Bike FXBG, a collaboration between UMW’s Social Good Lab and Fredericksburg Main Street, has surveyed local residents and small business owners about installing bike racks, shelters and corrals throughout downtown to make Fredericksburg a more bike accessible city.

Most children learn how to ride a bike around the same time they lose their first tooth. For Olivia Mason-Lucas, the memory is more recent. She first got on two wheels at age 15, when her father taught her to ride so she could visit a friend.

“I still remember feeling nervous because the parking lot was uneven,” said Mason-Lucas, now a senior international affairs major at the University of Mary Washington. “But once I finally got the hang of it, it was really liberating.”

These days, Mason-Lucas borrows friends’ bicycles to get around campus and downtown and knows the challenge of finding a safe place to park a bike. She’s among a group of UMW students working to make the City of Fredericksburg more accessible for area cyclists through Bike FXBG, a collaboration between UMW’s Social Good Lab and Fredericksburg Main Street. This semester, they’ve surveyed local residents and small business owners about plans to install bike racks, shelters and corrals around town. Their efforts will not only make a positive environmental and economic impact on the community, but also give the students consulting skills that will benefit them in their future careers. Read more.