For one week at least, get out of that car and onto a bike

With the national average price for gasoline breaking $3.50 per gallon last month, Bay State Bike Week is an auspicious time to answer the question "Wanna bike to work?" with a resounding "Yes." Or, at least, "OK, I'll try it."

May is National Bike Month. Here in Massachusetts, the coalition behind Bay State Bike Week (May 12-18) is doing its part to get folks to reconsider their daily transportation choices.

Like Susan Brady.

"There was a guy at work who encouraged me to bike to work," said Brady, 41, who works for a Cambridge pharmaceutical company. "I thought it was too far. I live in Roslindale."

But Brady discovered she could bike the 8.2-mile commute in 50 minutes, the same time it takes via her bus, T (Orange Line and Red Line), and on foot.

For six years now, she's been biking to work along the Jamaicaway and Muddy River paths, on average four times a week.

"I aspire to five days a week," she said.

It's people like Brady that Bike Week hopes to reach.

"We're asking people to change their habits and leave their cars behind," said Jim Gascoigne, volunteer chairman of the event's organizing committee. "Almost everyone rode a bike once as a kid. Everyone can ride again."

The movement has a long way to go: Only 1.5 percent of Boston workers commute by bike. Still, this year, with the mayor's office behind Bike Week for the first time this year, Gascoigne is hoping for oodles more than 2007's 1,500 participating cyclists.

"We expect to double that this year," he said.

Principal sponsors include The Boston Globe, boston.com, MassCommute, and the city of Boston. Bike Week's roots go back to a 1995 event called the Area Wide Medical Ride.

Part consciousness-raising effort, part strength-in-numbers showing, Bike Week's events include the 50,000-Mile Commuter Challenge, which is a campaign to get Commonwealth cyclists to collectively bike more than 50,000 miles in a week.

Participants pledge the number of round-trip miles and days they plan to commute. A corporate team component is a friendly competition to see which companies do the best job getting their employees to commute by bike.

On Friday the 16th, Bike-to-Work day, "Safe-Rider Convoys" led by experienced cyclists depart from various locations in Boston, Cambridge, and Arlington.

Breakfast "pit stops" in Cambridge (Monday through Thursday) and Boston's Government Center (Friday), plus "goodie zones" (Friday), give riders a refreshment break and a way to connect with other bikers.

A key component to the week is the Bike Buddy program. Veteran cyclists are asked to become a noncycling friend's personal cycling guide and mentor for a day.

New riders may want to bike to their jobs or to their local grocery store, said Gascoigne, but have reservations: they don't feel comfortable in traffic, worry about how to handle bad weather, or are unsure of a good route. A Bike Buddy helps put the antibike argument to the test.

"People have assumptions that they're unaware of that keep them from doing it," said Gascoigne, who bikes from Arlington to Kendall Square most work days.

Other events include the Redbones Bike Party & Benefit (Somerville, Monday, May 12) with food, drink, bicycle valet parking, music, and giveaways; Brookline Bikes Beacon Bicycle Parade and the Newton Bicycle Rally and Family Ride (both Sunday, May 18); and bike rentals all week.

For more information, see baystatebikeweek.org.

More on the lanes debate

My last column, about bike lanes (April 20), spawned a deluge of letters, and a still-fuming debate on the MassBike Google groups discussion list. Some readers wrote to support the view put forth by the administration of most biking and transportation groups I talked to - including MassBike and LivableStreets Alliance and the cities of Boston and Cambridge - that well-designed bike lanes can help create a safer environment for cyclists.

Detractors called the column, and me, everything from naive to misinformed. Ouch. But hey, I appreciate the passion.

Opponents think bike lanes might encourage careless riding, and fear the hazards of improperly maintained or designed bike lanes.

In particular, proponents of "vehicular bicycling" believe a well-educated cyclist who follows the rules of the road is safer biking in traffic than in a segregated lane.

"I think bike lanes [compared with a paved shoulder] can be harmless in some places [e.g. suburban arterials with no driveways or on-street parking]," wrote Paul Schimek, a transportation planner and former bicycle program manager for the city of Boston.

He argued that most threats to bicyclists come from urban traffic turning and pulling out, and parked cars opening doors. "Bicycle lanes are not intended to address these threats, and can make them worse, to the extent that they encourage motorists and bicyclists to disobey the rules of the road."

Schimek and several others also wrote to suggest that cyclists taking a bike skills class is another path to increasing safety.

Clearly, bike lanes are not magical force fields of protection. Cyclists always need to be on their guard.

But a compelling argument in favor of bike lanes and other physical accommodations is they make drivers more aware of bicyclists - and remind drivers that cyclists are legitimate users of the road.

Moreover, a bike lane can encourage that untapped majority of potential cyclists who would otherwise not be comfortable riding in a traffic lane.

There is the safety in numbers argument, too. (If there are there any studies that prove bike lanes actually reduce safety, please bring them to my attention.)

Bike lanes do not preclude vehicular bicycling - I do both, depending on where I am and what feels safest in the moment.

Massachusetts law does not require cyclists to use bike lanes, and gives bikes the same rights and responsibilities as motorized vehicles.

Any cyclist uncomfortable in bike lanes can ignore them and ride bravely with the flow of traffic.

I'm here to listen to all voices in the bicycling community, and welcome your e-mails.

I hope you'll introduce yourself and kindly speak your mind.

Events and news

Hurrah, no cars allowed! Bikers, walkers, and joggers have Memorial Drive in Cambridge (from the Eliot Bridge to Western Avenue) to themselves each Sunday, 11 a.m.-7 p.m., now through the second Sunday in November.

Power to the Pedals charity ride from Arlington Heights to Lexington, Concord, and Carlisle, to benefit the Northeast Climate Confluence, a youth conference on global warming, May 10, 10 a.m., rain or shine. Register at constitution411.org/climate/pedals.

See you on the streets.

Send comments, bike news and events, and ideas for future columns to shiftinggears @globe.com.