Getting in Gear

By Anne W. Howard

Two evenings a week in downtown Baltimore, as many as 30 aspiring bicycle enthusiasts busily tighten screws and inflate tires on their newly refurbished rides. They are college students, neighborhood teenagers, middle-age commuters tired of taking the bus, and other people the Velocipede Bike Project wants to introduce to "bike culture."

Velocipede wants to turn Baltimore into a biker's town, citing the environmental, social, and health benefits of biking. But it's no easy task, says