STARKVILLE — While holiday sales of bicycles are going pretty well for Boardtown Bikes, sales overall have been on the decline for the last year or so.
“This year has been slower than last,” store manager Casey Black said.
Black added that it was an acute decline rather than chronic — Boardtown Bikes, at least, hasn’t been slowly losing customers over the years.
There have also been changes to the bike industry in recent years, Black said. Specifically, the sale and use of racing bikes have declined while the use of bikes as a healthy way of exercising has gained momentum.
“We get a lot of former runners who have knee problems that (bike) because it’s a lot easier on your body than running,” Black said. “And it can be easier to do as well. You can cover more ground too with a bike as opposed to running.”
Typical customers at Boardtown bikes are people looking for ways to exercise, although Black added that there are many university students who buy bikes to actually commute to and from class and other places.
Black believes the reason fewer adults are using bikes to commute is because so many places — especially in the Golden Triangle — don’t have safe places for bikers to travel. The places he knows of that are good for biking are all trails and parks, like the Tanglefoot Trail, which runs from Houston to New Albany. Black also recommended the Hattiesburg Trace which he has ridden several times.
“Then here in Starkville a lot of people will drive out to the Refuge, south of town, the Noxubee Refuge,” he said. “There’s areas to park out there and ride bikes.”
Biking in West Point, Columbus
The lack of places to safely ride may be what’s discouraging people to purchase bikes, Black said.
Because most of its streets are so narrow, the city of West Point has no plans to add bike lanes for cyclers in the city, according to Mayor Robbie Robinson.
“I wish there were because I’m a biker myself, a casual biker,” Robinson said.
Columbus, too, is bike lane-free, according to David Armstrong, the city’s chief operations officer.
“We’re not planning any bike paths along any roads right now,” Armstrong said. “That’s what we built the Riverwalk for and they’re looking to expand the Riverwalk for people who use bikes but nothing planned on any roadways right now.”
Armstrong added that the expansion should make it a long bike trail for Columbus bikers.
More lanes coming in Starkville?
But certain cities, including Starkville, are implementing bike lanes and multi-use lanes to make it safer and easier for cyclists to share the roads with cars.
The Lynn Lane Multi-Use Path project is one such lane near completion in Starkville, according to Edward Kemp, Starkville’s city engineer. That path runs from the intersection of Montgomery Street and Locksley Way to McKee Park via Lynn Lane. Except for a couple of minor construction details, the path is completed, Kemp said, and is already in use.
The city is also working on plans to implement two other bike lanes, according to Kemp. The Russell Street Project and the Louisville Street Multi-Use Path are both still in the design stages. Kemp does not know when they will be completed. The first will involve adding bike lanes on either side of Russell Street from Lampkin Street to Mississippi State University’s campus. The second will be a 10-foot multi-use path winding its way from the intersection of Louisville Street and Lynn Lane south to Emerson Family School, Kemp said.
Other parts of Starkville already have bike lanes on the edges of streets, a trend which the city began a few years ago to provide access for the city’s many bikers, Kemp said.
“We have a large student population, of course, with Mississippi State,” Kemp said. “And a lot of them just choose to use bicycles to get to and from campus. We also have a large population of students and residents who don’t own vehicles, so biking and walking using these multi-use paths can be their only form of transportation.”
It’s a trend Black is pleased with.
“There’s just not a lot of sidewalk access to get to like grocery stores, at least in Starkville, and such,” he said. “It’s progressing. Slowly but surely, the town’s being more bike accessible, but it’s still got a lot of ways to go.”
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