Bicycle commuters of Anchorage bring you Winter Bike Festival 2011 – three days in February, packed with fun-filled bicycle events! It all starts on Feb 4th, 5:45 at Modern Dwellers Chocolate Lounge (midtown) with Bike First Friday, then Day Two- 9AM, Sunday, February 13 with the Winter City 50K Populaire ride courtesy of the Alaska Randonneurs. In true randonneuring style, the ride starts at Cafe Amsterdam, and checkpoints along the way include the Fire Island Rustic Bakehouse, The Sugar Spoon, The Cake Studio, and City Market.

On Thursday, the BCA delivered gift baskets from the Great Harvest Bread Company to the Anchorage Municipality and State teams that work all winter long to keep our streetside paths clear of snow. Thanks to their efforts, cyclists, pedestrians, and public transit users have safe and easy passage through Anchorage. These folks do such a good job that I was able to sell my car a few years ago and commit to the bike for my daily 17 mile route.

I couldn’t ask for better winter bike commuting weather. The cold temperatures have kept the ground firm and stable, easy to ride on. The snow has been dry, light, and fluffy, and easy to ride through. Anchorage is beautiful in the winter. The trees in Russian Jack and
the Eastern side of Chester Creek are perfectly outlined in heavy snow and frost. Everything is sparkling. I ride through these areas during my daily commute. We are so blessed to have these greenbelt trails.

BCA has been coordinating with Lori Schanche and Jon Spring, the drafters of the Anchorage Bike Plan, to identify top projects for implementation of the Bike Plan. We are seeking your input on what those projects are. To help identify these projects, we have set out the following criteria that we ask you keep in mind while filling the very short survey out:

There is a public meeting next Monday, the 6th, from 6:00pm-7:30pm at Romig Middle School in the Multi-Purpose Room. Please come out to learn about the redesign and show your support for a more bicycle-friendly mid-town.

Since the summer of 2009, BCA has been working to ensure that the Title 9 rewrite is sensible and provides adequate protections for bicyclists. Title 9 is the Municipality of Anchorage Traffic Code, providing the rules and regulations of the road and it is going through a major update that, in the near future, will be reviewed and eventually approved by the Assembly.