Collegiate Times

The Virginia Tech Cycling Team is a club team that offers a mountain bike team that competes in the fall and the more intense road team that competes in the fall and spring and annually sends riders all over the region and country. Beginners have a lot of opportunity to work with more skilled riders, such as freshman Ben King, who placed in the top 20 in Mexico while competing for the world championship title last year.

The Blacksburg Bicycle Collective is a unique cooperative in Blacksburg. They hold sessions every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday where members of the community can bring in their bikes and use the tools and expertise provided by the group. They also involve themselves in the community by participating in various service projects; last year they worked in conjunction with the Pilot Refugee Center building and donated six bikes to refugee boys aged 12 to 19.

"We're not focused on bikes in and of themselves; we're more focused using bicycles as a means for other platforms," Messallam said about the goals of the Blacksburg Bicycle Collective. "When you're on a bicycle, you're in touch with your environment."

Blackburg offers bike shops close to campus such as Hokie Spokes and East Coasters, both located on North Main Street. Messallam will also be opening up Bicycle Underground on South Main Street on March 9.

"Support your local bike shop because those guys have learned the trade," Blount said. "There are schools out there for us and most of us have worked with bikes all our lives."

Although fixed gear bikes, also called "fixies," have been gaining a lot of popularity partly because of what Messallan describes as a "more pure form of biking," Blount said he would suggest a comfort commuter bike for riding around Blacksburg.

A lot of upcoming events and opportunities are arising this spring for the community to become involved in Blacksburg's biking scene. The annual Bike Challenge during April challenges Blacksburg citizens to commute on their bikes and even provides a Web site where you can sign up individually or as a team and log in miles biked. On March 14, Freed, along with the Virginia Tech Police, will be on the Drillfield so students can register their bikes. The weekend of April 5 and 6 the Virginia Tech cycling team will be hosting a race that will ride through Smith Mountain Lake.

"I encourage people, especially as the weather gets nicer, to get out there and use your bikes," Freed said.

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