Sep
9
Advocacy Meet & Greet Hosted by Planet Bike
Filed Under Advocacy, Attendee News, Industry News, Interbike | 1 Comment
All Interbike attendees are invited to an Advocacy Meet & Greet at Planet Bike’s booth, #1425. Join industry and bicycle advocacy leaders to meet, share ideas and relax.
This is an ideal opportunity to network and discuss bicycle advocacy best practices. Join the conversation that makes our communities bicycle friendly and our industry stronger.
Refreshments will be served.
Date: Wednesday, September 23
Time: 3:30 pm – 5:30 pm
Location: Planet Bike booth #1425
presented by: Planet Bike, Bikes Belong and Interbike
See the invite/event on Facebook here.
Jul
13
Bike sharing and retail bike sales
Filed Under Advocacy, Industry News, Interbike | 2 Comments
Here’s a mini-post (not micro enough for Twitter) on something that I heard at the Bicycle Leadership Conference back in April. I was cleaning my desk off and found my little Embassy Suites notepad with some things I jotted down that caught my attention during the sessions. This one is from comments made by Gilles Vesco of Lyon’s urban mobility government agency presentation during the bike sharing panel.
I’ve heard some discussion of the effect that a bike sharing program would have on local retailers. Would the availability of free or low-cost loaner bikes cause less people to buy bikes for themselves?
Not so, according to Mr. Vesco. “Bike sharing spurs retail sales of bikes,” he stated emphatically. Paraphrasing his reasoning, he said that all of the additional bikes on the road as a result of a sharing program “rebalance” the public space and the relationship between bikes and cars. Bike sharing places a critical mass (in the most positive and sharing sense of the term) of bikes onto the streets causing people to see cycling in the city as safer.
And safety, as we’ve all heard from so many non-cycling friends of ours, is one of the major points of resistance for more mainstream adoption of cycling. With more bikes on the streets, though, drivers are more aware of and are more accepting of their right to be there. The perceived added safety of so many other fellow cyclists encourages more people to get into cycling and to buy a bike.
Here’s a recent piece of local bike sharing news for those of us in Orange County, California: “European style” bike-sharing to begin in Newport Beach.”
As Mr. Vesco said at the beginning of his presentation: “Nothing is stronger than an idea whose time has come.” Amen.
Mar
16
National Bike Summit Trip Thoughts
Filed Under Advocacy, Cycling, Industry News, Interbike | 2 Comments
I’m not much of a blogger, actually I’ve never offered a thought to digital space before, but I was so impressed by the recent National Bike Summit that I decided to write my first Interbike Times post this morning.
While I have been to other lobbying events in DC before, this was first my first experience with the bike industry. From the moment the Summit opened on Wednesday with inspiring words from House representatives Earl Blumenauer, Dan Lipinski and Doris Matsui, it was easy to see that cycling is getting a lot of government attention. This theme continued as several politicians made personal appearances over the Summit to thank the industry for its efforts and to outline new cycling-related legislation. At a Bikes Belong Coalition reception, Republican Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania was so close he actually grabbed my badge lanyard – now that’s personal interest from Washington’s elite. This slew of celebrity sightings really caught my attention, as my previous trips to Washington haven’t provided as many photo opps – most of the meetings and parties I had been to in the past were attended by aides and staff members, with only polite invitation declines from major leaders.
The cycling industry, though, seems to be able to attract the Hill’s firepower – which is an exciting position to help direct change. From California’s Diane Feinstein to Utah Oregon’s Jeff Merkley, it seemed that everyone was eager to put a bright bicycle pin on their lapel. I think this suggests two critical success factors for the industry – we have excellent advocacy leadership in Tim Blumenthal and Andy Clarke, and they have led Bikes Belong and The League of American Bicyclists to be at the forefront of cycling policy and have forged numerous relationships with key policy makers. Congratulations to both and all that supported them to produce such a world class event.
Furthermor, the political attention suggests that the cycling industry has an amazing opportunity – with all of the modern problems of traffic congestion, pollution, obesity and more – the bicycle really has an opportunity to be a tool that is used to literally change the world. Many prominent leaders already have the bicycle in mind to help drive agendas toward a more positive tomorrow with expanded bike paths and road infrastructure, less carbon emissions and children riding to school once again.
Next time the Summit rolls around, I highly encourage you to join the crusade. The more solidarity the industry can show Washington, the more chances we have to influence change. I think you’ll be proud to join industry colleagues and you really have the opportunity to be part of the legislative process – our timing couldn’t be any better to ensure that the bicycle continues to play a critical role in American history.
