IF the election taught us anything it’s not to declare victory until the numbers are all in.
As of yesterday Smithers had 20 teams registered for Bike To Work Week and Terrace had eight.
This means Smithers has 60 per cent more teams registered now than Terrace their rival and are on pace to win the coveted golden saddle, awarded to the municipality who enrols the most competitors in the event.
Terrace mayor Dave Pernarowski shrugged off the recent polls, though, suspecting they were padded by Smithers having enrolled teams for multiple City departments, which means the real number of bikers would come out low.
“Smithers needs to be very concerned,” Pernarowksi said, “that they only have a 12 team lead … Terrace has a strong history of being victorious.”
“We’ll find a good spot for it,” the mayor said about the golden bike seat which is the ultimate award.
The City of Terrace has included new bike lanes and bike symbols on streets it is repaving in a bid to make the town safer for cyclists.
The city has contracted Yellowhead Pavement Marking Inc. to do 65 signs in total, said company owner Doug Russell.
Sparks Ave (from Munthe to Halliwell) will be allotted 5 new signs; Eby (Park to Olson) will be the beneficiary of 8; Kalum (from Olson to Soucie) will be sprayed with 6; Kenney (from Highway 16 to Walsh) will have 7 new symbols slapped down; Sparks (Lazelle to McConnell) will be blessed with 20; Walsh (Kenny to Munro) will witness 6; while Munro (from Straume to Walsh) will receive 8 new bike symbols.
Russell did say that plans are sometimes subject to change once they actually get out there and start painting.
Terrace had at least 130 participants for Bike to Work Week in 2012 and is hoping to more than double our participation in 2013.
The Bike to Work Week website is www.biketowork.ca.
“Bike to Work Week Terrace will again be offering basic bike tune-ups to participating workplaces. Bike repair sessions are offered on a first come, first serve basis to any workplace that can get 25% of their employees to commit to partake in the initiative. To sign up for these workshops, please contact tirwin@terrace.ca”, reads a city press release.
