Arts & Entertainment

'Bike-O-Rama' Gets Riding This Week

Weeklong celebration of the bicycle begins with garden tour, music and movies Saturday.

Fun bike rides for fun people.

That is the tag line for the inaugural "Bike-O-Rama" event, set to kick off at 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 18, with a bike ride and garden tour from the Community Garden on Early Street. Riders will return by 7 p.m. to the garden for some live music, followed by an outdoor movie event at 8 p.m. A bike-related event will take place every day until next Friday, when Bike-O-Rama concludes with the annual "Art of the Bicycle" art show, at 7 p.m. at Marty's Reliable Cycle.

The Bike-O-Rama idea spawned from conversations Kendra Arnold–an avid bike rider who maintains a plot at the community garden–had with Marty Epstein, the owner of Marty's Reliable Cycle, and other bike enthusiasts.

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Ryan Taylor, an employee at the bike shop, has put together the "Art of the Bicycle" show for several years with his girlfriend, Ashley Cook. A community bike ride, formerly called "Critical Mass," after a popular series of rides in New York City, leaves at 6:30 p.m. every final Friday of the month from the Town Hall parking lot. This also gave Arnold an idea to expand.

"I had been talking about stepping it up and having a festival," she said. "So I wanted to piggyback on their art show because it's really popular."

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Arnold said she first took a major interest in bikes several years ago when, after getting rid of what she called her "crappy car," she took to her bike for utilitarian reasons.

"I wasn't anti-car or anything," she said. "I thought I would end up getting another car, but I never did."

Today, most of her transport is done by bike, or with her husband, David Kormann's car.

Arnold, along with Cook, set up a Facebook page called "Bike Morristown." From that, they have sought out ideas for what people think are cool bike rides around town, spawning a week of events.

Sunday's ride will head to Ford Avenue, where riders will clean up the area. On Monday, bikers head out of town, to Carmel Haifa, in Morris Plains, for falafels.

"It's kind of neat to see people wanting to show off what they think is cool in Morristown," Arnold said.

In addition, all this week cyclists who bring their helmets into Greenberry's and ask for the "Bike-O-Rama Tall Coffee" will get free cups.

Arnold said the week of events is meant to be laid back and enjoyable.

Still, should it prove to be successful, "I have big dreams [for next year]," she said.

For more information about "Bike-O-Rama" and Bike Morristown, visit the Bike Morristown Facebook page.


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