Bike to Work Day Preview: Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer Rides Again

I think Al Roker’s Brompton ride to victory last week pretty much sealed the deal: Bike to Work Day has never been bigger. In San Francisco, where they observed the occasion last week, bikes accounted for 75 percent of morning rush hour traffic on Market Street, and most of the legislative and executive branches of local government rode to work. Tomorrow in the nation’s capital, Rep. Earl Blumenauer and several high-level federal officials will ring in Bike to Work Day at Freedom Plaza.

Jimmy Van Bramer tries out his new ride. Photo: Transportation Alternatives.

Here in New York, one of the local politicos getting re-acquainted with cycling is freshman Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer, who bought a new bike today from Spokesman Cycles, a shop in his western Queens district. Van Bramer told us it’s been a while since he owned his own bike, and he’s into the fenders on the new Jamis. “It’s a hybrid and has really cool rims on the front and back,” he said, “which I know it really helpful in terms of water and bad weather, but I kind of like it because of its retro look and feel.”

After a ride around his district this afternoon with staffers and volunteers from Transportation Alternatives, he seemed pretty savvy about the local bicycle network. “I like what DOT has done in terms of bike lanes and I think that we can continue to work with them to make sure that there are sufficient connectors,” he said, “because we have some terrific bike lanes in Sunnyside going down into Long Island City, but there are parts of the district where they sort of terminate and then pick up again.”

The forecast for Bike to Work Day is clear skies and warm temperatures. If you happen across some nice bike traffic scenes tomorrow and have a camera handy, you can add your pictures to our Flickr pool. The tag to use is “streetsblog.”

For all the pit stops, rides, and special event happening tomorrow, check the Bike Month calendar.

Noah Kazis contributed to this post.