Beverly

And it was good news

Some of the local organizations held a press release today to kick off a "Drive Less, Live More" campaign in the area. The park district is one of the sponsors and asked the volunteer patrolmen to attend. You certainly couldn't miss us in the crowd. Our high-visability yellow jackets stood out amongst the business suits The local news covered the event and asked for pictures of us riding the nearby trails.

They've scheduled quite a few events and I'm looking forward to participating in a few of them.

https://www.drivelesslivemore.org/

Jet Travis

Well done, Beverly. The world needs more people like you.

BluesDawg

Way to go, Beverly. Keep on putting positive images of bicycling out there in front of the public.

Yen

That's great! I notice many more bikes now that I have my new bike. Now, it seems everywhere I look, there goes a cyclist. I can't believe it took me this long to catch on!

Digital Gee

And with your new helmet, they're noticing you, too!

Monoborracho

Well done and congratulations.

Digital Gee

Too cool, Bev!

Louis

Excellent. We have some good trails up here near Akron, but I'm not aware of any kind of bike to work program. You guys are way ahead of us. Maybe the idea will spread.

I rode part of that trail from Dayton to Miamisburg on XOBA '05 when we camped at a school in Miamisburg on our way south. Very nice system, lots of rivers, bridges to go over and under etc. as I recall.

jppe

Excellent. We need you over our way!!

MichiganMike

Way to go. Nice to see the positive pub. It seems like every year there are more and more people (and entire families) out enjoying their bikes. I know that's the case in my neck of the woods. People like you help make that happen. Nice job.

DnvrFox

GOOD STUFF.

We have a newly organized "trail bicycle ranger" program on our local trail system. I considered going to the recent organizing meeting, but their recruiting emphasis seemed to be on the high school student.

The other thought that I had was that I already do everything that the rangers were supposed to do. I talk to folks, assist as necessary with tire repairs, give directions, etc. I just don't have a cool shirt to wear.

ANy thoughts?

bcoppola

Great group and a nice website. We could use that here in metro Detroit.

Got me thinking...I really should get a small pannier or basket for those milk runs to the local Rite-Aid...

Beverly

Many of our volunteer patrol members are retired. We have very few people under the age of 40 in our group. In order to become a member we went through an interview process with the park director and some of the park rangers. We also need to be certified in CPR and first aid each year. We also attended biking skills and maintenance courses. We carry radios that keep us in contact with the rangers and other local law enforcement. The emphasis is on being the eyes and ears for the rangers and "park ambassadors". We have no authority to enforce parks rules - we simply remind people what they are when we see dogs off leashes, kids skate boarding in off-limit areas, etc. Even those park perverts drive off when they see the yellow jerseys with radios

In addition to the patrol rides we head-up a weekly biking program, assist rangers with crowd control and parking at special events, hold bike rodeos and training rides for kids and participate in many different programs to promote biking in our area. We've also worked with neighboring counties to setup trail patrol groups in their counties. We've traveled to other cities in Ohio to observe their programs and exchange ideas. I may be a little biased but I think we have one fantastic bike program in our area We have a few honorary members such as a local weatherman who is an avid cyclist and a local newspaper reporter who's mother donated money to build a rest area along the local trails for cyclist.

I'm not sure how cool are shirts are - they're just bright yellow but those high-visibility jackets they provide are really cool

Beverly

They did a great job when they built the trail through the city of Dayton back in the 70's. It only requires a couple side street crossing as most go under bridges along the river. One of the original people involved in building this trail was Horace M. Huffman, Jr - think Huffy bicycles This article is a little outdated as it states the trail ends in Dayton but it now continues into West Carollton, Miamisburg and into another county. https://www.miamivalleytrails.org/gmiami.htm#History:

LynnH

Very nice, gives much food for thought, for each of us in our own area. Thanks.

Artkansas 

Cool. Drive Less, Live More is a great slogan.

Red Rider

Well done! Enjoy those events and thanks for sharing your good news!

DnvrFox

Thanks for all the info!

SaiKaiTai

That is one fine web site! Almost makes me wish I lived in Florida!
Good work. You should be very proud of what you're doing

Bud Bent

WTG, Bev!