There's a big idea afloat to put 1 million new and returning bicyclists on the road next summer.
One Million Bicycles is a bike rally scheduled for August 9, 2009, in 300 cities across all 50 states. The participants — cyclists like you and me — will call for doubling expenditures for bicycling on the national and state levels and give away 1 million new or used bicycles to new or returning riders.
Portland's Joe “Metal Cowboy” Kurmaskie is driving this effort with the support of Congressman Earl Blumenauer and bike organizations and shops across the country.
Kurmaskie mentioned the nationwide celebration at his talk at the Seattle Bike Expo in March and launched it a couple of weeks ago when OneMillionBicycles.org went online.
Where will those 1 million bicycles come from? Kurmaskie suggests we merely choose one from the collections in our garages. As he says in the YouTube video, a bicycle is not necessary for the structural integrity of a garage.
Metal Cowboy
Once dubbed the Mark Twain of bicycle touring, Kurmaskie is a bicycle junkie whose love of the bike has grown from solo tours to taking his family on bike tours of the US and Canada.
He says he got the idea for OneMillionBicycles after hearing a speech in which Blumenauer called for a national bike movement. A press release at the rally website:
“Ideas come to me all the time. But inspired, audacious ones that actually have the potential to impact legislation and healthcare, oil dependency and global warming, all while creating one million new and returning riders, not to mention giving anyone on a bike safer passage and a voice regarding upcoming transportation funding. Those ideas come along once, maybe twice in a lifetime.”
Rallies
Kurmaskie started laying the groundwork for the celebration in February as he drew upon more than 10,000 bicycling contacts, and he already has confirmations from advocacy groups across the US.
Registration to participate in the rally costs $5: For every $1, 75 cents goes to repair and tune-up of used bicycles and new bicycles for the giveaway; 15 cents goes to promotion, and 10 cents goes to administration.
In addition to the rallies, there are local group rides and a coast-to-coast rides being planned to converge on Washington DC.
To find out more, check the press release at OneMillionBicycles and an article at BikePortland.
Then go out in the garage and pick one or two bicycles you can live without.
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