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46
WBM august 2011
ance and instruction in safe cycling
operation has become a matter of life
or death.
While biking is generally acknowledged
to be beneficial to one’s health
and environmentally friendly, that
message is often obscured in a social
setting that places a premium on getting
somewhere fast, and doing so
in ignorance of laws which protect a
cyclist’s right to be on the road.
“It’s a question of understanding the
bike’s right to be there,” says current
CFC president Craig Mann. “There’s an
education effort that needs to be put out
there (to motorists) to share the road.”
“Drivers,” he adds, “don’t understand
this, and you’re going to find
people taking great pleasure in seeing if
they can scare you.”
Four-year CFC member Mike
Kirkbride, who represents Carolina
Beach with the Wilmington Area
Municipal Planning Organization, has
group organized a club of its own
— The Cape Fear Southern Off-Road
Bicycle Association — aligning itself
with the International Mountain
Bike Association. CFC has also developed
an ongoing relationship with
the University of North Carolina
Wilmington’s Cycling Club, whose
members join them for regularly scheduled
rides and help to organize cycling
information booths at UNCW fairs.
By its very nature, the CFC is a
social group and, as noted in its mission
statement, was formed to bring
together individuals having a common
interest in biking. The advocacy component
of the group, however, designed
to promote public recognition of the
need for safer cycling and to offer guid-
Left: The annual River to Sea ride
brings cyclists across the Heide Trask
drawbridge to Wrightsville Beach Park.
Below: Eileen McConville gives
members final instructions before the
group heads out on a recent Flaming
Amy’s burrito ride.
For further
information about
the Cape Fear Cyclists —
membership, advocacy and
their regularly scheduled
rides — visit its website
at www.capefear
cyclists.org.