The demand for bicycle education is growing rapidly and, across the country, there are more than 3,700 League Cycling Instructors with the classroom knowledge and street skills to get folks riding safely and confidently.
But who’s teaching the teachers?
While we have thousands of LCIs, we only have 17 LCI Coaches — an elite group of experts in bicycling instruction who lead LCI seminars. Over the course of three days, these coaches train new LCIs on the Smart Cycling curriculum and, more importantly, how to teach it.
Gail Copus Spann (yellow jacket) is one of just 17 LCI Coaches nationwide
With more and more seminars being scheduled each year, there’s a need for more people to instruct them. That’s why we’re so excited to announce our first Coaches Training scheduled for early 2013 in Houston, Texas.
At these four-day trainings, experienced LCIs will have the opportunity to learn what the job entails and facilitate their own LCI Seminar. And Texas is just the first stop — we’re planning two additional trainings in other regions, too.
Are you an LCI? Do you want to teach the next generation of LCIs? Contact me at Alissa@bikeleague.org for more information.
Alissa Simcox League Director of Education
Simcox joined the League in July 2011. For the 5 years prior, she worked with the Congressional Youth Leadership Council and the National Association of Home Builders. She holds a BA in Education and Recreation and Leisure Administration from Florida State University.
For more than a decade now, your voice at the Summit has helped dramatically increase investments in bicycling at the state and local level. But this spring, some members of Congress tried to write biking out of the new transportation bill. Funding for bicycling was cut, but because of advocates like you it was not eliminated.
The really good news about the new transportation bill: It only lasts for two years — and the clock started ticking on October 1. When we meet at the 2013 National Bike Summit, it will be just one year until lawmakers start voting on the next bill. You’ll play an active role in shaping the bicycling agenda – and you’ll be an integral part of developing a Congressional strategy that shows we mean business.
That’s why we need YOU at the Summit, March 4-7, 2013 in Washington, D.C. Join more than 800 advocates, industry leaders and bicycling enthusiasts and tell your members of Congress how bicycling is benefiting your community — and how this transportation bill is affecting you.
Register soon and you can rest assured you’ve made a good business decision: The first 100 registrants will get an extra $50 off of the early-bird rate with the promo code “50BUCKS.” Register today! And if you work at a bike shop and have not attended the Summit in the past, you may be eligible for a scholarship from NBDA!
Yes, the Summit matters every year: but consider what’s at stake in 2013. We’re fighting for investments in biking today and we’re looking beyond MAP-21 to the next transportation bill. There will be dozens of new members of Congress, new leadership on key Congressional committees, and, regardless of who wins the Presidential election, there will likely be new leadership at the Department of Transportation, too. We have to show them all that bicyclists mean business.
Katie joined the League in April of 2010. For the two years prior, she worked at the Corcoran College of Art + Design as a programs coordinator. Katie has a BA in Religion from Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass. She enjoys biking to work.
Thanks to an Advocacy Advance Rapid Response Grant, advocates at Bike Delaware are going to find out.
As you may have read in our Election Guide released last month, Bike Delaware conducted a survey of state legislative candidates in 2010 that launched its successful Walkable, Bikeable Delaware campaign. With election day less than a month away, advocates want to ensure that voters know where candidates stand on continuing that model progress when they go to the polls.
Delaware is known for its bike-friendly governor, Jack Markell, and we’ve shared their success story of winning unprecedented state dollars for bike/ped. However, one big win is not enough. Because of the turnover in the Delaware legislature, it is critical to identify and elect champions that will maintain previous – and unprecedented – funding levels for bicycle and pedestrian programs and projects.
Bike Delaware will use the $3,000 Rapid Response Grant to conduct a survey of every candidate running for general assembly and governor and get as may state legislators as possible on record on the specific issue of authorized state capital funding for bike/ped for FY2014.
Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.
The latest release of data from the American Community Survey proves what we already know: more people ride in communities that make strategic investments in bicycling.
So it’s no surprise that League-designated Bicycle Friendly Communities are leading the pack when it comes to biking to work.
And the difference is dramatic. Since 2000, bicycle commuting rates in large BFCs increased 80 percent — far above the national average of 47 percent and more than double the rate in non-BFCs (32 percent).
Click here to download the full data set for bicycle commuters from 1990-2011 for the 70 largest US cities. (Infographic by Nicole Reinertson.)
Because of variance in the sampling techniques, it can be more instructive to look at trends over time than year to year changes. Click here for additional caveats and considerations for interpreting the ACS bike commuter statistics.
Darren Flusche League Policy Director
Flusche joined the League in April 2009 and has a B.A. in history from Syracuse University and a Masters of Public Administration with a concentration in public policy analysis from New York University.
After months of emails and phone calls, I finally met Robin Bylenga in person at Interbike. A whirlwind of energy and passion, Bylenga wasn’t just there as the owner of Pedal Chic, a women’s-focused bike boutique in Greenville, South Carolina. She was there as the co-founder of Spokeswomen, a networking group for women in the bicycle industry, too.
Running a business, raising a family and connecting female leaders nationwide is more than a full-time job. But, for Bylenga, bicycling is more than business. “We like to think of ourselves as a women’s empowerment center,” she says of Pedal Chic.
That’s certainly what it’s been for her… as Robin explains in this segment on CNN Money.
UPDATE: Genevieve Walker, a contributor to Velojoy among other outlets, JUST posted a great story on Atlantic Cities about the Spokeswomen event at Interbike!
Carolyn Szczepanski Communications Director
Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.
For a short time on Sunday, streets were liberated from automobiles in Los Angeles and Atlanta — and thousands of residents flooded into their reclaimed public space.
CicLAvia, photo by LA Times
With the roads closed to cars, more than 100,000 Angelenos and 20,000 Atlantans took advantage by biking, walking and celebrating community in a variety of creative and active ways. Both initiated in 2010, CicLAvia and Atlanta Streets Alive are just two of the growing number of open streets events nationwide. In fact, according to the Alliance for Biking & Walking’s Open Streets Project, the movement in North America has grown from only 11 initiatives in 2005 to more than 80 this year.
Los Angeles held its first CicLAvia in October 2010, blocking off more than seven miles of streets from Boyle Heights to East Hollywood. There have been four others since, including Sunday’s, and the event remains hugely popular.
Before that first L.A. event, it perhaps seemed optimistic to imagine 100,000 people coming out to participate. But now drawing such a crowd is par for the course, and CicLAvia is working to expand into other parts of the city and other cities in L.A. County. Already, the route has been inching farther and farther into South and East Los Angeles.
