• Pacific High School students build a new bike shelter for their school

Pacific High School students Jake Kranz (left) and Scott Thomas (right) pose with University of Alaska Southeast Sitka Campus construction technology assistant professor Pat Hughes in a covered bike shelter they’re building for the high school.

Two Pacific High School students, Jake Kranz (white t-shirt) and Scott Thomas, have been spending a lot of their time recently at the University of Alaska Southeast Sitka Campus. The two students are working with UAS Sitka Campus construction technology assistant professor Pat Hughes to build a new bike shelter for their high school. Pacific High School is Sitka’s alternative high school, and this year the old building was demolished so a new building could be raised. Jake and Scott hope to have their new bike shelter ready for when the new high school building is finished. They designed the shelter to match the architecture of the new high school. They are earning high school credit for their work. Here are some photos of the work in progress.

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• Julie Hughes Triathlon celebrates its 29th year on May 18

The 29th running, biking and swimming of the Julie Hughes Triathlon starts at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 18, at Blatchley Middle School. The event is a fundraiser for the Sitka Cancer Survivors Society and honors the memory of a young Sitka woman who passed away from leukemia at the age of 15. (Click here for a recent Capital City Weekly article about Julie Hughes.)

For the second straight year, the Baranof Barracudas Swim Club is organizing the race, taking over event hosting duties from the Hughes family. Registration takes place online at http://juliehughestri.com/. The entry fee is $25 per person, and people can enter as individuals or teams. Participants are encouraged to have bike safety checks done at Yellow Jersey Cycle Shop before the race.

The course is a five-mile run from Blatchley Middle School to the U.S. Coast Guard-Air Station Sitka gate and back, a 12-mile bike ride from Blatchley to the Starrigavan Recreation Area at the end of Halibut Point Road and back, and a 1,000-yard swim at the Blatchley Middle School swimming pool. There is a shorter course available for participants who are age 12 or younger.

New this year is a high school challenge competition between Sitka and Pacific high school clubs and other groups (Mount Edgecumbe High School has already completed its school year and the students have gone home). The top school clubs or groups with the most participants (one point per event leg per person) can earn a $200 donation to the school activity fund.

For more information, contact Kevin Knox at 738-4664, or send an e-mail to bbsc.sitka@gmail.com.

• 2013 Julie Hughes Triathlon race flier

• 2013 Julie Hughes Triathlon high school challenge flier

• Kids learn about bike safety at the annual Sitka Bike Rodeo

BIKE RODEO – Rianna Bergman, age 7, pretends to be a motorist as part of an obstacle course for young bicyclists Saturday, May 4, 2013, at the annual Sitka Bike Rodeo, an event hosted by the Rotary Club of Sitka and the U.S. Coast Guard-Air Station Sitka at the Coast Guard hangar. The Sitka Bike Rodeo teaches young cyclists about bicycle safety, provides bike safety checks, free helmets and other info to help prepare local kids for a safe summer of cycling (Daily Sitka Sentinel photo by James Poulson).

• National Bike Challenge gives Sitka cyclists incentive to ride all summer, possibly win prizes

Sitka cyclists are encouraged to join with thousands of others from around the country as they ride in the second annual National Bike Challenge, a free event that runs from May 1 through Sept. 30.

Cyclists can ride as individuals, for their workplaces or on other teams, and the mileage they log also will help their cities and states in the rankings. This event launched last year, but some changes this year will make it easier for people to participate. The challenge was extended a month this year, so it now is five months long and covers the entire summer.

Participants can record the miles of their commute to work, as well as logging their various errands around town, just so long as they ride a bike. It doesn’t count if people use machines.

It’s easy to participate. Just go to the website, create a profile and log in your miles. You also can join teams from the website. For those of you with smartphones, the Endomondo app is available for free for iPhone, Android and several other devices, and its global-positioning system tracking will record your workouts directly into your profile. The Endomondo app also will record workouts in other sports besides cycling, such as walking, kayaking, and even dancing.

