By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON May 25, 2012 – This is a whole new line of business for the Chamber of Commerce and if we don’t see CoC president Keith Hooey on a bicycle Monday morning we will sue for false advertising. The Chamber has partnered with the city and the Regional government to sponsor the first Annual City-Wide Bike to Work Day Breakfast.
The event will terminate at the corner of Elgin and Brant, which isn’t exactly ground zero for the most jobs in the city – but we assume the Mayor has convinced everyone within city hall to bike in and that will fatten out the crowd.
You can enjoy breakfast and have your bike looked at while you’re there. All the politicians will be on hand; prizes will be handed out including the grand prize of a trip for two to Quebec City courtesy of VIA Rail and a weekend cycling getaway to St. Catharines courtesy of Welcome Cyclists.
For more information on the grand prize, visit www.BikeToWorkDay.ca. Contest closes at 11:59 p.m. on Friday, June 1. Not sure why the contest closes four days after the event – you will figure that one out.
It happens Monday, May 28 from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. Breakfast starts at 7:30. Ride your bike to the corner of Brant and Elgin Streets for 7:30 a.m. and chow down.
Burlington has been bitten by the bike bug and for those south of the QEW events like this are great. But ways have to be worked out to get over that hump that crosses the highways and ducks under the railway tracks – that part of the city is a war zone for cyclists.
There are two events during the summer where parts of the city are going to be closed for Car Fee Sundays
City's biggest advocates for more bike use gather at the announcement for the Car Free Sunday Burlington has planned. All three will be on hand for the Bike to Work event that is taking place all across the Region and in many parts of the GTA.. The guy on the far right is Sound of Music honcho Dave Miller.
The first is June 10th, in the Appleby Line – Fairview part of town with the second taking place in the downtown core on July 15th.
Mayor Goldring has been a fan of using bicycles as much as possible and Councillor Jack Dennison is not only a bicycle fan but an avid cyclist as well – he’s the kind of guy that takes in five day cycling events as vacation time.
The city’s cycling Advisory Committee recently did a tour of the downtown opportunities to cycle and pointed out the gaps in the existing trails and those intersections where things were a little iffy for the cyclist. One couple from north of the QEW admitted that they put their bikes in the trunk of their car and drove to the Central Library which was the gathering point for the event.
Great to see the city getting behind the idea of cycling more – now they can get behind the idea of making all those north of the QEW equal participants.