“People love CicLAvia because it is incredibly fun, and there is a sense of camaraderie and community that is rare for a city as large and diverse as ours,” CicLAvia co-founder Aaron Paley said in a statement.
At the news conference, Councilman and mayoral candidate Eric Garcetti said he would like to see CicLAvia become a monthly event.
Atlanta Streets Alive also garnered positive reviews from local journalists, including Maria Saporta:
Walking the entire route on Sunday, the theme that kept surfacing was community. It was hard to walk several feet without seeing friends and acquaintances — stopping to chat or give hugs or just simply waving hello.
It could not have been a more beautiful day — with the chill of an early fall. For many, it was their first encounter with the Atlanta BeltLine’s new concrete pathway along the Northeast quadrant. A common refrain was how different Atlanta looked from the perspective of the old railroad corridor.
It was along the BeltLine where ran into [Atlanta Bicycle Coalition Executive Director Rebecca] Serna (pictured), who was beaming with the success of Sunday’s event.
As we ended our five-mile walk, we couldn’t help thinking — this should take place every Sunday.
Well as a city, we’re probably just not there yet. But it does feel as though we are on our way.
Want to learn more about this exciting movement? Our partners at the Association for Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals and the Open Streets Project are hosting a free webinar TODAY at 3 p.m. Eastern.
The webinar will include a history of the Open Streets movement, discussion of the health and equity benefits of Open Streets programs, and an introduction to the Open Streets Project interactive website and tools for organizing an event. The webinar also features case studies of a large city’s open streets program (Chicago) and a smaller city’s program (Somerville, Mass.).
Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.
Maria Boustead doesn’t call herself a cyclist — despite the fact that she rides 15+ miles per day. In fact, she started her company, Po Campo, because she recognized a growing market of women just like her; women who want to ride their bikes without the obvious baggage of being a cyclist.
The Chicago-based entrepreneur described her experience as a daily rider and business owner on the “Who’s Selling Cycling to Women” panel at the National Women’s Bicycling Summit last month. Like Elly Blue, she echoed the power of imagery and how women are portrayed in the context of bicycling. And, like Mia Kohout, she emphasized the prominence of urban commuting as an entry for new female riders.
But, most of all she underlined the desire among women to seamlessly integrate cycling into their lives — without having to look the part. As she described to the crowd:
During college, I began biking regularly around my quaint Midwestern university town because everyone did it and it was an easy way to get around. Moving to Chicago to finish up school, I continued to bike a lot, largely because it was now so normal to me. Plus, I was so poor that even public transportation seemed like a splurge. But even after getting a job and having disposable income, I continued to bike instead of taking the train or driving because, well, I liked it.
There are lots of things to like about biking to work (more to come on that). My least favorite part was entering my office carrying so much more stuff then everyone else, with my bags inside of bags and helmet and lights… I felt like I was being forced to choose between riding a bike and looking normal. Why do those things have to mutually exclusive? Why can’t I have a bag that does what I need it to do and still feels like something I’d want to actually own?
As I continued to think about being forced to choose between biking and looking normal, I realized that with cities improving their bicycle infrastructure, I knew there were going to be a lot more woman like me, in this predicament, wanting to add a new form of transportation into her options of how to get from A to B, but doing so would force her to buy a bag specific to this new form of transportation. I think this problem, like many other issues, are unique to women so it is our job to solve them…
Read more from Boustead’s presentation on the Po Campo blog. And click here for past posts about the Women’s Bicycling Summit.
Carolyn Szczepanski Communications Director
Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.
“The most important thing in creating a successful marketing campaign is understanding and addressing the fact that women need to see themselves in the context of what they are looking at, and we first need to acknowledge and understand that this is different for everyone,” she said. “Imagery is key. Messaging in any marketing campaign should be that cycling is safe, diverse, accessible and fun.”
She also made another interesting point: bicycle manufacturers need to better showcase and embrace transportation cycling, not just racing and performance riding.
So who is selling cycling lifestyle to women? Let’s start with who is not: the big brands of the bicycle industry. What message are we getting? Cycling is a sport for men. The messaging does not say that cycling is for women and that cycling is a means of transportation. Women-specific marketing campaigns created by the bike industry are not reaching the masses and the mainstream. But they should. Professionally, I have spent the past five years advising the bike industry that:
1. Cycling for transportation is actually a thing.
2. If they want more women to engage in cycling for transportation and buy their products they have to start speaking to us.
Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.
You may know Kimberly-Clark Corporation for its iconic products like Kleenex and Huggies, but K-C played a central role in the creation of a new brand known by bicyclists across America: the National Bike Challenge.
As we announced on Friday, K-C employee Rob Gusky was the inspiration behind the friendly online competition, which started as a corporate program in 2008, expanded to a Wisconsin-wide initiative in 2011 and then blossomed into a national effort this summer that united 30,000 bicyclists to ride more than 12 million miles.
Andy Clarke (right) recognizes Rob Gusky with a Bicycle Friendly America Leadership Award (Photo by Stephanie Pereira Da Silva)
But Gusky isn’t alone in his commitment to national bicycle advocacy. At the start of the Challenge, Kimberly-Clark pledged to donate 10 cents to the League for every mile logged. Last week, League President, Andy Clarke, and executive Vice President, Elizabeth Kiker, traveled to K-C headquarters in Wisconsin to recognize K-C’s leadership during the Challenge (#1 in the jumbo business category!) and receive a generous donation of $35,000.
(From left) Stephanie Pereira Da Silva, Suzanne Schroeder, Andy Clarke, Elizabeth Kiker, Rob Gusky, Jeff Curtain, Peggy Ward, Kyle Kappes (Photo by Kimberly-Clark)
Thank you to Kimberly-Clark for their vision and commitment to cycling — and incredible support of bike advocacy!
Get connected to the National Bike Challenge community by joining us on Facebook or following us on Twitter.
Carolyn Szczepanski Communications Director
Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.
Continuing our effort to share insight and best practices from innovative campaigns nationwide, our latest issue includes an article that delves into the efforts of Local Spokes, a neighborhood-based bicycle coalition in New York City aimed at creating a “new model for inclusive and sustainable bike planning.”
Unfortunately, we had to condense the story to fit the print edition; here’s the full article!
Local Spokes Youth Ambassadors create models of the East River Greenway
New Leaders Pedaling the bike advocacy movement toward transformative change By Pasqualina Azzarello and Caroline Samponaro
Within the national bicycle advocacy movement, we often speak of a desire for diversity without tangible outcomes. This conversation, when paired with the absence of accountability, makes transformative change improbable. To redirect the culture of a national movement requires intention, effort, communication, resources, and a willingness to take an honest, collective look inside. By investing in the development of new leaders on a local level through outreach, education, and empowerment, transformative change becomes possible.
