Bike To Work Day Is Friday

by Gabe BullardFriday is the sixth Bike to Work Day in Louisville.Metro Government is offering incentives for commuters who go to the city website and pledge to leave their cars at home.Scott Render with the Bike Louisville program says the registration data from the website will also be used to determine how many people bike to work and where they bike from. He says last year's data showed riders biking to and from all parts of the county, with many cyclists staying in the urban core."Probably if you were to look at the data closely, you would see that a lot of people are coming from the Highlands/Crescent Hill area, Germantown, those neighborhoods surrounding downtown and biking into the downtown area," he says.To help new cyclists get into the habit of pedaling to work, the city will once again offer meeting places so commuters can travel together."It's an attractive way for people who are trying to get into cycling or want to try biking, leaving their car at home to do it with other people who might be experienced," says Render. "We have some captains from the Louisville Bike Club who are helping out."The three meeting locations are in Iroquois, Shawnee and Seneca parks.Render says at least 450 people have already registered. 570 signed up last year, which was the first year for online registration. After Bike to Work Day, Render says the city will ramp up its efforts to offer bicycle safety tips and maps of bike routes.