A man on foot, on horseback or on a bicycle will see more, feel more, enjoy more in one mile than the motorized tourists can in a hundred miles.
― Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire

Yesterday, I spent a few hours on foot in MidTown Reno distributing posters for Bike Month 2019. According to my phone, I logged just over three miles of distance traveled. Yes, we are a cycling organization and I did bike to a central location to start, but when you’re going door to door, continually locking and unlocking a bike can get tedious.
In any case, I had an amazing time. I got a chance to talk to several business owners about their thoughts on bike infrastructure. I got a chance to see several new businesses as well as business that were making upgrades or changes to their facilities. There was essentially a lot of exploring that I got to do and I learned quite a bit about MidTown that I didn’t know when I started the day. These are the types of experiences that you generally miss out on when you use a car to get to specific places. Active transportation (biking, walking, etc.) gives you more time to look, learn, and experience. Cars, too often, cut us off from the natural and cultural environment through which we travel. Next time you go to MidTown, regardless of how you get there, I encourage you to spend some time walking a little to see what you find.
Plaza Maya: Miguel at Plaza Maya took some time to chat with me about his hopes to be a bike and pedestrian friendly space. In the near future, they plan to make their current parking lot a car-free space to allow for bike parking. Miguel wants people to take advantage of the bike lanes on Wells and feel comfortable using Plaza Maya as a sort of “home base” when they can securely leave their bike while they walk and explore other local businesses. We even talked about having TMBA provide bike parking consultation so that whatever bike racks they end up with are functional for the greatest number of people.


Micano Home Decor: Did you know that the owner of this local source of awesome, artistic home decor was hit by a driver while in a cross walk? For this reason and others, Sam is an advocate for appropriate infrastructure that allows for bicyclists and pedestrians to move about their community safely. On tope of that Micano offers some great bike-themed art pieces. Want a giant penny farthing sculpture for your house or yard? This is the place to go!

Happy (and safe) walking and biking!
-John