What is Local Spokes?
Local Spokes is a neighborhood-based bicycle coalition comprised of nine community-based organizations that came together in 2010 to create a new model for inclusive and sustainable bike planning. Local Spokes, which focuses solely on the Lower East Side and Chinatown neighborhoods of Manhattan, was founded to focus on bicycling, but is intentionally comprised of both bicycling and non-bicycling groups, as a means to further the goals of inclusive and multi perspective planning around bicycle programming and street designs.
Our primary aim is to engage local residents to envision the future of bicycling in our diverse neighborhoods. We seek to engage and understand the community’s various perspectives through multilingual outreach and a Youth Ambassadors program. This participatory process has led to the in the development of a neighborhood action plan that will result in additional resources to address potential barriers and increase accessibility to bicycling.
Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.
I’m embarrassed to admit that, several months ago, I couldn’t name a single professional female bike racer. (In my defense, I could only name one male racer: Lance Armstrong.) I’m a car-free, all-seasons bicycle commuter who loves a good recreational century ride on the weekend, but, even working at the heart of American bicycle advocacy here at the League, the racing world felt like a parallel but distant universe.
“Our goal for the Women in Bicycle Sports session was to start a dialogue; and recognize the importance of advocates and athletes working together,” explained Liz Carlson, a former pro racer and current ambassador for Liv/Giant. “All too often, the two worlds don’t know enough about each other. There’s so much we can learn from one another and so much we can gain from collaboration.”
(From left) Dotsie Bausch, Krista Carlson, RaeLynn Milley, Jill Gass (photo by Maureen McGinnis)
Here’s Carlson’s recap of the key themes and ideas from the Women in Bicycle Sports session:
With the Summit’s goal of increasing the number of women on bikes and encouraging more female leadership in the cycling community, the Women in Bicycle Sports session was the perfect opportunity to showcase accomplished female athletes, many of whom are leaders in their disciplines.
Our job was to focus on the athlete, so we first introduced our amazing panelists to the audience. We had a diverse group of women, with a wide range of talents. From Olympic medalists Dotsie Bausch to Hardcourt Bike Polo maven Krista Carlson, each woman has a unique path to the sport of cycling. What became evident was how many ways you can enter the sport and the variety of ways to compete as a cyclist. You can be a time trial specialist or race alley cat events. There are so many ways to compete, and so many levels. We wanted to explore how many avenues to get involved; each being a path towards growth.
Key themes quickly emerged: Every one of these women started as a beginner. Jenn Tetrick, a professional triathlete, was afraid to go out alone on the road. Dotsie Bausch still can’t believe she rides centimeters from the girl in front of her on a 45-degree banked panel at 40+ miles an hour. Fear of the road and intimidating equipment can be barriers. The point is they sought out people to help them overcome their fears — found ways to keep learning and moving forward.
We asked our panelists to talk about challenges they face as female athletes. It’s been discussed frequently in the media — the disparity between male and female riders. Female cyclists rarely earn a salary or living wage to compete. If they’re talented and not afraid to promote themselves, equipment, travel or race sponsorship can reduce the cost of competition. Except for a few admirable, progressive promoters, equal prize money is nearly always an issue.
Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.
The League is always working hard to create resources to advance advocacy and bicycling in communities nationwide. A recent hot topic is bicycle advisory committees (BACs) and how to create an effective group. There was a great session at the Women’s Bicycling Summit and our recent policy report. I’m already hearing great stories of how these tools are being put to use by advocates.
The Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition, for instance, has been working for more than a year to create new bicycle and pedestrian advisory committees in San Mateo County. SVBC wants to ensure local bicyclists have a voice in how their state and federal transportation dollars are spent, particularly when it comes to bike projects. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (the region’s planning agency) also requires that counties and cities have a BAC to review projects.
San Mateo County has a county-level committee, but SVBC has argued is not enough to have just the one group. “The county-level BPAC does a great job and their staff works hard, but their review should be a second step,” argues Colin Heyne, Deputy Director of SVBC. “The cities should be engaging their own citizens who are interested in biking and walking, having a local review to ensure projects meet local needs.”
To help Colin and others make the case to elected officials and the public, we’ve created a summary of our bicycle and pedestrian advisory committee report. Use this summary when you’re attending meetings, talking with elected officials, or writing a newspaper editorial. And be sure to let us know if there are resources the League can create for your next campaign.
Do you have news from your advocacy organization? Let me know at matt@bikeleague.org
Photo by Richard Masoner
Matt Wempe League State and Local Advocacy Coordinator
Mr. Wempe joined the League in September 2011. For the three years prior, he worked as a transportation planner and Safe Routes to School Coordinator in Fort Collins, Colo. He holds a BA in Economics from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a Masters of Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
The 2012 National Bike Challenge was a collective journey of more than 12 million miles — and it all started with one man’s vision at the Kimberly-Clark Corporation.
Today the League honored K-C employee Rob Gusky with the second Bicycle Friendly America Leadership Award for his role in the creation and success of the National Bike Challenge.
The new Bicycle Friendly America Leadership Award program recognizes a small number of key civic and business leaders — from mayors and CEOs to governors and university presidents — each year. Winners are chosen by the League’s BFA team in consultation with local bicyclists and stakeholders.
“Over the past decade, we’ve been inspired by incredible leaders across the nation who have taken the BFA program to new heights,” says Bill Nesper, the League’s Bicycle Friendly America program director. “When I heard about Rob Gusky’s efforts at Kimberly-Clark, I knew it was a unique and rare opportunity to inspire more people to get out and ride. Working tirelessly with the National Bike Challenge team over the past six months, Rob has been instrumental in turning a great idea into an inspirational tool that has engaged thousands of Americans from coast to coast.”
In just four months, the National Bike Challenge encouraged new cyclists to start riding, current bicyclists to ride more and showcased the tremendous health and financial benefits of bicycling. The friendly, online competition created a vibrant, virtual community of thousands of cyclists who inspired and encouraged each other on a daily basis to lose weight, leave the car in the driveway and reach their individual goals.
“I’m proud to serve as Kimberly-Clark’s Ambassador of Cycling,” Gusky says. “We initiated our internal bicycle challenge in 2008; it expanded to the statewide Wisconsin Challenge in 2011 and was implemented nationwide as the National Bike Challenge in 2012. The Bicycle Friendly America program helped us focus our efforts to improve cycling and was critical to gain support from senior leadership. This program provides excellent guidance on areas for improvement and we converted these into specific action items our team could rally around.”
