Back Alley Bikes' Jason Merrill (left) and Town Councilman Ed Harrison arrive via bicycle to Carmine's this morning.Today was Bike to Work Day in the Triangle, and as plenty of locals did their part by abandoning their cars in favor of bicycles for their morning commute, the Chapel Hill Town Council wanted to show their support by holding an informal meeting to discuss ways to continue to reduce our carbon footprint and ways to make our community more bike-friendly. Carmine's in Eastgate Plaza served complimentary coffee and water for bikers who stopped by to share their thoughts, as around 20 people gathered to discuss biking-related issues in the town.

Town Council members Mark Kleinschmidt, Ed Harrison and Sally Greene all showed their support for the cause by either biking or walking to Carmine's themselves, and Harrison especially seemed at home talking to several of the local bike shop owners, as representatives from The Clean Machine, Back Alley Bikes, Performance Bicycle and The Bicycle Chain were all there. Len Cone of the town's planning department also distributed bike maps for Chapel Hill and reminded locals that this was part of a larger effort for the Smart Commute Challenge (a Triangle-wide effort to get people to explore alternate modes of transportation) and Go! Chapel Hill, a local initiative aimed at encouraging a more healthy and active lifestyle.

Len Cone facilitates the discussion.One of the most helpful things I learned at the meeting was that Chapel Hill is one of the few places with a town ordinance in place that allows people to ride on the sidewalk, provided that you yield to pedestrians. There was a sentiment echoed at the meeting that a lot of people feel as though they're taking their lives into their own hands when they try to ride on the small or nonexistent bike lanes that exist on some of Chapel Hill's most popular thoroughfares, but it's nice to know that you can always use the sidewalk to try and feel a little safer.

Did any of you bike to work this morning that usually don't? I'm curious to hear how it went.