Blog: City Blog

I Bike KNX Offering Classes for Bicyclists - Just in Time for Open Streets Knoxville!

There’s still time to get back on a bike – or sharpen your riding skills if you’re an experienced bicyclist – before the Oct. 25 Open Streets Knoxville event.

A group of local bicycling enthusiasts and trained experts are reaching out to area residents. Their aim: To show how riders and drivers can safely share the roads.

Last spring, the Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization and I Bike KNX program hosted an event to teach the teachers of safe city bicycling. A Certified Instructor seminar was presented by the League of American Bicyclists in April, and nine residents completed the intensive training and earned certification. That means they now are able to teach riders and drivers alike about bicycling on area roads.

With five other certified instructors from previous training seminars, the I Bike KNX program is offering classes and speakers bureau presentations.

Are you a casual bicyclist? Someone who only rides on greenways? Have you not been on a bike in years (but want to start biking again) or never learned to ride? Doesn’t matter: I Bike KNX has a class for you!

Among your choices: “Getting Back on a Bike,” “Learning to Ride,” “Biking for Beginners” and “Urban Biking 101.”

I Bike KNX also can bring presentations to area organizations and businesses. “Driving Safely around Bicyclists and Pedestrians” focuses on ways motorists can avoid the most common types of collisions and what the traffic laws are related to bicycling and walking. “Bike Safety 101” is a 30-minute presentation on riding safely and traffic laws. And “Bike Commuting 101” is for people who want to start biking to work but have some questions.

To learn more about the classes and presentations, visit http://www.ibikeknx.com/What-We-Do/Bicycle-Classes.

Now ... what’s this event called Open Streets Knoxville?

Word is getting out, and excitement is building, Open Streets Knoxville organizers say. The first-ever event in Knoxville is part of an international phenomenon in which streets are closed to motorized vehicles at set times so that people of all ages can walk, stroll, bike, skip, Hula Hoop, dance, jog, do yoga, shop or play pickle ball while moving along the street and visiting with their neighbors.

One of the pioneers and champions of Open Streets is Bogota, Colombia, whose trend-setting “new Ciclovia” draws more than 1 million Colombians onto 121 traffic-free kilometers every Sunday.

Knoxville’s debut will close one mile of North Central Street between the Old City (Willow Street) and Happy Holler (Oklahoma Avenue) from 1-4 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 25.

Come play in the street! Open Streets Knoxville will feature dancing, pies and food trucks, fitness demonstrations, pickleball, play areas for kids, a bike rodeo, games and an obstacle course. (For more details, visit http://www.openstreetsknoxville.com/.)

You don’t have to bike the route, but you’ve got that option – especially if you call I Bike KNX and get reacquainted with your two-wheeler that’s been stored in the back of the garage for years!

By the way - if you're Tweeting about Open Streets Knoxville, be sure and use this hashtag: #OpenStreetsKnox.

Posted by evreeland On 11 September, 2015 at 1:29 PM