Apr
21
Sea Otter Video – Tim Blumenthal of Bikes Belong
Filed Under Advocacy, Deep Thoughts, Interbike, Video | 1 Comment
In light of my recent introduction into local bicycle advocacy, I thought I’d go to the source for some expert advice. As I mention in my intro in the video, I have some experience with some pretty big advocacy efforts like the National Bike Summit, but when it came to actually effecting some advocacy close to home, I really had no idea where to start. I guess the nitty gritty of the work had been left to the professionals at the League of American Bicyclists, Bikes Belong or IMBA, to name a few, in the advocacy that I had been a part of.
Tim Blumenthal, executive director of Bikes Belong, kindly accepted my request for an interview during his busy schedule at the Sea Otter Classic when I called him a few days prior to the event. Tim is always a pleasure to speak with and I’ve been lucky to be able to spend time with him at the last two Sea Otter events now. He’s a great advocate and representative for the industry. And he tells a great story.
The theme of this interview is advice for cyclists wanting to effect bicycle advocacy on a local level. Good stuff.
Technical note: I need to figure out how to turn my left channel only sound (from my mono microphone plugged into the stereo input on the camera) into left and right mono. Not so bad through speakers, but very noticeable with headphones. Maybe I just need to invest in some better video editing software.
Feb
1
National Bike Summit – Be There!
Filed Under Advocacy, Cycling, Industry News, Interbike | Comments Off
Mark your calendars, this is the big one: the National Bike Summit in Washington, DC, March 4-6, 2008.
The League of American Bicyclists organizes this amazing bicycle advocacy event that seeks to “present a comprehensive, actionable, national bicycling agenda to Congress.” On a personal level, it’s also an awesome civics lesson as you roam the halls of Congress and meet with your elected officials and their staffers and learn the finer points of lobbying and the legislative process through workshops and speaker sessions.
According to the NBS website:
The National Bike Summit provides us with a unique opportunity to inform our members of Congress of the importance of bicycling, and to educate them on specific bicycling issues.
They need delegates from each and every congressional district in the United States at the National Bike Summit this year.
Interbike strongly believes in this event and we are sponsoring it again this year. We also encourage all members of the bike industry on both the manufacturer and retailer side of the business to attend this important gathering in Washington.