Cycling Conservatives

Posted on Dec 13th 2010 | Advocacy, Bike Life, Blog,

Our friends at commute by bike have an interesting article on how to talk about cycling to a conservative, written by a conservative. Definitely and interesting and insightful read. […] read more...

The Freak

Posted on Nov 23rd 2010 | Advocacy, Bike Life, Blog,

One of my favorite bike advocates is Kevin “The Freak” Freeman. Kevin has spent an enormous amount of time and effort making his community of Fayetteville, TN a more bicycle friendly place. From trail building to promoting a cyclocross series he pours his heart into helping others lead a healthy lifestyle. Kevin forwa […] read more...

Fixing Sprawl 101

Posted on Nov 2nd 2010 | Advocacy, Bike Life, Blog,

Most Americans live in cities built primarily for the automobile, and yet we ride our bikes. It took 50 years to build ourselves into this mess and it’s going to take some time to rebuild our cities and neighborhoods back into sustainable places in which the car is just one of many options for getting around. But how […] read more...

Giving lights instead of tickets

Posted on Oct 29th 2010 | Advocacy, Blog, News,

Madison, WI police have been working hard the last few years to incorporate biking into their policing efforts. This includes using bikes to patrol the city and engaging bicyclists as the legal vehicle operators they are. In Wisconsin, bicyclists are required to have a front bike light between dusk and dawn. Many rider […] read more...

100,000 Americans sign bike pledge

Posted on Oct 11th 2010 | Advocacy, Blog,

Planet Bike ally peopleforbikes.org is on a mission to sign up 1,000,000 Americans in support of better biking in the US. We are well on our way with more than 100,000 pledges made. Here’s the meat of the pledge: “I am for bikes. I’m for long rides and short rides. I’m for commuting to work, weekend rides, racing, rid […] read more...

Pedal for Good!

Posted on Aug 12th 2010 | Advocacy, Blog,

Yesterday Jeff Miller, President of the Alliance for Biking and Walking, stopped by PB HQ to fill us in on new happenings. He let us in on a way for YOU to get involved! Clif Bar has chosen three non-profit organizations blazing the way for bicycle advocacy and awarded each a $25,000 grant. Now here’s where you come i […] read more...

Cycling Copenhagen Through American Eyes

Posted on Jul 23rd 2010 | Advocacy, Bike Life, Blog, Video,

See one of Streetfilms latest productions following the 2010 Velo-city Conference which was held in Copenhagen this summer. […] read more...

European Bicycle Infrastructure to Hopefully Inspire Madison Leaders

Posted on Apr 9th 2010 | Advocacy, Blog, News,

Madison’s Mayor, Dave Cieslewicz, along with 19 other civic leaders are traveling through a handful of cities in the Netherlands and Germany next week to learn about the policies and infrastructure that allows an incredibly high percentage of trips to be taken by bicycle. The hope is to inspire new ideas that can be […] read more...

California Bicycle Coalition reboot

Posted on Mar 31st 2010 | Advocacy, Blog,

I thought I was going to a meeting of state-wide bike advocacy groups. I tagged along with Jeff Miller, Prez of the Alliance for Biking & Walking, thinking we were on the same page. In fact we ended up at a bar in Union Station in Washington, DC. We arrived at some sort of critical point as people were jumping up […] read more...

High Cost of Free Parking

Posted on Mar 29th 2010 | Advocacy, Bike Life, Blog,

Free parking hurts everybody: parkers, pedestrians, business owners and bikers. Studies in NYC have shown that 29% of downtown drivers are just looking for a place to park. In the process they consume gas, exhaust pollution and snarl traffic. An innovative solution proposed by Don Shoup is to price on-street parking s […] read more...

1,000,000 bikers

Posted on Mar 18th 2010 | Advocacy, Bike Life, Blog, Video,

peopleforbikes.org launched at the National Bike Summit last week. It’s a national campaign to sign up 1,000,000 people in support of biking. They’re at 4000 so far. Check out the sweet video poem. And sign up. […] read more...

The Numbers Are In!

Posted on Mar 16th 2010 | Advocacy, Blog,

The growth of the 10th National Bike Summit has generated positive vibes across the nation this week. Over 700 bike enthusiasts marched up “the hill” to lobby for national issues related to our favorite mode of transportation – the bicycle. The League of American Bicyclists did a nice recap on the top ten highlights. […] read more...

Ringing Madison’s bell at the National Bike Summit

Posted on Mar 15th 2010 | Advocacy, Blog,

National Bike Summit, Day 2: Krista Rettig of Trek moderated a panel discussion about the lessons learned here in Madison about making our city bike friendly. Mayor Dave, Chris Fortune of Saris and Kevin Hardman of the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin were the panelists. See the pix below. Mayor Dave gave a droll re […] read more...

The floors are hard and the corridors long

Posted on Mar 12th 2010 | Advocacy, Blog,

National Bike Summit, Day 3, 10 am: Below is Chris Kegel, owner of Wheel & Sprocket, outside the office of Representative Gwen Moore of Milwaukee. Chris is a summit veteran. (I think he’s been to 9 of the 10 National Bike Summits.) Below that is a part of the group that met with Rep. Moore’s staffer. Wisconsin had […] read more...

Culture, not color

Posted on Mar 12th 2010 | Advocacy, Blog,

National Bike Summit, Day 2, 9:30am: I moderated a panel discussion titled “Lessons Learned Reaching Out to Communities of Color”. I was honored to facilitate a discussion among Alison Mannos with the LA County Bicycle Coalition (LACBC), Anthony Taylor of Minneapolis with the Major Taylor Cycling Club and National Bro […] read more...

