Ditch the Keys targets pollution

So it’s Ditch the Keys Week in central Arkansas and all residents must throw away their car keys.

How will you get to work?

Ha ha, just kidding. You don’t even have to hide your keys. But if you’d like to sample a different way of commuting to work, to find out if it’s do-able, this week you don’t have to sally forth alone.

A project of the Central Arkansas Ozone Action Days coalition, Ditch the Keys Week is intended to encourage residents to help prevent air pollution by using alternative transportation. And so this is the one week all year in which you’re most likely to have a critical mass of civic leaders, media types and first-time alternative commuters willing to join in your attempts to car pool, walk, ride the bus or bike to your job or to school.

The idea is to demonstrate that car-pooling, walking and so forth are genuine options.

If you’re willing to spend a day trying any of those instead of driving, or even if you’re merely willing to forgo driving the car at lunchtime - you certainly can try. And if you want others to know that you did, you can register for a bragging button at ditchthekeys.eventbrite.com. This button will be good for breakfast at the Capital Hotel from 7 to 9 a.m. Friday, a free bagel and coffee at Morningside Bagel and discounts at 16 businesses (listed on the website) and it will allow you to show off your public spirit.

Most participants will have to pick up buttons at Metroplan, Little Rock City Hall (which is also giving away pant straps, while they last), North Little Rock City Hall or the Saline, Faulkner or Pulaski county cooperative extension offices. But cyclists who sign up in advance to take part in Friday’s Bike to Work Day may call their ride leader to reserve their button.

Continuing last year’s innovation, on Friday many convoys of cyclists will roll from Maumelle and North Little Rock into Little Rock and vice versa on routes that overlap and crisscross like a pile of spaghetti. Words are not much help in this situation, but on Page 2E, you’ll find a map that should help you begin trying to figure out if one of these convoys will pass near your destination.

Cyclists whose convoy rolls past Markham Street and Broadway are invited to attend a press conference at 7:30 a.m. in the rose garden next to the Pulaski County Circuit Courthouse.

Cyclists whose route passes by Garver, the engineering firm in North Shore Business Park in North Little Rock, are invited to stop by the lot in back of the building, where employees led by Liz Hoover will offer an aid station from 6:15 to about 9 a.m. They’ll have water, coffee, doughnuts, fruit, sports drinks and a place to rest. Riders may use the facilities in the company gym, or catch their breath at patio tables outside. (The League of American Bicyclists lists Garver as a silver-level Bicycle Friendly Business.)

Four fitness centers are offering free showers: 10 Fitness, 10901 N. Rodney Parham Road; Jim Dailey Fitness & Aquatic Center, 300 S. Monroe St.; Snap Fitness, 1401 W. Capitol Ave. (the Victory Building); and, in North Little Rock, Anytime Fitness, 5923 John F. Kennedy Blvd.

BUS LORE

Biking to work in a group is one thing; biking home alone when your route is unfamiliar is something else.

Some convoy leaders plan to lead return trips in the afternoon; you can find out about that when you contact your leader to announce your intention to ride. For other cyclists, Central Arkansas Transit Authority buses can solve the problem of how to get past trafficky places.

City buses have bike racks.

The authority will hold a “How to Ride” clinic from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. today in the Little Rock River Market pavilions. Bus employees will help you find a bus route that could take you close to home (or at least past heavy traffic), and a bus will be available upon which you could practice loading a bicycle.

SILENCE FOR THE DEAD

Far less cheerful is Wednesday evening’s annual National Ride of Silence, a somber parade that commemorates bicyclists killed or injured in traffic.

Led by Bicycle Advocacy of Central Arkansas and the Arkansas Bicycle Club, the ride will begin at 7 p.m. at the Central Arkansas Library System’s new Children’s Library and Learning Center, 4800 W. 10th St. in Little Rock.

Any cyclist is welcome to join the ride, which costs nothing and will proceed at a slow pace. Riders will line up two abreast, in silence, and travel east on 12th Street using bicycle lanes. They will pass through Arkansas Children’s Hospital grounds and end on the eastern steps of the state Capitol, where a brief memorial will be held.

Helmets are required and bicycle lights are needed.

CLINTON SCHOOL

At noon Thursday at the Clinton School of Public Service’s Sturgis Hall, former North Little Rock Mayor Pat Hays will moderate a panel discussion and public forum titled “Ditch the Keys: Better Air, Better Bicycling.”

Cyclists will share tips on how to pedal for transportation and fun, and they’ll discuss the future of bicycling in central Arkansas.

The Central Arkansas Ozone Action Days coalition includes the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department, Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, Arkansas Department of Health and Metroplan.