News Highlights

Mankato bicycling club members: on the streets, and online

Mankato's chain gang, the Greater Mankato Bicycling Club, is using the Internet to get other bikers interested in joining.

2006-05-30
By Shane Frederick, Free Press staff writer [published in The Free Press, Mankato, MN, 5/30/2006]

MANKATO — Terry Beenken knew they were out there.

He has seen them.

Usually, he's riding in one direction, and they're going the other way, though.

"We never get to chat," said Beenken, a bicycle racer and bike enthusiast. "I just think, 'Who is that person?' We never get to make that connection."

Now, Beenken and other cyclists are hooking up with the area's other bike lovers and trying to get them all pedaling down the same path.

Beenken and Angela DeLuca have started the Greater Mankato Bicycling Club, a grass-roots, nonprofit organization that is intended to promote bicycling in areas of health, recreation, education and advocacy.

They want to bring the biking community — from hard-core road racers to mountain bikers to trail cruisers to families — together.

"Cycling in Mankato, it's awesome down here," Beenken said. "There couldn't be a better place to ride."

The club's stated goals are to:

• Get more people riding, more often and more safely.
• Increase the voice and visibility of the area's cycling community.
• Improve facilities and the environment for cyclists.
• Promote cycling as a transportation alternative.
• "We're just here to unify the cycling community and the community as a whole," said DeLuca, an admitted "leisure rider."

Those same goals are shared by hundreds of bicycle clubs around the United States. The Cascade Bicycle Club in Seattle claims to be the largest, boasting 5,000 members, and the San Diego Bicycle Club is the oldest, having been founded in 1946.

According to its Web site, the Seattle club puts on presentations, runs education, consulting and advocacy programs and sponsors more than 1,000 daily rides.

The Mankato club is still in its infancy, of course. The first fundraiser was held in mid-March, and there are about 25 registered members, DeLuca said. But the club's Web site (www.mankatobicycleclub.com) has already drawn in several members and other visitors who surf a busy online bulletin board to arrange meetings and group rides, promote biking events and seek or give riding advice.

"I can't believe how many people use the message board," Beenken said. "I've hooked up on rides I got a heads up on. I'll bet I've met a dozen people I've never talked to before who are suddenly showing up for rides."

The club can be a resource for people who are interested in getting into racing, as several members, including Beenken, are elite-level competitors. Beenken will be competing in the Nature Valley Grand Prix, a Minnesota stage race that includes a stop in Mankato on June 17.

But the club's not just about the pro-style riders, Beenken insists.

He wants its members to be advocates for the area's trail system, to organize local races and charity rides and maybe even do volunteer work on behalf of the club. It's about showing strength in numbers while fighting for bike lanes and promoting bike commuting, and it's about showing moms and dads safe and fun places to pedal with their kids.

"It's about connecting people, more than anything, bringing people together," Beenken said. "We want them to know there are other options out there than the same roads they ride every day."

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