldt, VDOT's bicycle and pedestrian program coordinator, reminds riders and motorists to be more aware of each other.

"In general, we all need to be better users of the road."

Contact Katherine Calos at (804) 649-6433 or kcalos@timesdispatch.com.