Blog Post

Puzzles, the Macarena, egg hunts… sounds like the makings of a scavenger hunt, right? Well, El Grupo, a youth cycling organization in Tucson, Arizona, does it all by bike! The organization’s yearly fundraiser takes the form of a bike scavenger hunt. The concept isn’t all that unfamiliar for those who bike in cities — alley cat races grew out of a strong competitive streak among bike messengers. Alley cat races are essentially a scavenger hunt with the added pressure of a race.

Just last night, the Senate Commerce Committee marked up their portion of the transportation bill – including safety provisions, railway and freight sections. While the bill passed out of Committee, the vote passed on a party line vote- with no democrats voting for final passage. The final bill includes three wins for bicycling!

This morning the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee met to debate and discuss the DRIVE Act, the Senate’s proposed transportation bill. The hearing today was a feel-good show of bi-partisan support and compromise for a long term transportation bill. The Committee rightly congratulated its leaders (Sens. Jim Inhofe, Barbara Boxer, David Vitter and Tom Carper) for moving the conversation forward on the need for a long term and sustainable transportation bill. While the Committee discussion today was uneventful, it marked the end of a whirl of activity for the Committee members in terms of amendments to the bill — some of which improve the bill significantly from a biking standpoint. Roughly 30 amendments we filed on Tuesday, and a few key ones were passed through by the committee leadership and the committee as a whole. Read our analysis of the original bill here. Here are the new changes that are good for biking.

As is evident in the acronym, The Developing a Reliable and Innovative Vision for the Economy Act, or DRIVE Act, is not focused on improving multi-modal transportation but rather on the interstate and highway system. The U.S. Senate introduced its version of the new transportation bill this week and it is set for a hearing on Wednesday. While we were successful in getting some small changes to the Transportation Alternative Program (TAP), we do not see any real innovation or vision to really grapple with transportation needs of this 21st Century.

An oceanfront community known more for tropical tranquility than vigorous endeavors, Indian River County establishes the climatological border to the topics. It is a placid locality on Florida’s sunrise coast 100 miles north of Miami’s cosmopolitan pace and 100 miles south of Orlando’s tourist attractions. Indian River County offers 16 miles of soft sand ocean beaches — regarded among the best Atlantic shoreline in America — that are rarely crowded. Its fame comes from citrus fruits and nesting turtles.

If you ask why enough, you quickly get to the heart of an issue. Why does the League exist? We have a compelling mission, vision and belief statement that says we all win if everyone gets to enjoy the benefits and opportunities of bicycling. Why the League? There are other bike groups out there with similar goals; why should you support the League?

During last week’s #BikeChat we dug into the newest Women Bike report, “Bike Shops for Everyone: Strategies for Making Bike Retail More Welcoming to Women.” Liz Cornish, former Women Bike Manager and now Executive Director of Bikemore in Baltimore, researched, analyzed and produced the report, with support from Specialized. We spoke with Liz about some of the more surprising findings and how shops can remain financially viable by being more inclusive.

Bike shops as we know them are dying. From 2000 to 2013, the number of bicycle retailers in the United States decreased from 6,195 to 4,055. Why is it the concern of the League’s Women Bike program if they do? The League of American Bicyclists believes that independent bicycle dealers in providing access to bicycles, bicycle maintenance, bicycling information, and creating a community of people riding bikes are a critical component to building a bicycle-friendly America. We want them to succeed, which means providing resources to assist them in embracing an increasingly diverse and growing market.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a two month extension to the federal transportation bill, MAP-21, yesterday, with a vote of 387 to 35. You can read more about the debate over federal transportation funding here. The most interesting part of yesterday’s debate was the number of members of Congress saying they’d had enough: This is the last time they will vote for an extension. Though key Democrats, Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Ranking Democrat on the Transportation Committee, left some wiggle room for their votes, this could be a threat enough members stand behind.

National Bike To Work Day 2015 was a great success, thanks to the many photos and shout outs we saw on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram! Thousands of Americans took to their bicycles to get to the office on Friday, May 15, turning their commute into a workout, inspiring others to do the same, and having a whole lot of fun. We promised to share some of our favorite photos from the day’s celebrations. Thank you to everyone who participated, and be sure to document and share your other National Bike Month activities throughout the month of May!