Bike month continues through May

Bike Month launched May 2 with a celebration at Mother Waldron Park – Lawrence Tabudlo Photos

Hawaii Bicycling League (HBL) advocacy, policy and communications director Daniel Alexander constantly hears people say that they’d like to ride bikes more often. But for whatever reason — they feel it’s too dangerous, or too inconve nient — they don’t.

May’s Bike Month, a national effort led locally by HBL, is designed to calm those fears and get people riding.

“This is kind of a push for people to reassess — for you to ride out of your neighbor-hood, to the grocery store, to work,” Alexander explains. “It’s about getting people to try (bicycling), and maybe they will find that it is a good fit.”

Bike Month kicked off May 2 with a launch party at Mother Waldron Park in Kakaako, featuring a bike obstacle course for keiki and a group bike ride. Deputy director of Department of Transportation Services Mark Garrity also was there to issue a proclamation on behalf of the mayor, including news about the King Street protected bike lane: It’s set to accommodate two-way bike traffic soon.

“They’re aiming to have that completed by Bike to Work Day,” Alexander shares.

Bike to Work Day, which takes place from 7 to 9 a.m. May 15, encourages people to commute on their bike. Along the way, there will be stations (one at Thomas Square in Ho-nolulu, and another at Neal S. Blaisdell Park in Aiea) stocked with refreshments.

After work that day, bike over to Kakaako Agora from 5 to 8 p.m. for a pau hana, featuring live entertainment by Paul Isaac, food, and discussions about bike-related issues.

These are just a couple in a string of events taking place in conjunction with Bike Month. There’s also Family Sunday at Honolulu Museum of Art from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 17, featuring games, an opportunity for keiki to learn to ride a bike, and guided rides down the Cycle Track.

In addition to these events, HBL also will be hosting a number of presentations and workshops throughout May.

Alexander explains: “We have an ongoing one, Cycling Skills, which includes the basics of riding on the road, and then we have another one, Basic Bike Mechanics, and that would teach you how to replace your flat tire, do minor adjustments on your brakes, that sort of thing.”

The time to get riding has never been better, Alexander says.

“We have had a lot of positive bikeway infrastructure happen in the last couple of years,” Alexander says.

In addition to the King Street protected bike lane, lanes along Waialae Avenue were completed last fall, and improvements also have been made to bike lanes running through a few roads in the Diamond Head area.

And, according to HBL, there’s even more coming down the pipe: “The City is working on moving toward putting in the next protected bike lane, and they are actively planning and looking at a couple of different sites,” Alexander says.

More than anything, Al-exander feels, Bike Month is simply an invitation for people to give riding a shot.

“The goal is to get more people riding bicycles — for health, recreation and transportation,” he says. “Really, I think for us, it’s the idea that through education, we can get people to where they feel confident and safe riding.”

For more information about Bike Month and a full list of activities, visit hbl.org.