Bike festival seeks to raise women’s interest in cycling
The second annual Women’s Bike Festival at the Everette Hodge Community Center on Sunday offered a series of demonstrations and talks encouraging women to get into cycling.
The event, offered as part of Women’s History Month Kingston, included lectures on how to shop for a bicycle and how to keep it running smoothly, a bicycling course for young children with city Director of Health and Wellness Emily Flynn, a demonstration on placing and removing a bicycle from the bike rack on a UCAT bus, and a keynote speech by bike advocate Courtney Williams of Brooklyn.
Participants were asked to rate possible bicycle and pedestrian-friendly improvements to Schwenk Drive, ranging from keeping the street as is to adding various types of bike lanes or having a dedicated bicycle-pedestrian path.
Rose Quinn, who works for SUNY Ulster in traffic safety and co-organized the event, said she’s seen growing interest in bicycling, both for recreation and day-to-day commuting.
“As we get more trail infrastructure, we’ll see more,” Quinn said, pointing to Kingston and Ulster County’s growing network of rail trails.
“There are many benefits of riding a bike, health benefits and environmental benefits,” she said.
Quinn said organizers had the county bus on hand to promote biking and using public transportation together, and she demonstrated use of the bus bike rack to a group of about two dozen women.
“You can use your bike and the bus,” Quinn said. “You can get to many of the popular trailheads on UCAT.”