Join the quiet revolution during Bike to Work Week
    Chuck Oestreich ~ Dispatch/ Argus 4/6/08.

It's the quiet revolution. . Just a fleeting touch of rubber on pavement - no screeching tires and squealing brakes, no jarring straight-through motorcycle pipes, no popping car exhaust.

Just quiet. And it's sneaking up on us, not heavytreaded, but smooth -like a monarch butterfly landing on a milkweed, or a Smokey Robinson lyric.

Noiseless. The sound a bicycle makes cutting through air, gliding over smooth pavement - city pavement. (Well, sometimes the potholed pavement can be less than perfect, but you get the point, right?)

Recently, the silent bicycle in the city has become part of a revolution that's related to more than just its stealth qualities. From a kid's toy to a Lance Armstrong racing machine, the bicycle slowly is being transformed into an urban dream: the 'ideal vehicle for the city.

You know the litany: energy use, pollution, fitness the list goes on. In every way, the bicycle is the newly realized child of the times.

Even bicycle design is in on the revolution, or the reemergence. From the 10geared, drop-handlebarred, stripped-down speed machines of the '60s, bicycles are being transformed with an updated return to the past. Remember chain guards, built-in lights and panniers, kick-up stands, wide handlebars? Well, they're back. And they're being used in an urban environment - where, of course, the bicycle is just the thing for trips to the store, the museum, or to work.

Ah, yes, biking to work. In celebration of that concept, and the whole idea of alternative transportation, the Quad Cities Transportation Advocacy Group (QCTAG) has great plans for getting people to join the bicycle revolution. The month of May is Bike Month, and smack in the middle of it is QC Bike to Work Week. Consider these activities - and join in:

~ Saturday, May 10, 9 a.m.:

Kickoff to Bike to Work Week, Davenport's Farmers' Market, Freight House, 421 W River Drive. Find out all about the week, get materials, watch a bike/bus demonstration, and take a ride through some of the Quad-Cities.

~ Sunday, May 11:

Bike to worship and Blessing of the Bikes. Ride your bike to your place of worship this morning. Watch for an announcement about a symbolic bike blessing.

~ Monday, May 12, 6:30 to 9 a.m.:

Breakfast at Davenport's Bechtel Park, Government Bridge and 2nd Avenue. Those using alternative transportation are invited to have breakfast in this brand-new park. Greatest Grains will provide yogur1:, granola bars, breakfast pizza and juice.

~ Tuesday, May 13:

A-TOG (Alternative Transportation On the GO!) Transportation users on bikes, on a bus, and in cars will all start at the Hy-Vee store on Davenport's Kimberly Road at 7:15. They will ride or drive to the Figge Art Museum It isn't a race; they will all go at their own pace. The idea is to show the relative advantages and disadvantages of each means of transportation. You can catch the ending around 7:30 at the Figge's main entrance.

~ Wednesday, May 14, 6:30 p.m.:

Ride of Silence. We'll start at the Quad City Botanical Center in Rock Island. This slow-paced evening ride will honor the memory of killed or injured cyclists. Riders wearing black armbands will ride silently through our cities' streets.

~ Thursday, May 15:

After School Biking. All schools are urged to organize bike rides in their areas, emphasizing how easy it is to get to school on a bike.

~ Friday, May 16:

Afterwork Wrap-Up Party at Moline's Bier Stube outdoor patio. Cyclists will meet and celebrate the week with awards and refreshments.

Bike Week will be filled-with activity, excitement, and - yes - silence. It will be a quiet week, but QCTAG hopes an effective week.

Start using your bicycle for common urban transportation. Don't get that thundering four-wheeled monster out for your trip to the supermarket. A ride on two wheels will get you there in about the same time and with much more satisfaction.

Let your revolving bike wheels involve you in America's quiet revolution.

Chuck Oestreich of Rock Island is a longtime cyclist. Pedal Rambling appears monthly.

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