It's not just your handlebars you take in your hands when you get on your bicycle, but your life.

Last month was a particularly bad time to be a cyclist in the city.

During little more than a week, five cyclists were injured after tangling with vehicles. A Free Press carrier suffered fractures to her nose and jaw and a broken leg after being struck head-on by a car. A 16-year-old was treated for minor injuries after being hit, smashing the car's windshield. A 46-year-old broke an ankle after being hit by a motorist.

This past Monday, a 17-year-old was virtually uninjured after a Winnipeg Transit bus struck her and dragged her underneath the vehicle about 12 metres.

But last week, a 20-year-old bicyclist died from injuries after being struck by a car in an isolated area of Transcona while on his way to work.

The spate of collisions comes at a time when the city is beginning to greatly increase the number of kilometres of bike trails. After years of slowly putting in place features to help cyclists, earlier this year the city boosted its annual trail-creation budget from about $200,000 to $1.7 million.

Last month, this money resulted in the opening of Phase 1 of the Northeast Pioneers Greenway along a portion of the former CPR Marconi Line from Springfield Road south to Herbert Avenue. The city is also putting in bike trails beside Bishop Grandin and McGillivray boulevards.

The city has also appointed a civic bureaucrat as its first active transportation co-ordinator to set up a committee to advise on trails and to help plan new ones. But because so many bicyclists were recently hurt, the Free Press asked some key people their views on the state of bicycles and cycling in the city and what can be done to make things safer.

Kevin Miller, Co-chairman of Bike to the Future, a group representing the city's cyclists:

Miller said every bicyclist needs to be armed with skill and knowledge before venturing out on the city's streets.

He said that's why his group, which wants to make cycling safe in the city, is setting up a bike-riding safety program here.

"It's true -- and motorists say it all the time -- there are yahoo cyclists out there and that's a problem."

Miller said his group -- which is holding a forum about the future of cycling in the city at the University of Winnipeg's Bulman Student Centre on Oct. 11 from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. -- is also meeting with the province to try adding bike safety to the education curriculum as they have in British Columbia.

But Miller said bicyclists also need to be supported and that's where the city comes in.

"The city's street system is designed to take motorists. To a great extent, transportation corridors like Pembina and Henderson fail cyclists."

Miller said when the city renovates its aging streets, it will include improvements designed for bikes, such as bike lanes. But, he said, sometimes the city has to be reminded, so his group makes sure it has