Philip Pugliese	- Download MP3-

One sunny day this week, a group of Chattanooga professionals rolled up the sleeves on their button downs, climbed aboard eight-speed, aqua blue cruiser bikes and set out in a convoy down Market Street.

Several Tennessee Valley Authority employees, a few traffic engineers and a visitor from Hamm, Germany, Chattanooga’s sister city, were among the 15 or so people who pedaled from the Development Resource Center lot near 12th and Market streets that day on their way to a picnic lunch in Coolidge Park.

“You get to go outside and get exercise and you can go farther than you could just walking,” said John Holmes, a process control analyst at TVA, who took part in the ride.

The group was riding together in Outdoor Chattanooga’s Bike to Lunch program, which is designed to reduce traffic congestion and emissions by keeping cars off the road during the lunch hour.

“It’s just a fun lunch break for people,” said Minya James, who manages the bicycle fleet and leads the lunchtime trips.

Staff Photo by Gillian Bolsover -- Shikha Jaiswal and her husband Sameer wait for the bike to lunch ride to start Tuesday at the Development Resource Center. The group meets downtown every weekday to cycle to lunch on bikes provided by Outdoor Chattanooga.

Fifteen of those aqua blue cruiser bikes make up the Outdoor Chattanooga Mobile Bicycle Fleet, a roughly 4-month-old state-funded project designed to promote bicycling as a realistic means of getting around town.

The program, in partnership with the Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority, was funded with a $37,500 grant by the Tennessee Department of Transportation through the Commuter Transportation Assistance Program.

The program provides the bikes at no charge and Outdoor Chattanooga currently is working toward partnering with area businesses, said Philip Pugliese, bicycle coordinator for Outdoor Chattanooga.

Companies with headquarters downtown, such as Cigna Healthcare, Krystal and TVA, have requested the bikes for their employees in recent weeks.

Once a group has their bikes, they get a helmet and brief training on the rules of the road before they set out, Ms. James said.

The guides can lead the cyclists to a lunch spot, such as Greenlife Grocery or River City Deli, or the group members can opt to bring their own lunches and have a picnic in the park. The trip from Outdoor Chattanooga’s offices to Coolidge Park on the North Shore is about two miles and the outing takes little more than an hour.

For those worried about the difficulty of the ride, Ms. James said, the ride through downtown is pretty much flat.

So far, a broad mix of people have taken part in the rides, Mr. Pugliese said. They even have developed a somewhat regular following who occasionally show up at the resource center with their own bikes ready to ride.

“It has received a very good response especially if the weather is nice,” he said. “People love it as an opportunity to get away from work for awhile, enjoy a nice ride and make better use of their lunchtime hour.”

If you go

* What: Outdoor Chattanooga’s Bike to Lunch program

* When: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

* Where: Varies, some start at Development Resource Center

* Cost: Free

* Web: www.outdoorchattanooga.com

643-6888