(Photo by Robert Ford)
Follow the white sharrows. Follow the white sharrows. Follow the white sharrows.
It doesn’t have quite the same ring as the Yellow Brick Road, but the two instructions do have a lot in common. In Dorothy’s case it took her on a tour of Oz, while the other will take bike riders on a tour of Saugerties.
On Saturday, Aug. 29 at 9 a.m. (rain or shine), the Saugerties Transportation Advisory Council and its safe street program will hold a Celebration of the Sharrows Community Bike Ride from the municipal lot on Partition St. behind Mirabellas to the Lighthouse.
Sharrows are road markings in the shape of bicycles reminding motorists to share the road with cyclists. They aren’t dedicated bike lanes.
Revolution Bicycles on Main St. is helping co-sponsor the event. Co-owners Steve Leibowitz and Samantha Moranville are looking forward to the ride.
“We’re looking to help out anyway we can,” said Moranville. “This whole ride is about helping people have fun and getting people out on bicycles.”
“The advisory council through the safe streets program has worked hard to raise bicycle awareness with motorists,” Leibowitz added.
“We’ve been here six years now,” Leibowitz said, “and it’s been nice seeing the progress Saugerties has been making when it comes to making motorists realize that they are sharing the roads with bicyclists.”
While the village Department of Public Works still has a number of sharrows to paint on local streets for the Aug. 29 ride, most of the roads on Bike Route A have been painted.