10 Reasons Why The Miami Valley Is So Bicycle Friendly




Two Wheels, One Voice.

Top 10 Reasons Why The Miami Valley Is One Of America's Most Bicycle Friendly Communities

1. A network of nearly 150 miles of paved bicycle paths, linking nearly every town in the Greater Dayton-Xenia Area. At the hub is the Xenia Station in Greene County.

2. Bike Miami Valley, a nonprofit bicycle advocacy group formed by Horace "Huffy" Huffman, Jr. in 1965 to promote and enable safe bicycling in the Miami Valley, is one of only a handful of multi-jurisdictional bicycle advocacy groups in the nation.

3. Since the late 1800s, Dayton has been the home of the Davis Sewing Machine Company, predecessor of the Huffman Manufacturing Company, now Huffy Bicycle Company, one of the largest bicycle companies in the world.

4. The Bicycle Friendly Manual, a bikeway development guide for landscape architects, engineers, planners, businesses, developers, bicycle advocates, and elected officials, was contracted by the Greene County Park District, with funding provided by several area organizations, including the city of Xenia and the village of Yellow Springs, and Bike Miami Valley.

5. The Dayton Cycling Club, also founded by "Huffy" Huffman, celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2001. Membership of this touring/riding/racing group is about 700, and includes co-founder Clair Duckham, a 95-year-old avid cyclist who still rides 35 miles round-trip on his modern Campagnolo-equipped Bianchi every Sunday for breakfast.

6. The Ohio Bicycle Federation (yes, also founded by "Huffy" Huffman, in 1980), based in Dayton, is the only advocacy organization representing Ohio's bicyclists at the state level. It's an alliance of individuals and groups interested in promoting the use of bicycles for recreation, transportation and other appropriate purposes.

7. Public service organizations: Five Rivers MetroParks owns, operates, and maintains nearly 50 miles of bikeways, using bicycle patrolmen and women to keep trails safe and teach safety courses; the Miami Conservancy District, formed in 1915 to build dams and conserve Dayton's river corridor, also owns, operates, and maintains nearly 30 miles of bikeways; and Greene County Park District, which leads the way in effective bike trail planning, development and maintenance with more than 50 miles of paved bike trails, including 12-15 active Trail Sentinels (volunteer safety assistants).

8. Yellow Springs, a small bike-crazy town recognized by the League of American Bicyclists as a "Bicycle Friendly Community" in May 2001.

9. Dayton is where the world's most famous aviators, Wilbur and Orville Wright, were bicycle manufacturers extraordinaire before their historic flight in 1903. The Van Cleve and St. Clair models were coveted throughout the Midwest.

10. Most of Dayton's 1,300 public RTA buses are equipped with bicycle racks, courtesy of Bike Miami Valley's efforts in 1996.

*Statistics: Population for the Greater Dayton area is nearly 1.3 million. Montgomery County is home to nearly 600,000. Greene County's population is nearly 150,000. Our goal is to have everyone turned on to bicycling by 2010.

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