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Community Corner

3rd Annual BikeFest Rides into Town

Custom House Pier Welcomes Cyclists

If you came across on Saturday afternoon, you might have seen a gentleman riding a three-tiered bicycle.  No, the circus is not in town.  Instead, several cycling advocacy groups came together to teach the public about cycle safety and provide free tune-ups for bikes and helmets for riders.

Event coordinator Barbara J. Neff noted, “In this economy, many people can’t afford tune-ups or to get their helmets fixed.  We’re pairing with Bike New London to encourage bike safety, rules of the road, and to provide free services.  Last year we gave away 70 helmets.”

Bicycles were also sold at BikeFest, including the aforementioned three-tiered bicycle (it sold for $150).  The bicycles were a project of , who were fixing bikes and performing tune-ups.

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Ben Coutu of New London Youth Affairs explained how the project worked.  “We teach the kids how to rebuild and maintain the bikes.  They break them down to the frame and rebuild them how they’d like.  Once they’re finished they can keep the bike, or, if they want, they can put that bike up for sale and work on another one.”

Miguel Martinez, a rising junior at , has worked on the bicycles for the past month. “Someone donates the bike and we fix the bikes to make people happy,” he said. 

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Bike New London also played an integral part in BikeFest.  An advocacy group, Bike New London addresses all aspects of cycling.  The organization’s chairman, Robert Bareiss, spoke to Patch about the importance of bike safety and learning the rules of the road.  “We work with the city on aspects of safety, education, transport issues, public use and access to bikes,” he said.  “We make sure that during the work on public projects, cycle safety is included.  Right now we’re going to meetings about the proposed new intersection at Bank and Howard.”

The work of Bike New London goes further than promoting safety, however.  “About six times a year we have group rides.  A lot of people would like to ride more, and we educate them about where to ride legally and safely.  We seem to get more respect from motorists when we’re in a group,” he said.  “We provide fun things to do and the right way to do them.”

The next group ride will be on August 13.  It is the first Bike New London moonlight ride.  Riders will meet at and must have proper night riding equipment: lights, reflectors and helmets.  To find out more about this or any other ride, contact: bicyclenl@gmail.com or visit their website: www.bikenewlondon.org.

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