LCI Spotlight: Fernando A. Martinez 

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. 

It sounds like you’ve been engaged in almost every aspect of biking from racing, to building bikes and to advocacy and education. So to give you a chance to sum up that story — can you start by telling me a little about yourself and how biking has shaped your life? 

My name is Fernando Martinez. I grew up in Mexico City, and my family didn’t own a car, so we either used public transportation or walked. I started riding at thirteen years old — I had a bike, but I wasn’t all that interested at first. It was a coach who first opened my mind to the idea that bikes can change your life. He took me under his wing and taught me how to fix bikes, how to bike, how to race, and how bicycling can be a life-changing tool. His own kids weren’t interested in bikes, so he chose me to pass on his knowledge. He was like my own Mr. Miagi from Karate Kid. He would tell me, “Cycling is like life. You must set a goal, keep your balance, learn to switch gears and go forward. Sometimes there will be barriers and hills to climb. If you don’t know how to change gears, you’re gonna suffer. In life and on a bike, you have to learn to keep pace and switch gears when needed.”

You’ve worked with a ton of bike organizations in the past, from Mexico City to D.C. to Houston. What advocacy group, club, or bike organization are you a part of these days?

Over the years, I’ve been involved with BikeTexas, served on the board of the League and on the board of BikeHouston, worked with PeopleForBikes, and been around Safe Routes to School as well. I love what Safe Routes and Trips for Kids does. We’re trying to take that approach here in Houston to get kids out of their circle and explore their world. I was also involved with Please Be Kind to Cyclists. 

These days, I direct the Bicycle Programs at Harris County Precinct One, and we work with Texas DOT to secure funding for free helmets, classes, rides, and program support of that nature. 

How did you get started with your current work with Precinct One in Harris County?

Tell me about how you keep your students engaged while you teach. 

I’ll give you an example from a bike safety class of about 84 seniors. As an instructor, I always want to learn about my students to find out what they need and want. In talking with them, I learned our trails aren’t wide enough for two tricycles to ride next to each other —preventing the seniors on trikes from riding side-by-side and carrying on a conversation together. When you listen to students and take their concerns seriously, you build trust and connection.

It also helps to follow through and take action. After we heard that feedback, the trails at Precinct One parks were improved to become more accessible. We also created the Bike Library as a way to answer needs that students brought up — providing bicycles as tools to connect people, for folks to start building friendships and community, we help improve their health. Riding together shows new cyclists that it’s a lot easier than they think to transport themselves on a bike or trike, and it’s very empowering. At the end of classes like that, I love to hear comments like, “Oh wow, that wasn’t so bad! I’ll tell my grandson how easy it is, and we can ride together.”

What motivated you to become a cycling educator? At what point did you become an LCI?

Even with all my experience riding, when I first got into biking as commuting in DC, I had never been taught the rules of the road. I was so excited when I got involved with BikeTexas and learned they were doing that kind of education — it was and still is so needed. It was early in my work with BikeTexas, about twenty five years ago, when I became a League Cycling Instructor. I’m proud to say I was the first Mexican Hispanic to become an LCI!

You played a key role in translating the first Spanish-language bike safety curriculum in Texas. Tell us about what that meant for you, and what it meant for your community at the time.

This kind of education was not accessible before. In 2000, my wife Irene Carrion and I helped BikeTexas to translate the SafeCyclist curriculum into Spanish, and that was a tool that help us with bike safety education in Texas. At the time, we were in Amarillo, Texas, and I kept trying to talk to schools and get them interested in Safe Routes programming, but they always pushed back, saying, ‘We have so many curriculums, another one won’t help. Let’s talk later.” 

