August 13, 2012
Greetings!

With our new Navigating MAP-21 initiative, the Advocacy Advance team is producing a wealth of material that will help advocates and local leaders implement the new federal transportation bill in a way that benefits bicyclists like you. But one simple truth remains: The single best form of advocacy is getting out and riding your bike! That's why we want to know about your favorite ride, or your club's biggest and best event, and share it with the cycling world in our upcoming "Ride Guide." We want you to enjoy lots of great rides!

Sincerely,  

 


Andy Clarke

League President
National News
Putting Cycling All Over the MAP-21 

The only thing more complicated than taxes is reading federal laws. Sure, we get the summaries -- "transportation bill bad for bicycling" -- but actually sitting down with the 600+ pages and deciphering the "whereas" and "wherefores" quickly gets overwhelming.

 

Don't worry -- we launched Navigating MAP-21 to tell you, in regular words, what the new transportation bill means for bicyclists, for your hometown, for your state. More importantly, this new initiative will explain how you can get involved and make sure this new bill continues to build a Bicycle Friendly America.  

 

MAP-21 swings into action on October 1. Throughout August and September, the League and our partners at America Bikes are putting together weekly emails and blog posts illuminating different parts of the bill. We've been asked: What happened to Safe Routes to School? Where are state bike/ped coordinators funded from? What happens to my funding for my trail/road/bridge? These emails and blogs will provide those answers.

 

Click here to sign up for the weekly emails. 

 

In addition, there will be a wealth of new resources uploaded to the Advocacy Advance Web site, including bill analysis, funding tables and webinars. We'll be focusing much of the follow-up through our state and local advocacy group partners and we'll be highlighting ways in which you can support their efforts most effectively.

 

Thank you for participating in this conversation with us --- with your help, we'll put cycling all over MAP-21.  

National Bike Challenge Hits 10 Million Miles! 

We did it! With three weeks left in the online competition, the National Bike Challenge hit its goal of 10 million miles last week. Like many of the 30,000 participants around the country, we were eagerly watching the website counter as we approached eight digits on Thursday morning. Out in Denver, though, Amy Schiebel was riding three miles to work on her Electra cruiser - and pushed us past the 10-million mark just after 7 a.m. Mountain time. "I'm excited by how many people are involved and how many miles have been completed in such a short time," Schiebel says. "It's fun to see so many people outdoors, getting in shape and living healthier lives. This makes me want to get everyone I know involved with biking!" Read more about Schiebel and this tremendous accomplishment! And don't forget: There's still time to get in on the fun. Register for the National Bike Challenge today!

National Events 

Tickets Going FAST for Women's Bicycling Summit 

 

From Los Angeles to Vancouver, from Chicago to New York City, the women above are just a few of the phenomenal speakers who will be sharing their insight at the first-ever National Women's Bicycling Summit on September 13, 2012 in Long Beach, California.    

 

Registration is now open and space is limited. Don't miss this opportunity; secure your spot today! 

The Summit will provide a unique opportunity to network, share best practices and develop action steps to get more women in your community out riding. It will provide the space for us to create a bike future where women of all backgrounds are equally represented on the streets and in the movement!

 

The program will include:  

  • A keynote address from Leah Missbach Day, co-founder of World Bicycle Relief;
  • Six break-out sessions, on topics like equity and car-free families
  • Cycle Chic Fashion Show presented by Women on Bikes SoCal
  • Social event and bike ride!  

The Women's Summit will sell out; sign up today! 

 

This event wouldn't be possible with the generous support of our sponsors: Jamis Bicycles, TeamEstrogen.com, SRAM, World Bicycle Relief, Gail Copus Spann and Jim Spann, VeloJoy.com, Liv/Giant, Trek Women, Momentum magazine, Alliance for Biking & Walking, GirlBikeLove.com, and Cali Bike Tours. 

Registration Open for Rail~Volution

Attended by
citizen activists, developers, business leaders, planners, local elected officials, transit operators, and government officials, the annual Railvolution conference includes more than 75 workshops aimed at building livable communities with transit. The 2012 conference will be held October 13-17, 2012 in Los Angeles, Calif., and registration is now open. Learn more.

