LCI & Advocate Spotlight: Patrick Valandra

The League certifies hundreds of League Cycling Instructors every year and there are thousands of LCIs across the country leading bike education efforts in their communities. In our LCI spotlight series, we share the stories of League Cycling Instructors doing what they do daily: educating, mentoring, and empowering. You don’t have to be an extraordinary athlete or overachieving student to be a stellar LCI, all you need is the conviction that life is better for everyone when more people ride bikes.

What, if any, advocacy group, club, or bike organization are you a part of?

For many years, I was the President of Bike Tempe, also known as the Tempe Bicycle Action Group. I’m proud to say there is a new leadership group that has taken up the torch to promote cycling, and the organization is doing really well. They hosted an LCI Seminar here last fall which I volunteered to help with, and it was a great time.

I’ve also been working with Rez (Reservation) Gravel to put on events this summer. I’m Native American and grew up on a reservation here in AZ, we’ve been trying to open up some of those lands to cycling by promoting events. Lots of reservations are rural, with lots of forest roads and good gravel to ride on as well as great scenery and elevation. Rez Gravel will promote more events next year to highlight more reservations, especially ones that aren’t as visible as the ones around Phoenix and Tempe. The reservation I grew up on, White Mountain Apache, is four hours east of here. You can ride 400 miles without ever seeing a paved road. We want to celebrate the landscape and the culture of each reservation and provide economic opportunity by sourcing all event materials and supplies from within the community. 

Is there a moment or experience that solidified your commitment to bike advocacy? 

I grew up in a really rural environment. As kids, we had bikes that we’d ride all over the reservation. We were literally wild Indians, doing whatever we wanted to do and going wherever we wanted to go. When I grew up and joined the military, I got a bike instead of a car and realized biking was still a viable option for getting around. I was stationed all over — North Carolina, Georgia, Houston, even NJ on the east coast — and I got to ride my bike everywhere I went. 

What first motivated you to become an LCI? 

When I became board president of the Tempe Bicycle Action Group, my vision was for every board member to certify in Traffic Skills 101 and become an LCI. We set up a seminar in town and we got four of six board members trained right away. I also advocated for sending people to the National Bike Summit, because this is where ideas get exchanged. This is an opportunity to expand our perceptions and see other ways of succeeding. I’ve been going to the Summit for the past ten years, and I’ve never had a bad one. In fact, it was the bike advocacy workshop following the 2024 National Bike Summit where I got my LCA certification. There’s always something cool to do, people to meet, and, after the day’s activities wrap up, so many options around DC to get into some late-night karaoke! 

What’s one takeaway from the LCA Workshop that you are incorporating into your bike advocacy?

Whether it’s making a donation, offering a piece of advice, or organizing a letter of support — there’s a lot we can do. Technologically speaking, we’re more linked up than ever before. Our capacity will only grow as more trained leaders like League Cycling Advocates are active in our communities. 

What project or campaign are you involved with right now?

From a nonprofit leadership perspective, I’ve been getting involved with a project to help veterans access whitewater rafting. The idea is to connect veterans with nature, teach them how to paddle, learn water safety skills, and build up a sense of community. I just filed that paperwork last week to incorporate the nonprofit. We’ve already put in some permits for the Grand Canyon, and we’ve spent months training on whitewater in Colorado.

What is one of your core memories from being on a bike?

One of the strongest memories I have is from my childhood. I was about eight years old, riding my bike with a bunch of kids, and my friend Keno and I bumped wheels and crashed. Luckily, we weren’t going too fast (although at the time, we thought we were flying) and no one was seriously hurt. We decided to push our bikes back up the hill to Keno’s house. His mom wasn’t home, so we got the hose out and cleaned up the scrapes ourselves. It was a bonding moment for us, and we’re still in touch to this day. 

That was my first big crash, so the memory really stuck with me. It also moved me toward my career path in medicine — all the other kids were grossed out by the scrapes, but I didn’t mind it. So in a way, that experience helped get me into the army as a combat medic and eventually into my past career in Healthcare IT.

What is your favorite thing about being on a bike?

I’ve always equated bicycling with the ability to be free, to expand my horizons around what’s possible. As a kid, you can walk a mile without too much trouble, but then when you get a bike, one mile is nothing! A mile goes by before you know it, quickly turning into five or six miles, and your world just keeps growing. Being on a bike is also great for your wellbeing. It’s a great way to think without distraction, get your pace going and your body moving. Anytime I need to be alone, I just go pedal around. Some days I go to the park, an easy 30-mile ride, and other days I’ll go out into the middle of the desert and just ride as long as I can. No traffic, no worries — as long as you bring enough water! 

Give us an interesting or funny fact about you.

I was recently told, “You see things in the future before others do. You tend to think other people can see the same thing, but they don’t.” But I don’t always want to be that guy — if people can’t see what I see, how do I explain to others my vision for the cycling community? That comment made me step back and consider how this could be a leadership learning point. My funny fact is that I am crazy for cycling gloves! I have at least 10 pairs and some haven’t even been unwrapped!

What advice do you have for emerging leaders in bike advocacy?

You might not always know where a project is going, but just keep trying. Don’t give up. Continue developing your skill sets, keep a great attitude, and you’ll always end up with a great result or a new skill!

Where do you see the future of bike advocacy heading? 

I appreciate how the League focuses on federal legislation and translates what that means for the cycling community, and I have a feeling we’ll see an increase in those strings coming back locally. Especially now that we’re training LCAs, we’re going to see more local leaders reach out to leverage national connections — to ask, how will this legislation impact my city? How can we tactically align for it to work out well for us? A national network also helps small towns and cities better understand and ask questions like, “Are we doing the right thing in terms of Vision Zero? What can we do to improve?” So I love the strategy the League has. We have to play to the tactics on the ground to keep moving forward.