{"id":51,"date":"2010-03-15T13:23:01","date_gmt":"2010-03-15T19:23:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/corbamtb.com\/news\/?p=51"},"modified":"2010-03-15T13:23:01","modified_gmt":"2010-03-15T19:23:01","slug":"report-on-the-2010-national-bike-summit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/corbamtb.com\/news\/2010\/03\/15\/report-on-the-2010-national-bike-summit\/","title":{"rendered":"Report on the 2010 National Bike Summit"},"content":{"rendered":"

League of American Bicyclists National Bike Summit 2010<\/a>, March 9-11 in Washington, DC.<\/strong><\/p>\n

by Jim Hasenauer<\/em><\/p>\n

The Summit was a great experience.\u00a0 700 + advocates, 75+ of whom were mountain bikers attended.\u00a0 It was intense and exhausting, very well organized, and extremely motivating.\u00a0 Days went 8 AM-10 PM.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Here’s the scoop.\u00a0 Feel free to send questions:<\/div>\n
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Major announcements included:<\/div>\n
1.\u00a0 Google unveiled its new bike routes on Google Maps<\/a>.\u00a0 It’s customizable.\u00a0 (Point and click on the route to change it to your needs.)\u00a0 Google wants feedback.\u00a0 If you’ve got it, click on “report a problem” to suggest routes, correct errors, etc.\u00a0 They’ll check out your comments and route should be changed in 30 days.\u00a0 Their algorithms tried to avoid traffic congestion and hills<\/div>\n
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2.\u00a0 Bikes Belong announced a new initiative to bring ordinary cyclists to advocacy.\u00a0 They’re trying to get one million bike advocates signed up.\u00a0 Take the pledge at http:\/\/www.bikesbelong.org\/peopleforbikes<\/a><\/div>\n
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3.\u00a0 Washington DC announced it was building dedicated bike lanes on Pennsylvania Avenue.\u00a0 They will be open by summer.<\/div>\n
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4\u00a0 IMBA announced that its 5 year old Memorandum Of Understanding with the National Park Service (NPS)\u00a0has been renewed for another 5 years.\u00a0 It promises new pilot projects and a continued commitment to work together.<\/div>\n
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Bikers of all stripes were there and you can’t imagine a more unified, pro-bike context.\u00a0 Very exciting.<\/div>\n
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Over the two days, we had tons of speakers including Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood and pro-bike Congressmen Oberstar\u00a0(MN) and Blumenauer (OR) and great sessions.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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On Wednesday, there were panels all day.\u00a0 I \u00a0attended the “IMBA Track”.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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The first session was on\u00a0“Youth\u00a0 Cycling”.\u00a0 Mike Eubank reported on Valmont Bike Park<\/a> in City of Boulder.\u00a0\u00a0The Boulder Mountain Bike Alliance raised 1\/2 million dollars and they also got a grant from the CO lottery.\u00a0 While its still under construction, they’re already doing youth cyclocross, after school rides and weekend recreational riding.\u00a0 They see it as an extension of Safe Routes to School.\u00a0 All the programs are free for kids.<\/div>\n
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Dave Secunda has a for profit business Avid4Adventure<\/a>\u00a0 that gives kids outdoor experience focusing on mountain biking, rock climbing and kayaking.\u00a0 He has a contract with 12 school districts for on-campus events and also runs summer camps and family trips.\u00a0 During peak season he’s got 65 staff.\u00a0 He says start them young and actually runs programs for pre-schoolers as young as 3, 4 & 5 all the way to high school.<\/div>\n
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Julie Childer spoke about Trips for Kids DC <\/a>.\u00a0 Besides the basic TFK, they run a kids category in the Northern Virginia MTB Race Series. They also run learn to ride & learn to race classes and camps and NPS Interpretive Bike Tours of DC monuments.\u00a0 Their mission:\u00a0 “Teaching kids to overcome obstacles on trail and in life.”<\/div>\n
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Gary Burlanger spoke about the new National Interscholastic Cycling Association<\/a>.\u00a0 They hope to have 50 state high school racing by 2020.\u00a0 Now there is NorCal, SoCal, Colorado, and Washington.\u00a0 Wisconsin, Michigan and Texas\u00a0are coming soon.\u00a0 Others are in the pipeline.\u00a0 There is great industry support.\u00a0 I think hs racing is going to take off.\u00a0 The vision is student athletes (required 3.0 gpa), inclusivity ( a no bench policy-everyone races), family participation, and attention to safety and risk management.\u00a0 Their “Coach’s Manual” is a rich “how-to”\u00a0 ($12. @ www.norcalmtb.org<\/a>)<\/div>\n
