The Numbers Are In! by james on Mar 16, 2010
The growth of the 10th National Bike Summit has generated positive vibes across the nation this week. Over 700 bike enthusiasts marched up "the hill" to lobby for national issues related to our favorite mode of transportation - the bicycle. The League of American Bicyclists did a nice recap on the top ten highlights. For an insight into this phenomenal event please see the video below produced by Streetfilms.org
Spring Cleaning by james on Mar 15, 2010
With temperatures peaking well above freezing the past few days it seems we have begun our spring thaw. Spring is a beautiful time but with that thaw comes the exposure of months and months of accumulated debris and trash. Our main man Walt at QBP takes it upon himself annually to make this world a better place by cleaning up aluminum cans with his B.O.B. trailer and custom hopper.
Ringing Madison's bell at the National Bike Summit by jay on Mar 15, 2010
National Bike Summit, Day 2: Krista Rettig of Trek moderated a panel discussion about the lessons learned here in Madison about making our city bike friendly. Mayor Dave, Chris Fortune of Saris and Kevin Hardman of the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin were the panelists. See the pix below.
Mayor Dave gave a droll review of the history of cities and why Madison is so lucky to exist between two lakes (it forced our density up) and gave a summary of the City of Madison's progress on the Platinum Bike Planning Report. (Slow but sure, it's getting done.)
Chris Fortune talked about the importance of partnerships between private enterprise and government. He also touched on the importance of developing a fun bike culture and had a slide highlighting Planet Bike's Bacon on the Bikepath held during Bike To Work Week.
The floors are hard and the corridors long by jay on Mar 12, 2010
National Bike Summit, Day 3, 10 am: Below is Chris Kegel, owner of Wheel & Sprocket, outside the office of Representative Gwen Moore of Milwaukee. Chris is a summit veteran. (I think he's been to 9 of the 10 National Bike Summits.) Below that is a part of the group that met with Rep. Moore's staffer. Wisconsin had 25 advocates lobbying Congress and we brought a huge contingent to Rep. Moore's office, so many that they didn't have a room for all of us so we met in the hallway. This is very common. The 'kid' in the center is the staffer that handles transportation. Congressional staffers tend to be very young. But they are super bright and hard-working. It's often better to meet with staff since they sometimes know the issues better than the Congressperson.
Culture, not color by jay on Mar 12, 2010
National Bike Summit, Day 2, 9:30am: I moderated a panel discussion titled "Lessons Learned Reaching Out to Communities of Color". I was honored to facilitate a discussion among Alison Mannos with the LA County Bicycle Coalition (LACBC), Anthony Taylor of Minneapolis with the Major Taylor Cycling Club and National Brotherhood of Cyclists, Allison Graves with Portland, Oregon's Community Cycling Center (CCC), and a standing room only audience.
It was a great discussion. My take-aways included:
(1) We (people who care about biking) need to pay attention to "points of entry" into cycling for non-cyclists. E.g. many people come to cycling for the first time since childhood by way of recreational rides, including people of all cultures.
(2) Be curious when you engage people of a different culture in advocacy. Leave your agenda at the office. Learn what they need.
(3) Acknowledge that there is difficulty when dealing with people from a different culture than your own. Until we admit that out loud with the people we are trying to connect with, suspicion will dominate.
(4) For organizations (non-profits, businesses, schools, etc.) who want to serve people of different cultures than their own, diversify your board. (And your management, staff, etc.) It's the only way change will be long-term and sustainable.
(5) It's about culture, not color.
When the presentations are available online, I'll post a link.
(700 x biker) + Congress = Action by jay on Mar 11, 2010
Summit Day 2, 8am: I'm in Washington, DC this week representing Planet Bike, Wisconsin and Madison to our members of Congress. Wednesday things really got rolling with a full day workshops and education on "the issues". Over 700 bicycle advocates are getting ready this morning to take our message, our "asks", to congressional offices. These include the ACT Act (or Act^2), the Active Community Transportation Act, which would provide $400MM per year for cities and states to use on "active transportation modes", aka biking and walking.
The WI delegation is stronger than ever, with 26 citizens in DC representing biking. Considering Wisconsin's relatively small population, this is huge. We rank number 5 in advocates per capita.
Below are some fuzzy pictures of the 700 bike advocates listening to Google make their big announcement about their freshly launched Google bike map.
Update: I ran into the Google folks at a bar and I'm now a "trusted tester", so I'll be helping find the kinks in the Madison map data.
Is There an App. for That? by mark on Mar 10, 2010
The bicycle is gaining more and more steam in being seen as a viable means of transportation. Many of us have viewed the bike in this way for years, but it's always nice to see the "mainstream" start catching on.
Google announced today that they have added biking directions to Google Maps. This will likely prove to be quite valuable in getting more and more people on bikes while remaining safe!
National Bike Summit by james on Mar 09, 2010
Today marks the opening day of the 2010 National Bike Summit in Washington, D.C. Our man Jay headed out over the weekend to shake hands with the folks on Capitol Hill and explain how transportation by bicycle can help shape our nation. We're happy to support this great event as well as Jonathan Maus from BikePortland.org who covers the event day by day. Please visit Bike Portland's blog for up-to-date coverage on the summit.
