A guy who walks the walk, talks the talk, and rides the ride.
One in a series of Open Streets 704 profiles on Charlotte’s bike and pedestrian advocates.
One of the core ideas behind Open Streets 704, at its inception, was to get people out of their homes, into the streets, and looking at the city of Charlotte in a new and different way. And if you ask Dick Winters, he believes there’s no better way to do that than by bike.
Dick Winters wants everyone in Mecklenburg County to know how to ride a bike and do it often, and he praises Open Streets 704 for giving residents an opportunity to do just that.
“It addresses chronic disease in all populations by giving them healthy activities,” says Winters. Winters uses every opportunity to encourage people to go outdoors and ride around.
Winters is the co-founder of Learn to Ride, an award-winning program that teaches both kids and adults how to ride bikes by using the proven “balance bike” method. Now celebrating five years of success, Learn to Ride won an Achievement Award from the National Association of Counties for 2018, and was voted Best Kids’ Cycling Event for 2016 by Endurance Magazine. The program operates in conjunction with Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation, and is offered through recreation centers at least 5 Saturdays in 2018.
But Winters doesn’t stop there. He also works with Park and Rec for “Cycling Safety” classes and “Traffic Skills 101,” in addition to working to put balance bikes in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools as part of the Trips for Kids program. That program teaches bicycle safety as part of the schools’ Physical Education curriculum. He’s also a long-time volunteer and board member with the Charlotte ReCyclery, collecting “dusty not rusty” bikes, repairing them, and re-selling them to support the Trips for Kids cycling program.
“We have to overcome the perception that cycling is not safe,” says Winters. Learning the rules of the road, he says, is key to that. A new Bicycle Playground at Arbor Glen Recreation Center teaches new cyclists just that — with traffic patterns, signs, and striping painted right there on the pavement. And yes, Winters was instrumental in seeing that project come to life, too.
Winters is excited about the push to build more greenways, which are a safe and popular way for families to get out and enjoy riding together. He also likes the recent introduction of dockless bikes to Charlotte. The bright yellow, lime green, and orange bikes take residents on short, quick trips that are often too short to justify driving, but perhaps too far to walk.
“It’s raised awareness,” says Winters about the 2,000 brightly-colored bikes around town as part of a pilot program that ends in October. He predicts they’ll stick around in some form after then.
And you can be there will be plenty of bikes on the road for Open Streets 704 on Sunday, September 30th, when thousands of people will come outside to meet neighbors, ride around—or walk– and enjoy the miles of car(e) free streets. And like usual, Dick Winters will be there … on his bike.
