 "Photo: Alan Tauber/The Daily Gamecock")
The second annual bike festival has begun and this week is bike-to-campus week.
"I'm actually really looking forward to it. Hopefully, some good will come of it and more people get involved," said second-year accounting and finance student Eric Cash.
One of the purposes of the bike festival is to make cycling more visible to the community, said Alicia Wilson, chair of the subcommittee of the USC Environmental Advisory committee.
"The idea is to raise the profile of biking on campus," she said.
The festival lasts through May, with a wide variety of events including free bike repairs on Greene Street on Tuesday, a panel discussion Wednesday in the Green Quad Learning Center and free bike valet on Thursdays from April 2 to May 28 in Five Points.
Also Wednesday is a ride with Campus Planning to determine trouble spots.
While USC is considered a relatively bike-friendly campus, Columbia is different.
Harrison Floyd, a third-year mechanical engineering student and the cycling club president, said "the problem with off-campus [biking] is you start to let your guard down and that's when stuff happens."
"I can't really complain too much. We've got a lot of good sidewalks. We don't have a lot of bike lanes, but you do what you can with what you've got, I guess," Floyd said. "It's a fairly easy place to ride around. Our biggest problem is the same problem that pedestrians and drivers face, which is other drivers."
With on-campus parking being an issue for some, biking solves that, Wilson said.
"My family lives just about two miles from campus, in Shandon," Wilson said. It takes us the same amount of time to ride our bikes in as it does to drive in, park who knows where and walk to our offices. That's why we've always ridden. It's just efficient."
For people who stopped riding a bike as they got older, Wilson said it is easy to get back into it, especially after considering the cost of car maintenance, parking and gas.
"It's remarkably easy to get back into riding back on a college campus because parking is expensive and a bike is free," Wilson said. "You don't have to put gas in it, you can park it almost anywhere. It's a no-brainer for most college students financially."
Cash, the USC Cycling Club treasurer, said he has never had any problems with biking on Columbia roads.
"I've never had personal problems with traffic or not having places to go," he said.
Cash bikes competitively and said he rides mostly at Fort Jackson.
"As long as you're respectful on the road, you're not going to have lots of problems with cars," he said.
Another bike ride will be with The USC Cycling Club on their weekly ride on Thursday at 5 p.m., beginning at the Russell House.
"It's really easy, it is a lot better for the environment, but mostly it's a lot of fun," Floyd said.
The event is hosted by USCycle, The Green Quad, Healthy Carolina, Cyclococks Campus Wellness, Student Government, Vehicle Management and Parking Services, and Law Enforcement and Safety.
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GAMECOCK Bike Festival The second annual GAMECOCK Bike Festival continues through this week with many different activities:
USC Bike-to-Campus week: ride to campus/class
Tuesday Free bike repairs, bike registration and local bike information 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Greene Street
Wednesday Panel discussion with Gerry Lynn Hall (Bike Columbia) and Rachel Kefalos (Palmetto Cycling Coalition) 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Green Quad Learning Center
Riding tour of campus 4 p.m. Meet in front of McKisskick Museum on the Horseshoe (helmets required)
Banff Mountain Film Festival 7 p.m. Russell House Theater
Thursday Cyclecocks: Cycling Club Road Ride 5 p.m. RH
April 2 through May 28 Free Bike Valet at 5 Points Concert Series Thursdays, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. By the Five Points fountain
- Compiled by News Editor Liz Segrist
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