There already are several teams in Alaska, including the University of Alaska Southeast Sitka Campus created for staff and students. Other Sitka teams are encouraged so we can get a little friendly competition going. For those who missed the May 1 start date, if you’ve been riding you can back-record your workouts so long as you create a profile before the end of May. There are monthly prizes (awarded by random draw to cyclists nationwide who score a certain number of points), and additional prizes at the end of the contest.

• 2013 National Bike Challenge poster (PDF flier to print and post)

• Sitka plans cycling events for National Bike Month in May

May is National Bike Month, and Sitka cyclists will have plenty of opportunities to celebrate.

Not only is May National Bike Month, but May 8 is National Bike to School Day, May 13-17 is National Bike to Work Week and May 17 is National Bike to Work Day. These are great times to leave the car at home and take the bike to work. Click here to read Gov. Sean Parnell’s proclamation about these events.

Sitka cyclists are encouraged to take part in the second annual National Bike Challenge, which runs from May 1 to Sept. 30. This free national event is trying to beat last year’s total of 30,000 people riding 12 million miles during the five months from May through September (last year’s event was four months long). Riders can win prizes for participating as individuals and/or teams. Individuals also earn points for their communities and states. This year there are some Sitka organizations forming teams, such as the University of Alaska Southeast Sitka Campus team for students and staff. There also are smart phone apps that can track your distance and record it.

This also is the second year of National Bike to School Day, on Wednesday, May 8, which is a chance to encourage students to develop healthy lifestyle habits such as riding a bike or walking. School districts have the opportunity to schedule special events for National Bike to School Day, and they can list them on the national site to earn pioneer status. Parents should feel free to join their children to ride to school that day.

One of the highlights of National Bike Month in Sitka is the Sitka Bike Rodeo, which this year takes place from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, May 4, at the U.S. Coast Guard-Air Station Sitka hangar. This free event teaches young riders bike safety, provides the kids with bike safety checks, skills drills and more. It is hosted by the Sitka Rotary Club, U.S. Coast Guard-Air Station Sitka and SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC).

National Bike to Work Week kicks off on Monday, May 13, which is when the League of American Bicyclists will announce its next group of Bicycle Friendly Communities. Sitka received its renewal of bronze-level status last May and this year Anchorage is up for renewal.

Each year, Sitka hosts a National Bike to Work Week contest where people who ride their bikes to work or school on May 13-17 can stop by Yellow Jersey Cycle Shop to enter a contest to win a $150 gift certificate from the shop and SEARHC Health Promotion. The more times you ride, the greater your chances to win.

Friday, May 17, is National Bike To Work Day and the University of Alaska Southeast-Sitka Campus will host its annual free pancake breakfast from 7:30-9 a.m. Ride your bike to the university and get free pancakes, eggs and sausage fresh off the griddle.

Finally, the 29th annual Julie Hughes Triathlon takes place at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 19, at Blatchley Middle School. This event is hosted by the Baranof Barracudas Swim Club. The triathlon features a five-mile run from Blatchley to the U.S. Coast Guard-Air Station Sitka entrance gate and back, a 12-mile bike ride from Blatchley to Starrigavan Recreation Area at the end of Halibut Point Road and back, and a 1,000-yard swim at the Blatchley Middle School swimming pool. A shorter course is available for children age 12 or younger. There is a $25 per participant entry fee for individuals and teams, and proceeds from the triathlon benefit the Sitka Cancer Survivors Society. Event registration is online this year at http://www.juliehughestri.com/. For more information, contact Kevin Knox at 738-4664 or e-mail bbsc.sitka@gmail.com. To learn more about Julie Hughes, who died from leukemia in 1985 when she was 15, and the triathlon’s history, read the article in this week’s Capital City Weekly.

