May is Bike Month! With the month is almost half-way over, there have been some great activities in Rockville with more to come. While Rockville Kidical Mass doesn’t launch until June, some of our regional sister rides do kick off this month.

Bike Month started out with a tasty celebration in the form of the Tour de Cookie to benefit the Treehouse Child Assessment Center of Montgomery County. More than 500 cyclists – a 75% increase from last year – came out to eat homemade cookies and benefit a great cause. Family biking was very well-represented, with plenty of parents towing little ones in trailers and accompanying kids on their own bikes. Even the mayor participated, with her own team of riders!

To follow up, the next day, the Rockville Bicycle Advisory Committee held our annual Bike Month kick-off ride to show off our local infrastructure. More than 40 riders saw as many highlights as we could fit in a six mile route.

Refurbished bikes for the awesome kids in the TERRIFIC Kids program!

Later that week, the City of Rockville, with the help of the new Rockville Bike Hub community bike shop, continued to support youth cycling through its TERRIFIC Kids program. First through third graders who complete six “responsible acts” can receive a free refurbished bicycle through the program. Along with the proclamation of May as Bike Month, the City Council meeting also congratulated the young recipients of the bicycles. However, the kids haven’t picked up their bikes quite yet. The Bike Hub is still looking for volunteers for this Sunday, May 17 at the King Farm Barns at Picard and Grand Champion from 10am-12noon and 1-3pm to help kids pick out their bicycles. Contact the Bike Hub though their Facebook page or Twitter to volunteer.

For the rest of Bike Month, there are two more Bike Rockville-supported events coming up. The nationwide Bike to Work Day is this Friday, May 15. With three stops in Rockville (two run by the city and one by JGB at Twinbrook) and weather predicted to be beautiful, we should have a great turnout. Be sure to register to get great swag and help Rockville beat Frederick in our annual Bike to Work Day showdown. The international Ride of Silence is on May 20 and honors all bicyclists that have been hurt or killed by motorists. The Rockville ride is especially in honor of Jamie Roberts, a Rockville native who was killed while riding across the country to raise money for cancer charities.

Because of the vast array of activities in May, the Rockville Bicycle Advisory Committee generally doesn’t start its regular rides until June, including the Tuesday night rides, Millennium Trail rides, and Kidical Mass rides. However, that hasn’t stopped our sister rides from starting this month! Kidical Mass Gaithersburg had its first ride in the beginning of the month and Kidical Mass Arlington has its season launch ride this Saturday at 5:30 PM. Later this month, Kidical Mass D.C. is doing a “bike-to-storytime” ride with the D.C. Public Library on May 31 at 1:30 PM at the Petworth Library.

With all of the great events going on, there’s no reason not to ride!