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Hundreds Hit Baltimore Streets For Bike To Work Day

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- For the 21st time, commuters all over Maryland bypassed their car, bus and train to get to work by bicycle.

Eight hundred people in Baltimore registered to ride to work Friday.

Cyclists hope motorists will view them as people -- not obstacles, annoyances, or worse.

Bicyclists aren't just bicyclists, they're dads and moms and cousins and aunts and uncles and people that we know every day," cyclist Jason Ridgway said.

Cyclists are at risk as more bike lanes are built and more people use them. Bike deaths nationally have risen to the highest number on record.

Kendra Parlock keeps that in the back of her mind.

"Actually, my husband was hit twice on his bike, so yes I do think about it a lot," Parlock said.

She drives defensively and looks out for cars and obstacles.

A group arrived at a reception at city hall Friday morning.

"I think Baltimore should be proud of itself. I think it has made great strides," Joe Traill owner of Joe's Bike Shop. "Whether it's the bike share, the bike lanes, the work of Bikemore, the mayor's office seems to be receptive. We're seeing more people riding, more people living by bike, more people moving back into the city and riding."

If city officials have any say in it, that trend will continue with more bike lanes.

"It's about 125 miles -- and we're redoing some of those because they need to be improved -- and we're putting in an additional 17 or 18 miles this year, and looking at achieving that goal every year," Baltimore Department of Transportation Director Michelle Pourciau said.

The City DOT says some of the existing bike lanes are being rebuilt to better accommodate the growing number of cyclists in Baltimore.

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