KBC members present at the upcoming Business Meeting of the club at 6:00 pm on
Tuesday, 12 December, will have an opportunity to select the recipient(s) of the 2023
Friend of Bicycling Award. Please attend the meeting and cast your vote. The following
three organizations were nominated to receive the Friend of Bicycling Award this year:

Southwest Michigan ThunderCats
Established in 2022, ThunderCats is the first K-8 youth mountain biking program in
the greater Kalamazoo area. For the 2023 season, they had 52 parent volunteer
coaches and 70 kids signed up. Their goal is to help young cyclists build confidence,
develop skills, strengthen friendships, and be active for life. More than riding a bike,
the ThunderCats program is about gaining healthy habits, learning skills for life, and
sharing the joy of riding. They also strive to build a community that respects cyclists
and that appreciates and advocates for preserving and developing natural spaces for
enjoying off-road cycling. ThunderCats was a KBC grant recipient in 2023.

City of Kalamazoo Public Services Department AND City of Kalamazoo Community
Planning and Economic Development Department
During 2023 these two City of Kalamazoo departments planned and created the
bike lane (cycle track) on Michigan Ave through downtown Kalamazoo that will be a
game-changer for downtown. It immediately creates a much more conducive (i.e.
safer) cycling environment and thereby invites people of all ages to ride their bikes
where they would never have considered riding them in the past. In addition to this
major improvement in cycling infrastructure this year, these City of Kalamazoo
departments planned and installed Bike Route signs on many City streets, helping to
guide cyclists along City streets while raising awareness of everyone to the presence
of cyclists. Members of both departments have clearly been proactive supporters of
creating a non-motorized infrastructure in Kalamazoo and have sought input from
the cycling community on many ongoing street design projects that will have a
positive effect on urban cycling for years to come.

The Road Commission of Kalamazoo County (RCKC)
Using professional engineering judgement and factors such as traffic volumes, safety
and crash history, connectivity, speed limits, topography, and through consultation
with various stakeholders (including members of the Kalamazoo Bicycle Club) the
RCKC developed 180 miles of non-motorized routes on primary and local roads
throughout Kalamazoo County and installed over 500 Bike Route signs along those
routes during 2023. In addition, The RCKC continues to create and maintain a
county road system that is safe and convenient for travel by all users, provide
information supporting recreational bicycling and bicycle commuting, and regularly
advocates for the rights of cyclists to travel safely on Kalamazoo County roads.

Join us for a day of bicycling fun, fellowship, and food. At the finish of this year’s KalTour, in addition to lunch, we will have root beer floats and live music brought by Paul Wells and the band “Joshua Tree”! For information and registration go to https://www.bikereg.com/kbc-kaltour :  Pre-registration closes June 22.

The Kalamazoo Bicycle Club is offering scholarships to the League of American Bicyclist’s Smart Cycling and League Certified Instructor training courses offered in the City of Portage this summer. Smart Cycling is a one-day course designed to train cyclist in road cycling laws, rules of the road, and safe cycling practices. It is a prerequisite for the League Certified Instructor course held later in the summer. The LCI training is a three-day intensive course designed to train cyclists to be instructors of Smart Cycling or other cycling educational programs, such as KBC’s Bike Camp, Bike Rodeos, or cycling educational programs in schools or elsewhere.

The goals of the KBC Scholarships are:

1. Increase the number of certified trained cyclists in the SW Michigan area.
2. Increase the number of cycling skills training courses in the area.
3. Promote good will toward cyclists.
4. Improve cycling safety through educational outreach in the area.

Smart Cycling is offered on Saturday, June 24^th at the Portage Parks Office, 320 Library Lane, 49002. Register here: https://www.portagemi.gov/215/Parks-Programs-Events

LCI training is offered on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, August 4, 5, and 6 at the Portage Parks Office. Register here: https://www.portagemi.gov/215/Parks-Programs-Events

KBC Scholarship application form  (Not formatted for mobile devices)

Send completed application form to educationchair@kalamazoobicycleclub.org

Wednesday, March 29, Kalamazoo College Dewing Hall, Room 103, 7:00pm.

The film Together We Cycle investigates the critical events that led to the revival of the Dutch cycling culture. Many people think that cycling in the Netherlands is a natural phenomenon. However, until the 1970s the development of mobility in the Netherlands followed trends across the globe. The bicycle had had its day, and the future belonged to the car. The only thing that had to be done was to adapt cities to the influx of cars.

Then Dutch society took a different turn. Against all odds, people kept on cycling.

There is no easy answer to the question why this happened in the Netherlands. There are many factors, events and circumstances that worked together, both socially and policy-wise. In Together we cycle, key players tell the story of the bumpy road which led to the current state. Where cycling is an obvious choice for most citizens.

From The City of Kalamazoo:  Pilot protected bike lanes were installed on Westnedge Avenue and Park Street from Michigan Avenue to Maple Street. This work is part of a project to calm traffic on Westnedge Avenue and Park Street to make the streets safer and more comfortable for all users.

To read more about this project:

https://www.imaginekalamazoo.com/projects/westnedgepark/

To take the Westnedge Ave/Park St survey:

https://www.imaginekalamazoo.com/projects/westnedgepark/#pilot-bike-lanes-input

The city also installed pilot bike lanes on Lovell Street between Burdick Street and Pearl Street. To take take the Lovell Street pilot bike lane survey:

http://www.imaginekalamazoo.com/projects/lovellstreetbikewave/