Read more about the first BFA Leadership Award honoree here and learn more about the Bicycle Friendly America Leadership Awards at bikeleague.org/bfa.
Carolyn Szczepanski Communications Director
Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.
After years of advocacy and months of preparation, the new federal transportation bill, MAP-21, goes into effect next week.
As we’ve been explaining in our Navigating MAP-21 campaign, states have a lot of flexibility in how they spend their transportation dollars. Over the past few months we’ve been talking a lot about Transportation Alternatives — certainly one of the most important programs and biggest pots of money for bike/ped. But that’s not the sole source of funding for cyclists and pedestrians.
If you want to make big investments in bicycling and walking in your state, you need to tap into sources that address safety, congestion, and general transportation funds. We explored how advocates are doing just that in our latest webinar: “Maximizing Eligibility for Biking and Walking Projects Under MAP-21.”
Watch the full webinar below.
Learn more about MAP-21 and download the webinar presenter slides here.
Carolyn Szczepanski Communications Director
Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.
When talking about the gender gap in American bicycling I often cite the statistic that, in 2009, women accounted for just 24 percent of bike trips in the U.S. But that gender gap is even more pronounced when it comes to American politics: In 2012, only 12 percent of governors, 24 percent of U.S. state legislators, and 17 percent of U.S. Congressional members were women.
Not surprisingly, the underrepresentation of women persists all the way down to the local level, where critical decisions about our transportation system are made. Cathy DeLuca, a transportation researcher, recently published a study on the participation of women on bicycle advisory committees in California — and shared some of her findings and recommendations at the National Women’s Bicycling Summit this month.
According to DeLuca’s study, women made up only 19 percent of the members on bicycle advisory committees and 24 percent of bicycle and pedestrian advisory committees in the state in 2011.
She also found that the women who did serve on their local bike/ped advisory committee were more likely to raise women’s issues and “discuss the needs of all road users.” And that perspective was welcomed: The majority of women in DeLuca’s study felt respected by their male counterparts on their committee.
So why the underrepresentation? It wasn’t a lack of awareness. According to her survey of local female bicyclists, two-thirds were aware of their local bike/ped advisory committee. Instead, the main barriers to participation included…
With more household responsibilities and childcare duties, women clearly face higher hurdles in serving on local boards and committees. But DeLuca — and the other panelists in her session at the Summit — emphasized one simple tactic to get more women engaged: encouragement. While women are less likely to run for office, DeLuca noted, “encouragement has greater influence on a woman’s decision to run than a man’s.”
So how do we make sure streets are designed with all users in minds? How do we make sure women — and men — feel safe riding bikes in their community? Get more women at the decisionmaking table. “I had many women come up to me later in the day and talk about how the panel inspired them to get more involved,” DeLuca told me, “which is a fantastic outcome.”
Click here for DeLuca’s full presentation at the Women’s Summit, and the links below for her recent study and additional resources.
Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.
All eyes were on the economy in 2009 when the League released its report on The Economic Benefits of Bicycle Infrastructure Investments. In the three years since there’s been a steady stream of research confirming the positive impact bicycling has on business districts, jobs, and household savings. To capture this growing body of evidence, Darren Flusche, League Policy Director, has updated the report with a wealth of new data and information.
Click here to download the map and here to read the full report.
Carolyn Szczepanski Communications Director
Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.
This is an expanded version of the article that appeared in the September/October 2012 issue of American Bicyclist. We’ve since heard about another insurance package for cyclists, from Markel Insurance. If you have comments on this article or others from the September/October issue, please send your thoughts to our editor, Carolyn Szczepanski for inclusion in the next issue. Not getting American Bicyclist? It’s a membership benefit – join today!
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In my two years as the League’s membership director, I have gotten many questions about insurance for individual cyclists. Until recently, there has been nothing specific for cyclists, and the coverages that apply to cyclists come from a patchwork of different policies that can vary wildly by insurer.
My answer, until recently, has been “contact your insurer, and find out what coverage you have.” So in writing about the new insurance available to cyclists, I began by calling my own insurance agent to find out what coverage applies when I’m on my bike.
My homeowner’s policy is a robust one, offering $500,000 in liability coverage, should I be accused of causing harm to others while biking. I am covered for theft, but my deductible is $500 – which more than I paid for my commuter bike, back in 1994. Not much help there. The agent mentioned that I could schedule my bike under my insurance policy, to get theft coverage with a $0 deductible. Scheduling a bike is costly, however, and my agent knew of only a few cases where riders had scheduled their (expensive, custom) bikes.
Suddenly, there are four different insurance packages coming to market, offering cyclists the opportunity to unify their cycling-related coverage in single cycle-centric policy, and offering different combinations of enhanced medical, accident, liability, and theft /damage coverage.
As you assess whether any of the new policies is right for you, here’s where to look for your existing coverages as a cyclist:
Liability coverage pays for your legal defense and settlement should you be accused of causing injury or damage to property as a result of your on-bike actions. Liability coverage is typically available under homeowners or renters insurance.
Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage covers your bills if you are injured by a motorist with inadequate insurance. If you have auto insurance, you are covered as a cyclist, according to Bob Mionske. Mionske is a former professional bike racer and Olympian who advised the Spoke Insurance team on the types of coverage cyclists need. He recommends maximizing this coverage under your auto policy, adding that, until now, cyclists without autos have not had access to this type of coverage.
Theft/damage coverage is provided under homeowner’s/renter’s insurance, but the details of that coverage vary wildly from policy to policy and company to company.
Medical coverage – each of the bike-specific policies provides some sort of additional medical benefit, but generally as a supplement to traditional medical coverage, not a replacement.
Claims against any of your existing policies may result in an increase in premiums. In addition to providing supplemental coverage, filing bike-related claims under a bike-specific policy, rather than other existing policies, may protect you from rate increases, according to Craig Dawson of Spoke.
Why now?
Insurance companies are typically risk averse, and don’t like starting new policies without a proven track record with other companies. The new bike specific insurance policies resulted from the work of motivated individuals with deep ties to both the cycling community and the insurance business. Their passion has helped convince insurers of the need and market for these policies.
Here are the basic details of the new bike-specific insurance policies we know about. Please contact the insurers for specific details, limitations, and personalized quotes.
Williams joined the League in April 2010. For the four years prior, he worked providing technology consulting and solutions to nonprofit organizations with Community IT Innovators.
Watch the three-minute video, featuring clips of the event and interviews with leaders like Maga Miranda of the Ovarian Psycos, Caroline Samponaro of Transportation Alternatives and Lisa Rodriguez from Recycle-A-Bicycle.
