There’s a guy on a bike riding up and down the east coast pitching a program called “Bicycle Benefits.”  The guy is Ian Klepatar and BB is his program to encourage businesses to reward customers who arrive by bicycle.    

Simple and effective are two words to describe this program.   A business chooses what reward to offer a customer who arrives on bike, the customer gets rewarded and everyone wins.  

The program is so brilliant and effective that I’ve asked Ian to send in updates from the road.   He left his hometown near Saratoga, New York two weeks ago to start his trek around the east coast, talking up the benfits of “going by bike.”  Klepatar attended the Washington DC Bike Summit then lit out for Boston.    The first of many entries on his travels follows. 

Boston, MA: Today was like so many days that cyclists and bicycle advocates know all too well.  Whether we are pushing for bike lanes on a new street in our community or getting cut-off, doored or disrespected among traffic flow while commuting to work, we know the feeling in others just “not getting it.”  Unlike the past three days since I arrived in Boston, business owners didn’t really seem to be that interested in the benefits of bicycles.  ‘You know there aren’t really that many bikers that come in this restaurant’ they tell me.  I guess in my eyes, if somebody knows how to ride a bicycle, they are automatically a biker.  At the same time just because we ride bicycles, it doesn’t make us bikers.  So I go on to tell the uninterested owner the benefits of participating in a program which promotes physical activity, helmet use, alleviating congestion and parking hassle.  The concept of the program is pretty basic.  Businesses in the community offer discounts/rewards in order to entice community members to jump on their bicycles and visit the restaurants/businesses by bicycle.  Upon arriving by bicycle and showing the affixed Bicycle Benefit helmet sticker, the individual receives the designated discount/reward.  However, just as we often struggle to convey the many benefits of bicycle paths connecting neighborhoods to community centers or the importance of complete streets http://www.completestreets.org/ legislation to our elected politicians, I too wonder why some people don’t get it…Perhaps it’s been a while since we all felt the joy and benefits of riding a bicycle.      

This little piece was going around the web recently.  Without giving away the content, let me just say that it’s an excellent public awareness piece about cyclists.  

 I’ll send a One World, Two Wheels jersey to the first person who can get this piece playing on their local televion station!  Note, you need to send proof.  

http://www.dothetest.co.uk/

The Washington DC Annual Bike Summit is a cheer-for-all for bikes and bike people.   The Bike Summit is two days of seminars on what is happening around the country where bikes are concerned  and a few receptions in between.

If you’ve never been to the bike summit–or any summit for that matter–but you ride a bike I recommend you take the three days vacation next year and trek to the bike mecca of Washington.  The atmosphere was downright friendly with five or six hundred cyclists from all walks of life coming together around a topic we all love.  There were people in suits and jeans and people in bike jerseys.   It was a small comet of similar interests and the results were nothing short of stellar.

In three days I met people from every state.  They came to learn and to speak to their legislators and in some cases, to learn to speak to their legislator.  

 If you’ve never paid a visit to your congressman/woman it is much easier than one might imagine.  The Longworth building houses a lot of legislators and as soon as you are inside you see that you belong.  Groups of people representing their causes gather outside of legislative offices, waiting to be heard. 

 We elected these people, so they have to listen to us.  How beautiful is that? A group of ten of us from Wisconsin stopped in Congressman Ryan’s office and we laid out our case to the legislative aide that Wisconsin has a vibrant bike industry that contributes $10 billion to the Wisconsin economy and provides thousands of jobs.    We asked for support of upcoming  legislation that can add more funding for bicycle infrastructure.  we asked for bikes to be considered in all transporation bills. 

 My personal request to both Congressmen was that they ride to work.  That got the same raised eyebrow look both times.  I suggested that if Ryan and Kind start riding they could start a “bike pool” with  Congressman Blumenauer (D-Oregon) and James Oberstar (D-Minnesota) .

 That would really be a sign of change, wouldn’t it?

I learned that there are a lot of bike advocates in this country who showed up to speak to their legislators about making sure bikes get their fair share of the transporation pie.  Right now, that slice is mighty small but that means there’s no where to go but up.

It does my heart good to see people–especially grown ups–discover how much fun it is to ride a bike. The photo here is of a new neighborhood ride near Tampa. The palm trees and Spanish moss look especially nice to this winter-weary rider.

A 1World2Wheels reader, Alan Snel, shared his story about the Seminole Heights Riding Club.

According to Snel, “I’d been leading bike rides on neighborhood streets for local folks who fear Tampa’s roads since September. I decided to lead 6-mile rides for newbies, and casual hybrid-bike types in our neighborhood, which has lots of old oaks and bungalow houses.

The weekly bike rides became the foundation for the Seminole Heights Bicycle Club. The club formed when 25 people showed up at Snel’s house and together they organized the club right on his front porch.

The inaugural ride of the Seminole Bike Club was 2 weeks ago and 60 cyclists showed up. Starbucks chipped in with free coffee and water for the bike ride that included Tampa mayor Pam Iorio.

One outcome of the ride is that Mayor Iorio pledged to paint a bike lane on a wide, one-way road that leads into downtown Tampa.

The Seminole Heights Bike Club is grassroots in the purest form; no hierarchy, no connection to an agency, no dues. Just people of all biycling levels and types of bikes and ages coming together for the pure love of biking and neighborhood spirit. Sweet!
You can find more photos and information here: http://www.seminoleheightsbicycleclub.com/rides.html