KraneXL

Established in 1956, National Bike Month is a chance to showcase the many benefits of bicycling — and encourage more folks to giving biking a try.


Also in May:Also in May:

• Bike to School Day: May 8, 2019
• Bike to Work Week: May 13-19, 2019
• Bike to Work Day: May 17, 2018

wolfchild

Every month of the year is a bike month for me.

FiftySix

If I can work at home on May 17th, I could take a morning bike ride and turn around to Ride to Work. Sounds like a plan, if my customers don't interfere.

KraneXL

Yeah, its more of a wake-up call month for all those non-cyclists that we're a community, from all walks of life, and cycle for a variety of reasons. And to inform and encourage them to join in.

PGHNeil

I thought May was national mental health awareness month? That’s ok if they piggyback though; riding helps keep me sane.

KraneXL

A great way to kill two birds with one stone, don't you think? In fact, cycling was among the top 3 from my list of "keeping me sane" activities, along with gardening and cooking (I had quite the bonsai collection at one point).

If you follow any of my threads I try to post and share the pleasure from those activities as well. We all here agree that cycling helps our mental health, and I try to spread around other remedies that have worked well for me, and may do the same for others.

sdmc530

Nailed it!! I do like that places and cities do a month dedication every year for it though. Good awareness and such.

Doctor Morbius

Who sits around and dreams this stuff up? National Bike Day, National Womens Day, Administrative Professionals Day, Fathers Day, Mothers Day, Fart In The Wind Day?

Is there someone who sits in an office thinking up this crap or is it a committee? Either way, they're way overpaid!

Ogsarg

I'd love to ride to work but at 57 miles each way, it ain't gonna happen.

hillyman

It's quite an honor you all made National Bike Month in honor of my birthday being in May. Not sure what I did to deserve this but thank you.

KraneXL

Those would be your congressman. What else would they do between breaks in legislation? Anyway, there is also a bike week and a bike day. Now who did you vote for last election?

Doctor Morbius

Well, I thought it must be a bunch of idiots. Now I know it is. And YES, they're way overpaid!

KraneXL

Since we're already into cycling its really not aimed at us. Rather, its a time for us to consider ourselves ambassadors, and use this opportunity to go out and expand the cycling culture with the help and support of government.

Hopefully, when we're backed by local, state, and federal government we can convince others that cycling is recognized nationwide and something to taken seriously.

If you ever needed to make a case to your boss for putting in those showers at work, now would be a good time to put in that appeal.

Paul Barnard

It's not going to be easy to do it, but I am going to do Bike to Work Day this year. It's the day before I kick off National Safe Boating Week.

FlMTNdude

Last year on Bike to work Day it was all rainy, and was the one day I didn’t commute and ended up driving to work. I tend to get some ribbing at work when I drive.

Deal4Fuji

cyccommute 

Yup.

No, it was not "your congressman". Even it if were a congressman, it wouldn't be anyones' congressmen because that congressman would be long dead. It was established in 1956.

That said, I don't think it was ever established by official proclamation. Bike Month was created by the League of American Wheelmen (yes, wheelmen) which is a national bicycle advocacy group and they promote it. The LAW was established in 1880 as a group that advocated better roads throughout the US. Thank the League for the hard surface roads you drive on because they wanted better roads for bicyclist.

After nearly 40 years of involvement in Bike-to-Work Day (ours happens next month because May weather is somewhat unpredictable in Colorado...it supposed to snow here tonight), I have a love/hate relationship with it. It's a bit like Earth Day or Easter. You can ride (or pick up trash or go to communion) one day of the year and you are absolved of all your car sins. I've seen very few converts regular bicycle commuting because of Bike-to-Work Day. My employer gives out prizes to the people who commute the furthest on BTW Day but completely ignores the 4 to 5 people (out of 2000) that ride to work most of the rest of the 259 work days of the year.

pdlamb

Reckon I'll ride my bike this month, and ride it to work next week. I usually do anyway.

But tomorrow is National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day. Publix is giving out cookies tomorrow afternoon (I hope they have some left on my way home). That's a celebration I can sink my teeth into!

I-Like-To-Bike

Sure you can thank the LAW for better roads and an improved road network throughout the U.S. if it makes you feel good.

For the actual building of roads, you might thank the general public and business concerns who let their representatives know that they wanted better roads and better surfaces on which to drive their motor vehicles and/or get products to market.

indyfabz

But today is, among other things, National Roast Leg of Lamb Day.

KraneXL

Call them. They'll save you a box.

Pics?

Haven't had roast leg of lamb in ages. Used to be one of my frequent favorites before you'd have to sell off one of the kids to afford it.

indyfabz

This site will tell you what National Day it is:

https://nationaldaycalendar.com/latest-posts/

Haven't cooked a whole leg is maybe 11 years. But I do do chops and shanks now and again.

RidingMatthew

it was the same here.

livedarklions

There's been a couple of tries to get a Congressional resolution declaring the month, but both have failed rather miserably.

cyccommute 

Cars were 6 years away from being invented and more than 20 years away from being popularized when the LAW was established. They started the Good Roads Movement in 1898. Henry Ford was still 7 years from production.

Cars may have finished the process but the LAW and bicyclist started the process.