Cycling tours promote ‘green’ choices

BY ALBERT KRAMBERGER

editor@transcontinental.ca

Green Patrol teams in Beaconsfield and Kirkland are hoping their upcoming bike events will convince West Islanders to think ‘green’ more often.

Kirkland’s ‘town-wide bike-ride’ is set for Sunday afternoon while the ‘Beaconsfield bikes against Co2’ event is slated for Aug. 26.

In Kirkland, participants will follow the bike path along the Hydro Quebec servitude to the city’s border with Ste. Anne de Bellevue and back again. Along the tour, there will be checkpoints offering environmental information, drinks and games. The bike tour, stops included, should take between one and two hours. “At one kiosk, we will have a tap water taste test,” said Green Patrol member Tara Despault. “It’ll be city water verses bottled water. People also don’t realize the waste produced by plastic bottles. Studies show 87 per cent of plastic bottles are thrown in the garbage and are not recycled.”

Both events aim to highlight available local bike paths and to encourage travel by bike. “We want people to bike, walk or use public transit. Leave your car at home,” Despault said.

Besides the path along the Hydro servitude, there is one in the Timberlea area and another near Ste. Marie Road in Kirkland.

In Beaconsfield, there are designated bike lanes on Beaconsfield Boulevard, Beaurepaire Drive, and Elm Street, said Green Patrol member Devon Willis, adding, “but they’re not all connected.”

The event in Beaconsfield will have a family-friendly route and a trickier one for the more adventurous, she said. The Beaconsfield event will give participants ‘passports’ and they will also have checkpoints for bikers, with information about composting to energy-saving light bulbs. Representatives from SOS Planète and the Association for the Protection of Angel Woods will also be on hand. A clown (on a bike, no less) as well as singers will also entertain people at Centennial Park. Willis said people can also take part in a shopping game, which aims to gauge if consumers are picking environmentally-friendly products. “It’s meant to raise awareness, so people don’t buy over-packaged goods,” she added.

Working as a Green Patrol member in Beaconsfield since late June, Willis said she has noticed that some main West Island arteries, like St. Charles Boulevard, don’t have enough space for cyclists to manoeuvre safely along side passing cars. “Some motorists get pretty close to you,” she said. “It’s also difficult to cross north-south with the two highways (in the West Island).”

She also noted the poor condition of the road surface on parts of St. Charles Boulevard as a hindrance to cyclists.

Both events are open to non-residents, the Green Patrol members said.

Sunday’s bike ride in Kirkland starts with registration at 12:30 p.m. near Acres Street and de Salaberry Boulevard. For more information, call 514-694-4100 ext. 3156.

The Aug. 26 bike day will be centred at Centennial Park on Beaconsfield Boulevard, starting at 12 p.m. For more, call 514-428-4542.