Inspiration haul: Cyclists demonstrate how bikes can move heavy things, just like small cars

A group of cyclists made a circuit of the Eugene Saturday Market towing strange cargo — a live band playing songs.

Organized by a local advocacy group dreaming of having more bikes on Eugene streets than cars, Saturday's ride from Monroe Park around the Saturday Market and down to the river was about demonstrating one thing: with a little inspiration and practice, almost anyone can learn to let bicycles replace cars even when hauling really heavy stuff.

"The possibilities are wide open. They're not limitations. You can pretty much carry almost anything by bike that you could in a small car," said Tomoko Sekiguchi, a volunteer with the event's organizer, Climate Revolutions By Bike.

By the end of Saturday's event — called the "Haul Your Assets Ride: How to Carry Big, Heavy and Awkward Stuff" — participants had learned how different kinds of bikes and accessories, such as trailers, can reduce the need for cars.

Improving opportunities for cycling is a constant refrain among those fighting climate change because trips by bike never release greenhouse gases. But awareness rides help make it clear to people bikes are an option, Sekiguchi said.

"Bikes are an very individually doable solution to climate," Sekiguchi said. "When people feel overwhelmed with what's happening in the world and are feeling like there's very little they can do about it, this is one thing that they can do."

Sekiguchi and the other riders gathered first at Monroe Park, some sharing stories about replacing their cars with bikes. As they rode off, many towed trailers behind them, while others hauled members of the local band Meadow Rue.

The Haul Your Assets Ride, after it carted the band through the Saturday Market, proceeded to the Willamette River. Cyclists filled buckets with water, loaded them onto their bikes and rode a short distance to water some nearby trees.

The exercise, Sekiguchi said, was meant to give participants hands-on proof they were capable of carrying anything.

"It's about getting past the barrier of thinking that you can't do something," Sekiguchi said.

A climate impact

Transportation is one of the leading producers of greenhouse gases worldwide, and in Lane County, it's no different.

Transportation accounted for 36% of Lane County greenhouse gas emissions, according to a 2019 inventory. Passenger vehicles accounted for 51% of the total transportation emissions and 44% of the total came from commercial vehicles.

More:Tricky transportation issues at center of Lane County's emissions reduction plan

Car trips of shorter than a mile add up to about 10 billion miles per year in the United States, according to a 2009 U.S. National Household Transportation Survey. Cutting that in half would eliminate as much as 2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year, equivalent to taking about 400,000 cars off the road per year, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Ready for anything

Willie Hatfield sold his car in 2010, and it's not like he doesn't have anything to haul.

"I work with my hands," Hatfield said. "I am always moving building supplies and project supplies. I've moved cities and I've moved within Eugene. I need to carry a lot of stuff, so having a cargo bike lets me do all of that without a car."

Hatfield, an engineer for the Eugene cargo bicycle manufacturer Bike Friday, easily can haul his furniture on his bike. But he's also been preparing to carry more vital supplies: water, medicine, food and other necessities of an emergency.

"Everyone's worried about the Cascadia Subduction Zone. One of the things people forget about is running out of gas shortly after the event, and that's where cargo bikes kick in," Hatfield said. "Cargo bikes, and bikes in general, can play a really important role in a natural disaster. But, it takes a bit of inspiration and example for people to understand that."

The Disaster Relief Trials are a cargo bike competition in Oregon meant to simulate a disaster "day four" supply run. Hatfield first participated in Eugene in 2013 and, most recently, in Portland earlier this year, where he was the winner.

The competition assigns riders to carry various heavy items and a parcel of eggs representing fragile medical supplies. They travel over rough terrain as well as navigating city streets, designing their own routes to hit route checkpoints.

"Everything is more excited when you have a couple hundred pounds of disaster relief supplies with you," Hatfield said.

More:Eugene-Springfield neighbors coordinating, training to rely on each other when disaster strike

The Disaster Relief Trials have inspired similar events around the country, and as natural disasters become more prevalent, some disaster managers are beginning to incorporate bicycles more fully into their response plans.

Sekiguchi said thinking about how bikes can help in disasters and practicing before they happen can save lives.

"When the fires came through in 2020 down in Phoenix, Oregon, people were trapped in rural areas and not able to get help, and a bicyclist went out there and found people who needed help and brought them water and supplies and could navigate roads when others couldn't," Sekiguchi said. "An ambulance might not be able to get down the road."

Awareness and infrastructure

Climate Revolutions by Bike oftentimes hosts rides and events meant just to make it more common for bikers to be sharing the road with cars, something Sekiguchi said hopefully inspires riders to ride and drivers to be considerate.

"The idea is a mass bike ride in that we'd get enough people to stop traffic and make an impact," Sekiguchi said. "We are bike advocates in every way. We go to city council meetings. We weigh in on all the active transportation ideas."

Saturday's event was the first time Climate Resolutions By Bike focused on using bikes for hauling big items.

Shane Rhodes, the transportation options manager for the City of Eugene, said raising awareness of the possibilities available to cyclists is what makes existing biking infrastructure valuable and is most likely to inspire future projects.

Rhodes said active bike groups and events like the Haul Your Assets Ride can inspire new habits for everyday people. He pointed to programs such as the Safe Routes to School projects meant to make cycling a more viable option locally.

"If they can see what is possible, it helps them think it is something they can do," Rhodes said. "We're at that tipping point now where we not only have to build the infrastructure, but educate people how to use it and the possibilities."

'We don't have a blank check': Lane County releases draft of unfunded bicycle master plan

While more people on bicycles can have a positive impact everywhere, not every town is equipped to support them.

Though Eugene and Springfield have fairly developed bicycle networks, Lane County currently is working on its Bicycle Master Plan, meant to bridge rural gaps in biking infrastructure. The plan for those projects remains largely unfunded.

Lane County spokeswoman Devon Ashbridge said people in rural communities often are left behind in bike planning.

"A lot of the challenges and the reasons we are working on this plan apply to both people who want to ride bikes for either enjoyment or exercise, as well as commuting and people who potentially want to haul things," Ashbridge said.

"For the most part, rural roads lack shoulders of any significance, bike lanes, curbs and sidewalks. The infrastructure for people to ride bikes separately and at a more removed distance from vehicles is just not there on most rural roads."

Contact reporter Adam Duvernay at aduvernay@registerguard.com. Follow on Twitter @DuvernayOR.

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Cyclists join 'Haul Your Assets' to show how bikes can move heavy items