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Christopher Rowe is passionate about bikes. Most recently, yellow bikes.
Get up early this summer and you will see him on the streets of downtown Lexington, pedaling an old blue bicycle rigged with a rack made of plastic pipe so he can tow one or two yellow bikes behind him.
Rowe is wrangler-in-chief for Lexington's Yellow Bike program, which will begin its second year next week. About five dozen bikes will be rolled out from winter storage and put back on downtown streets for public use.
Last year, yellow bikes were placed throughout downtown, available to anyone who paid $10 for a key to the cable locks that secured them. The idea was for key holders to ride a bike downtown and then lock it up for the next person.
When the program began, critics predicted the bikes would all be stolen within weeks. But Rowe said fewer than 20 of the 80 bikes were lost or destroyed.
"We had the highest percentage of retention of any program we've ever heard of," he said. "There are still a few floating around. I just recovered one the other day."
New bike rules
New rules will make the bikes more secure, but a little less convenient to borrow.
People who pay $10 (or who paid last year) will get an ID card they can use to borrow a bike at one of at least five downtown locations. Bikes will come with sturdy "U" locks to secure them when they're not being ridden, and they must be returned within three hours to the same location.
The time limit is designed to keep Yellow Bikes from wandering beyond downtown. "But if you can pedal to Paris and back in three hours, go for it," Rowe said.
To get an ID card, Yellow Bike members must give a credit card number to guarantee the $300 replacement cost if they lose a bike in their care. The Yellow Bike program will begin issuing ID cards Saturday.
Rowe, an Adair County native who has lived in Lexington since 2002, took the part-time wrangler's job last year because he loved the idea of getting paid to ride his bike around town every day. He fixed flat tires and mechanical problems, moved bikes to where they were needed and rounded up strays.
When not on his bike, Rowe, 38, edits Kentucky Epidemiological Notes and Reports and writes fantasy and science fiction stories. Author Stephen King, who edited the 2007 edition of Best American Short Stories, chose one of Rowe's stories as among the nation's 100 best last year.
Rowe is a big believer in the Yellow Bike program, which receives no government funding but is supported by the Downtown Lexington Corp., several developers and other sponsors.
To Rowe, cycling is more than a form of transportation: It's a political statement.
"It's good for the rider, good for the environment and good for the community, too," he said.
Rowe said he watched people of all ages and walks of life use the yellow bikes last year. One evening during Gallery Hop, he saw a woman wearing a little black dress and heels pedaling one down Main Street.
Last year's casualties
The Atlas utility bikes were designed for running errands in factories. They're rugged and easy to ride -- single-speed, coaster brakes, fat tires for stability. But they have their limits.
A few, which he now refers to as "carcass bikes," were found in such bad shape that they were good only for spare parts. Somebody gave one bike a new paint job -- Wildcat blue. Another bike was found personalized in a south Lexington neighborhood.
"Some kid had written his name all over it in Magic Marker," Rowe said. "I don't think he's going to be a very effective bike thief."
Rowe said he spent much of his time last year searching for wayward bikes. They frequently ended up near the University of Kentucky campus -- and as far away as Nicholasville.
A surprising number of missing bikes were found because of tips to the Yellow Bike Hotline -- (859) 425-2008.
"One thing I've learned in terms of sociology reminds me of the legendary Old West attitude toward horse thieves," Rowe said. "I'm here to tell you that if you take one of these yellow bikes and put it behind your house, your friends, your neighbors, your landlord, your girlfriend ... they are looking for an opportunity to rat you out."
This year, Rowe hopes to spend less time "scouring alleys for lost bicycles" and more time maintaining the bikes and doing community outreach.
Rowe credits part of the Yellow Bike program's success to support from Mayor Jim Newberry, Vice Mayor Jim Gray and Urban County Council members who are trying to make Lexington a more bicycle-friendly city.
When cyclists staged a protest ride last year because state transportation crews had ignored the city's request to paint bike lanes on Vine Street after resurfacing, the vice mayor showed his support by riding along on a yellow bike.
"I was riding behind him," Rowe said. "I noticed that, by coincidence, he was riding bike No. 2. I thought that was so funny.
"And, you know, I've never found bike No. 1; that's one of the ones that's missing," he said with a laugh. "So, Jim Newberry, I've got my eye on you ... ."
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To borrow a yellow bike:
The Bluegrass & Beyond: Tom Eblen's blog