Eric Chrabot
It's OK to use this as an excuse to snuggle up to strangers on the Blacksburg Transit and blast the car heat on the commute to campus and around town. However, with spring in the near future, some are embracing the thriving biking scene in Blacksburg.
"People don't realize how easy it is to get on a bike," said Yusef Messallam, senior electrical engineering major and founder of the Blacksburg Bicycle Cooperative. "You can do your grocery shopping, commute to work or to school, anything really."
A recent push for Americans to reduce their ecological footprint has led many to pull out their bikes and commute. According to the Energy Information Administration, about 28 percent of energy Americans use goes into transportation, and biking instead of commuting is a step toward going green.
"Cycling is good for the environment, good in a financial sense, and good for the campus," said Debby Freed, alternative transportation manager for Virginia Tech. "The fewer cars on campus, the more pedestrian and bike friendly the campus becomes."
Biking to work or to class also comes with many advantages to personal health.
"Biking is easier than running, it's more joint-friendly, and it's easier on your knees," said Mike Blount, manager of Hokie Spokes, a local bike shop. "Even if you're not eating right, you're smoking, you're drinking, you're still riding your bike and I would encourage everyone to do it for health reasons."
On campus, biking provides an opportunity to reduce the stress of finding on-campus parking. While it has become increasingly apparent that Tech has developed a parking problem, bike racks have sprung up all over campus.
"We've been working with residential and dining to put out the new style of bike racks," Freed said. "We are trying to make sure every building has a convenient bike rack located near the entrance."
In the town of Blacksburg, conditions for bikers are not so accommodating. Blount said that although over the past five to six years the town has made some improvements, many feel a lot more can be done.
"Other than a fence, there's no designated spot to park bikes. We need to create bigger bike lanes and more areas," Blount said. "I think there's a lot more to be done about shifting biking to everyday commuting rather than just sport."
Blount compared Blacksburg to other countries such as Amsterdam, which rely very little on vehicle parking and sometimes have bike lanes larger than the roads.
Despite less-than-perfect conditions for bikers around Blacksburg, the scene continues to grow. There are many ways to get involved in biking through groups like the Blacksburg Bicycle Collective, the New River Valley Bicycle Association and the Virginia Tech Cycling Team.
"The town of Blacksburg is great," said Eric Chrabot, senior economics major and president of the Virginia Tech Cycling Team. "Blacksburg is a petri dish for cycling."
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