Sanibel Island Bicycle Club
Date: March 19, 2004
Contact: Darla Letourneau 472-1179
BIKE TO WORK DAY-APRIL 2ND
Wipe the dust and cobwebs off your bike, fill the tires with air, lube the chain, and prepare to cycle to work. This year, Lee County is holding its annual Bike to Work Day on Friday, April 2nd, and the Sanibel Bicycle Club would like to encourage the Sanibel community to participate. Bicycling is not only a recreational activity on Sanibel, but also a mode of transportation.
Meta Luckenbill (pictured here), often bikes home to South Fort Myers from her business, the Sanibel Fitness Center, where she works, teaching fitness classes all day. Meta highly recommends biking to work, especially during season, as a way to get off the island and home faster than you can in a car. "When I drive, it takes me an hour and 20 minutes to get home. When I bike, I can make it home in an hour and 5 minutes. Biking is much healthier, as well as more enjoyable. I get a kick out of passing all the cars stuck in traffic from Rabbit Road all the way across the Causeway. I'm going 18 mph and they're going about 5 mph, if they're moving at all. I'm surprised that more people don't see the advantages of biking to work."
So, on Friday, April 2nd, leave your cars at home and bike to work (including volunteer work), to the shops, to the beach, to run errands, etc. Bike to Work Day is also the local kick-off event for National Public Health Awareness Week (April 5-11). April 2nd should be the beginning of a new habit, not just a one-time event. Sanibel is lucky to have a 23-mile shared-use path system, which provides more opportunities for safe commuting by bike than in many communities. Not only does the use of bicycles give relief to the amount of motorized traffic, it doesn't contribute to air pollution. Riding a bicycle to get around the island also allows you to enjoy Sanibel's natural environment.
The Sanibel Bicycle Club promotes improved bicycling safety and infrastructure on Sanibel. For more information, visit the Web site, www.sanibelbicycleclub.org.
Meta Luckenbill biking from her Sanibel Fitness Center business to her home in South Fort Myers.