Sarah Carracher
News Editor
the chain back on (Photo by Foster Cheng).
The Wooster Community Bike Program, colloquially known on campus as the bike club, is perhaps one of the most eclectic student groups at Wooster — its members’ majors range from studio art to physics, and they participate in tea club, Shakespeariments and a variety of other groups. Most students have probably seen them riding around campus on their bikes or hanging out on the porch of Iceman House without much knowledge of what the club really encompasses, which is much more than fixing and riding bikes.
In addition to their official duties as the College’s resident bike repairmen, the club members facilitate bike-related activities such as bike polo — a game similar to regular polo but played on bikes instead of horses — and rides.
Bike club Public Relations Representative Mike Evans ’15 also said that the club will host more group rides this year than it has in the past. Group rides are when students ride bikes to a nearby location, such as a park, and then eat lunch. Evans would like to host a group bike ride to Secrest Arboretum at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center campus.
The club is also exploring ways to utilize or recycle old unusable tires and metal parts.
“We want to be creative with it,” said Evans, who spoke with Jesse Tiffen ’15 of Greenhouse about potential uses for their materials, including the possibility of using the tires as rubber for shoes.
Bike club members also encourage students to use bikes as a sustainable alternative mode of transportation to having a car on campus.
“When you have a bike, everything seems so much closer,” said Erika Daun ’15, secretary of the bike club. “I feel like a lot of times Wooster students feel limited and that they need to go off campus to do anything, but when you have a bike, you can pretty much go anywhere you could go with a car. … It’s important that students know that there is another option.”
Students who don’t have a bike on campus can rent one from the bike club: a 24-hour rental is free with no deposit, and a two-week rental is free with a $40 deposit, which is returned when the student brings back the bike. Rentals can also be renewed free of charge given that there is no waitlist.
On top of these already eco-friendly efforts, the club also prefers to reuse old bike parts instead of ordering new ones. “We call them ‘zombified bikes,’” Evans said.
“We’re doing a totally creative activity that is utilitarian at the same time,” he continued. “It’s really zen to take apart and fix bikes.”
Evans emphasized that students shouldn’t feel intimidated if they want to join the club but feel like they don’t know enough about bikes.
“It’s an amateur project,” he said. “A lot of the bikes are old so it’s really hard to determine what goes with what, but we’re always learning.”
“People might be turned off by the fact that they don’t know anything about bikes, but that doesn’t matter here,” said Aaron Jones ’17, a new initiate of the bike club and its other public relations representative. “It’s a learning experience.”
Students who are interested in joining the bike club or who need bike repairs can stop by Iceman House — appropriately decorated with bike tires — on the north end of campus on Beall Ave. during garage hours, 1-4 p.m. on Saturdays. Those who would like to rent a bike can email the bike club at woosterbikes@gmail.com. Any interested students can also follow the bike club on Twitter @WOOBikes.