Join us for Link Connect 4! Every week in June we’ll be offering up chances to win cool prizes for connecting to four consecutive stations in the Link network. The fun kicks off next Friday, June 5 with a chance to win a tasty treat from Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream!
Cycling
The Miami Valley Cycling Summit Is Friday
The fourth biennial Miami Valley Cycling Summit is happening on May 29, 2015 in Piqua. Join with hundreds of regional leaders and cycling advocates at the Fort Piqua Plaza in historic downtown Piqua, Ohio to share your passion for cycling and influence the future of cycling in the Miami Valley. Once again, thanks to generous support of Bike Miami Valley and numerous event sponsors, participation in the Miami Valley Cycling Summit is FREE.
The Miami Valley Cycling Summit is the region’s opportunity to bring together in one location, for one day, they key individuals who are making decisions about the future of the Miami Valley and to share with them the importance that cycling culture has to our region. Let these leaders know about your passion. Help them learn how more people in the Miami Valley could add bicycling to their transportation mix. Talk to the planners and engineers who are working on integrating facilities in critical locations. Come to the Cycling Summit on Friday, May 29, 2015 in Piqua.
The planning committee has been hard at work since just after the third Summit ended in 2013 in Springfield. The lineup of speakers and breakout sessions will be outstanding, once again. The keynote speaker will be Mayor Bill Peduto from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh recently hosted the Pro Walk Pro Bike Pro Place conference, and under his leadership the city has begun to reshape the streets to be welcoming of all forms of transportation. Separated bike lanes and transit lanes are making an active transportation center in the steel city.
Check out the Summit web site at http://www.cyclingsummit.com and like them on Facebook as well. You’ll have all the latest updates on the schedule and registration. When you register, consider being a Summit volunteer as well! See you in Piqua during Bike Month!
Link Bike Share To Offer 100 Free One Day Memberships
In it’s very first week Dayton’s Bike Share program Link is breaking expectations. The program saw over 1,300 trips opening week and over 350 unique users checking out bikes. “We are thrilled to have over 1,300 trips in the first week,” says Executive Director Laura Estandia.
“Link bikes are awesome!” says local South Park resident Betsy Wilson. “My bike is old and is a hassle to drag out of the basement. With my membership, I just pick a bike, head to my destination downtown and check it back in. I live close to downtown, and often walk there, but the Link bike is a lot faster, and great for destinations that are too far for a quick walk. I have used Link bikes for five trips so far, and will be using them regularly in the future.”
Visit the Link booth at Bike to Work Day on Friday, May 15 at RiverScape MetroPark from 7:00 AM – 9:00 AM, and the first 100 riders will receive a free 24-Hour Membership. You’ll also be able to enjoy a free pancake breakfast. Bike Miami Valley staff will be running a virtual kiosk to accommodate more riders who want to visit RiverScape. Riders can check their bike in at the virtual kiosk at the event.
Sponsors of the program include: Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, CareSource, City of Dayton, Five Rivers MetroParks, Montgomery County, New Belgium Brewing Company, PNC, Premier Health, Public Health – Dayton and Montgomery County’s Creating Healthy Communities Program, Sinclair College, and the University of Dayton.
Link has 24 stations and a fleet of over 200 bikes. Users can purchase 24-Hour Memberships for $5 at station kiosks or a variety of other memberships online including a $65 Annual Membership. All Membership types include unlimited 30 minute checkouts. Link is a program by Bike Miami Valley and Greater Dayton RTA. For more information about Link, visit www.linkdayton.org.
Free Helmets For Kids at Bike Rodeo this Saturday
Five Rivers MetroParks has partnered with the Junior League of Dayton to host this year’s Wegerzyn Bike Rodeo — and the organizations have more than 200 free bicycle helmets to give to local children ages 3 to 15.
At this free event, children will be fitted with a helmet (no beads in hair, please) and a technician will check their bicycles. Children then will join the MetroParks Ranger Division on a ride through a safety course, learning new skills along the way. Allow one hour to complete the activities.
New this year will be a display featuring an introduction to mountain biking, as well as a chance to meet and interact with the MetroParks Volunteer Patrol and their horses.
