Bike Week 2014 Pedals onto Campus April 6-11

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 4, 2014) — April showers bring bicycles for many University of Kentucky students and employees. Next week, UK — a Bicycle Friendly University — will celebrate two wheels as a form of transportation and educate the campus community about navigating campus by bike. As part of the popular annual Earth Days in the Bluegrass event, Parking and Transportation Services and the Bicycle Advisory Committee are presenting the second annual Bike Week, to be held April 6-11. All events are free.

The week is designed to acquaint the UK community with the variety of resources available to those choosing to bike on campus and to offer opportunities for students and employees to become engaged in Lexington bicycle culture.

Bike Week will get off to a rolling start Sunday, April 6, with a group ride on the Legacy Trail. The ride begins at 1 p.m. at the Coldstream Research Park trailhead, and participants will have their choice of distances, with transportation available from campus for those who need it. Preregistration is required.

UK Parking and Transportation Services will host a Twitter photo competition. Students are encouraged to snap a selfie with their bike at a campus bike rack or DIY fix-it station and tweet it with the hashtag #ibikeuky for the chance to win a set of bike lights.

Daily events are planned for the remainder of the week to highlight bicycling at UK. A schedule of events is as follows:

• Monday, April 7, Get Your DIY On! Fix-It Station Demonstrations: Members of the UK Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC) will join staff from Wildcat Wheels Bicycle Library (WWBL) at three of the seven campus do-it-yourself bicycle repair stations from 1:30 p.m. until 2:30 p.m. to demonstrate how to use these resources should your bicycle ever be in need of a quick fix.

• Tuesday, April 8, Earth Days in the Bluegrass and the Late Night Film Series Present: "Gasland Part II," A Bike-In Movie: You don’t have to ride your bicycle to this movie screening, but the BAC will have special prizes for those students who do. The film is a follow-up to Josh Fox’s Oscar®-nominated film "Gasland," and examines the dangers of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the controversial method of extracting natural gas and oil now occurring on a global level in 32 countries worldwide. The movie showing is scheduled for 6 p.m. in the Davis Marksbury Building Theater.

• Wednesday, April 9, Spring (Bike) Fever Twitter Chat: Spring cleaning isn’t just for your closets. Find out why your bike needs a spring cleaning, too, and get answers on bicycle commuting and campus bike resources. Participate in this hour-long Twitter chat. Just follow www.twitter.com/UKParking or use hashtag #ukybikes. Experts will include Victor Smith, WWBL manager, and Stuart Kearns, PTS associate director for transportation. The chat will take place from 2 to 3 p.m.

• Thursday, April 10, Second Annual Bike to Campus Day: Show your support for the second annual Bike to Campus Day by using the Bike to Campus avatar (shown below) as your profile pic on Twitter, Facebook and other social media outlets! Help spread the word about your choice to use two wheels as a mode of transportation to, around and through campus.

• Thursday, April 10, Bike-Through Resource Fair: Students are encouraged to kick off Bike to Campus Day right by stopping by on their morning commutes for Kentucky Proud breakfast food, information on campus and Lexington bike resources and free swag. Bikes not required — all members of the campus community are welcome to come learn more about wheeling around campus. The event will take place from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. at Wildcat Alumni Plaza.

• Thursday, April 10: Mountain Biking for Beginners Clinic: Learn about mountain biking basics through this demonstration and clinic. Bring your own bike, or use one provided by WWBL (limited supply available). The event will be at the Alumni Drive Club Sports Field from 5 to 6 p.m. Preregistration is required.

• Friday, April 11, Car-Free Day: Employees and students are encouraged to take a car-free pledge for the day and familiarize themselves with some of the many available alternative transportation resources. Make your pledge on the UK Sustainability Facebook page for a chance to win a free Earth Days in the Bluegrass T–shirt.

For more information, visit www.uky.edu/pts/bac/bike_week. To learn more about bicycling on campus, visit http://www.uky.edu/pts/alternative-transportation_bicycle-information.