While Bicycle Owensboro has been promoting bicycles and bicycle safety throughout Owensboro and Daviess County since its inception 12 years ago, the nonprofit organization is gearing up for its first cycling season since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Holly Johnson, board president, said new officers were elected one year ago that love bicycling and are working on revitalizing the organization.
“It is a nonprofit organization that has always done a lot for the community in terms of promoting biking, bike safety and just promoting signage in the community,” she said.
Johnson said there is a healthy bicycling community in and around Owensboro.
“There are lots of bikers in Owensboro, several pockets based on their age and abilities and just whatever their goal is with biking,” she said.
Bicycle Owensboro completed a service project at Apollo High School last week, where bicycles were donated to Afghan refugee students that have resettled in Owensboro.
“We hope to do another bike drive as well at the end of May or the first of June when we can get some bike parts, and then we can fix several bikes that were donated,” Johnson said. “We just have to be able to have the funding to get the parts and build the bikes.”
Johnson said Bicycle Owensboro will be making a call for volunteers to help work on the bikes on the organization’s Facebook page titled “Bicycle Owensboro.”
Larry Myles, Bicycle Owensboro vice president and owner of Be Real Sports Cycling and Fitness, said the organization’s Facebook page, which features 1,300 members, serves as a hub of information for the local bicycling community.
Myles said Bicycle Owensboro also organizes community rides, with the upcoming Bluegrass Century ride scheduled for Aug. 27 being the most significant.
“We do the Bluegrass Century as a fundraiser for YoungLife,” he said.
Myles said the event is not a bicycle race, but rather an organized ride open to all age groups that features three different distance options.
“Right now, we have right at 200 entries,” Myles said. “I think we will get way more than that.”
Johnson said Bicycle Owensboro is also involved in organizing more informal rides in the community, which are publicized on the Bicycle Owensboro Facebook page.
“There are several routes that your veterans know, for example one is called the Blueberry Route, because you go by the old Daviess County Blueberry Farm,” she said. “We try to advertise those on the Facebook page, but if you are a beginner biker, we also have a beginning cycling group that we promote one day a week in the afternoon.”
Johnson said her best advice for beginner bicyclists is to get professionally fitted for a bike at one of the local bike shops. Also, don’t be afraid to start out with a used bike.
“Then if you like it, you can move up a level on a nicer bike,” she said.
In addition to generally promoting bicycling and bicycle safety, Bicycle Owensboro also works with the City of Owensboro to help identify any streets that should be more clearly marked for cyclists or repaired due to safety concerns.
“We help create biking paths, not just the Greenbelt, and I would want the community of Owensboro to know that if they ever wanted to communicate to us, ‘hey, there is a road that needs to be paved, to have more signage to share the road,’ we can help go to the city and make that happen.”