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The Second IMBA session was “Entrepreneurial IMBA”.\u00a0 Jenn Dice told the sad story of mountain bikers’ relations with the US Forest Service (USFS) in Montana, but it prompted the growth of a 1000 member Montana Mountain Bike Alliance.\u00a0 She stressed the need of being proactive in developing model trail systems, bike parks, jump parks and pump tracks.<\/div>\n
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Ben Beamer spoke about the Oakridge Ride Center<\/a>\u00a0 They began trying to connect out of town forest trails, but public input stressed connecting those trails to and through town as well.\u00a0 They were able to secure a $400,000 earmark to build the project.\u00a0 Their goal is to be the MTB Capital of the northwest.<\/div>\n
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Ann, an owner of the Bike Lane in DC spoke about what retailers can do to support advocacy.\u00a0 MORE, the DC IMBA club now has 300 miles of trail and 32 separate place to ride in and near the metro area.\u00a0 There are 6000 registered users on the MORE site<\/a> .<\/div>\n
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Ryan from IMBA pitched the new Chapter Program where clubs will have the opportunity to become IMBA Chapters and will share membership and revenues with IMBA.\u00a0 IMBA will do the data processing, fulfillment and marketing.\u00a0 It looks like this year is the big rollout with the World Summit in Augusta, GA the place to get the details https:\/\/www.imba.com\/summit\/2010_World_Summit.html<\/a><\/div>\n
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My panel was on the urban transportation\/recreation connection.\u00a0 Jill Van Winkle of IMBA hosted.\u00a0 I spoke about the LA City Parks process and CORBA’s hard work over several years.\u00a0 After explaining the current status of the plan, our adversaries’ attempts to thwart us, \u00a0and our letter writing campaign to keep mountain bikes in the plan and secure a stronger commitment to mountain biking, I emphasized that all cyclists, regardless of discipline need to work together and support one another.\u00a0 Most agreed that a mountain bike element\u00a0in bike plans would become more common.\u00a0 There are several already including:\u00a0 Portland, Bend, Flagstaff and Park City.\u00a0 There are urban mtb trails in Philadelphia, NYC, Seattle, Chattanooga, Albuquerque, Louisville, Bozeman and probably several other places.\u00a0I emphasized how bikes in urban parks was an important goal for all cyclists and how several of our Summit Political Asks (see below) are intended to improve these opportunities.\u00a0 Our work was well received<\/div>\n
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Vivian Neal from Oxford Mississippi talked about how their city connected bike paths to mountain bike trail systems outside town.\u00a0 They’re now building BMX and cyclocross facilities as well.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Several audience members spoke about their town’s accomplishments\u00a0and\/or needs.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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This was followed by a plenary session of a panel discussion with several bike advocates and representatives of the Federal Highway Administration talking about reauthorization of the transportation bill.\u00a0 “Livability” is a key word for the Obama Administration and the\u00a0Department of Transportation.\u00a0 Many of our issues are directly related to this goal and the administration is extremely supportive.\u00a0Highway safety is another important goal and improving the safety of cyclists and pedestrians is high priority.<\/div>\n
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We then met in our state delegations to review talking points and coordinate our meetings.\u00a0 CA had about 70+ advocates, riders, retailers, industry.\u00a0 We had the most representatives of any state.\u00a0 It was terrific.\u00a0 A committee led by Jim Haggen-Smit of FATRAC and Dorothy Leu of LACBC put together our assignments.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Our ASKS:<\/div>\n
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The League of American Bicyclists and IMBA had six asks for our meetings with congressional staff.<\/div>\n
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1.\u00a0 Ask the representative to co-sponsor HR 4722<\/a> The Active Community Transportation Act of 2010 (Blumenauer).\u00a0 It would appropriate $400 million for grants to local and regional governments (5-15 million each) to create “active transportation networks”.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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2.\u00a0 Ask the representative to co-sponsor HR\u00a01443<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0&\u00a0 S 584<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0the Complete Streets Act of 2009.\u00a0 This would require that transportation planners consider all users when planning highway facilities.\u00a0 20 states including CA already have this as state policy already.\u00a0 These laws would make it national policy.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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3.