Monday kicked off Bike to Work Week nationally and across Michiana. It's an annual effort to promote bicycling.
Just over 1% of South Bend residents commute to work on bikes. Peter Hru would love to see that number grow.
”If we can encourage and train people to feel comfortable to ride bikes, that’s an alternative to using a car, which is great for our health, it’s great for our climate, it’s great for our mental wellbeing," Hru says.
Hru is a board member for the nonprofit Bike Michiana Coalition, a sponsor of Bike to Work Week. Because today’s kids are tomorrow’s workers, this year organizers have also added events to encourage more youth to ride.
On Thursday from 5 to 7 p.m. at Mishawaka’s Mary Gibbard Park, which has a BMX track known as “The Hills,” there will be a Kids Bike Night. There will be a basic skills class for 5th-12th grade youth interested in mountain biking. Hru says it offers kids an alternative to school-based sports.
”Unlike traditional school sports, where, if we were to take football, 11 people might be out on the field and the rest on the bench. In this case, everybody gets to ride," Hru says.
There are different events each day of the week.
