Proposed bike ride could help children in LaFayette

Bicycle riding enthusiast are pitching a bike ride in LaFayette and throughout Walker County to raise money that can be used to help lower registration fees for children at the LaFayette Recreation Center.

Citizen volunteers Oliver and Lisa Heyer brought the bike ride idea to City Manager David Hamilton and proposed a bike ride, as opposed to a race.

Jason Shattuck, the citys’ new recreation center director, has been pushing for lowering the registration rates, Hamilton said at the December City Council meeting.

“Part of the idea is trying to come up with something we can do to lower the registration fees and part of it is trying to provide an event that we don’t currently provide,” Hamilton said. “Something else that would promote the community and bring people to our community who might not otherwise visit.”

Sherin Gottlieb pointed out that this would be a family-friendly event and one that would not have to be certified.

Hamilton said Lisa Heyer has put together an outline for what the bike ride would consist of, but said the two major hurdles would be the liability of the event as well as the logistics.

This is something the city needs to take into serious consideration, Hamilton said.

The proposed bike ride would include a 12-mile, 30-mile, and 100mile course, as well as a possible metric century (62-mile) course. All the courses would begin and end in LaFayette.

Hamilton said 100-mile course would take the bike ride outside of the city and into county and state roads, including various intersections.

Hamilton said there are a lot of logistics that would have to be worked out before the city could get behind the bike ride. This would include not only the city, but county government, state government, and especially law enforcement.

The proposed date would be in May 2017; but given the logistics, serious discussions would have to take place to work out those details in a short amount of time.

Council member Wayne Swanson said the key to making the event happen is finding a main sponsor, like the ones who sponsor the Chattanooga Ironman.

Council member Chris Davis said he liked the idea and would like to see it be an annual event because it would bring more people to the city.

Mayor Andy Arnold is behind the idea and said this is a perfect place for a bike ride, even a 100-mile course.

“The logistics would be tough the first year, but generally speaking, like with anything else, once you get it done the first time and you tweak it every year, it gets easier and easier to do,” Arnold said.

Arnold said May would be a good time to hold the bike ride as there are various rides that follow that month.

The Heyers said May 13 is a good tentative date because it falls on Mother’s Day weekend and does not conflict with bigger bike rides in and around the area.

Lisa Heyer said she has most of the routes mapped out, but would need to map out the extension of the 100-mile course.

Police Chief Bengie Clift said if it is a ride and not a race, then May could be doable and would not cause the streets and intersections to be closed or locked down.

The bicyclists would be on there own for the most part, Lisa Heyer said, except for some spots that would require police escorts and/or volunteers present.

Potholes would have to be marked to caution the bicyclists, she said.

Council member Ben Bradford said he is concerned about residents living in the Cove area, as they get compromised often with the Ironman race.

“Should we give them a break?” Bradford asked.

Lisa Heyer said the only bicyclists who would enter the Cove area would be those in the 100-mile course and there would be fewer participants in it.

The council made a motion to revisit the issue at the next council meeting after the city attorney and city manager look further into the logistics and liability issues for the event.

The motion passed 5-0.