Bicycles hit the road during special event

Font Size:

By Thomas Geyer | Wednesday, May 14, 2008 12:09 AM CDT | () comments

A group of four bikers heading to the Figge Art Museum from the Hy-Vee at East Kimberly Road and Spring Street beat an automobile driver and a bus with riders headed for the same destination Tuesday, said Jeff Cornelius of the Quad-Cities Transportation Advocacy Group, or QCTAG.

The event was part of Q-C Bike to Work Week, he said.

In the winning group was Sean O’Harrow, executive director of the Figge Art Museum, who lives near the Village of East Davenport and regularly rides his bike or walks to work.

“We had four types of bikes with us so that people didn’t think we were all racers,” O’Harrow said.

O’Harrow rode a mountain bike, while another one rode an upright commuting bike, another rode a racing bike and another rode just a simple one-speed fixed-wheel bike.

“I think we proved that a bike isn’t a slow form of transportation,” he said.

The bikers in O’Harrow’s group covered the distance of about 3.5 miles in about 16 minutes, Cornelius said. The car parked downtown and the driver walked a block to work at the Figge. He arrived about 30 seconds after the first group of cyclists. The bus riders arrived three minutes after the first cyclists. And the second group of bike riders came in six minutes after the first group.

O’Harrow’s groups went to the Duck Creek Trail, and then headed to Jersey Ridge, through the Village of East Davenport, and to downtown via the Mississippi River Trail.

The other group of cyclists went to the Duck Creek Trail, and then south on to Main Street through Vander Veer Park and on to the Figge.

The car drove a normal route to downtown via Kimberly to Welcome Way; Harrison to a parking garage where most employees park to walk a block to work.

The bus, Route 14, picked up its riders at Kimberly Road and Spring Street and traveled downtown via Jersey Ridge, through the Village of East Davenport to Oneida Avenue. It then went to Center Station via 4th Street to Harrison Street.

“I organize my days so that on some days I do all my driving, and then the other days I just take the bike,” O’Harrow said.

He added that he chose the house he purchased because of its location near paths where he can bike or walk to work.

“I think the main issue is that people don’t live where they can easily commute without a car,” he said. “I feel trapped if I have to use a car for everything.

Thomas Geyer can be contacted at (563) 383-2328 or tgeyer@qctimes.com.