The Wegerzyn Bike Rodeo takes place rain or shine.
This event is sponsored by Five Rivers MetroParks, the Junior League of Dayton, Dayton Children’s, Safe Kids of Dayton and the Put a Lid on it Campaign.
When: Saturday, May 9, from 9 a.m. to noon
Where: Wegerzyn Gardens MetroPark, 1301 E. Siebenthaler Ave.
Questions? Contact Officer Lynne Zimmerman at 937-275-PARK (7275) or lynne.zimmerman@metroparks.org.
ABOUT FIVE RIVERS METROPARKS
Five Rivers MetroParks is a nationally renowned park system composed of natural area parks, gardens, high-quality river corridors, urban parks and a network of recreation trails, celebrating more than 50 years of preserving green space and natural areas. Five Rivers MetroParks protects the region’s natural heritage and provides outdoor experiences that inspire a personal connection with nature. Educational programs and recreational opportunities are offered year-round for all ages. To learn more about Five Rivers MetroParks, log onto www.metroparks.org or call 937-275-PARK.
Link Goes Live Tuesday
At noon on Tues, May 5th the long talked about bike share program will officially go live in Dayton!
With 24 stations installed all around downtown Dayton, Link will have 225 bicycles available for rent. Thirteen stations will be placed in the Central Business District, east of the Great Miami River with a southbound border of Fifth Street. Five stations will be located around the University of Dayton Campus. UD was one of the founding sponsors of the program. The Dayton Art Institute and the UD Research Institute will also have docking stations. For a map that helps you find the nearest bike station click here.
With your Link Bike, you don’t have to look for a parking space or bring your own bike with you everywhere you go. Plus, riding a Link Bike is good for your health and for the environment. It’s the newest and best way to get around town.
Link bikes fit people of all sizes, thanks to an easy-to-use adjustable seat post. A great front and rear basket provides a space to stow your belongings while riding. Fenders, skirt guards and chain-guards help to keep your clothes clean during your ride. Automatic lights help keep you safe at all times of day. There are three speeds on the Link bike, perfect for your short commute. You’ll love it!
Link is designed to encourage you to use a bike for all your short trips. Once you’ve paid your membership fee, you can take an unlimited number of rides for 30 minutes or less, free! Annual membership will cost $65, and semester passes will run $45. It will cost $30 for a monthly pass and $5 for a day pass. Happy Riding!
Bike Anywhere!
Come learn how to build biking into your every day! Commuting isn’t about just riding to and from work. It’s about everything in between.
Utilizing your bike for short errands like running to the post, grabbing a coffee or even a small grocery store run can save you big cash and increase your quality of life.
Not sure how to get started, where to go or what to do? Then join us at the 2nd Street Boston Stoker on April 25th.
Ride a Bike, Make a Difference! Gobbler Gives Bike Tour & Food Drive.
Join Tomfoolery Outdoors and The Foodbank Dayton for a food delivery by bicycle. The Gobbler Gives Bike Tour will celebrate the season of giving with a fun bike ride and food drive. Load up your panniers, baskets, backpacks, trailers with food items and then pedal 17 miles from Adventures on the Great Miami to the Foodbank Dayton.
We will start at noon on November 23.
At the Foodbank Dayton celebrate with fellow riders as we weigh food, enjoy live music, snacks and warehouse tours. Your load will be lighter as we ride 17 miles back to Adventures on the Great Miami.
At the finish line enjoy a sense of pride for giving to those in need and being active! If that isn’t enough, we have live music and organic Turkey leg from Bowman Landes Farm for all riders.
Entry fee is $40 per person that includes t-shirt and celebrations at half way mark and finish line. Food and proceeds benefit The Foodbank Dayton.
Motorcycle riders will have a chance to join the Gobbler Gives Bike Tour with a route that will begin at Adventures on the Great Miami, travel to Buckeye Harley Davidson and other surprise stops before joining the halfway celebration at The Foodbank Dayton. Motorcycle riders are encouraged to bring donated food items to deliver to the Foodbank on their bikes. All riders will enjoy a finish line celebration with the bicyclists at Adventures on the Great Miami to show we can share the road and all have fun on two wheels.
