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Over the past three years, the League has been privileged to play a pivotal, leadership role in the National Bike Challenge, uniting bicyclists of all abilities and interests to collectively log nearly 100 million miles. The Challenge has shown us the valuable role the League can play in catalyzing a great idea and the immense power in using our national reach to make a difference at the local level. We’re excited to see how the Challenge continues to evolve, as the League shifts to its new strategic plan and new challenges in 2015.

If you need a healthy helping of bicycle and pedestrian policy insight to get through the holiday season, you’ve come to the right place. Advocacy Advance, our partnership with the League of American Bicyclists, released a series of reports and webinars this year to help advocates and public officials in the U.S. maximize investment in bicycling and walking. Missed a few sessions or reports? We’ve got you covered. Here’s the full list of reports and sessions from 2014.

We’ve talked a lot about the increase in bicycling and pedestrian fatalities over the last year, but we’ve never really had an answer as to why. Rep. Rick Larsen of Washington State wants to know what the causes are, and what current transportation design and policy practices might be contributing. And when Members of Congress have a question like that, they turn to the Government Accounting Office to answer it. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress. Often called the “congressional watchdog,” GAO studies are considered non-partisan and thorough. Congress often uses these reports as a basis for legislative and policy change.

The Atlanta Bicycle Coalition (ABC) is a model for organizations working in cities that are not traditionally known as bikeable or bike-friendly and are working to kick-start a cultural shift in order to effect city-wide transportation system change. “Our approach has been to make latent demand visible to agencies and elected officials through community-building, inclusive events like open streets, beginner-friendly rides and classes, and socials,” says Rebecca Serna, Executive Director of the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition. “As our numbers for these have grown, we’ve continued to emphasize that participation demonstrates demand for shift in infrastructure priorities towards more bikeable, walkable projects and communities.”

“We need a mayor like that!” That’s the sentiment heard from many people after Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto concluded his remarks at the 2014 National Bike Summit. Moments earlier, Mayor Peduto had announced to the 800 bicycling advocates in attendance that he was appointing Bike Pittsburgh (BikePGH) Executive Director Scott Bricker to his region’s Metropolitan Planning Organization. (You can see the video here at minute 5:30.) That appointment means that bicyclists have a seat at the table for important regional transportation planning and funding decisions.

As part of the Advocacy Advance partnership between the League of American Bicyclists and the Alliance for Biking and Walking, we travel around the country and talk to people about how to fund bicycling and walking projects. We get to see what happening all over and pick up on the exciting trends and common challenges. Sometimes the challenges are technical in nature; just as often, they are political.