State and Local News
Community Cycling Center Puts Collaborative Advocacy into Action

Who benefits from bicycling in your community? Alison Graves, executive director of the Community Cycling Center, posed that important question in the May-June issue of the League's magazine. In the story, Graves outlined the efforts of the Portland nonprofit to identify and effectively respond to the cycling disparities in nation's most bike-friendly city. Now the CCC has released a full report that delves into the process and lessons learned from the Understanding Barriers to Bicycling project. Perhaps the biggest take-away: True collaborative advocacy is "a big shift" from the status quo of many bike organizations. Read more.  

Dallas, D.C. Bike Advocates Honored by White House

  

If you attended the National Women Cycling Forum or read the "Women on a Roll" feature in the May-June issue of American Bicyclist, you've been inspired by the work of Veronica Davis. So has the White House! Last month, the D.C. engineer and founder of Black Women Bike was among just 14 individuals nationwide honored as a Transportation Innovator and Champion of Change by the White House. Davis wasn't the only bike/ped visionary honored either: Jason Roberts, creative director for Team Better Block, was recognized for his innovative approach to urban redevelopment, too. Read more.

City of Omaha Hosts Active Transportation Summit
The City of Omaha, the Metropolitan Area Planning Agency (MAPA), Metro and the Pappio-Missouri River Natural Resources District cordially invite you to attend the Heartland Active Transportation Summit 2012 (HATS 2012). The Summit will take place on Friday, September 28th, 2012 at the Swanson Conference Center on the Fort Omaha campus of the Metropolitan Community College. Click here for more information.


League News 
Be Part of the League's Annual Ride Guide! 

 

Whether it's a single day or a full year, whether its 10 miles or 1,000, one ride can change your life. And we want to hear about it! We're putting together our most popular magazine of the year -- The Ride Guide & Tour Finder -- and we need your input.  

 

If you're a League member club or advocacy organization: We want to include your top ride for 2013 in our national list. Please enter ONE ride into our registration system here by September 17.  

 

If you're an individual League member: Tell us about your favorite ride! Submit 100 words describing the most memorable ride of your life and we'll include them in the issue! Email your submission to [email protected] by September 17.  

Club Webinar: Club Mergers

Join us on August 14 at 8 p.m. Eastern (5 p.m. Pacific) for the League's next club webinar on Club Mergers. Ron Puett of the Kansas City Bicycle Club will discuss his club's merger with the Johnson County Bicycle Club. Register now!     

 

New Resources 
AASHTO Bike Guide Webinars & Training

  

Released this spring, the updated Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities from the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO) is a key resource for transportation professionals in designing, building, modernizing, and preserving safe and efficient bicycle facilities.  

 

To make sure officials in your community stay abreast on this important guidance, the League has teamed up with Toole Design Group, the Federal Highway Administration, and AASHTO to deliver in-depth trainings across the country. Taught by professionals from Toole -- a national firm that specializes in multi-modal planning and served as authors of the new Guide -- the training will give local practitioners the knowledge they need to implement innovative design solutions, and new signs, signals and pavement markings for bicyclists. Click here to learn more and stay tuned to the next E-news for dates and registration.  

 

In the meantime, Toole is partnering with the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center to deliver a free, seven-part webinar series on the Guide. Click here to register for the "AASHTO Bike Guide: Bicycle Planning" segment on August 22, from 2-3: 30p.m. Eastern.  

New Study: Taking the Stress Out of Cycling 

 

According to a recently published study from the Mineta Transportation Institute: "For a bicycling network to attract the widest possible segment of the population, its most fundamental attribute should be low-stress connectivity -- providing routes between people's origins and destinations that do not require cyclists to use links that exceed their tolerance for traffic stress, and that do not involve an undue level of detour." Using San Jose, Calif., as a case study, the researchers found that, while 2/3 of area streets were comfortable for cyclists, the 30 percent of roads that were high stress made it difficult for residents to effectively navigate the city. Click here to download the full report.  

How to Get Money for your Bike/Ped Projects

Using real-world examples from Bike Delaware and the Active Transportation Alliance, "Developing an Effective Funding Campaign" -- a new resource from Advocacy Advance -- charts, step-by-step, how to create an effective funding campaign for bicycle and pedestrian projects in your community. Click here to download.  

 



Share this American Bicyclist Update with your cycling friends and fellow bike commuters. The generous support from the League's members make publications like this possible. Join the League today.

The League of American Bicyclists promotes bicycling for fun, fitness and transportation, and works through advocacy and education for a bicycle-friendly America. The League represents the interests of America's 57 million bicyclists, including its 300,000 members and affiliates. For more information or to support the League, visit www.bikeleague.org.
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