You must register by November 17 at noon to guarantee a tour t-shirt. Online registration closes at noon on November 21.Entry fee is $40 on-line in advance. Ride day registration is available for $50.
Courteous Mass Bike Ride
Catapult Creative Branding Dayton Bike Share
[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]It’s hard to believe that only 10 months ago we were sitting in one of the four rooms that made up our office on Linden Avenue late one evening and began concepting ideas for how we could share our love and appreciation for the city we call home. Namely, to create the landscape and platform to help showcase and motivate others to truly embrace exploring and discovering all the wonderful things Dayton has to offer – to date your city.
The positive response to these initial concepts has been very humbling, especially how much we’ve managed to accomplish in such a short amount of time, with so much yet to come. These efforts have paid off, and now we are charged with developing an identity for one the most exciting expansions to hit downtown in recent years.

Left to right: Josh, Baton founder Jordan Hockett, Matthew
But first, let’s take a look at what got us here.
With the rise of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram it’s never been easier to showcase what moves and inspires you, and then share it with the world. We saw this happening everyday with three Dayton-centric social media accounts who used gorgeous photos to prove that Dayton is a great American city. We contacted and met with the creators of these accounts – Dayton Baton, Daytongram and Dayton’s Best – and shared our vision with them. That Vision: Work cooperatively and our goals will be that much easier to achieve. They got it immediately. So we united them under a thematically similar brand and began concepting the various ways they could work together.
The next step was joining forces with Dayton Most Metro to provide an additional platform and unifying entity to tie these social media accounts together. Matthew and I were brought on as co-publishers and got to work on planning the redesign for the next iteration of the site to actualize our vision. The first step was building a portal that both explained who the social media accounts were, their mission, and gave them the online tools to achieve that mission. The Mission: To inject our community with positivity and self-worth, and show everyone every day a new perspective on what makes our city great.

Meeting at 5th Street
We continued to put these social media accounts in touch with other community members who shared the same ideals, which led to a meeting with Olivia Barrow, of the Dayton Business Journal. What was supposed to be a quick meetup over a drink at 5th Street Brew Pub with Jordan Hockett, Tom Gilliam, Matthew, Oliva and myself became a two hour discussion that led to the idea of developing a well-branded self esteem campaign for the city. Tentatively called “I Love Dayton,” Olivia presented the idea at the UpDayton Summit. Amazingly our collaborative idea was chosen.

Provided by Dayton Inspires
Soon a committee was formed to develop the concept and Catapult became an obvious choice to participate in both the vision for the campaign and to create the brand itself. In the end our idea for Dayton Inspires was chosen among a number of different great brand names. We then designed the logo, and worked closely with Olivia and the committee to concept and design everything from stickers, posters, temporary tattoos and even a photobooth backdrop that have been unrolled over the past two months.
During all of this we also participated in the Activated Spaces program to move our offices downtown into the Talbott Tower. Downtown is where the action is, which is where we wanted to be, and just being here has led to a tremendous amount of growth and opportunity. Our street level office lets Dayton see our creativity on a daily basis, and demonstrate that a young creative agency can succeed here.
With Batman donning the cowl in our window, he has become a mantle of inspiration for us to focus on something greater than ourselves. To absorb ourselves in our city, to give back and help change the perception of fear, apathy and doubt into a calm, renewed sense of community. Everyday we are in the thick of it and are reminded of why we chose to be here.
All of these efforts have culminated in an exciting announcement and opportunity for Catapult Creative. We have been selected to concept and create both the name and logo for the Dayton Bike Share Program. We believe this project ties in perfectly with our vision of a Dayton that’s both growing and redefining what it means to live here. It is also perhaps a key reason we were selected among some true goliaths in the industry. We are excited to bring a youthful energetic passion, outside the box solutions, and outstanding design and branding to this elemental project for downtown.
We are Dayton. Dayton is us. This must be great.[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”50501″ alignment=”center” border_color=”grey” img_link_target=”_self” img_size=”full”][vc_column_text]

Provided by Bike Miami Valley
Some key points on the Dayton Bike Share:
- When it launches in spring 2015, Dayton will be one of 25+ cities across the U.S. with bike share systems.
