A little after 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, Salem College student Tuula Perry straddled her mountain bike and kicked off the ground. The bike sped down the trail that loops around Salem Lake, and Perry spread her arms to either side, almost embracing the breeze.
Farther down the trail, David Harris, a second-year film student at the UNC School of the Arts, steadied a video camera lens pointed in Perry's direction.
As Harris filmed, three more bicyclists joined Perry. They smiled at the camera, held their arms out to the sides, played music, laughed.
It was the first hour of the first day of filming for "Faces of Winston-Salem Bikers," an advocacy video Perry coordinated. Perry also plans to bring videographers to Krankies Coffee on Friday for a bike ride, as well as to the Tanglewood Festival of Bikes, also on Friday.
Perry, who is majoring in nonprofit management and international studies at Salem, said the project is part of a class she is taking on grass-roots organizing. But, she said, it is work she intends to continue.
"I don't have money to afford a car, and so it was a disappointment to come to a city, especially one with a lot of colleges, that doesn't have a lot of bike lanes," she said.
Winston-Salem has 7 miles of marked bike lanes throughout the city, and 16 miles of greenways, where bikes are allowed. One of the longest of those is the trail around Salem Lake, a 6.5-mile loop that connects with the Salem Creek greenway. The city also has plans to install an additional
7 miles of bike lanes by July, said Matthew Burczyk, a project planner with the city's bike and pedestrian program.
Perry said she hopes her video raises awareness about local biking — and leads to more funding for bike lanes or trails.
The people who showed up to participate in the video Tuesday agreed.
"I feel like, once people start biking, they'll have to make more bike lanes," said Laila Nur, a Greensboro musician who came to help with Perry's video.
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