In addition, Streetfilms put together a collage of insight from the Pro Walk Pro Bike conference, which also touches on women’s issues.
Carolyn Szczepanski Communications Director
Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.
Last week two of the more important events for advocates took place: the Alliance for Biking & Walking Leadership Retreat and the Pro Walk Pro Bike: Pro Place conference. It was a great opportunity to learn about all the exciting things happening across the country. We also had the opportunity to enjoy Long Beach, a Silver Bicycle Friendly Community, aiming to become the most bike-friendly city in the nation.
One of the key themes of the week was how to reclaim our streets for everyone, not just motorists. State advocates stressed the need to for innovative approaches. Many are embracing legislation that addresses safety as a whole, not just as it relates to bicyclists. Along with comprehensive legislation comes new partnerships that create the momentum needed to get legislators to pass the laws.
Slower Speeds on Neighborhood Streets
Speeding and its negative impacts on community safety came up in multiple sessions at both events. Research shows that at 20 miles per hour, a person has a 95 percent chance of surviving a crash. As the speed increases, the chance for survival decreases. Many communities already have slower speed limits near schools for this reason.
In 2011, the Oregon State Legislature passed a law allowing transportation agencies greater control of speed limits on neighborhood greenways. Under certain conditions, a 20mph speed limit can be posted on these streets, five miles per hour less than the normal state-mandated limit.
The law was championed by the Portland Bureau of Transportation as a way to make its neighborhood greenway network safer, more enjoyable streets for walking and biking. PBOT released a map of streets that will receive the 20mph speed limit and has already started posting the new signs.
Removing the Incentive for DUI Hit and Runs
This is an issue that the media has been reporting on for years. Many states have harsher penalties for hit and run fatalities resulting from a drunk driver than a sober driver. This creates a legal incentive for a drunk (or even buzzed) driver to flee the scene of a collision. Victims cannot receive immediate aid, and no one can be held accountable.
Several states recently undertook efforts to close this legal loophole.
In Colorado, the legislature approved a bill that treated both a drunk and sober hit and run as a Class 5 felony. Attendees at the Colorado Bike Summit gave a big boost as they met with legislators and spoke of the law’s importance. Bicycle Colorado also made this bill a legislative priority.
Pennsylvania passed similar legislation in 2011, though political compromise created an imperfect solution. The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia sought the change in response to a fatality, giving their members a positive way to respond to the tragedy.
These types of legislation are another tool for advocates to create safer streets. Talk to your neighbors tonight and ask them – do you want lower speeds on our street? Chances are they’ll say yes, and that you’ll have a new advocate (even if they don’t ride a bike). Expect to see these types of innovative approaches on the 2013 Bicycle Friendly States survey!
Elsewhere in cycling advocacy…
Kudos to the Colorado State Patrol for ticketing a driver who followed two cyclists down a road, honking at them and impeding vehicle traffic. Meaningful enforcement like this is a necessary part of upholding laws that protect cyclists. The video has been uploaded to YouTube and the riders say they’ll be donating any money raised through the footage to Bicycle Colorado.
The Georgia Department of Transportation has just adopted a statewide Complete Streets policy. It’s the first in the country to reference the NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide as a prominent reference for engineers. The policy was born when at the 2012 Ride to the Capitol, where a GDOT official wondered why advocates were chanting “Complete the Streets!” Georgia Bikes! and and the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition pointed out it was because GDOT didn’t have a policy, and the rest is history.
The Kansas Department of Transportation is asking communities about their transportation priorities. This is a great opportunity to speak up for safe biking! The state just opted out of the Recreational Trails program, but committed to spending $2 million for trails. Head over to KanBikeWalk to learn more.
Matt Wempe League State and Local Advocacy Coordinator
Mr. Wempe joined the League in September 2011. For the three years prior, he worked as a transportation planner and Safe Routes to School Coordinator in Fort Collins, Colo. He holds a BA in Economics from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a Masters of Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
There’s probably no better place to assess the representation of women in bicycle marketing than here in Las Vegas at Interbike.
More than 20,000 retailers, manufacturers and advocates are packed into the Sands conference center this week for the biggest industry event of the year — displaying countless marketing messages highlighting new products and campaigns.
Thanks to Elly Blue — and her presentation at the National Women’s Bicycling Summit last week — I’ve got a new lens to take it all in.
Panelists from the Who’s Selling Cycling to Women session (clockwise from left): Elly Blue, Yolanda Davis-Overstreet, Susi Wunsch, Maira Boustead, Mia Kohout (Photo by Bicycle Times)
As part of the “Who’s Selling Cycling to Women” panel, Blue came up with a simple analytical tool to assess women’s representation in bike-related media. Inspired by the Bechdel criteria for women in movies, Blue created a three-point test “to evaluate images of women in bicycling.”
Are women present or represented at all?
Are the women presented as active subjects rather than passive objects?
If the gender were reversed, would the meaning stay more or less unchanged? (Or would the image become hilarious?)
“As the influence of women grows across all types of bicycling, there has been quite a bit of debate about the representation of gender in everything from ads to advocacy campaigns, race tracks to board meetings,” Blue explains. “Is that photo of a sexy woman on a bike sexist, or is it empowering? Objectifying, or compelling? Tokenizing, or inclusive? Is it different if the photo was taken by a woman? What if the woman depicted is an avowed feminist? Does this mean we are never allowed to depict women wearing skirts and heels? These discussions tend to get frustrating, in part, I think, because we don’t always have a shared idea of what these terms mean. ”
Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.
Bicycling is racing into the mainstream in many American communities and it’s time for the United States to shine on the international stage. To guide and support the rapid progress in top bike-friendly cities, the League has added a new challenge and opportunity for Bicycle Friendly Communities: Diamond status.
Over the past 10 years, the League’s Bicycle Friendly Communities program has transformed biking across North America. From small mountain towns to our nation’s biggest cities, elected officials, local advocates and bicycle planners have used the comprehensive approach of the BFC program to make bicycling safer and more comfortable for millions of Americans.
From 2000 to 2010, bicycle commuting rose 40 percent in the U.S. But, in the 38 largest BFCs, the rise in bike commuters was almost double the national rate, growing a staggering 77 percent over the same time period.
For the first decade, the BFC program ranked communities at the Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum levels. But we’ve seen such tremendous progress, innovation and enthusiasm from communities nationwide that it’s time to set the bar higher. It’s time to move beyond Platinum. Welcome to the dawn of the Diamond BFC.
Cities like Portland, Ore.; Boulder, Colo; Davis, Calif., and other leading BFCs are almost ready to join the ranks of world-class bike communities — and the League has been working with BFC representatives to envision a higher standard that challenges and charts new heights for bicycle-friendliness in the United States.