- There will be 22 bike stations within a two mile radius of downtown, with each station containing six to ten bikes – totaling more than 200 bikes.
- Customers, who range from one-day users to annual subscribers, unlock the bikes and may ride to any other station or back to the original location at the end of their trip.
Made up of 9 local organizations, The Bike Share Planning Team is a fantastic example of the collaborative mindset that is so crucial to Dayton’s continued development.
There’s been a refreshing new appreciation for the value of knowing your community, and the Bike Share Planning Team has made that a primary focus for this branding effort.
We begin our journey with the Dayton Bike Share Program this week with an excitement fueled by fresh ideas and a sense of ownership that this must be great not only for the program and for our business, but for the citizens of this city we love.
I look forward to taking the first ride around this spring, and seeing a much more connected downtown.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
A Pretzel Party That Thinks It’s A Bike Race
The ride is held in conjunction with the Germantown Pretzel Festival and is sponsored by the Germantown Lions. All proceeds go to local food pantries and participating civic organizations.
The first annual tour will kick off at 8:30 AM, Saturday, September 27, 2014. This ride is an all-ages, family-friendly event. Want to ride a tandem? Come-along? Fixie? Recumbent? Unicycle? Pedicab? Everyone is welcome!
A ride across the wooden planks of the historic Germantown covered bridge is a feature enjoyed on all routes.
Biking For The Beer Of It
Deschutes Brewery sponsored 10 mile loop from West Carrolton to A Taste of Wine in
Miamisburg. Deschutes Beers presented by Kaitlin Walker & will include a t-shirt & pint glass for all participants.
Starts: 6:00 PM Sharp, begins at Roberd’s in West Carrollton across from Post Office on East Central Avenue.
Cost is $25 & is limited to first 80 cyclists.
For prepaid reservations, call Bonnie or Kim at A Taste of Wine @ (937) 247-1120.
Dayton Brewvet Midterm Report
We’ve reached the half-way point of the Dayton Brewvet:
Tom Morgan a columnist for Telephone Weekly, introduced tbe Brewvet concept to us a few weeks ago and this column is a follow up that.
We are three weeks into the six weeks of biking and beer that ends on August 8, 2014. I’d like to assume that all of you are out there riding your bikes and enjoying local craft beer, but I haven’t seen much activity online (#daytonbrewvet).
Well, besides my own. Maybe you all are going on rides and not posting, or maybe you are waiting until the last minute and planning on cramming all the rides in the last eight days (I’m looking at you, Kevin Gray). You wouldn’t do that, would you? In the off-chance that you are procrastinating, I figured a friendly reminder was in order so that the waning days of summer are filled with bikes, beer, and good times, and not, well, good times that may or may not involve the aforementioned bikes and beer.
If you need some extra motivation, you’re welcome to join me on Wednesday, July 23, when I’ll be headed to the Fifth Street Brewpub Co-op. I’ll be there from 6-8, so feel free to stop by, say hello, and have a beer—I’m hoping Fifth Street’s beer will still be on tap to sample.
There are also undoubtedly some of you who haven’t yet heard of the Dayton Brewvet. For those of you that haven’t, the full description and the rider information card can be found here. And while you only have three weeks left, there is still plenty of time to complete the eight following rides:
1. Local Brew: During your ride, stop at a local brewery and enjoy a beer.
2. Local Bar: Ride to your favorite local bar and enjoy a craft beer.
3. Co-op Brew: Ride to the Fifth Street Brewpub Co-op and enjoy a craft beer. Sorry to be self-serving, but I’m a co-op member, and you should be, too.
4. Patio/Outdoor Beer: Ride to a local bar with a patio, or to an outdoor event, and enjoy a craft beer outdoors.
5. Beer at Home: Take a spin to the store, and bring home a craft beer to drink.
6. Go Exploring: Ride someplace new, stop in at a new bar or restaurant, and try a new craft beer.
7. Can Beer: Canned craft beer is all the rage, in part because it packs in and out with ease. Find yourself a bike ride that incorporates beer in a can. Remember, though: you’re adults. Don’t get either of us in trouble.
