News Story by Dave Wolkowitz, 04/24/95

People gathered around campus last weekend to join in events organized in celebration of the 25th anniversary of Earth Day.

On Saturday morning, about 30 people gathered in front of the University Alma Mater for the Critical Mass Earth Day Bike Ride that took them on a loop through Champaign and Urbana. The group of bikers often stopped traffic and occupied entire lanes of streets for over a hundred feet.

Aileen Crotty, sophomore in FAA, said the purpose of the bike ride was to let people know that bikers have a right to the road as much as cars do.

Eric Burin, graduate student, said he had never been on the Earth Day Bike Ride before but looked forward to doing it again.

"(The reason for the bike ride was) to celebrate that bikes are a legitimate form of transportation and to try to make drivers aware that we are on the road and not targets," Burin said.

Before the ride began, Crotty said she cautioned all the riders against possibly hostile motorists. She also passed out pieces of paper to the bikers explaining the ride's purpose so that the bikers could hand them to annoyed motorists.

Crotty said in spite of these precautions, the ride went off without a hitch. She said the ride was so successful that other rides will be held every Friday.

Megan Nortup, sophomore in LAS, said that in addition to trying to make the streets safe for bikers, the ride also served to demonstrate a pollution-preventing alternative to car driving.

Burin said there is no reason for traffic jams in small communities.

"There shouldn't be a parking problem, because in a community this small, there's no need for that many cars," Burin said.

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Daily Illini Online -- UIUC -- 1995/April/24 Copyright (c) 1995 Illini Media Company, all rights reserved.