MANSFIELD, Ohio —My alarm shrieked at me this morning at 5:45. With groggy excitement, I awoke and put on my bike garb; it was time to pedal to work for Richland County’s first annual Bike To Work Day.
Richland Public Health (RPH) hosted their first annual Bike to Work Day throughout the county on Friday. Volunteers were stationed at four park-and-ride locations to buoy up participation from individuals living outside city limits.
An early rising was necessary because Richland Source Publisher Jay Allred and I planned a ride from one of the park-and-ride locations, the Mansfield Art Center off Marion Road.
I joined others with my 1976 Schwinn Varsity, helmet, and reporter gear at 7:15 a.m. Richland County Regional Planning Commission Transportation Technical Director Todd Blankenship, Mansfield Police Department bike patrol members Paul Lumadue and Matt Loughman, RPH Health Educator Reed Richmond, community members Andrew Brinley and Brad Gilbert pedaled their way in around 7:30 a.m. They were all on their to work.
Richland Moves! advocate Paul Bender volunteered at the Art Center park-and-ride location. He, along with RPH employees Paige Warga and RN-BSN student Cassie Brown, had been there since 6:30 a.m. They supplied complimentary tote bags, water, and clementines for the commuters. Before we rode, we talked and bantered and played show and tell with our bikes.
“A day like today represents biking as something more than just recreation. Riding your bike can start small but it can be anywhere, anytime. We’re trying to get people thinking a little differently about riding [bikes],” said Bender.
Loughman said his day ahead was behind a desk investigating domestic violence and child abuse cases. Getting outside to ride a bike is a treat, he said.
“To get outside is a great change of pace. Sitting behind a desk is just tiring,” said Loughman. As if on cue, Bender chimed in and said biking is great for physical — and mental — health.
Loughman and Lumadue are two of the 12 MPD policeman who are part of the department’s recent effort to revive the bike patrol. They agree that getting out on the bike is beneficial not only for their health, but for the community.
“It’s (bike patrol) a great way to get out in the community to see people face-to-face and interact with them,” said Lumadue.
Allred, Gilbert and I hit the road for work around 7:45. We rode to OhioHealth MedCentral to see if any other riders wanted to join our small posse. It wasn’t until we got there and didn’t see anyone that we remembered the park-and-ride location was at MedCentral Health & Fitness center on Fourth Street, not the hospital’s headquarters on Glessner.
Nevertheless, we rode.
When passing through the Park and Mulberry intersection, Allred had a near collision with a car turning left onto Mulberry. He instinctively whistled as a futile effort to make his presence known. After the what-could-have-been-incident, he had some words to the wise.
“It takes some assertiveness to ride on the road like this. You have to keep your head on a swivel and demand the road. That’s why I don’t hug the curb, I just ride in the middle and let them go around me. They can wait,” he said with a wry smile.
That’s my second favorite part of riding — there’s risk involved. I just recently started riding my bike on the road, and he’s right. You have to demand the road. My experience comes from riding my mountain bike. The risk is eminent there, too. To keep from smacking into a tree or free-falling from a rock-faced cliff, your head develops a swivel. My absolute favorite part of riding, however, is the freedom I feel while on the bicycle.
There is an ineffable freedom that comes when you jump onto a bike, no matter the setting. Once you experience it, you find whatever excuse to chase it. Reaching that freedom is one of the objectives of Bike To Work Day.
I caught up with Richland Moves! Chairman Nelson Shogren after Friday’s ride, longtime bicyclist and first-time Bike To Work Day volunteer. He started biking in the seventies, he said.
“The best thing is the total independence that you have and the feeling of freedom,” said Shogren.
RPH plans to continue the tradition next year. And you better believe I’ll be there, clad in bright colored lycra, chasing that freedom.
