Life is better for everyone when more people ride bikes.

Bike equity means believing the stories people have to share about what it’s like for them to be in the street. There’s more to safety than being seen, and we need to believe when people tell us about insecurity beyond traffic violence. As a national organization, we have a role to play in convening tough conversations.

Event management is not my gig. I have the utmost respect for ride and event directors who place themselves in the hands of the weather gods and face countless uncontrollable variables with aplomb… but that just isn’t me. And recently I got a stark reminder of why that’s true. I was having dinner with a colleague in New York City when the phone rang. It was a ride director who had just been told, within two days of their main event of the year, that their insurance company had let them down and they basically had no insurance for the event.

The Nov. 4 midterm election saw a major shake up in Congress — and there are still several local, state and federal run-off elections looming in its wake. Earlier this month, I discussed what these results mean for biking at the state and federal levels. So what’s next? Here are the key takeaways from this month’s elections — and what to watch for in the next several months.

The City of Milwaukee once again was awarded a Bronze Bicycle Friendly Community award status by the League of American Bicyclists. We know the bar is continually being raised on what it means to be bicycle-friendly. To meet those challenges, City of Milwauke Mayor Tom Barrett has directed Milwaukee’s Department of Public Works Commissioner Ghassan Korban and City Engineer Jeff Polenske to establish a sub-committee of the City’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Task Force to define the path to not only reaching Silver but going for Gold-level status. The City is already making progress on many of the League’s recommended “Steps to Silver.”