It ended up being the parent-teacher community that changed things. When I talked to the PTA group, and told them about the Safe Routes program offering Safety, Education, and Health for their kids, the parents got excited. They asked what I needed, and I told them — I need access to the schools, to be able to facilitate this programming to your children. So the parents asked the principal, and the principal agreed to let me provide Safe Routes programming for pre-K through 5th grade. In the first class, I facilitated a session with 350 kids, and they were all engaged, attentive, and excited. Word soon spread, and other schools started calling. We eventually expanded to 61 elementary schools. 

“Because there was a large Spanish-speaking community in Amarillo TX, Martinez worked to translate the BikeTexas SRTS Event Handbook and other documents to Spanish. This enabled Spanish speaking parents to gain a better understanding of what SRTS is about and how their children could benefit from this program. This case study provides information on how Martinez brought Bicycle Education to Spanish-Speaking Communities.” 

— How BikeTexas & Safe Routes to School Helped Turn Amarillo into a More Bikeable Community by Rosalie Aguilar-Santos

What is your best piece of advice for an LCI who wants to teach a class but isn’t sure how to get started?

When I first started teaching safety classes at community centers, I noticed that the managers weren’t very interested in the lessons themselves. But when we started organizing bike rides and invited them to join, everything changed—they got hooked once they experienced it firsthand.

That’s my advice: Get to know the people you’re working with, listen to what excites them, and lean into that. Not every new LCI feels comfortable leading a class right away, and that’s okay. Many start by simply showing up to trainings, offering support, and building experience over time. Sometimes, all it takes is a small moment of encouragement—when someone hesitates to get on a bike, and another person helps them take that first step. Once they do, they appreciate it more.

The best part of teaching is sharing something you love and seeing the joy when someone learns something new. So just go for it—start small, learn as you go, and most importantly, help put a smile on someone’s face! Today, all our Precinct One community centers managers became LCIs. We are hosting another LCI seminar this month to certify five more staff members and ten sheriff department deputies, thanks to the RideONE bike program initiatives! We are taking the lead and want to make Houston safer for people who ride bikes.

What advice would you give to other cycling educators who want to make biking more accessible to Spanish-speaking communities, or under-represented cycling communities in general?

Just try it! Go for it! If you don’t speak the language, find someone who can help with it. Whether it’s teaching kids to bike or learning to maintain bikes — you never know what response you’ll get, so go for it. You’ll surely find barriers but there’s always a way past them. Don’t waste the energy trying to climb straight over the barrier —  look for a way around it, move forward, and keep your pace and balance, as my old coach would say. 

What would you say has been your greatest reward in teaching bike education?

The reward is all the smiles from people who are learning to ride for the first time. Most older folks have never experienced a bicycle safety class, and they’re excited to learn something they’ve never known. When we bring bikes to schools, a lot of kids have never even ridden until we teach them through Learn To Ride programs. From toddlers to people in their nineties, it’s all about making people smile with bike joy. 

Is there anything I haven’t asked you that you’d like to share?

I have to thank my family for being champions and volunteers in supporting this work over the years. My wife was the one championing Safe Routes to School with me in Amarillo TX, and my second volunteer was my daughter. She’s been riding since she was young — when she was two years old, I started taking her to Kids Cup events. She was always the first to hop on her tricycle, and all the kids would see her and get excited to join up and ride together. 

As my daughter got older and joined me at all these different events, she got to see how many friends I had everywhere. She’d always ask me, “How do you have so many friends?” The answer, of course, is bikes. One example I love to share is when I was travelling back to Austin from an event in Seattle with Commissioner Elllis (though at the time, he was still Senator Ellis). One of the vans broke down, and we couldn’t find a hotel room. I posted on Facebook that I was looking for some help, and within ten minutes, an old cycling friend — Carl from Miami — reached out and offered his whole house in the Seattle area for us to stay at. Bikes are truly a tool for connection, wherever you go. I also want to thank everyone that made a difference in my life and help me understand the importance of bikes. Thank you, Gonzalo Munoz de Cote, Robin Stallings, and all the people that gave me an opportunity to work with them closely to make a difference using the bike as a tool to change people’s lifestyles.