{"id":112873125,"date":"2008-07-30T09:38:45","date_gmt":"2008-07-30T09:38:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/?p=112873125"},"modified":"2008-07-30T09:38:45","modified_gmt":"2008-07-30T09:38:45","slug":"harford-keeping-pace-newsletter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/?p=112873125","title":{"rendered":"Harford Keeping Pace Newsletter"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hi Everyone,<\/p>\n<p>Wow, what a great turnout for the \u201908 Bike to Work Day on<br \/>\nMay 16! Despite the torrential rains, nearly 85 of the<br \/>\nrecord number of 171 registrants participated. I am happy<br \/>\nto announce that Harford County has kept its \u201ctitle\u201d as the<br \/>\nsecond largest rally in the Baltimore region. For the past<br \/>\ntwo years we have more than doubled the number of<br \/>\nregistrants and are confident, with your support, that this<br \/>\ntrend will continue. In this edition, you will find highlights of<br \/>\nthe rally and some really great photographs from the<br \/>\nsoggy morning event.<\/p>\n<p>There are other growing trends in the cycling world as<br \/>\nwell. Since the price of gas has topped the &#36;4 a gallon<br \/>\nmark, many folks are rethinking the use of their bicycles to<br \/>\ncommute to work. This is a good news\/bad news kind of<br \/>\nsituation. It\u2019s great that more people are taking their bikes<br \/>\nout, riding them, getting their exercise, reducing pollution<br \/>\nand traffic congestion, and saving the environment. But<br \/>\nmore bikes mean more accidents. For many it has been a<br \/>\nlong time since they have ridden a bike and they really<br \/>\ncould benefit from a \u201cbike mentor\u201d to help them brush up<br \/>\non their safety skills.<\/p>\n<p>If you want to learn more about bike safety, or want to<br \/>\nsharpen your cycling skills, check out the Harford County<br \/>\nCommuter Assistance Website at<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.harfordcountymd.gov\/commuter\/\">www.harfordcountymd.gov\/commuter\/<\/a> to contact a<br \/>\nmentor. You might even want to sign up to become a<br \/>\nmentor. Contact us. We welcome all the help we can get.<\/p>\n<p>Pat Fielder<br \/>\nHarford County Commuter Assistance Program<br \/>\n<!--more--><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>RALLY HIGHLIGHTS<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>171 Registered Participants- a Record!\n<\/li>\n<li>23 separate companies and agencies<br \/>\nparticipated in the Briefcase Challenge\n<\/li>\n<li>Briefcase Challenge winners \u2013 last year\u2019s<br \/>\nwinners unseated in small and mid-size<br \/>\ncompany category\n<\/li>\n<li>Winners\n<ul>\n<li>Large: APG\n<\/li>\n<li>Mid-size: SAIC regains the title from<br \/>\n2006\n<\/li>\n<li>Small: local division of LMI<br \/>\nGovernment Consulting\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Grand Prize Winners\u2013 This year Liam Carney won the<br \/>\ngrand prize of a brand new bike from Conte\u2019s Bike<br \/>\nShop. Sarah Stees, a first time Bike to Work Day<br \/>\nparticipant, won the electric scooter from X-treme<br \/>\nSkooters.<\/p>\n<p>Other gift certificates to restaurants, golf courses, and<br \/>\nthe Ironbirds were awarded to many folks.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><b>BIKE HELMET SAFETY PROGRAM A SUCCESS<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Throughout the entire month of May, which is nationally<br \/>\nrecognized as Clean Commute and Bicycle Safety month,<br \/>\na unique community partnership provided a free bike<br \/>\nhelmet safety clinic to Harford County adults and children.<br \/>\nOverall, there were 12 clinics offered at six main libraries.<br \/>\nSafety experts from the Harford County Sheriff\u2019s Office,<br \/>\nCommuter Assistance Program, the Harford Velo Club and<br \/>\nthe Bel Air Town Police were available to fit and to answer<br \/>\nquestions about the Maryland Bicycle Helmet Law.<\/p>\n<p>This was an unprecedented public-private effort to<br \/>\nshowcase the importance of bicycle safety. Nearly 200<br \/>\nfolks were served at Harford County Libraries.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><b>Bike Mentors Still<br \/>\nWanted<\/b><\/p>\n<p>If you are an experienced rider, you can help those \u201cnew<br \/>\nenthusiasts\u201d get off on the right foot (pedal). By becoming a<br \/>\nBike Mentor you will initiate the novice rider on route<br \/>\nstrategies, techniques, apparel, and how to handle cycling in<br \/>\ntraffic, to name a few things. If you\u2019re interested, just give us<br \/>\na call at 410.638.1386 or 1387, or email<br \/>\npwfielder &#8220;at&#8221; harfordcountymd.gov.oldId.20080730093845268<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hi Everyone, Wow, what a great turnout for the \u201908 Bike to Work Day on May 16! Despite the torrential rains, nearly 85 of the record number of 171 registrants participated. I am happy to announce that Harford County has kept its \u201ctitle\u201d as the second largest rally in the Baltimore region. For the past &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/?p=112873125\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Harford Keeping Pace Newsletter&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"1","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-112873125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biking-in-the-metro-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112873125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=112873125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112873125\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=112873125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=112873125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=112873125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}