James Oberstar, a member of the U.S. Congress, has been the driving force behind legislation that created Rails-to-Trails and Safe Routes to Schools, initiatives that are now growing in communities across America.

Oberstar keeps a bike in his Washington apartment to use when he’s at his D.C. office and he has several at his Minnesota home. Most weekends he can be found at charity rides talking and mixing with his constituents and encouraging them on the ride.

Oberstar has led an evolution of thinking among his congressional colleagues in Washington; thinking that includes bicycles in transportation bills, bikes in city street planning and safe routes to schools.

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There is an old proverb that says “may you live in interesting times.” And I believe we do. For the first time in our nation’s history, the average American child has a shorter life expectancy than his or her parents. Inactivity and obesity are compromising our health. Global warming is threatening our future. Congestion is eroding our patience and our mobility. These are truly interesting times.

Looking at these pressing issues; global warming, escalating obesity, increasing congestion - there is one common answer. The bicycle is a cure to much of what ails us. Its is an elegant, yet simple solution to many complex problems.

When I was young, my Mother taught me many valuable lessons, but none more important than ‘to whom much is given, much is required’. As the president of Trek Bicycles, I believe that I have been given much, but nothing more valuable than this opportunity to Change the World.

Yes, it sounds lofty and perhaps naïve, but with further reflection, the opportunity is not only real, I believe it is within reach.

This summer on a trip from Boulder back to Wisconsin, I asked myself a simple question; Is Trek doing enough to help change the world by making it a more bike friendly place? We have often taken a leadership role in advocacy, but I quickly came to the conclusion that we had a great opportunity and a great responsibility to do more. At Trek we came up One World Two Wheels - our commitment to get more people on bikes more often. Our goal is to increase the number of trips taken in the US by bike from .5 percent to 5.o percent by 2017.

This website is our portal to spreading not only the reasons to ‘go by bike’ but also how to get started. This cause is just like riding a bike - its all about momentum.

- John Burke, President, Trek Bicycles

On a mid-November day with a chill in the air and a dusting of snow on the ground, Boulder resident Leslie Bohm, CEO of Catalyst Communications took this observer on a tour of Boulder that included a stop at an elementary school.

This was not your normal American elementary school. The day we observed the morning routine of kids arriving at school there was one noticable difference.

Even with a temperature near 30 degrees and fresh snow on the ground the kids arriving at school on bikes outnumbered the mini-vans and cars dropping off kids by about 10:1.

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In 2005 Nick Goddard was working at a car magazine and was assigned to write an article on a flex-fuel car that could run only on ethanol. Goddard learned a lot about how much energy is in a gallon of gas and being a science minded guy, he started to wonder how far he could ride his bike on the equivalent of the energy in a gallon of gasoline. Read on to learn the results of what became a coastline trip by bike!

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