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SOMbike Presents Safe Bicycle Fun To Residents

South Orange Maplewood Bicycle Coalition does Family Ride through West Orange.

It was a beautiful day for a bike ride on Sunday as the South Orange Maplewood Bicycle Coalition (SOMbike) presented the first Family Ride event of the month.  Led by SOMbike co-President Tom Reingold, the group maneuvered a route from The Baird to the Thomas Edison Laboratory Complex in West Orange.

“The Coalition is in place to help facilitate changes in the biking culture of our towns,” said Reingold’s fellow co-President, Ellen Kahaner.  “The way that we do that is by having family bike rides every other week that attract community members and kids of all ages to actually get in the streets and ride in our communities.”

Around a dozen bikers joined in on the 2 ½ mile trip, during which they rode on both residential and main streets.  The group, which advocates making the towns safer for bikers, while teaching the proper traffic enforcement rules to its members, stayed out of the way of passing by motorists.

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“When we show people that they can be comfortable in traffic and truly safe, then that’s freedom, that’s self-reliance” said Reingold.  “You get a sense of accomplishment when you do something like that and it opens up more places to go for recreation and for transportation.”

SOMbike’s next family ride is on August 7 and its recommended to check out their website for the details.

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