Bike/Walk Week, June 11 Bike Rodeo and More Bike Fabulousness!

With warmer weather comes even more opportunities to bike, for recreation, for commuting, and for errands, and this June is full of chances to learn more about biking safely and even earn perks and bonuses for making bicycling part of your everyday routine.

June 4-12 is Twin Cities Bike/Walk Week, and though it's a little late to get a Bike/Walk team organized this year, you can still register yourself at http://bikewalkweek.org/joinup. And of course you can spread the word to friends, neighbors, and co-workers. You can look here for special Bike/Walk events--there might be one happening near you!

Speaking of local events, on June 11, from 10 am-1 pm, HMEG is partnering with Hancock Recreation Center to present a bike safety rodeo for kids. For $5 per child or $12 per family, participants can get a helmet fitting, a bike safety check and minor repairs performed by local mechanics, and the opportunity to try out a safety obstacle course designed by the St. Paul Police. All participants can get a free helmet while supplies last, and at 12:30 there will be door prizes, with lots of great prizes donated by local businesses. On Facebook, you can visit here for more information, or call Hancock Recreation Center at 651-298-4393 for further information or to register ahead of time. Registering at the door is fine, too. We welcome volunteer help, as well! Hancock is located at 1610 Hubbard Avenue, St. Paul 55104.

The local group Bike Minnesota 350 is inviting people to join the Summer of 350/Winter of 350 Challenge, which is to bike 350 miles or kilometers over the summer, fall and winter of 2010, and to track your miles. 350.org is an international organization working to spread the word that we need to get our worldwide carbon dioxide emissions down to 350 parts per million in the atmosphere to preserve a livable planet. Currently, we're at about 390 ppm and rising. You can learn more about the Minnesota bike challenge here, and you can sign up as a member of the 350 Blue Team here.

Mississippi Market has proven its awesomeness once again by offering Bicycle Benefits to customers. For $5, you can purchase a Bicycle Benefits sticker for your bike helmet, and each time you bike to shop at the co-op, show your helmet and get a 5% discount on your groceries (excluding other discounts and not valid on milk, butter, and eggs, which are already sold as cheaply as the co-op can afford). If you're not biking to get groceries, this should provide a nice incentive. If you already are biking to get groceries, score! Get those insulated bags ready and get pedaling!

Finally, this summer those cute green Nice Ride bikes that you've seen in Minneapolis will start being available in St. Paul, including at Hamline University here in the Midway.

It's already been a beautiful summer for bicycling; with all this community support for biking, there's just no reason not to enjoy the community-building, environment-protecting, healthy joys of biking together!