LAB 2017 Bike Summit - One Person's Thoughts

I've just returned from the 2017 National Bike Summit. At the office, there are unplayed voicemails, unanswered e-mails, and a mountain of snail mail. I was only gone four days; and, yet, in many ways, I feel as if I've just returned from a galaxy far, far away. Over the next several weeks, I hope to share with you some of the more specific ideas and take aways that I'm bringing back from NH. For now, let me just give you a snippet, a brain dump of sorts, my reflections.

Washington DC is an amazing place to navigate by bicycle. In fact, I remarked to many, many folks, that I found it easier to navigate DC by bike then Concord, NH.

When CNBHC grows up, I hope it becomes something like WABA. With more than 6000 members, WABA involves themselves in 3 of the biggest E's of bicycle advocacy: Education, Enforcement and Engineering.

I am not alone. With nearly 500 conference attendees, I was never at a loss to connect with some like minded individual who shares our same vision: More people, on more bikes, more often. Nearly a dozen (maybe more) conference attendees brought a fold-able bike that they rode from the airport to the conference and used to navigate DC.

Capital Bikeshare is amazingly popular.

BikePortland.org is an independent daily news source that covers the Portland bike scene.

Lanespotter.bike is working to become sort of the Waze for cyclists. Helping cyclists find the safest routes from Point A to Point B.

Fort Collins, CO has created a certified bicycle friendly driver program.

NH Senator and Representative staff seem knowledgeable on bicycle issues and interested in what we had to say.

While some of the Summit's seasoned veterans talked about how attendance might've been down and how the bicycle industry had participated to a greater extent in the past (the industry seems to be supporting PeopleforBike), I left feeling excited and enthused about the interest in bicycling and what people across the country are doing to get more people on more bikes more often. The league continues to play a critical role and is an important voice on capital hill.

The views and opinions expressed herein are my own and not necessarily those of CNHBC.