(700 x biker) + Congress = Action

Posted on Mar 11th 2010 | Advocacy, Blog,

Summit Day 2, 8am: I’m in Washington, DC this week representing Planet Bike, Wisconsin and Madison to our members of Congress. Wednesday things really got rolling with a full day workshops and education on “the issues”. Over 700 bicycle advocates are getting ready this morning to take our message, our “asks”, to congr […] read more...

National Bike Summit

Posted on Mar 9th 2010 | Advocacy, Blog,

Today marks the opening day of the 2010 National Bike Summit in Washington, D.C. Our man Jay headed out over the weekend to shake hands with the folks on Capitol Hill and explain how transportation by bicycle can help shape our nation. We’re happy to support this great event as well as Jonathan Maus from BikePortlan […] read more...

We like bikers with skills

Posted on Feb 24th 2010 | Advocacy, Bike Life, Blog, News,

I’m glad to read that Bikes Belong has awarded a $5,000 grant to the City of Middleton, WI (Madison’s neighbor) for the Middleton Pump Course & Single Track Facility. C.O.R.P. (Capitol Off Road Pathfinders) has been doing a great job bringing mountain biking to the urban areas of Madison and Middleton, WI. The pum […] read more...

Interbike Party

Posted on Oct 1st 2009 | Advocacy, Bike Life, Blog,

We hosted an Advocacy Meet & Greet at Interbike 2009. The idea was to bring together industry advocacy types (like me) and advocacy leaders (like this joker) to meet, share ideas, and generally get to know each other. With 2 kegs of of New Belgium Fat Tire Ale, we attracted quite a crowd. A fraction of this crowd […] read more...

The Top 10 Facts on Bicycling and Walking in the United States

Posted on Aug 31st 2009 | Advocacy, Blog,

1) Bicycling and walking make up 10% of all trips made in the U.S., but receive less than 2% of federal transportation funding. 2) Bicyclists and pedestrians account for 13% of traffic fatalities, but receive less than 1% of federal safety funding. 3) 40% of all trips in America are two miles or less, 74% of which […] read more...

off your butts, into the street

Posted on Aug 25th 2009 | Advocacy, Blog,

Sunday, August 30, is the day Madisonians take back our streets. By foot…by bike…by rollerblade…by jump rope..you name it, it will be there. Madison is hosting our first Ciclovía event from 8am to 2pm on six miles of prime downtown streets. Planet Bike is a pumped and ecstatic sponsor of this game-changing event. For […] read more...

Dance Party!

Posted on Aug 25th 2009 | Advocacy, Bike Life, Blog,

Planet Bike donated lights to kick off the annual Bike Pittsburgh Bike Fest; a celebration of all things cycling. The lights covered a portion of the wall and were given to those riding home without a light. […] read more...

City of Angels…City of Lights

Posted on Jul 15th 2009 | Advocacy, Blog,

Back in December 2008, the LA County Bicycle Coalition launched a program called City of Lights. The goal of the initiative was to provide to immigrant population in Los Angeles with Planet Bike lights and basic information on safe and legal biking. Planet Bike donated the first 100 lights to help the program get on i […] read more...

WI gets Complete Streets

Posted on Jul 7th 2009 | Advocacy, Blog, News,

Thanks to the leadership of the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin, the state budget that was adopted on June 8th includes a state-wide Complete Streets policy. A “Complete Street” is a roadway designed for all road users, including bicyclists, pedestrians, wheelchair users, car drivers and bus riders. Sounds like a no-b […] read more...

Bike to Work Week Recap

Posted on Jun 16th 2009 | Advocacy, Bike Life, Blog, Events,

Another Bike to Work Week is in the books thanks to the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin (BFW). As always the week was jam packed with plenty of bicycle related activities well attended by employees of Planet Bike. Several Planet Bike members met at Hillington Green last Tuesday, June 9th for a police escorted bike r […] read more...

> 450

Posted on Apr 29th 2009 | Advocacy, Bike Life, Blog,

On Monday and Tuesday Planet Bike attended the 2009 Wisconsin Bike Summit here in Madison. The Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin, in partnership with Planet Bike, Trek, Saris and Cannondale Sports Group, organized the Summit. Over 450 people came from across the state to lobby our state legislature. To my knowledge, this […] read more...

Bike Walk Madison goes live

Posted on Apr 17th 2009 | Advocacy, Blog, News,

Planet Bike’s hometown, Madison, WI, has a new grassroots advocacy group looking out for bicyclists. Bike Walk Madison had our launch party on Wednesday, April 15. About 65 people met at the stunning new Atwood, er I mean , Goodman Community Center off the Isthmus Bike Path. Many thanks to the Underground Food Collec […] read more...

The purple is dead. Long live the purple.

Posted on Mar 5th 2009 | Advocacy, Blog,

This week, Planet Bike’s favorite bike advocacy group, the Thunderhead Alliance, re-branded itself as the Alliance for Biking & Walking. The original name came from the Thunderhead Ranch in Wyoming at which the first Thunderhead retreat was held in 1992. “As the movement has grown more sophisticated and stronger w […] read more...

Lighting up the Velorution

Posted on Aug 28th 2008 | Advocacy, Bike Life, Blog,

The Ripon College Velorution Project got rolling a few days ago. Ripon College, in our home state of Wisconsin, has given 180 bikes to incoming freshman who pledge to leave their car at home for the school year. Ric Damm, the project’s coordinator, and I connected at the National Bike Summit back in March. To help k […] read more...

Thunderhead Coast to Coast

Posted on Jun 16th 2008 | Advocacy, Blog,

Our favorite, obscurely named grass roots bike coalition, the Thunderhead Alliance, has a new supreme leader. Jeff Miller, former Executive Director of the Bicycle Coalition of Maine, has been named President and CEO for the Thunderhead Alliance.I got to know Jeff during his regular calls to Planet Bike HQ to hustle fr […] read more...