There is still a lot going on in Prescott for week 4 of bike month. Check out the events below, and plan to attend! See http://www.prescottcycling.org/ for ride calendar.

Tuesday 5:30 pm. "Bike In" at the Gurley St. Grill for great food and happy hour specials. Remember our goal for "Bike In's" is to have a swarm of bikes take over a place... with nothing more on the agenda than a fun social gathering. Come on out and support a vibrant bike community in Prescott.

Thursday 7:00 pm "An Evening with Cosmic Ray" (Prescott Public Library, lower level "Founders Hall") This is the cultural event of bike month. Our goal is a bike friendly community, and our thought is one way to build community is to grow our local bike culture. We hope this first ever event will become an annual component of Bike Month. For this event we implored upon Northern Arizona bike icon "Cosmic Ray" to come to Prescott for a "meet the author" presentation. Most of us are familiar with Cosmic Ray's Arizona mountain bike trail guide "Fat Tire Trails and Tales" which is now in it's 20th edition with over 130,000 in print. (He also has a couple other trail maps and books to his credit)
Beyond that, Ray is quite an interesting guy, who's life has been indelibly impacted by his relationship with bicycles. Here are a few snippets he was gracious enough to provide which might give a preview of what is sure to be a fun and interesting presentation:

"Uh, sure. I'll be there. I don't know what I'm gonna say for a whole hour, but I'll think of something. Let's see . . . just thinking out loud here . . . possible subjects for talk . . . bike touring (I've got 25,000 miles on the road in Europe plus a few more here and there i.e. Alaska, New Zealand, Canada, North Africa and lots of US not to mention a few trips in AZ) . . . Got in on the ground floor with mtn biking in AZ. Was the 3rd mountain biker in the state as far as I know . . . I started self publishing books and maps 20 years ago . . . now 3 books and 2 maps in print. Fat Tire is in it's 20th edition with 130,000 in
print . . . I make my living hiking, riding my bicycle and doing my books. I teach a bike maintenance class at Coconino Community College. I spun (spinned, spunned, span, whatever) wrenches in a bike shop for 15 years as employee and owner. I have a college degree signed by Ronald Reagan. I sometimes get to row a boat down the Colorado River. I have a wife, son 40 and a daughter 14 (new improved wife). Spent the last 5 summers on road bikes camping in Alaska and Europe with daughter. I like coffee. I own my home in Flagstaff. I have not had a job for 17 years. I am a professional slacker. Put some of that stuff in the flyer and we might get a crowd who might ask questions and then I'll think of something to say." ...Ray

Prescott Alternative Transportation has received a $34,540 grant from Arizona Department of Transportation to develop safe routes for children to bike or walk to local schools.

“We are excited and proud to have been selected for this funding,” said Lisa Barnes, Associate Director of PAT. “And what a happy coincidence to be able to announce this award during our celebrations of Bike Month!”

The goals of the statewide Safe Routes To School (SRTS) program are threefold: To enable and encourage children, including those with disabilities, to walk and bicycle to school; to make bicycling and walking to school a safer and more appealing transportation alternative, thereby encouraging a healthy and active lifestyle from an early age; and to facilitate the planning, development, and implementation of projects and activities that will improve safety and reduce traffic, fuel consumption, and air pollution in the vicinity of schools. The Arizona SRTS program is mandated by the latest federal highway bill, which Congress passed in August 2005.

Prescott Alternative Transportation will use its grant to continue working with its pilot partner schools, Taylor Hicks Elementary and Mile High Middle Schools, as well as recruit two additional schools this fall.

The winter I lived in Minneapolis, I discovered that when it was 10 degrees below zero, my eyeglasses iced up while I rode my bike. I rode on frozen lakes, too, but winter quirks and inconveniences are nothing compared to the many layered experience of trying to commute by bicycle in Prescott.