I'm a member of Bike Cleveland,a local cycling advocacy group. I got an email invite to this:
As
many of you are aware, last year Cleveland City Council adopted a law
which requires motorists to grant bicyclists a 3’ wide clear zone when
passing. As with many policy changes, however, the public knows little
or nothing about this new law. In an effort to get this information out
to the general public, Bike Cleveland is working with the advertising
firm of Dix & Eaton to develop a major public messaging campaign.
This campaign is intended to educate motorists and bicyclists alike
about the need to safely share the road and will employee billboards,
bus shelters, OMNI media ad placements and social media to do so.
A
related effort being led by the YMCA’s Clevelanders in Motion Health
Equity Initiative is a six-month, full bus wrap ad campaign also with
the share the road messaging.
The
bus wrap campaign will integrate elements of Dix & Eaton’s work
layered over photographs of bicyclists riding together and covering the
entire bus: two sides, the front and the back. Bicyclist and
professional photographer (Frank Lanza) will photograph the riders who
will be displayed on the bus both independently and as a group. These
photos will then be enlarged to super-size which covers the entire
bus.
In
preparing for this shoot, we are looking to assemble a group of riders
as diverse as our city and region itself. We have been very
intentional in trying to ensure balance in terms of gender, age, racial
and ethnic background as well as type of cyclist (racing, commuter,
recreational) and type of ride.
Here's a concept of the bus wrap:
I thought, hey, my weekend isn't already busy enough,
it would be cool to see my bike-riding self on the side of a bus this
summer. As a 48-year-old commuter who will never dress like a Lycra-clad
superhero, I can be part of the diversity.
We've had 2 weeks of gorgeous weather, sunny and in the 70's. At 6:30
this morning, it was colder than it has been in a month--40 degrees--and
lightly drizzling. Usually, this wimp would pass on riding in such
conditions, but I donned 2 layers of long underwear under my
long-sleeved bright yellow bike jersey and headed off. Temperature-wise,
I felt suprisingly comfortable. Could have done without the water
droplets spattering my glasses, but I could still see okay. Fortunately,
all of the sane people were still asleep so there wasn't much traffic.
The
adventure began when I was about 0.3 miles from my destination. 6:57
a.m., and the event started at 7. The turn to get down to the Flats
(industrial district under the bridges along the river) looked like it
went about 100 yards to a dead end. Google maps has been known to send
people on roads to nowhere. So I rode another half mile and found
another road that went downhill to the flats. But when I got there, I
had no idea how to get to the location. I called the cell of the
organizer, got directions, and in order to avoid another dead end,
promptly got totally disoriented. Next thing I knew, I was coming up a
steep hill (leaving the Flats) and ended up in the hipster Tremont
neighborhood. Another call, another missed turn. Now I was in Ohio City
at the West Side Market. Asking directions of passersby. None helped.
Maybe it was just me, but I couldn't find a single street that went back
to the Flats. Plenty of them would get me near the location--only
unfortunately, about 100 feet above it via a bridge.
I was really frustrated now and more than half an hour late. Took one
of the bridges and ended up where I started at the first dead end where
Google had taken me. On my third and final call, a guy from the photo
shoot talked me through how to get there. It turns out at the dead end,
there are about 7 stories of steps you can walk down to get to the
Flats, a helpful detail Google had neglected to include. He asked if I
was able to carry my bike. That's one thing I can do! So there I was,
getting my strength workout in for the day. My bike's heavy (a hybrid,
it's built for comfort, not for speed), but I had no problem. Though carrying it up 7 flights of stairs would have been a different story.
Even
40 minutes late, I got there just in time to take my individual turn
riding by the camera. Then we had 45 minutes of group shots, pretending
to ride with one foot up on the pedal while the photographer took shots
from the side, front, and back with the city skyline in the background.
After some final shots of the group in motion, we were done.
I
ended up weaving my way through multiple levels of a parking garage
trying to get back to downtown, but got home within half an hour. The
adrenaline of being lost and late gave me extra energy to push it this
morning, steep hills or no. I managed to burn almost 700 calories for
what turned out to be a 16-mile round trip, and achieved a personal best
of the highest heart rate ever--188! Wouldn't want to make a habit of
that, but it feels amazing that I'm even capable of pushing it that
high. Nine months ago, I could never have imagined having a morning like
this and not feeling the need to crash the rest of the day. I'm not
even really tired after all that--just hungry. Good thing, because we're
about to leave for a ballroom dance lesson!