\u00a0 Ask the representative to co-sponsor HR 4021<\/a> and\u00a0 S 1156<\/a> Safe Routes to School.\u00a0 Both bills would expand the highly successful Safe Routes program to include eligibility for high schools.\u00a0 The Senate bill provides higher funding as well.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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4.\u00a0 Ask the representative to co-sponsor HR 3734<\/a> The Urban Revitalization and Livable Communities Act which would provide $445 million or urban park and recreation facilities<\/a> .\u00a0 The target is facilities for at risk youth in urban areas and these grants would be administered by HUD on a 70-30% federal\/local match.\u00a0 Facilities could include urban trails, bike parks, jump parks etc.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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5.\u00a0 Ask the representative to support full funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund <\/a>.\u00a0 This fund goes back to the 1950’s and is authorized to provide up to $900\u00a0million for purchase of parkland and building facilities.\u00a0\u00a0For the last 20 years or so, the money has not been fully appropriated and while its supposed to be split between federal agencies and local agencies, recently only the feds have received funding.\u00a0 The two bills that would provide full funding each have their own problems.\u00a0 The\u00a0Senate Bill S 2747<\/a>\u00a0 changes the funding formula which not everyone supports. The House bill\u00a0HR 3534 is a gigantic, controversial energy bill.\u00a0 We were instructed to push the principle, not the specific bills.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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6.\u00a0 Protect Public Lands but allow for continued bicycling <\/a>.\u00a0 This ask was IMBA’s and there was no particular legislation involved.\u00a0 We want members of Congress to be alert that when they consider public lands bills, especially those creating Wilderness, they should consider companion designations\u00a0like National Recreation Areas, National Scenic Areas, National Protection Areas, National Conservation Areas, etc. so that mountain bikers don’t lose trail opportunities.\u00a0We emphasized our commitment to protecting wild places, but being unfairly hurt when Wilderness is the only designation.<\/div>\n
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On Thursday, I\u00a0 had three productive meetings with staff from the offices of Congresswoman Linda Sanchez, Henry Waxman and Grace Napolitano.\u00a0 No staff member made commitments but they were generally supportive on all counts.\u00a0 Waxman and Napolitano were already co-sponsor of HR 3734.\u00a0 Napolitano was already a co-sponsor of HR 1443.<\/div>\n
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During the day, Jenn Dice of IMBA testified before the House Subcommittee on Parks, Forests and Public Lands \u00a0and was terrific in explaining how a proposed CO Wilderness Bill (HR 4289) would affect mountain bikers<\/a> .\u00a0 She explained that we could support 13 of the 34 proposed areas in the bill, but needed adjustments and consideration in the rest.\u00a0 She took a very high road, “let’s work together” approach.\u00a0 At the end of the hearing, Congresswoman DeGette the bill’s sponsor offered to meet with IMBA, go for a ride and\u00a0\u00a0even identified 3 places where she was willing to make changes.\u00a0 All very positive.<\/div>\n
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On Thursday night, the California Bicycle Coalition<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0had a reception for the CA advocates at the Summit.\u00a0 They are intent on revitalizing the CBC and raised several thousand dollars at the event.<\/div>\n
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All in all, this was a great event with serious networking, information sharing and the opportunity to really affect pro bike policies on the road and in the dirt.\u00a0<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

League of American Bicyclists National Bike Summit 2010, March 9-11 in Washington, DC. by Jim Hasenauer The Summit was a great experience.\u00a0 700 + advocates, 75+ of whom were mountain bikers attended.\u00a0 It was intense and exhausting, very well organized, and extremely motivating.\u00a0 Days went 8 AM-10 PM.\u00a0 \u00a0 Here’s the scoop.\u00a0 Feel free to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,23,27,31,12,20],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/corbamtb.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/corbamtb.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/corbamtb.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/corbamtb.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/corbamtb.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/corbamtb.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/corbamtb.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/corbamtb.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/corbamtb.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}