Cyclists of Newmarket are coming together on Sept. 25 for a slow roll for more bike-friendly streets.
Cycle Newmarket is hosting Slow Roll for Safe Streets to encourage the cycling community to come out to raise awareness for safer streets for cyclists in Newmarket.
“We want to be able to develop a kind of community, a cycling community,” said group member Stephen Harper.
Unlike the Newmarket Eagles Cycling Club, which is geared toward riders who want to race, Cycle Newmarket is aimed at people who bike for transportation.
“We’re just regular folk and we don’t want to get there fast, we just want to get there safely,” Harper said.
On Saturday, Sept. 25, cyclists are invited to meet at Doug Duncan Drive and Timothy Street at 1 p.m.
From there, they’ll ride up Prospect Street to the east-west bike lanes on Srigley Street, over to Leslie Street, and over to Mulock Drive. Then they’ll go west on Mulock back to Prospect, to finish where they started on Timothy.
“It’s a big rectangle,” Harper said, adding that the route is around seven kilometres and he expects it will take about 40 minutes to complete.
While the event is about bringing riders together, the group also wants to promote safer streets in Newmarket.
Harper uses his bike for as many errands as possible and said Newmarket could use some improvements.
“In some ways it is OK, I think it could be bike friendlier,” he said.
He said he often sees cyclists riding on the sidewalk instead of the road while he’s out and about.
“If you ask them, and I have many times ‘why are you riding on the sidewalk?’, the answer is the streets are not safe.”
In early 2021, plans for bike lanes to be built on Clearmeadow Boulevard and William Roe Boulevard were put on hold by town council, a move Harper said was disappointing.
He said it “showed that the town could be better committed to providing safe cycling for cycling commuters.”
Harper said he wants to see lots of riders coming out on Sept. 25 and that they “want to promote safe streets.”
Anyone attending the event is required to wear a helmet.
