Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 17, 1993 TAG: 9306170265
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: LAURA WILLIAMSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Duerk plans to arrive early at the registration tables for the sixth annual Bike Virginia tour, leaving this year from Bristol on a course that will take about 1,200 cyclists through Abingdon, Marion, Wytheville, Galax and Floyd.
She'll have to start early if she wants to add Roanoke to that list. And that's what Duerk hopes to accomplish, by dragging a display table's worth of brochures and photographs from the Roanoke Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau with her.
"I'll be up there trying to promote the Roanoke Valley," said Duerk, a member of the Blue Ridge Bicycle Club and local cycling advocate.
Why Duerk? Because nobody else was doing it, she said.
The Visitors Bureau was happy to supply Duerk with the materials, Executive Director Martha Mackey said. But because the cyclists are more apt to fill campgrounds than blocks of hotel rooms, this isn't the type of event her office usually courts.
Duerk's doing this, she said, because she didn't want the valley to miss out on a chance to cash in on a potentially lucrative throng of tourists.
The group - coming from more than 30 states - will complete its trip Wednesday. As Duerk sees it, that leaves plenty of time for a leisurely weekend in Roanoke.
"I think this is a fantastic draw for the valley," said Duerk, who also serves on the city's Planning Commission.
In the future, efforts like Duerk's shouldn't be necessary, said Roanoke Mayor David Bowers, who was unaware of the event.
He hopes to hire a "sports coordinator" whose job it would be to lure events such as Bike Virginia and other sports-related activities to the valley.
Bowers got the idea from Lynchburg, where a volunteer sports committee succeeded in attracting the Tour DuPont this year.
That committee grew out of a vision Lynchburg established for itself for the next decade, Lynchburg Mayor Julian Adams said. Lynchburg wants to make itself the sports capital of Virginia by the turn of the century.
Adams acknowledged that's not likely to happen. But, he explained, "the idea is at least they would make some progress."
Bowers said he's beginning to think along similar lines.
"There's good news and there's bad news," he said.
"The bad news is that many other cities have gotten ahead of us on bike paths, the Tour DuPont, Bike Virginia. The good news is that Roanoke has begun to develop an understanding and an insight that this is an important part of Roanoke's life."
Bowers said the city has made great strides in some sporting activities, such as hockey, but needs to focus more on "eco-tourism" opportunities, such as hiking and biking.
There may be more bad news for Roanoke if it doesn't act quickly. Its lack of bike paths and road safety features for cyclists may exclude the city from future cycling events.
Allen Turnbull, director of Bike Virginia, said that while plans are uncertain, there's a chance Bike Virginia could be coming to this vicinity next year. But unless Roanoke provides safer roadways - adding bike lanes, paved shoulders or other features - it won't come into town.
"That's too much to expect in 12 months," he said.
Turnbull said he'd like to bring his cyclists - who tour a different part of the state every year - into Roanoke someday.
Members of the Blue Ridge Bicycle Club have been lobbying the city for years to add bike paths, Duerk said. Little has been accomplished.
Bowers said he hopes to add a bike path when the city develops a linear park from the Transportation Museum to the Hotel Roanoke, the centerpiece of Roanoke's tourism initiative.
Whether the city devotes more money and space to bicycle facilities will depend on the demand for it, he said.
"I like democracy and I like the processes of democracy," Bowers said. "And that means things don't happen; people make things happen. The squeaky wheel gets the grease."
Staff writer Laura Williamson and photographer Stephanie Klein-Davis will ride with Bike Virginia on its Southwest Virginia Odyssey, accompanying the riders from Friday's registration through the trip's end Wednesday. Stories will appear in Sunday Extra on July 4.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.