Season of Summits

The National Bike Summit is just 8 week away. (Register before Feb. 3rd and save $100!) Your voice is needed on Capitol Hill as much as ever. While the National Bike Summit brings cyclists together to discuss and push for bicycling at the federal level, an ever-growing number of state and local summits are making a difference across the country.

Subscribers of our bi-weekly American Bicyclist Update  e-newsletter recently saw the following list of events:

1. Missouri’s Bike/Ped Day at the Capitol 2011 will be February 1. Bicyclist and pedestrians will have the chance to speak with their legislators. Find out more.
2. Colorado’s Bicycle Summit will take place this February 7-8 in downtown Denver. Find out more and registernow.
3. South Dakota’s Bicycle Summit will be held January 21-22 in Fort Pierre. Friday is a meet and greet and Saturday is packed with presentations. Find out more here.
4. Florida Bicycle Association will be facilitating their third bike summit at the state capitol on March 24 in Tallahasse. Registration is free! Read more about the conference.
5. Iowa Bicycle Summit is January 28-29 in Des Moines. Antonio Rosell from Twin Cities Streets for People and Andy Clarke from the League of American Bicyclists will speak at this event.
6. Maryland’s 14th Annual Bicycle Symposium in Annapolis will be February 22. Find out more.
7. The 2011 New Jersey Bike and Walk Summit will be held on February 26 in Trenton. Register today.
8. Oregon Active Transportation Summit will be March 29-30 in Salem. Find out more.
9. Utah’s Bike Summit will be April 28-29. There is no link yet but check for updates at utahbikes.org.
10. The New York Regional Bicycling and Active Transportation Symposium that the Rochester Cycling Alliance is co-hosting with the Genesee Transportation Council will be April 27th. There is no link yet. Check Rochester Cycling Alliance for info.

One event that was absent from the e-newsletter that is worth bringing attention to is the 2011 Youth Bike Summit in New York City hosted by the great folks at Recycle-A-Bicycle. The event which runs January 14-16 “aims to inspire people from different educational disciplines to explore, network, and learn how bicycling can be a legitimate and safe form of transportation for today’s youth.” It’s inspiring to see such work dedicated to fostering the next generation of recreational cyclists, bike commuters and hopefully future bike advocates!

Do you know of another upcoming Bike Summit that wasn’t listed? Let us know! Are you thinking about hosting your own state, regional or local Summit? Check out our Bike Summit Guide for tips and ideas.

UPDATE: Our good friend Clarence of StreetFilms just alerted us to video from the Youth Bike Summit.