Consider joining the “Bike With Mike” challenge this summer. If you haven’t already, get your bike out of storage and tuned-up to join the “Biking Sheboygan 2018” kick-off ride for the National Bike Challenge. I invite you to join me in a ride Friday, June 1 at 6:00 p.m. starting at the Veterans Memorial on Wilgus Avenue, next to the water tower in Taylor Park. We will bike the Urban Rec Trail East to Workers Water Street Park, then North on the Shoreland 400 Trail to 3 Sheeps Taproom. The route will be 3.4 miles long and take 18-20 minutes. More details are available at www.sheboyganwi.gov/bikewithmike.
LovetoRide.net is a website where residents can sign-in and log their rides June through September. After you sign-up as an individual on this website, search for and select the Sheboygan team. Rides can be entered manually or if you use an app on your smartphone there are several bike ride tracking apps that will sync with the LovetoRide.net website to make logging your rides as simple as possible. The apps are Strava, Love to Ride, Endomondo, Map My Ride, and Ride Report.
You can also use the LovetoRide.net website to record your rides and compete on monthly individual leaderboards (e.g. Top Rider, Top Commuter, etc.). The League of American Bicyclists will also be giving away some Top Rider awards for the summer riding season (May – September).
There will be additional “Bike With Mike” events scheduled this summer. These rides will be a fun and healthful way for us to get to know neighbors and I look forward to the opportunity to talk to residents about Sheboygan. I hope everyone will come out and join the ride and good company.
The next biking event, “Let’s Taco ‘Bout It: Biking in Sheboygan,” will be hosted by Active8 Sheboygan on Tuesday, June 12 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Evergreen Park Area #1, 3000 Calumet Drive. Join the fun featuring tacos, music, and all things biking. Learn about bike trails, bike safety, connect with other bike enthusiasts, and share ideas. Ride your bike to Evergreen Park with family and friends and enjoy a Taco Tuesday night out!
The City of Sheboygan is blessed with many biking options. In 2007 Sheboygan County was one of only four municipalities across the United States chosen to receive the $25 million grant to encourage bicycle and walking as a way of getting around the City and County. The Taylor Drive Trail, Eisner Avenue, and the Shoreland 400 trails were funded by the Non-Motorized Transportation Pilot Program, known also as NOMO Sheboygan County, and CMAC Congestion Mitigation grants.
Another NOMO trail is expected to begin construction later this year along the Alliant Energy corridor and neighborhood streets to provide a new East-West bike trail on the South side of Sheboygan. This pathway, about two miles in length, will add a new multi-use trail in the energy corridor on the south side of the City of Sheboygan, traveling east from Lakeshore Drive on city streets for a mile and then transitioning off-road onto the Alliant Energy corridor to South Business Drive on the west. Quality of life amenities such as these trails, not only help Sheboygan residents to become less dependent on the automobile, but also help attract, retain, and recruit talent to our area.