May 31, 2007

Steve Voytko (left) and Ron Ramsby, who were biking around the village last week during National Bicycle Month, are among others helping to promote bicycling around the village.

By Lauren Heaton

Pedaling north of Yellow Springs on East Enon Road, a touring bicyclist might hear the cardinals call, smell the newly blooming honeysuckle or see the wind brushing the tips of new corn stalks growing in the fields. Heading downtown for milk and bread, a freighter cyclist can save on gas, get some exercise and wave to friends along the way. Speeding west out of town to get to work on time, a commuting cyclist may handle the stress of a long work week while doing all of the above and smiling at the thought of what all the drivers passing by are missing.

According to several avid cyclists in Yellow Springs, bicycles are excellent for all these practical and recreational reasons. And, especially as fuel prices rise, Yellow Springs residents are in a good position to take up this alternative mode of transportation.

Opportunities for the touring cyclist abound in this area, according to local bicycle aficionado Ron Ramsby. He and fellow cycler Steve Voytko have organized an open group ride that meets every Wednesday at 10 a.m. at the Yellow Springs Train Station. It’s a DC/C ride, which on a scale from A to D, is a ride of 25 miles or less for those at a beginner to intermediate skill level.

Every day is a riding day for Ramsby, who has 15 different bikes for the challenge of every hill, trek or road in the county. The steel frame gives a smooth ride on flat terrain, aluminum is lighter, carbon fiber absorbs shock well, and titanium is an amalgam of all three. He has knobby-tired mountain bikes and thin sleek roadies, bikes with aerodynamic spokes and ones with 27 gears to climb the “hilly hundred” ride to Mansfield.

With all these options, Ramsby, who is retired, rarely ever drives in town, he said. He bikes downtown for coffee in the morning, then again later for groceries or a stop at the library. Then in the afternoon either Ramsby and his wife, Bonnie, take a 30-mile ride outside of town or he joins any number of daily group rides organized by the Dayton Cycling Club at www.daytoncyclingclub.org/club_rides.htm.

For the more independent riders, a Yellow Springs cycling tour guide written in the 1970s by then-Antioch College student Jay Nelson has been republished at the Yellow Springs Chamber of Commerce Web site, www.yellowspringsohio.org under “Local Links” at the bottom of the page. Beginning with a hilly three-mile ride down Bryan Park Road and ending with a 46-mile loop directly south toward State Route 380, Jay’s Bicycle Book is a 14-ride compendium replete with maps and descriptions of the experience of riding each route.

On Route 3, for instance, Nelson writes, “Bicycling on Mudd Run is like riding down the center of a mile-long Gothic Cathedral: over-arching trees.” And on Route 6, he writes “Brush Row (left turn) offers some fine views of the valley, and one hill which I had to walk, carrying my damaged ego with me.”

Cyclists sometimes bring their bikes into other aspects of their lives, such as Yellow Springs resident Moya Shea, whose answering machine greets callers with, “Hi, I’m out bicycling. What are you doing?” Shea has been biking since she was 6 and has cycled as a commuter and an adventurer, including her first tour with the Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure around 1992. She is currently training for this year’s GOBA ride in June, when she will join fellow Yellow Springs cyclist Vickie Hennessy and 3,000 other riders for a week-long, 350-mile tour through western Ohio.

As a commuter cyclist, local resident Dan Carrigan trains every other day with a serious 20-mile round trip bike ride to and from work at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. Year round, except in heavy snow or ice, Carrigan is out the door with a change of clothes at 6:45 a.m. for an almost straight shot down Yellow Springs-Fairfield Road. He arrives at work about 30 minutes later, in time to shower before starting his day refreshed.

Carrigan began commuting two years ago as a way of getting in shape and handling stress through exercise. He looks forward to starting his day more now because “it’s fun to go to work and you get to have fun on the way back.” He notices the seasons as they change, and the smell of the soil at different times of the year. And he appreciates being able to save on gas, reduce wear on his car and contribute toward keeping the earth a little greener, he said.

Sharing the road with cars has never been a problem for Carrigan, who has taken several road biking safety courses and feels confident that, as long as he respects the rules of the road, he is safe. He recommends the 10 easy tips for bicycle safety by a certified League Cycling Instructor, which can be found at www.geocities.com/fredoswald/tentips.htm.

As a member of the Yellow Springs Bicycle Enhancement Committee, Carrigan feels Yellow Springs should look beyond the recreational aspects of biking in town and do more to promote them as a transportation alternative for commuting to work, visiting neighbors and running errands.

“Cars and other vehicles have some place, but bikes can offer a more desirable community environment than cars,” he said. “The Village and businesses downtown need to plan facilities for bicycles, like more racks, better downtown parking, easy activation of stop lights from the road or develop “bicycle education” programs for youth.”

According to Yellow Springs Bicycle Enhancement Committee President Tim Tobey, the group is working toward accomplishing several goals that will make the village more bicycle-friendly. Widening State Route 343, for instance, would make biking to John Bryan State Park safer, and widening Yellow Springs-Fairfield Road would open up a route for commuters to many areas in Fairborn and Dayton. The committee is also trying to help the Village attain state grant money to develop safe walking and biking routes to school, create dedicated bicycle lanes on the main thoroughfares and establish more bicycle parking in the downtown area.

Voytko, who lives in Enon but who rides into Yellow Springs nearly every day and attends the local Bike Enhancement Committee meetings, feels that by making several small enhancements, the village could go from being a good biking community to being a great biking community.

Tobey also hopes that improvements would encourage more villagers to ride regularly for their everyday needs and that it might also invite cyclists from outside the village to come to Yellow Springs on their bikes.

“Bikeability is improving, but if we were a true bicycling community, we’d be riding to the meeting, to the grocery story, to the library, and we would have the on-street bike parking we’ve talked about,” Tobey said. “If we made Yellow Springs more bikable, you’d see more tourists out on their bikes, which I hope would be good for the downtown. And I’d rather see the town packed with bikes rather than cars.”

Contact: lheaton@ysnews.com