I just noticed the bi-monthly Tucson Pedaler (“Southern Arizona’s bicycling community newspaper”), which is complimentary at the Pima County Public Library.

The front cover of the January/February 2011 issue (pictured below) is of one of the two bike vigils held at University Medical Center (UMC) for Congresswoman Gabrielle “Gabby” Giffords and the other 18 victims of the January 8, 2011 mass shooting.

The companion article by publisher Damion Alexander is entitled “Community comes together during tragedy” (page 3). The cover photo is of bicyclist Adam Zeldin, who as a teen had served as a Congressional page in the U.S. House of Representatives, and met Gabby.

Alexander eloquently writes “the word community is what it’s all about. We are a bike community. This gives us an opportunity to share and do something positive. What happened was awful. It’s so sad. And whenever something bad happens, you have an opportunity to be brought down by it or to look at how you can lift up spirits and make a better place to live.” Very true Damion.

Another article on page 8 by Mike McKisson, editor of TucsonVelo.com is an interview with Gabby entitled ” Giffords Thoughts on Bikes”. In that October, 2010 interview Giffords (a bike rider) said that “Tucson is a top-10 biking city and that the city makes bicycling a priority. Giffords said she supports all types of alternative transportation from bike infrastructure to projects like the modern streetcar.”

Pick up your copy of Tucson Pedaler as it has a comprehensive calendar of biking events (page 7) and more news about upcoming bike events, such as the Tucson Echelon Gran Fondo (May 1st), and upcoming meetings of the Tucson Pima County Bicycle Advisory Committee. The issue has lots of bike shop ads as well.

Tucson Pedaler is also online at www.tucsonpedaler.com, published by Tucson West Publishing Inc., 520-578-1505, 3029 S. Kinney Rd. Tucson 85713. Editor is Tonja Greenfield, who can be reached at editor@tucsonwest.com.

Next issue will be March/April, as they publish every two months for now. I’m looking forward to reading it as I’m sure they’re tell us about the upcoming Cyclovia Tucson event on March 27, which was a very popular bicycling event last year at its inception.

I’m a bike rider (though not competitively) and volunteer every year at the El Tour de Tucson bike expo, having been a Tu Nidito mother. And my husband commutes to work every day on his bicycle. We also strongly advocate for alternate modes of transportation, to discourage dependency on the vehicle.

Keep on biking!