Bill Bender: Connecting Spokane and its spokes

They call it “The Morning Ride.” For 20 years, a group of cyclists have met at 5:45 a.m. near the corner of the South Hill’s Pittsburg Street and 29th Avenue for a daily workout: a fast and furious 20-miler up and down scenic, rolling hills just south of Spokane. The Morning Ride started out with just two cyclists, Drs. Bob Wigert and Bill Bender. Now, the group has grown to more than 100 – a formidable horde of riders with headlamps and bike lights illuminating the road in the crack-of-dawn darkness. This daybreak ritual was just the beginning for Bender, who was thrilled to bring together other fit and fanatic cyclists for a morning workout. But as a bike evangelist of sorts, Bender wanted to do more to share his love of cycling with the community. Cycling, after all, isn’t just fun, he and other bike enthusiasts point out. It contributes to fitness, eases traffic congestion, saves gas money, gets you where you need to go – all while protecting the environment. Biking, he says, is for everyone, regardless of age, background or time they’ve spent on a bike. His vision for a community celebration on bikes became a reality in fall 2008 with the inaugural SpokeFest. More than 1,200 people filled the streets of downtown Spokane on a Sunday morning in September. While some children and families took part in a 1-mile loop around Riverfront Park, the majority opted for longer 21-mile route through downtown, the Aubrey L. White Parkway and Riverside State Park. “I was absolutely jazzed,” said Bender, a member of Spokane’s Bicycle Advisory Board. “Before the event, we had no idea how big it was going to be. It’s like planning a party without knowing how many would come.” Some volunteers predicted at least several hundred would show. Bender was bold enough to say 1,000. The day before, about 700 people had registered. On the morning of the event, an additional 555 showed up. A year later, even more people came, totaling about 1,700 bikers. As Spokefest embarks on its third year, it has undoubtedly made its mark on Spokane. Even those who haven’t participated know what it’s about and compare it to Bloomsday (with the obvious exception that SpokeFest is on bikes, of course). The SpokeFest Association is now a non-profit with the mission of promoting bicycling for health and transportation and has become the umbrella group for several events and initiatives including Bike to Work Spokane in May and Spokane Summer Parkways, a new event this year that will close streets to traffic so residents can ride their bikes. (It’s modeled after Ciclovia, a weekly event in Bogota, Colombia, where more than 70 miles of streets are designated for residents “to walk, bike, run, skate, recreate, picnic and talk with family, neighbors and strangers.”) A neurologist, Bender got hooked on biking about three decades ago at UCLA. He commuted about three miles each way to campus on a standard 10-speed Nishiki. He bought the bike in 1973 and rode it for the next 13 years. “Before then, I was living in LA and depended on a car,” he said. Cycling gave him more freedom, he decided, and became a habit. While attending Chicago Medical School, he continued to bike commute about 20 miles a day. When he moved to Spokane in 1983 to begin his medical practice, it made sense to keep on riding. Spokane has wider roads compared to Los Angeles and Chicago, he said. Traffic also doesn’t travel as fast, even though motorists here still aren’t accustomed to sharing the road with cyclists. In addition to the Morning Ride, Bender often commutes from his South Hill home to his near-downtown medical office. In his spare time, the 56-year-old explores Spokane and the surrounding area on bike, logging in as many as 200 miles during an average week between March and October. “I really enjoy doing things under my own power,” he said, describing his passion for cycling. “It’s also a wonderful way to see the area.” Fitness is also important to Bender, who suffered from obesity as a child. When he was a junior in high school, he lost about 60 pounds, and bicycling still contributes to his ability to stay slim and fit. It also has become a part of his identity. His experience as a kid also was a motivating factor to create something like SpokeFest. He wanted to show that cycling is easy and for everyone, not just for the fittest. During the inaugural SpokeFest, Bender heard from a woman in her early 20s who once weighed over 200 pounds. As part of her weight-loss regimen, she decided to bicycle. One of her goals, she told Bender, was to finish the 21-mile loop of SpokeFest. “She was the last person to finish and the person I identified with the most,” Bender said. Bender also found inspiration in Chicago’s Bike the Drive, a recreational bicycle ride in which a major expressway is blocked off to traffic and dedicated exclusively to cyclists. As many as 20,000 people participate in the event yearly. As a result of Bike the Drive, Chicago has implemented a number of initiatives including increased bike lanes and a downtown bike station with lockers and showers that enable people to consider alternative forms of transportation. Bender hopes similar developments can happen here. Bender said it’s been gratifying to see SpokeFest succeed. Never in his wildest dreams did he expect the event to quickly become so popular. But he also was aware of the potential. “Our city has a tremendous history of participating in athletic events,” Bender said, pointing to Bloomsday and HoopFest. He also noted that the price of gas also has compelled people to bike to work and figure out other cost-effective measures to get around town. “Spokane certainly needs citywide bicycling events like SpokeFest to bring the larger bicycling community together as we strive to improve and increase bicycling in the city,” said Grant Wencel, Spokane’s first-ever bike and pedestrian coordinator. Bender and other organizers — including the more than 125 volunteers who help out with SpokeFest — are hoping to capitalize on the growing enthusiasm for cycling in Spokane. “We really want anybody and everybody to feel like they can participate,” Bender said. “It’s not just for hard-cores. Cycling is for everyone.”