COLUMBUS – You can call roadside assistance when your car’s tire goes flat. Why not when your bike has a blowout?
The auto club AAA Ohio thinks you should be able to call for help on the trail so, as National Bike Month begins, the company announced that is introducing Bicycle Breakdown Service in response to a growing number of Ohio bicyclists and what AAA officials call and “overwhelming desire for such a service.”
“As new forms of transportation become more and more popular, we are reinventing what roadside assistance means,” said AAA Ohio membership vice president Krista Whorton.
More than 81 percent of Ohio riders told a recent survey that they had broken down while riding and nearly 90 percent said they would be interested in roadside assistance for bicycles, AAA Ohio spokeswoman Kim Schwind said.
The service is automatically included free with a AAA membership. A member who suffers a flat tire, broken chain or some other breakdown in AAA Ohio Auto Club’s territory can call AAA, get to the nearest accessible road and a service truck will take them and their bike where they need to go, Schwind said.