[Editor's Note: Andy is Interbike's Show Director]
Aug
27
Freewheelin’ the DNC and New Advocacy Groups Springing Up
Filed Under Advocacy, Cycling, Green Efforts, Industry News, Interbike | Comments Off
I’ve been enjoying following the news of the Humana/Bikes Belong Freewheelin’ campaign at the Democratic National Convention this week. This is a great effort and undertaking, but I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised by the seeiming success of the program so far. Along with the large orchestrated rides with big names like the mayor of Denver, they’re claiming to have seen their loaner bikes already cover over 12,000 miles of Denver streets over the first two days of the program. That’s pretty impressive. Our Lance Camisasca is working with them in Denver this week and I can’t wait to hear from him how it all went.
Along with that good news, I’m constantly surprised by all the new advocacy groups that seem to keep popping up. Mattew Modine, the actor, was featured on the Freewheelin’ blog signing out a bike to use on a ride in support of the group that he works with called Bike For a Day. Here’s a brief excerpt from their website:
- A fun, open and proactive invitation designed to inspire individuals, communities, governments and corporations to take a step towards solving the current environmental issues.
- A global initiative bringing together people who choose to ride a bicycle rather than use gas-powered motor vehicles, immediately reducing their carbon footprint.
- Supports organizations that restore and protect our environment and make biking safer and more accessible for everyone.
BICYCLING CAN HELP CHANGE YOUR WORLD
The BFAD website says that they plan to launch on September 20, 2008. I wish them all the best in their efforts.
You can also follow Freewheelin happenings via Twitter.
Aug
18
Video: Freewheleein’ At the Democratic National Convention
Filed Under Advocacy, Cycling, Green Efforts, Industry News, Interbike, Video | 2 Comments
Saw a link to this video from the local Denver NBC television station on Twitter this morning. Forgot that the DNC is already next week. If you hadn’t heard, Bikes Belong and health insurance company Humana (along with a few bike manufacturers) have partnered to provide 1,000 bikes on free loan to conventioneers. Republicans will also get a chance to borrow a bike at their convention in Minneapolis in early September. I’m really curious to see how the bikes end up being used – and which party will use them more. At the risk of getting too political here, I know which party I’d put my money on to ride more.
The website for the Freewheelin’ program is here and you can also follow them on Twitter under the bikesharing account name.
In the video, Avery Stonich from the BBC and Dan Oftedahl from Humana talk about the program and you get to see the wareheouse where the bikes are all being assembled. Hopefully you won’t see the pre-roll ad for a truck like I did. Gotta love contextual advertising.
Here’s the link to the original article that goes along with the video.
Jul
11
LA Times Business Section on Commuting By Bike
Filed Under Advocacy, Attendee News, Cycling, Exhibitor News, Industry News, Interbike | Comments Off
I’ve been a bad blogger by going on 10 days since the last post… And it’s not for a shortage of topics – I’ve got a stack on interesting articles piled on my desk waiting for 30 minutes free time to write something coherent and marginally enjoyable to read about them (I gave up on being profound in my posts a while back…). More often than not, posts get written at home after the kids are in bed.
Case in point is this article in the LA Times by staff writer Leslie Earnest on commuting by bike that Lance pointed out to me on Tuesday (I live in San Diego County so I don’t get the LAT): “Bikes Help Commuters get around gas prices“. Now there’s been no shortage of articles in the mainstream, non-endemic media lately about the growth in cycling as a response to rising energy costs, but I think it’s important to highlight this exposure that our industry is getting – especially when it’s the cover story of the business section of such a widely read paper such as the LA Times.
Customer being helped at Cynergy Cycles in Santa Monica, California
The gist of the article is pretty typical: more people are riding bikes because of high gas prices. The quality parts of the article are that it focuses on the business aspect and how sales are up as a result of the energy situation and features quotes from a variety of industry members on the subject including Tim Blumenthal of Bikes Belong, Amanda Schulze of Burley Design, Fred Clements of the NBDA and Bruno Maier of Cannondale Sports Group.