“If it sounds like we are moving the goalposts, it’s because we are,” says Andy Clarke, League President. “Communities are doing so much more, and the state of the practice in innovative infrastructure and programs has developed so rapidly in recent years, that it really is time to challenge communities to do even more to make biking better.”
Attaining Diamond designation will involve an individualized challenge tailored to each community. The League will conduct a detailed audit for each city and work with community leaders to create clear 5-, 10- and 15-year goals for important factors like bicycle mode share, land use, crashes, network connectivity and bike culture.
The primary measure to Diamond designation: The number of people riding and citizen satisfaction. Cities will delve into a more detail evaluation of ridership and level of service, using standard methods of measure like the American Community Survey and National Bicycle and Pedestrian Documentation Project, but also more challenging and broader tools such as Copenhagen’s Bicycle Account.
The end goal: American communities that rival top international cycling cities like Copenhagen and Amsterdam with world-class facilities, like protected bike lanes - and so much more.
“In Portland, bikes mean business,” says Tom Miller, Director of the Portland (Ore.) Bureau of Transportation. “Our commitment to bike-friendly streets has helped to attract a wealth of bicycle-related business, generating more than $90 million in economic activity each year. The League’s announcement of this new bicycle-friendly benchmark — ‘Diamond’ status — is something Portland will actively pursue and ultimately achieve.”
Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.
A picture may be worth 1,000 words, but even 1,000 pictures couldn’t fully convey the energy and inspiration we all felt at the National Women’s Bicycling Summit last week. Still, we had several photographers on hand for the event, including Maureen McGinnis and Allan Crawford, to capture some of the smiling faces and informative sessions.
No surprise: A sold-out event! (Photo by Maureen McGinnis)
Just one of many happy reunions and new connections made at the Summit (Photo by Allan Crawford)
Members of the Ovarian Psycos energized the crowd in the Beyond Spandex, Toward Social Justice session (Photo by Maureen McGinnis)
The Women in Bicycle Sport panel included Olympic silver medalist Dotsie Bausch, second from left (Photo by Maureen McGinnis)
Beautiful day for an outdoor party: Felicia Williams (left) and others head over to the Cycle Chic Fashion Show (Photo by Maureen McGinnis)
A big crowd for the Social Ride on Friday morning (Photo by Elizabeth Williams, Cali Bike Tours)
Click here to see more photos! If you have photos to share, email me at Carolyn@Bikeleague.org.
Carolyn Szczepanski Communications Director
Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.
After the dramatic twists and turns of bike advocacy on Capitol Hill this year and last, Congress passed a new federal transportation law that dramatically cuts funding for bicycling. Now more than ever, lawmakers need to hear from dealers that bicycling has a big impact on local economies from coast to coast.
The NBDA is giving dealers this chance.
Dealers who are members of NBDA and first-time attendees of the National Bike Summit are invited to fill out a quick online questionnaire (www.bikeleague.org/nbda12) to be entered to win one of 25 $1,000 sponsorships to attend the 2013 Summit.
“Our members are the premier dealers in the United States,” says Fred Clements, executive director of NBDA. “Perhaps more than any other attendee, dealers are able to directly connect how bicycling affects a congressmembers’s district, and why bicycling means business.”
The League is administering the program on behalf of NBDA, and promoting the scholarships to broaden the applicant and attendee pool. “Having lots of dealers at the Summit each year is a big part of our success,” says Andy Clarke, League president. “We are happy to be partnering with NBDA to ensure 25 dealers join us for the first time this year.”
Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.
I had just started setting up the registration table for the National Women’s Bicycling Summit when Emily Finch arrived. She was the first — and she was nervous.
A couple of months ago, when I asked the car-free mother of six if she’d be willing to speak at the event, she joked: “So let me get this straight: You want me to leave my husband with six kids in a house that operates like a giant vortex for neighborhood children and their accessories, come to a town with the word ‘Beach’ in it and talk to adults about bikes? Done. I’ll be there. Can I leave now or is it too early?”
Still, as a non-traditional “advocate” Finch felt a bit out of her element at the event. To counteract her fear of public speaking she created a video for her portion of the panel on Family Biking and Car-Light Living… and, for many, it was the highlight of the Summit. The applause and cheering following her presentation (below) rang out through the entire first floor of the cavernous convention center.
“I’d read everyone’s bios and was completely freaked out about speaking in front of a group of people about bicycles when I don’t know anything about bikes; I don’t even know how to fix a flat!” she says. “By the end, though, I kind of had this epiphany: I realized that I was actually a bit of a strange bird in the bicycling movement. I’ve made strange choices, like having six kids and staying home with them and cleaning all day. And I am so very happy with my choices, and don’t feel the need to be liberated, in a sense, from them, and yet my bike has brought me unspeakable happiness and joy.”
“I realized that I wanted to continue to spread the message that biking is soooo much fun (and realistically, sometimes a pain in the ass) to women like me, women you might expect to be the last type of people to get on their bikes, kids in tow,” she adds. “So basically, I left the Summit with the realization that my voice is important. Before the Summit I was really, really ready for the aftershocks of the BikePortland article to flatten out, so I could get back to life as I knew it. Now, I’m ready to continue the conversation, so to speak. The Summit was just so helpful in that it brought a diverse group of women together, with a common love for all things bicycle, and I think we each went home with a renewed sense of purpose in sharing our vision in our communities and the world.”
Stay tuned for more from the Summit…
Carolyn Szczepanski Communications Director
Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.
I had barely gotten the words “Welcome to the National Women’s Bicycling Summit” out of my mouth when a woman in the crowd yelled “It’s about time!” — and a massive cheer erupted from the packed room.
I could say the energy and enthusiasm were off the charts for the sold-out (well, more than sold-out) event on Thursday, but a) I’m still speechless and b) even that would be an understatement. With more than 275 women from across the country in attendance, we saw — and, more importantly, felt — our diverse collective power to lead and advance the bicycle movement.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to take in any of the presentations in their entirety, but I did catch glimpses of the insight and inspiration shared in the six sessions. (And we’ll be posting video, presentations and other resources in coming days…)
In Women in Bicycle Sports, I saw folks taking pictures with Dotsie Bausch, inspired by the chance to hold the track cyclist’s silver medal from the 2012 Olympics.
In the Young Women Who Ride panel, I heard Lisa Rodriguez, from Recycle-A-Bicycle, describe how she’s trained dozens of fellow female bike mechanics — and deals with customers who see a woman behind the wrench and insist on a second (male) opinion.
