Bike Right� September Newsletter
Greetings!
 

BREAK THE CYCLE... RIDE A BICYCLE!

With a cool breeze in the air comes a reminder that the summer has come to a close and school has re-opened. Kids have filled up their new classrooms fresh with their newly labeled backpacks, new clothes and wide-eyed excitement as moms and dads proudly take their pictures. Soon, however, this awe and excitement will fade and once again and be replaced with the annual frustrations of traffic backing up for blocks as students sit in exhaust-spewing cars waiting in idle to pull up to the school's front doors. This year we want to encourage you escape from the same-old hassle of driving inch by inch through congested driveways and lots. Instead let's teach our children how healthy, easy and fun it is to travel to school under the power of their own two legs, just as we all learned when we were their age.

According to the National Safe Routes to School Partnership, the number of students ages 5-14 who walk or bike to school has steadily decreased by 50% in the past 40 years. Today merely 13% of students walk or bike to school. This decline can be directly associated with the national decline in the health of our children including the growing concern of rapidly increasing obesity rates nationwide. We believe that walking and biking to school is a simple solution to these problems and that leading an active, healthy and environmentally friendly life style is an important step in a child's development. 

So how do we get there? Well there are many studies that show numerous benefits of this simple idea; one study demonstrates that girls who walk or bike to school perform better on tests; another found adolescents who bicycle are 48% less likely to be overweight as adults. We could go on and on with similar studies that show that biking and walking are good but many parents know, or are at least are aware of, the benefits of commuting by foot or bike. Where we find the reluctance is with parent's own preconceived notions. 

As northwestern New Jersey's Safe Routes to School regional coordinators, TransOptions is working hard to educate parents on just how easy and convenient biking and walking to school can be for students. But of course each school is different and has its own unique circumstances and obstacles to walking and biking. That is why our experienced staff offers help on a town-by-town basis to find solutions to these problems and educate your community. We offer bike and pedestrian classes and workshops for kids of all ages, assistance with travel plans and community assessments as well as professional advice on how to run and maintain a successful Safe Routes to School program in your town. 

But we need your help! Would you like to see your child walk or bike to school?


Also, don't forget to check out our events section below to find out where you can take your child to receive FREE bike safety lessons!
LOCAL BICYCLE HERO II
Here in northwestern New Jersey we are blessed with so many really great-hearted and dedicated bicycle riders. This month we are proud to introduce to you another such hero in Warren County. Meet TaraLynn Romagnoli, reference librarian and newcomer road bicycling enthusiast. When funds were needed to help out the new main library facility at 189 Route 519 in White Township, TaraLynn decided she would step up and volunteer to raise it herself. That is when she first formed the idea of Ride to Read.  
 
The only problem was that she had very little experience bicycling on the street. According to TaraLynn, most of her biking experience was mountain biking recreationally on the Rail-to-Trail routes in the area. However, TaraLynn decided that biking the 60 mile route to each branch of the Warren County Library and ending at the new headquarters location would be the best way to raise awareness and gain attention for her cause. So at the beginning of the summer she picked up her Trek and started training (see video).
 
Ride to Read Training
Ride to Read Training

Since then TaraLynn has been hard at work riding and finding sponsors. So far she has raised over $1,500 but still has ways to go to reach her goal of $5,000 and the ride is scheduled for September 19th! If you would like to help her and the Friends of the Warren County Library in their quest by sponsoring or even just to cheer her on, please visit their website at RidetoRead.Blogspot.com. You can even join her on your bike for the ride!
SEPTEMBER BIKE QUIZ 
 Click the right answer to be routed to the winner's page!
 
Contact Info@TransOptions.org or call 973-267-7600.If you would like to schedule your own bike class or workshop. 


Thanks to our wonderful sponsors!
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