The article is accompanied by a couple of photos taken at Santa Monica’s Cynergy Cycles, and also has interviews with retailer Rock N’ Road Cyclery of Orange County. Matt Ford of RNR comments at the close of the article that bike sales are “up double digits.” Jim Whitsett of Cynergy states similarly that he’s seen a jump of 20% just over the last 30 days. Good news for the industry for sure, but Clements of the NBDA cautions that the majority of sales in shops are still from recreational purchases and that segment is sensitive to the bad economy and people watching their spending more carefully.
Similar situation across the country?
Jul
1
This video arrived in my inbox yesterday and originated from industry good guy and host of Good Morning Interbike, Richard Fries. Pretty amazing little film to watch of children and parents biking to school in the Netherlands on an amazing network of bike paths totally separate from any automobiles. Is this what we are aspiring to?
Jun
30
The Bike Racing Community and Advocacy
Filed Under Advocacy, Deep Thoughts, Interbike, Racing | 3 Comments
I’ve had a feeling for some time now that there is a very large wasted resource in the cycling family when it comes to bike advocacy issues. Maybe “wasted” is too harsh a word, but the fact is, though, that there is a huge group of cyclists that are as passionate about cycling as the most fervent and active advocate, but that don’t appreciate how important – and relevant to them – advocacy efforts are.
I count myself as a part of that group who has seen the light. My entry into cycling was just about riding my college roommate’s bike for fitness, but quickly evolved into cycling competitively. Cycling was a sport – a recreational activity. A very serious one, though, that I devoted an insane percentage of my waking hours thinking – no, obsessing – about, and invested too many dollars in. You may know the feeling…
Racers complain about unsafe drivers, or poor road conditions, but for the most part, our contribution to advocacy has been limited to complaining to the police officer who has pulled us over for not riding single file. Riding, most of the time, involved loading up the roof rack with your bike and driving to a training ride or race. Commuting to work on your bike was a way of getting a few more training miles in.
I’ve given passing thought on how the industry could harness the racing community or at least open their eyes to how impactful and important advocacy is to all cyclists. I remember getting mail from the League of American Wheelmen (the old name of the League of American Bicyclists) back in the day and actually thinking that it had nothing to do with me. That was for those wacky bike nuts. It just never clicked until much later. Advocacy was for those wacky bike nuts. There was and still is a big disconnect between the passion of the typical racer and that of the advocate for cycling rights, access issues and cycling friendly legislation.
So about a week ago, a friend of mine at LeMond Fitness, Eric Stobin, forwarded me a link to an interesting article on VeloNews.com that struck a chord. Rick Crawford, who wrote the article (Circles: Wasting energy in an energy challenged world), expressed a similar train of thought in his piece.
With gas prices so high, I’m looking at the bike quite differently these days. For 32 years now, I have viewed the bike as my sporting medium; my racing tool and speed fix. Rarely have I viewed it as the extremely viable form of transportation that it really is. Now that regular unleaded is more than four bucks a gallon, I don’t take the car for granted. From sheer necessity, the bike has become my primary form of transportation.
Rick goes off on a different tangent from me at this point here about harnessing the power generated by cyclists on exercise bikes and trainers as a new source of renewable energy (sort of like Lance Armstrong in that old ESPN Sports Center ad), but his initial comment on how a bike racer views the purpose of his bike is spot on. So, too, his description of the epiphany that has happened with so many casual or sport cyclists recently. I have to say that many of the new commuters that I notice on the roads are cyclists on road bikes wearing racing outfits. I guess that’s somewhat logical as a cyclist would be more naturally inclined to switch to his bike as a mode of transportation before a non-biker. He also already owns a bike – an important detail if you plan on riding one to work.
I’m not sure of the latest membership numbers for USACycling (the governing boady of racing in the US), but I’m sure that it’s in the multiple tens of thousands. Wouldn’t it be great to get them all involved?
Jun
20
Surprised to see a photo of a bike commuter on a a train on the cover of this morning’s North County section of San Diego’s Union Tribune newspaper. “That’s great!” I thought at first. Then I read the headline: “Cutting back on bikes onboard – Officials cite safety in limiting number to 4 per car on train” Just what I was afraid of with the huge growth in bike/train commuting recently.
Photo by CHARLIE NEUMAN / Union-Tribune
The story deals with the recently inaugurated Sprinter light rail line launched earlier this year in northern San Diego County. I haven’t had a chance to ride it yet, though I suppose I could take it to my current Metrolink train in Oceanside. There’s been criticism that the line is a “train to nowhere” from Escondido to Oceanside, California. As a result, apparently many more than expected (upwards of 12 per car, according to the article) are bringing their bikes on board to complete their journeys at either end.