In the Selling Cycling to Women panel, we all laughed as Maria Boustead from Po Campo described bike shop owners’ confused response to her chic bicycle bags and Elly Blue’s three-point test about women cyclists’ representation in the media.
In the Women in the Political Process session, the conversation was going strong with folks like Robbie Webber from Wisconsin and Sam Ollinger from San Diego sharing their experiences in elected office and local committees — and firing up other women to speak up and get involved even if they don’t think they have all the answers or expertise (after all, men don’t either!).
In the Beyond Spandex, Toward Social Justice panel, the Ovarian Psycos — a predominantly Latina all womyn cycling brigade — set the room (and Twitter) on fire with their proud, assertive feminist organizing around cycling in East LA.
Beyond Spandex panel — four leaders from the Ovarian Psycos on left
I was halfway down the long hallway when I heard shouting and applause coming from the Family Biking and Car-Light Living session. When I made it into the room, an advocate who had been at the Pro Walk Pro Bike conference since Monday leaned in and whispered: “I just saw the best presentation I’ve seen all week.” The stunning speaker? Emily Finch, car-free mother of six, who put together a video with equal parts humor and inspiration. (More from her later today!)
But the Women’s Summit wasn’t just powerful because of the information sharing. It was about making connections. It was about seeing women at the podiums — seeing ourselves as the experts and leaders we are. As one reporter pointed out to me, the energy and diversity at the Women’s Summit foreshadowed a strong future for the bicycle movement.
So THANK YOU to everyone who attended; it was an honor to meet so many incredible leaders. And remember this is just the beginning. Stay tuned for more videos and presentations from the Summit — and information about Women Bike.
Couldn’t agree with Elly more!
Carolyn Szczepanski Communications Director
Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.
In 2009, women took just 24 percent of bicycle trips in the United States — and it’s easy to see why. In communities across the nation, women are underrepresented in all aspects of the bicycle movement — from retail to politics, from advocacy to engineering. It’s time to encourage, engage and elevate more women bicyclists in the United States.
Women Bike will empower more women to bicycle and become engaged in the diverse leadership opportunities of the bicycle movement — as advocates, engineers, retailers, manufacturers and policy makers — through networking, knowledge sharing, resources and inspiration.
“Equity matters — in bicycling as everywhere,” says Elizabeth Kiker, the League’s Executive Vice President. “The League’s Women Bike program will work to ensure that the conversation of how to transform America for cycling includes women.”
“After 20 years of being involved in bicycling and watching how women integrate bicycling into their lives, it is a fabulous time to see the emergence of Women Bike,” says Gail Spann, League board member. “The timing couldn’t be more right!”
Evident from the more than 250 attendees at the Women’s Summit, the energy and momentum around women bicycling is growing nationwide. To support and accelerate that rise, advocates need the opportunity to share collective knowledge, build a network of female leaders and advance targeted programs that put more women in the saddle — and at the forefront of the movement.
Women Bike will bring together women cyclists at key meetings like the National Bike Summit and Interbike.
Women Bike will encourage, educate and demonstrate how women can take leadership roles in bicycle advocacy.
Women Bike will help women become bicycle educators and thought leaders in their communities.
Our vision: By 2025, American women will ride their bikes at the same rates as American men for transportation, recreation and fitness.
To provide insight and direction Women Bike will be guided by the input of bicyclists around the country and an advisory board of women leaders in bicycle advocacy, media, manufacturing, and engineering, including:
Pasqualina Azzarello,Recycle-A-Bicycle
Melissa Balmer, Women on Bikes SoCal
Elly Blue, Taking the Lane
Veronica Davis, Black Women Bike DC
Alexis Lantz, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health
Katie Mulvey, Jamis Bicycles
Fionnuala Quinn, Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals
Tiara Ranney, Trek Women
Caroline Samponaro, Transportation Alternatives
Gail Spann, League of American Bicyclists
Elysa Walk, Giant Bicycle
Corinne Winter, League of American Bicyclists, Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition
Susi Wunsch, Velojoy.com
Women and men in all aspects of the bicycle movement are invited to get involved. Learn more and sign up for e-mail updates at www.womenbike.org.
Carolyn Szczepanski Communications Director
Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.
Instead of the flying cars and aerial freeways promised by 1980s sci-fi flicks, the most effective transportation systems of the 21st Century are going back to the future — back to the humble bicycle.
From Dublin to Paris to Rio de Janeiro, more and more leaders are boldly building “seductive” bike infrastructure that will make cycling networks the urban monuments of our generation.
That was the take-home message from Mikael Colville-Andersen — Denmark’s Bicycle Ambassador, CEO of Copenhagenize Consulting, and originator of the phrase Cycle Chic — in his keynote address to the Pro Walk Pro Bike Pro Place conference this morning.
“We’re going back to the future,” he said, “but we have to define what kind of future we want to go back to.”
Charting that future starts with less data maps and more attention to design. Design is the universal language understood by mayors, engineers and everyday citizens across the globe, Colville-Andersen suggested. “We all think and breathe design in our daily lives,” he said.
A good designer doesn’t just crunch numbers or stare at schematics; she considers the desire and pleasure of the user. Likewise, a good city planner doesn’t sit in a room with maps, but goes out to the streets and watches the way citizens want to interact with their public spaces. “Design begins with a need,” Colville-Andersen explained. “People first, then construction and then engineering.”
That’s why predictable, protected infrastructure, like Copenhagen’s cycle tracks, are winning the “space race” in cities across the globe — and having an immediate and massive impact. Better catering to residents’ comfort and ease can make cycling irresistible. “The seductive power of well-designed infrastructure can even transcend important issues, like weather,” Colville-Andersen said, showing a photo of Copenhagen cyclists pedaling in the snow. And, not only are people getting out of their cars; they’re more likely to act like model citizens.
“Good design breeds good behavior,” Colville-Andersen emphasized. When you get 400 bikes through a single light cycle, like they do in Copenhagen, you’re much less likely to see those scofflaw riders charging through a red, as is common in the U.S.
Of course, Denmark isn’t the only model. A well-design network of protected cycle tracks has boosted bicycle mode share in Seville, Spain, from zero to 7 percent in the past five years alone. And major leaders are making bold announcements about their intentions to go back to the future of bicycling. Colville-Andersen shared a stunning quote from the mayor of Paris: “The fact is that automobiles no longer have a place in the big cities of our time.”
