Just down the road from Sweet Briar College, Lynchburg Parks and Recreation, in cooperation with the Dasani bottled water company, has a program where people can borrow "Blue Bikes" for use on the Blackwater Creek Trail.

Soon, Sweet Briar will operate a similar program for students, faculty and staff. Starting this month, "Pink Bikes" 20 of them, and yes, they are pink — will be available for tooling around campus or high tailing it to class. The bikes can be picked up and dropped off at several bike racks located around campus.

The single-speed, 26-inch Schwinn Windwood cruisers have handy baskets for carrying books and other items, bells and gleaming whitewall tires. Matching pink bike helmets also will be available for purchase at the Sweet Briar Book Shop.

"You wouldn't know how difficult it was to find pink bikes," Cindy Ponton, director of purchasing, said, adding that with the Christmas season approaching retailers were reluctant to part with so many bikes at once. "It's been interesting."

Paul Davies, vice president for finance and administration, commended Ponton for her successful search. "Cindy ... gets all the credit for doing such a good job locating the bikes at a reasonable price," he said. "It's not every day that someone buys twenty pink bikes and helmets."

The bikes were purchased in response to the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment, a pledge to become climate neutral signed by nearly 600 college presidents, including Sweet Briar's Elisabeth Muhlenfeld.

According to the ACUPCC Web site, becoming climate neutral means "having no net greenhouse gas emissions." Colleges are supposed to get there "by minimizing greenhouse gas emissions as much as possible and using carbon offsets or other measures to mitigate the remaining emissions."

"My hope is that a large number of students will ... grab a bike wherever they are and ride it to wherever they want to go, and in the process, we'll use less fuel and save some carbon and improve our physical fitness," Muhlenfeld said. "It'll be a nice, visible sign that the College is serious about health and sustainability."

Davies agreed. "The hope is that students will reduce their driving on campus and use these bikes located around campus," he said. "We also want our students to have alternative transportation that was easily accessible. Plans are to add bike racks at the Bistro, book shop, library and Guion [Science Center]."

Muhlenfeld said she and members of Sweet Briar's Presidents Climate Commitment committee first discussed getting the bikes a couple a couple of years ago. "We talked about it, really, in the first ... meeting, that wouldn't it be great to just have a bunch of bikes all over campus to let people take them from one side to the other." she said.

In her excitement, however, Muhlenfeld admits she wasn't thinking about liability. "Frankly, I did not, at that time, think about the liability issue or helmets or any of that because I grew up in an era when there were no bike helmets," she said. "You just got on the bike and rode."

To address this issue, two stickers adhered to each bikes frame state, "FACULTY/STAFF & STUDENT USE ONLY. HELMET REQUIRED."

"The basic problem is that students should wear helmets if they're riding bicycles, and that we need to make certain A, the College is not liable in case an accident occurs, but B, that in fact our students are as safe as possible, so it's not all just purely a liability issue," Muhlenfeld said.

"On the other hand, we don't want to be in the business of policing, so I think we'll approach it as an educational issue."

Before she left for winter break, Samantha Britell, a sophomore from Shady Spring, Md., took one of the Pink Bikes for a test ride. After putting on one of the new pink helmets, she pedaled around the Lower Quad, a smile on her face and clearly enjoying the ride.

When she'd finished one lap around the quad, Britell slowed to a stop and proclaimed the bike "great," but said there was just one tiny problem. "The only thing is, there aren't any brakes," she said. "I thought I was going to crash."

Too young to remember coaster brakes, Britell seemed relieved when told the bike had brakes how to use them. She suggested maybe a third sticker be stuck to the bike explaining the brake situation.

When asked if she'll ride the Pink Bikes next semester, Britell said, "Oh definitely," adding, "I like it. It's so stylish." She also said she'll probably buy one of the pink helmets "because it's pink and it's cute."