8. Bike Path Brew: Plan a longer ride to explore some of Dayton’s bike paths, and use this as an excuse to visit one of the breweries close to the bike path: Yellow Springs Brewery in Yellow Springs (via the Creekside Trail and the Little Miami Trail), Star City Brewing Company in Miamisburg (via the Great Miami River Recreational Trail), or, for the truly brave of heart, Fifty West in Cincinnati. If you’re willing to ride to Cincinnati, I’m pretty sure you can figure out a route on your own.
Thus far, I’ve completed three rides: Can Ride, Local Bar, and Go Exploring. Yes, I’m a bit of a procrastinator myself. Thus far I’ve racked up 53.1 miles on those three rides, although 52 of that was for just one ride. Yes, it was a doozy. I plan on hitting another one this weekend, so that I’ll be halfway finished by the time Wednesday rolls around. Check out the #daytonbrewevet to see more of my (and soon hopefully others!) Dayton Brewvet shenanigans.
Hope to see you at the Fifth Street Brewpub on Wednesday!
Register Now For Tour De Dayton – It’s Free!
Roll along Dayton’s bike friendly neighborhood streets, experiencing cultural and historical destinations that promote our growing healthy quality of life on the Tour De Dayton! This 4th annual community biking event started with the purpose of helping Dayton become a more active bicycle friendly city while promoting the diverse neighborhoods, culture and proud history of Dayton.
Explorer a new part of our wonderful city with a new route as we do each year and visit new great points of interest along the way discovering why Dayton Loves Cycling! On Saturday August 16th from 9am-3pm, starting & ending at Washington Park, this year riding through Northeast and part of Southeast Dayton neighborhoods of (Wright View, McCook Field, Old North Dayton & Springfield).
In addition there is an option for cyclist to ride to visit the WPAFB Museum in conjunction with their annual “Family Day Celebration” as well as a chance to ride through the scenic Eastwood Park Mad River bike trail on the way using the brand new WPAFB trail tunnel connector that takes you straight to the gate of the museum using the new off street bike traffic path!!
A few other points of interest this year will be a visit to DATV where you can see how tv programs are made, MVCDC (Located in Ahiska Turkish owned community center), scenic ride past many of the Old North Dayton historic architectural churches of (Polish, Hungarian, German, Lithuanina, Baptist, Catholic, Pentecostals & church of God origins and ownership), a section of the old canal bed(Rita street), The Kossuth Colony Historic District (Notre Dame, & Baltimore streets), the Life Enrichment Center (safety Village & community outreach Bike repair & safety training), the riverscape bike hub for free tours and two of the best kept secrets in North Dayton a cool historic neighborhood deli (Charlies Deli) & SWORD– Southwest Ohio Recreation & Defense where you can take classes for Belly Dancing, Archery, Fencing, Martial Arts Yoga And other exercises right here in our city all in one place!!!
Volunteers will be along the route at the points of interest to assist bike parking etc, Water refill stops, restrooms stops, as well as giving away a variety of bike related items, free healthy snack stop break while supplies last for participants and its all free.
Online registration will close around August 13 a few days before this years tour to allow time for administration but no worries you can register the same day of the event as well.
Tom Morgan introduces Dayton Brewvet
The summer months are upon us, so it is time to jump on your bike and enjoy the outdoors. Dayton is a great town for cycling; there are more than 250 miles of bike trails in the greater Dayton metro area, which is a fair share more than many lauded bike-friendly cities. With that in mind, I am here today to offer you the Dayton Brewvet. My inspiration is John Roche of DrinkCraftBeer.com, who pioneered the concept of the Brewvet last summer;I would have participated this year, but he started it mad early and it was over almost before I thought to look it up!
So rather than admitting defeat, I decided a local Dayton version was in order. The idea behind the Brewvet is drawn from randonneuring, a long-distance, non-competitive endurance cycling event; the Randonneur USA website notes that “friendly camaraderie, not competition, is the hallmark of randonneuring.” The idea of taking pleasure in the event itself rather than focusing on competition is something I can get behind. As Roche explains further, “since a randonneuring event is called a brevet, it only made sense to call our take on this concept the Brewvet.” While we’re leaving behind the long-distance part of randonneuring—with the exception of ride number eight—combining cycling and local craft beer seems a perfect recipe for summer fun.