Like the Statue of Liberty and the (small, but iconic) Little Mermaid in Copenhagen, stripping away the auto-centric design of the 20th Century will be the triumph of the 21st. “This is the modern legacy that we’re going to look for in cities,” Colville-Andersen said. “It’s not going to be the biggest and baddest urban cities; it’s going to be cities that are nice places to live… This is the legacy we can all work toward. All 800 of us in this room are the architects, the designers of 800 different monuments. This is where we start establishing our legacy.”
Read more about Colville-Andersen’s work and writings at Copenhagenize.com.
Carolyn Szczepanski Communications Director
Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.
After a collective journey of more than 12 million miles that spanned all 50 states, the 2012 National Bike Challenge passed the finish line on August 31.
In just four months, the friendly, online competition — sponsored by Kimberly-Clark Corporation, League of American Bicyclists, Endomondo and Bikes Belong – engaged more than 30,000 Americans from coast to coast. The initiative encouraged new cyclists to start riding, challenged current bicyclists to ride more and showcased the tremendous health and financial benefits of bicycling.
“The Challenge has given us just a tiny glimpse of the remarkable potential of bicycling to address major social and environmental issues — in a fun and engaging way,” said Andy Clarke, League President. “Every one of the 30,000 participants deserves recognition for the miles they contributed to the impressive grand total — and we look forward to seeing everyone in the saddle for next year’s challenge!”
Through the interactive Endomondo website, Facebook group and Twitter feed, the National Bike Challenge created a vibrant, virtual community of thousands of cyclists who inspired and encouraged each other on a daily basis to lose weight, leave the car in the driveway and reach their individual goals.
Among individuals, Michael Lemuel took first place in the competition, riding more than 16,000 miles over the four-month period. A disabled veteran, living on a fixed income in Topeka, Kan., Lemeul credits the Challenge with increased stamina — and self-confidence. “It’s a great honor to become a national champion,” Lemuel said. “I’m thankful to everyone that helped me to succeed and congratulate everyone who became champions of themselves, like me.”
In addition to encouraging individual riders, more than 9,000 workplaces participated in the Challenge, using the initiative as a free, fun wellness tool for employees. The winners in the workplace categories (based on number of employees) included IBM, Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Trek Bicycle Corp, Shimano, Toole Design Group, Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin and BikeArlington.
“Kimberly-Clark was pleased to be the corporate sponsor of the first National Bike Challenge,” said Rob Gusky, Kimberly-Clark’s Ambassador of Cycling. “I am encouraged that more than 900 Kimberly-Clark employees participated in the Challenge, supporting the wellness of our employees and the communities we serve while contributing to improved air quality by replacing car travel with clean, healthy bicycle trips. We congratulate all National Bike Challenge participants on achieving the ambitious and impressive goal of riding 10 million miles.”
“The organizers of this competition should be congratulated for their efforts in rallying thousands of people around a common and meaningful purpose,” said John Burke, CEO of Trek Bicycle Corp. “Challenge participants turned in incredible results but. more importantly. they relieved congestion, reduced CO2 emissions, and made the world a little bit better for everybody. This competition is an excellent example of how the bicycle can be used as a simple solution to some of the world’s most complicated problems.”
Although the 2012 competition has ended, participants can continue tracking their miles through Endomondo until the end of the year.
And everyone is encourage to join the Challenge on Facebook and Twitter to continue to build a national community of cyclists — and be the first to know about BIG PLANS for the Challenge in 2013.
Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.
Whether racing or just running to the grocery store, bicycling makes for dynamic and beautiful movies. Today, the Pro Walk Pro Bike: Pro Place conference brought together three talented, local filmmakers to screen snippets of their documentaries and share the stories of cyclists and bicycling progress here in Southern California.
A former Olympic cyclist, Tony Cruz is a well-known personality and bike ambassador here in Long Beach. But he doesn’t just pedal in SoCal. Scott Nguyen made a movie documenting Cruz’s challenging journey took through Vietnam.
Providing an in-depth (and humorous) look at cycling in two very different locations, Michael Bauch explores the long-standing bike culture in Amsterdam and the evolving bicycle-friendliness of Long Beach in Riding Bikes with the Dutch.
Enjoy!
Carolyn Szczepanski Communications Director
Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.
What a start. Suja Lowenthal, vice mayor for the City of Long Beach, kicked off the Pro Walk Pro Bike: Pro Place conference this morning with an inspiring speech recognizing the vital role of women in the movement and the potential for “placemaking” to advance social equity.
An urban planner, city councilmember and one of the key architects of Long Beach’s push to become the nation’s most bicycle-friendly community, Lowenthal (pictured) posed a question that she’s often asked herself, a question that, in her city, has an evolving answer: To whom do these streets belong?
“Are these your streets? Mine? Ours equally?… Six years ago we would have answered that question very differently than we do today. Six years ago, streets were exclusively for cars, for the purpose of moving vehicles from here to there. Six years ago, these streets were not mine equally. But Long Beach has undergone a transformation.”
Thanks to leaders like Lowenthal, Long Beach brought in great minds like Enrique Peñalosa, the former mayor of Bogota, Colombia, who helped city staff create bike/ped-oriented policies and projects. They recognized that, in one of the nation’s most diverse cities, they had the opportunity to use their resources to bring people together — on equal footing.
“Public plazas are great equalizers of the rich and the poor,” Lowenthal said. “Growing up in India, our family was not well-endowed. There were a lot of homeless people around, but one amazing memory I always call up is the great public plaza. That was a public space that ensured that I was no different than everyone else around me. It was the great equalizer. This is what Mayor Penalosa inspired us to do. When we are shoulder to shoulder on two wheels or on two legs, there’s no distinction between you and me.”
And women are playing a central role in that effort. “I’m not one of the 100-mile-per-week riders, like our mayor, but I want to be able to ride a few miles a week,” she said. “That’s the true test if we’re succeeding: the number of average riders, like me, getting out on the streets… I want a city where I don’t have to change clothes, where I can ride in my heels, just as I am. What’s even more telling is whether mothers and daughters are using our infrastructure. That is the sign of success here. Look at any city experiencing real change in health and wellbeing of the community and what you’ll find behind that change is women: mothers, daughters and wives… When moms are riding the streets, their children are soon to follow. So how do we get our mothers and daughters comfortable in navigating our streets?”
One answer, she said, is Women on Bikes SoCal, which has set the ambitious goal of doubling the number of women and girls riding bikes in southern California in just the next few years. Lowenthal has been a key supporter and spokeswoman for the effort, and I couldn’t be more excited tobe working with Melissa Balmer, the group’s founder, on the National Women’s Bicycling Summit taking place this Thursday. If you want to join us, we have fewer than 10 spots remaining, so sign up today.
And stay tuned for more posts from PWPB!
Carolyn Szczepanski Communications Director
Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.
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