Pandemic produces a 2020 surge for the spirit of Bike Glenview

In one sense, 2020 is a great year for the Bike Glenview program.

Once people got out from under the COVID-19 shelter-in-place order, out they got. Everyone and his mother were biking and walking.

"It's unreal, and I don't think it's going to end anytime soon," said Glenview Cycle owner Alan Rubin, who's found it tough to keep up with demand.

In another sense, until gatherings and businesses can move beyond the 10-person limit of Phase 3 under Gov. J.B. Pritzker's Restore Illinois plan, virtually none of Bike Glenview's group activities can take place.

Perhaps "virtually" is a poor choice of words.

The Glenview Natural Resources Department, in fact, offers an online guide to green infrastructure projects accessible to cyclists. The tour, designed by the department's Robyn Flakne, loops from the vegetation-covered roof of the Evelyn Pease Tyner Interpretive Center on Compass Road south to the West Fork Riverwalk, near the east end of about a 1-mile stretch of Dewes Street between Shermer Road and River Drive. The Village of Glenview provides a map of the tour.

Otherwise events such as Our Lady of Perpetual Help's "Deals on Wheels" fundraiser, the North Branch Trail Ride co-hosted by Friends of the Forest Preserves and the Glenview Public Library's anticipated "Cycling Through History" all-ages ride to Gallery Park all have been scratched.

"Hopefully next year we can do it, or maybe in the fall," said library communications director Hilary Gabel.

The library is one of several village entities that have a hand in Bike Glenview including the Park District, Chamber of Commerce, Natural Resources Commission and the Village of Glenview itself, whose Hall is among many places free printed trail maps are available.

This commitment helped Glenview earn a Bronze award from the League of American Bicyclists, one of 17 Illinois "bicycle friendly" communities.

Building upon an already-present philosophy of connecting residents to key destinations while reducing nonmotorized transportation, Bike Glenview sprung in part from a 2007 Glenview Bicycle and Sidewalk Master Plan that recommended the installation of more than 50 miles of bicycle facilities on- and off-street.

It built steam about seven years later when the Park District sought to reduce vehicular traffic to Park Center on Chestnut Avenue, said Glenview communications manager Lynne Stiefel, part of Bike Glenview since its beginning.

"One of the reasons why we started Bike Glenview is biking helps a community's health," Stiefel said.

"Obviously if you're biking you're not in your car, so you're reducing traffic congestion, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and obviously when you're biking you get to see more of your community. Instead of driving by in a car you get to experience the community you're biking through," she said.

Her favorite ride is about a 10-mile jaunt that incorporates Gallery Park, Lake Glenview and the Techny Basin - topped off, naturally, by a visit to the Glenview Dairy Bar. She noted, though, the current "irony" of biking's popularity at a time when services and activities are limited.

Stieffel said more designated bike paths are built "all the time," while Henrietta Saunders, chair of the Glenview Natural Resources Commission, said there's a need for more paths that go east-west.

"I think it's still the challenge," said Saunders, who'd also like to create more awareness of "caring for the river."

Jena Johnson, director of Brand Strategies and Community Engagement for the Glenview Park District, believes Bike Glenview users see additional benefit.

She thinks people who were inspired to bike and walk while most everything else was under lockdown will continue their healthy habits. Relying less on a car, they'll find a healthier bank account.

"Glenview is a small community," she said, "and as long as the weather is nice you're helping the environment but you're probably also helping your pocketbook, too."

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