For more information about these events, contact Doug Osborne at 966-8734 or Charles Bingham at 738-8875, or watch this site for updates. Doug is supposed to be interviewed on the Thursday, May 2, Morning Edition Show at 8:18 a.m. on KCAW-Raven Radio, and when that audio clip becomes available it will be linked to this site. KCAW-Raven Radio also produced a story that aired on Tuesday, May 7, about National Bike Month from Doug’s interview.

• 2013 National Bike Month list of Sitka events (PDF flier to print and post)

• Sitka Bike Rodeo, National Bike to School Day put spotlight on kids’ cycling and safety

A Sitka student clips the strap on his bike helmet after riding his bike to school during the International Walk (and Bike) to School event in October 2008. Now there is a new and separate National Bike to School Day, this year on Wednesday, May 8. (Daily Sitka Sentinel photo by James Poulson).

As the temperatures warm up, two events this week will highlight kids’ cycling and safety in Sitka — the Sitka Bike Rodeo on Saturday, May 4, and the second annual National Bike to School Day on Wednesday, May 8. These two events will help kick off National Bike Month (May) in Sitka.

The Sitka Bike Rodeo is an annual event sponsored by the Sitka Rotary Club and U.S. Coast Guard-Air Station Sitka. This year’s bike rodeo takes place from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, May 4, at the Coast Guard hangar. The target audience for this event is children age 14 and younger (though it may be below the level for experienced pre-teen cyclists). Kids need to bring their bike, a helmet and a parent to this event, which will happen rain or shine. Here’s what to expect — bike safety checks, bike skill events (Demon Driveway, Crazy Crossroads, Rock dodge, How slow can you go, Circle and balance, and more), helmet fitting, bike registration, discount helmets, hot dogs, healthy snacks, and refreshments. The SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) also is helping with the event. For more info about the Sitka Bike Rodeo, call Jeff Budd at 747-4821.

On Wednesday, May 8, schools all over the country will encourage students to hope on their bikes for National Bike to School Day. Some schools will offer special events and prizes during the day. So far no Sitka schools have signed up to host events, even though many other Alaska communities are hosting bike rides to school. But it’s not too late to organize one. To encourage safety, parents are encouraged to ride their own bikes with their kids as they head to school.

Since it’s spring, here are a few bike safety rules for the kids:

• Wear a properly fitting bike helmet (click here to learn how to fit a helmet). Not only is it a good way to protect yourself from head injuries, Sitka has a youth helmet ordinance that requires all children age 18 or younger to wear helmets when they ride bikes, trikes, skateboards, scooters and similar vehicles.
• Right on the right side of the road, with traffic not against it. Older kids (age 11 and older) and adults should avoid riding their bikes on the sidewalks, especially downtown where there are lots of walkers (a bike can seriously injure elders who doesn’t hear the bike rider coming up behind them).
• Wear bright clothes and make sure you have a working solid white headlight and flashing red taillight on your bike, especially if you ride when it’s dark. Wear a reflective vest or arm bands/leg bands, and put reflective tape on your clothes and/or bike frame so it’s easier for drivers to see you on the bike.
• Know the rules of the road, and follow them. Stop at all stop signs and stop lights. Ride in a safe, predictable manner so cars know where you’re going. Use hand signals for all turns. Yield to traffic when appropriate.
• Check your bike before riding it, especially the ABCs — Air (tires have the right amount of air), Brakes (the brakes work and will stop your tire so it skids on the pavement) and Chain (make sure the chain is the right tension and there are no damaged links, oil if necessary).
• For more bike safety rules for kids, click here.

• Sitka’s mayor is one of many assembly members to get around town on a bike

Sitka Mayor Mim McConnell poses with her bike near the Crescent Harbor Shelter after attending a rally against the state’s oil tax giveaway on April 4. Mayor McConnell is one of three (out of seven total) Sitka Assembly members to regularly commute by bike, joining Phyllis Hackett and Matt Hunter. Another assembly member, Michelle Putz, drives an electric car.