“We have really been overwhelmed with bikes so far – more than we expected,” district spokesman Tom Kelleher said. “It’s a pleasant dilemma.”
I agree – this is a “pleasant dilemma” to have, right? This is a great sign and takes the mission of a light rail system one step further: people leave their cars behind even to get to and from the train. With the encouragement of this great participation by cyclists, all that’s needed is a creative and “pleasant” solution. Unfortunately, we’re dealing with government bureaucrats here. Their answer to so many bikes on the trains: limit them to 4 citing safety reasons. The transit district is also proposing that bikers just use the 278 bike lockers installed at the stations along the route. Yeah, no need for your bike at the other end of the line in a suburban setting…
The limit is planned to go into effect on July 1st.
“On July 1 there are a lot of people who just won’t ride the Sprinter anymore, which is just going to be unfortunate,” Keehan said. “It’s not good for the transit rider or the transit district to not accommodate those riders.”
The commenter “Left Coast” summed up the situation best and provided the best solution:
so let’s see, right at one of the MOST significant times in public transit history, where they have the greatest opportunity to increase ridership, and help the environment, what do these dummies do?!
ENCOURAGE people to bring bikes… many, many bikes. make one of the cars one big bike rack. think you idiots, THINK! stop being bureaucrats for once in your lives.
I just hope Metrolink doesn’t get any ideas from their peers to the south and try something like this. I really like the idea of making one of the cars “one big bike rack.” I chat with a fellow bike commuter on the platform, but when the train comes we have to split up so that we won’t compete for the limited bike racks. Would be great if we could ride on the train with the other bikers.
To end this post, I’ll leave you with one final comment to help frame the situation with a bit of humor:
Pack the train with bikes and people! It is not about comfort it is about saving fuel!
In 3rd world countries you could be setting next to a box of chickens or a pig head.
May
16
It’s Bike to Work Day in SoCal
Filed Under Advocacy, Deep Thoughts, Rides | 4 Comments
As if you didn’t know, bike community members, today is Bike to Work Day in Southern California. I guess other regions have it on different days. Judging by the number of bikes on the train platform this morning, I going to guess that its will be a pretty successful BTWD. The ongoing challenge, of course, is to keep everyone going beginning Monday. MasiGuy’s blog had a comment this morning that describes this well here.
A side effect of BTWD is the crowded trains. I guess it’s a positive sign for cycling, but the 2 racks per car on Metrolink here don’t cut it. There were 5 bikers on my train home last night. Can’t wait for tonight’s crowds.
On a positive note, there happened to be a “market research” person from Metrolink on my car. I commented to her about the need for more racks. She smiled and handed me a survey to fill out and suggested that I use the comment area to mention the problem. Also was able to put down that the bike is my mode of transport pre- and post-train ride. Bonus.
Along with the four other bikes there were four other bikers on the train. Had a nice conversation with one who was on a really nice carbon road bike. He’s definitely one of the industry’s “VIP Customers.” So much so, that after he found out that I worked for Interbike (did the jersey and socks plastered with the logo give it away?), he mentioned that he loves Interbike and goes every year. When I asked him how he gets in, he said that he’s a very good customer of his shop and they get him into the show. Now this volatile topic is worthy of a whole other post, but suffice it to say that if any type consumer should be let into the show, this is it. He doesn’t ask for price lists or deals or sponsorship, knows that the show is for the dealers and manufacturers to conduct their business and he buys everything he sees there from his local shop.
I’m not advocating at all that it’s ok for retailers to do this. They still need to respect the exhibitors and those other retailers who are uncomfortable with this and have expressed a desire to keep the show for the trade only. I do have to admit that this guy’s passion and love of bikes and cycling is strong enough to get him to drive 5 hours each way to Vegas and pay for his own hotel and expenses just to ogle cool new bike gear.
Continuing the trend of interesting conversations that happen when you bike and train to work instead of driving, I met the publisher of Skateboarder magazine this morning (they’re also based in San Juan Capistrano and are the sister mag to Bike magazine). He bikes to work most days of the week. Great talk about the future of traditional media and the web and also nuances of the various core “tribes” within the skate world. Good stuff. Would never happen in a car by yourself.
Finally, here’s one more pic for Carlton Reid (congrats on your award, btw!) who enjoys seeing where people live, work and ride. I was bit early this morning to the train and rode a couple of blocks over from the station to the beach. Another beautiful day to ride.
