Earlier this month, in about 48 hours, Adventure Cycling's Ginny Sullivan and I raced around the Northwest (mostly in a car, alas), spreading the good word about bicycling and meeting with a lot of interesting folks. We even got some blue skies in Seattle (how often does that happen in early February?). So here were the Top 10 highlights of our trip:1. Rock Star: Ginny (who as many of you know is our go-to person for the U.S. Bicycle Route System project) was interviewed in Portland by one of the best bike bloggers in America, Jonathan Maus, on stage at Plan B, a club in the Hawthorne neighborhood. The place was packed and better yet, the event was webcast live with more than 9,000 people logging in. Watch the webcast and check out the great photos (of Ginny in her cool USBRS jersey) by Kleen Kanteen's Ethan Jewett. Thanks Adventure Cycling members for turning out!
2. Sierra Surprise: I got together with my old friend Steve Frisch, president of the Sierra Business Council (where I used to work in Truckee, CA) and told him about our new Sierra Cascades Bicycle Route, which will debut in early April. Steve promptly told me how they could promote it through their new geotourism initiative with National Geographic. Sweet!
3. Smart Growth and Bikes: If you follow real estate development trends, you'll know that more traditional urban communities are coming back into favor, prompted in part by the "smart growth" and "new urbanist" movements. Both of these movements are premised on "walkable communities", which kind of irks me -- not because I'm anti-walking (I'm not, I love it, ask my dog) but rather because I think bikes should also be a bigger part of the urban equation. So I submitted a proposal for a panel discussion to the biggest smart growth conference in America - and they accepted! Called "Wheel Urbanism: Bicycling's Innovative Contributions to Smart Growth," the panel attracted 100 people, and focused on the American revolution in bikes for transportation, and the explosive growth in new cycling facilities.
4. Perfect Panel: The reason it was such a great session was that we had such great speakers -- Steve Meineke, CEO of Raleigh America, and head of the Board of Bikes Belong, the bike industry's leading trade group (and supporter of the USBRS); David Hiller, Advocacy Director of the Cascade Bicycle Club, the biggest local cycling group in the U.S.; and Jeff Miller, President of the Alliance for Biking and Walking. Let me know if you want more info about the session, email me jsayer AT adventurecycling DOT org.
5. Maximum Momentum: Ginny and I met with the new Seattle editor and ad rep for the lively urban cycling magazine, Momentum. Great breakfast at Roxy's in the Fremont neighborhood, and we're going to provide some bike travel stories for future issues.
6. Open for Cycling: Our timing was perfect -- Ginny and I got to attend the open house for the new offices of Bicycle Alliance of Washington, one of the best statewide groups around. Special treats: seeing Barb Culp, who is back for her second stint as executive director (they're lucky to have her) and enjoying the adjacent BikeStation, which provides secure bike parking and more for Seattle commuters.
7. New U.S. Bicycle Routes in Oregon? We had an excellent meeting with Jerry Norquist, one of the top cycling promoters in Oregon (and impresario of Cycle Oregon, an awesome state ride which announced its 2010 route while we were there). Jerry and many others are helping us figure out the best candidate routes in Oregon for the USBRS.
8. Ditto for Washington? Not to be outdone by its neighbor state ... we had a great meeting with state cycling advocates, the state bicycle/pedestrian coordinator, and an editor for Bicycle Paper (see the photo below) to figure out resources for creating routes.
9. No Burden at All. We saw many friends at the Smart Growth Conference, but one of the nicest encounters was with Dan Burden, one of the founders of Adventure Cycling. Dan has started yet another non-profit (this time devoted to walking) and is in the process of moving from Florida to Port Townsend, WA. Big smiles and hugs from Dan!
10. OK, so there were some bike rides. (Really, this should be #1.) I was able to ride around between meetings for an entire day in balmy Seattle. I also commuted from a friend's home on Mercer Island over to downtown Seattle. The city has a new bicycle master plan and is girding to be the #1 cycling city in the nation. Watch out, Portland, Davis, Boulder, and all you other cycle-friendly cities!
And thanks to everyone - especially Adventure Cycling members -- who made our whirlwind trip so delightfully productive.
in this photo (l to r): Dave Jamis, Bicycle Alliance of Washington (BAW); Darren Dencklau, Bicycle Paper; Barb Culp, BAW; Jim Sayer; Ian
photo credits: Cycle Oregon, above, and Bicycle Alliance of Washington, below
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JIM SAYER is the executive director of Adventure Cycling Association.
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Great job on the US Bike Route System. Here in Oregon several counties have developed bike maps. Clackamas County has a beautiful bike map.
ReplyDeleteThe politics of plotting a route could be an issue as many counties would want the route through their jurisdiction to promote tourism and revenue. To finance this US route system perhaps we could convince Congress to place a 1 cent tax on every car and bicycle tire sold in the US. Thanks again for your purposeful work in this arena.
Very intriguing article. Had me realize I was entirely inaccurate about this content. I suppose one learns something different daily. Mrs Right found her lesson! Beautiful illuminating blog by the way. Appreciate your blog -Lavelle Litzsinger
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