University to host 2nd annual Gamecock Bike Festival

The University of South Carolina will hold its second annual Gamecock Bike Festival March 14 - May 28 to increase awareness of the personal, community and environmental benefits of cycling.

Highlighting the festival will be a 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. panel discussion Wednesday, March 25, in the Green Quad Learning Center featuring Gerry Lynn Hall from Bike Columbia and Rachel Kefalos from Palmetto Cycling Coalition. The event is free and open to the public.

Hall will discuss progress on the Bicycle Friendly Columbia education and outreach efforts, including a map that will list bike routes in the area and efforts to increase the number of bike lanes, bike markings and “share the road” signs. Kefalos will discuss the bike-law education initiative and progress made since the law was passed last June. She also will discuss the statewide Complete the Streets initiative, led by the Palmetto Cycling Coalition.

A “Bicycle Fix and Fair” will be held from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. March 24 on Greene Street in front of the Russell House University Union. The event will feature free bike repair, and volunteers will provide information on bike registration and other cycling matters.

Other offerings include free bicycle valet service at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade March 14, a bicycle tour of the university’s campus March 25 and a road ride with the Cyclecocks, the university’s cycling club, on March 26. Faculty, staff and students will be encouraged to bicycle to campus March 23 – 27.

The two-month festival is sponsored by USCycle, the Green Quad, Healthy Carolina, Cyclecocks, Campus Wellness, Student Government, Vehicle Management and Parking Services, Law Enforcement and Safety and Bike Columbia.

The university’s Green (West) Quad residence hall is a living and learning community that incorporates sustainability into all aspects of its operations and serves as a model for sustainable living on campus and in the community. The Green Quad Learning Center for Sustainable Futures brings together faculty, staff and students and the community to offer programs that explore the changes required to create a sustainable society.

USCycle, the primary bicycling advocacy group at the university, started quietly and unofficially in 2000. Today, it is an official subcommittee of the university’s Environmental Advisory Community.

Complete details on Gamecock Bike Festival are available online at the Web site: www.greenquadcommunity.org/. For more information, contact Jason Craig, Green Quad program coordinator, at 803-777-1994. For more information about USCycle, contact Dr. Alicia Wilson at awilson@geol.sc.edu.