The Dayton Brewvet will run from June 27, 2014 to August 8, 2014, so there will be plenty of time to get out and explore Dayton by bike. The eight rides—and they can be completed in any order you would like—are:

Your eight rides should ideally combine for a total distance of at least 40 miles; as Roche also notes, “A ride qualifies if you either stop to drink a beer during your bike ride, or purchase a beer on your bike ride that you drink shortly after you get back home. Just like in a brevet, you must provide documentation of each stop on your adventures.”
1. Limit of one ride per day. Any ride in which you drink more than one beer still only counts as one ride. Be responsible and make adult decisions.
2. Each ride should be to a different location. No doubling up on bars or breweries.
3. Each ride should feature a different beer, with preference towards craft beer. Local beer is even better.
4. The eight rides are to be completed between June 27, 2014 and August 8, 2014.
5. While there is no minimum distance for each ride, aim to cover at least 40 miles over the course of your eight rides. The Bike Path Brew ride is intended to bulk up everyone’s overall numbers. Yes, long rides are hard. But also fun.
6. For each ride, fill out the Dayton Brewvet rider information card (the Dayton Brewvet rider information card can be found here). Please document the following: Destination: from where to where did you ride? Beer: what did you drink? Miles: how long was the round trip? Date: when did you do it? Ride Completed: which of the eight rides was this?

Editors Note: This post by Tom Morgan was originally supposed to be published in Telephone Weekly, where he writes a craft beer column, but issues have temporarily sidelined them. Boo! Since letting the idea of a Dayton Brewvet to go to waste this summer seemed criminal, we’re getting it started here with Tom’s permission!
Biking the Great Allegheny Passage / Craft Beer Tasting
Miami Valley Bikeways Guide and Map Now Available
The Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission (MVRPC) is pleased to announce the release of the Miami Valley Ohio Bikeways Guide Map – 2014 Edition. This fourth edition of this very popular map will be available from parks agencies, some local governments, and various local bike shops. Download the 2014 Miami Valley Bikeways Map as a PDF document. You can order a 2014 Miami Valley Bikeways Map online. MVRPC will ship a paper copy of the map directly to you. Larger quantity requests are handled on a case-by-case basis, and filled only if quantities are available. To request more than one map, contact Kjirsten Frank, 937.223.6323.
“The 2014 map provides the most up-to-date information on the Miami Valley Trails, the nation’s largest network of paved, off-street trails. Over 95,000 copies of the map were printed this time. That’s the largest print run of the four editions,” stated Brian O. Martin, MVRPC’s Executive Director. “It’s a testament to its popularity. Our local partners, who distribute and help pay for the map, wanted more copies printed.”
New trails in this edition include the Dayton-Kettering Connector (Trail #19) and the extension of the Simon Kenton Trail (Trail #3) from Urbana to Bellefontaine. As compared to the 2011 edition, the Great Miami Trail (Trail #25) in Miami County is now shown as a continuous route from Tipp City to Piqua. The map also details the detour routes in Downtown Dayton due to the years’ long project to reconstruct and modernize I-75. Buckeye Trail and North Country Scenic Trail routes are now shown and our popular mileage matrix includes more cities and towns to help trip or training planning.
The 2014 map has an exciting new feature. The new map highlights thirty-one (31) attractions found along the trails to give residents and visitors alike a better sense of what can be found along these beautiful greenways. Trail users will notice museums, parks, historic sites, outdoor sports venues, as well as eight (8) National Aviation Heritage sites right along the trails.
“We are extremely grateful to our sponsors for helping offset the cost to print these maps. These sponsorships provide critical funding enabling the park districts, bike shops and local governments to provide the maps FREE-OF-CHARGE,” explained Martin. Sponsors include “Presenting Sponsor” Cox Media Group (Ohio) and returning “Bronze Level Sponsor” Children’s Medical Center. New sponsors for the 2014 edition include: “Gold Level Sponsor” Dayton Power & Light and “Bronze Level Sponsors” Bike Miami Valley, the Dayton Cycling Club, Great Miami Outfitters, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, and Safe Kids Greater Dayton.