Say Louisville and immediately the Kentucky Derby comes to mind. The city is known world wide for hosting the “most exciting two minutes in sports.” While the Derby and Louisville are well over a century old, the city has stayed fresh by welcoming new ideas and no one personifies that more than the city’s mayor, Jerry Abrahamson.

Two years ago, Abrahamson set a goal of making Louisville a Bicycle Friendly Community, the designation given by the League of American Bicyclists. Louisville applied and earned the designation of a “Bronze” community.

Mayor Jerry Abrahamson wants to make Louisville a great place to walk, bike and hike so residents can get outside for exercise or leisure. Abramson speaks proudly about what’s been achieved so far; “We’ve added bike lanes to our roads, launched a bike safety campaign, created bike racks for local businesses and have been working to build a 100 mile hiking and biking trail encircling Louisville. Our work is already paying dividends. More and more people are biking to work and for fun. Families are biking together. We’re even launching a bike borrowing program downtown so people may use bikes, not cars, to run quick errands.”

Louisville has plans to become a Platinum designated Bicycle Friendly Community. With Abramson at the helm there’s little doubt Louisville will achieve that goal.

For more information about Louisville’s plans check out www.louisvilleky.gov/Mayor/.

For more information about the Bicycle Friendly Communities program, please visit: www.bikeleague.org