The University is embracing the growing bike culture in Raleigh by offering campus bike tours to students through university recreation. The tours began last fall with the start of the WolfWheels program, which enables students to rent bikes on a daily, weekend, weekly or semester basis. WolfWheels was started as an effort to make campus more sustainable in terms of transportation, according to David Crye , the outdoor adventures coordinator for University Recreation. “We are trying to develop more of a biking community on campus. WolfWheels had its first full year last year and we had a lot of success with that,” Crye said. WolfWheels provides bikes for students who do not own one and wish to participate in the campus tours. The tour focuses on the main campus area and also shows students some short cuts through campus, how to get to downtown Raleigh by bike and important campus landmarks. “Due to things like gas prices going up, the University being congested and sustainability awareness growing, biking is becoming a popular way for students to get around campus,” Crye said. Alison Carpenter, a planner for transportation and guide for the bike tours, said teaching students good bike safety is something she wants to accomplish with the tours. Tour guides go over basic safety tips and procedures with students before the tour begins. “We make sure that everyone on our tours follows safe biking procedures. We promote safe biking,” Carpenter said. Interest in the campus bike tours has nearly tripled since the event began last year, according to Carpenter. More dates are currently being added to the tour schedule in order to accommodate the large number of interested students. Tours tend to have about ten to fifteen students participating at a time. “We want to help cultivate this bike culture that seems to be growing organically in Raleigh and around campus,” Carpenter said. The growth of biker-friendly places in Raleigh is part of the reason students have become more interested in biking, according to Carpenter. “Biking is really growing in Raleigh and Raleigh is becoming more bike friendly. We have been aware that biking is becoming more popular so we want to make campus somewhere that is bike and pedestrian friendly,” Carpenter said. The campus bike tour dates can be found on the University transportation website. Each tour has two guides: one in front of the group and one in the back. Tours last approximately 45 minutes, with stops, and cover about three miles total. Participants can bring their own bike or borrow one from the WolfWheels program. In addition to the campus bike tours, University Recreation is hosting bike tours for the greenway throughout the semester. The first greenway tour will be held on August 31. “We want to give students a chance to get to know the greenway system and where it can take you around Raleigh,” Crye said. Students interested on these tours are encouraged to sign up in advance at Carmichael Gym, although walk-ins for events are also welcome. A limited number of WolfWheels bikes will be available for use on the tours. Cameron Arnette , a freshman in genetics, said the tours could be helpful to people who are new to campus and want a fun way to explore and learn new things about the University. “It helps people who aren’t familiar with campus. Lots of students bring bikes or skateboards and a tour like this could really help them learn the best ways to get around,” Arnette said.