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New Bicycle Friendly State Rankings Highlight Progress and Challenges for Safer Cycling Across America

Washington, DC — The League of American Bicyclists has released its 2024 Bicycle Friendly State Rankings, a comprehensive evaluation of state efforts to improve conditions for bicycling. This year’s rankings shed light on significant progress in some areas, such as bike planning and safety laws, while also exposing persistent challenges, including a record number of people being killed while biking and the lack of leadership at the state level to address this traffic violence.

The Bicycle Friendly State Rankings measure state performance on the League’s five Bicycle Friendly Actions and across key categories: Infrastructure, Safety, Funding, Planning, Laws, #EveryRideCounts, and Capacity & Support. Each category reflects the policies, resources, and practices that contribute to safer and more accessible biking for everyone.

“Creating a Bicycle Friendly America for everyone starts with leadership at the state level,” said Bill Nesper, executive director of the League of American Bicyclists. “In the states at the top of the list, we see places where advocates, lawmakers, and decision makers are united in their belief that better bicycling benefits everyone. This year’s rankings celebrate the progress some states have made, but the record number of bicyclist deaths is a stark reminder that more must be done to protect people who bike.”

Key Findings from the 2024 Rankings Report
  • Record Bicyclist Fatalities: Preliminary estimates indicate 1,149 bicyclists were killed in 2023, the highest number ever recorded, continuing an alarming trend. Nationwide, roads owned by state Departments of Transportation account for more bicyclist deaths than any other type of roadway owner. These roads often have higher posted speed limits than locally owned roads. 
  • New Focus on Safe Speeds: The League introduced a new scoring category this year, assessing state laws that enable communities to adopt safer speed limits. Nineteen states received credit for implementing policies allowing and/or promoting 20 mph speed limits.
  • Infrastructure Investment: States have spent record federal funds on biking and walking projects thanks to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. However, as a percentage of overall transportation spending, biking and walking investments did not increase much as other roadway investments.
  • Every Ride Counts: The category in which states scored the lowest reveals a troubling lack of comprehensive efforts to count and understand bicycle ridership, underscoring the need for better data.

Notable States:

  • Washington reclaimed the #1 ranking from Massachusetts on the strength of a signature youth education initiative and perfect scores in the Planning and Infrastructure categories. It was the only state with top ten scores in every category.
  • Kansas improved its ranking more than any other state. Keys to this improvement included adopting a new statewide bike plan, creating a program to help communities access the federal Safe Streets and Roads for All grant program, and state DOT staff being recognized for their efforts by the Association for Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals.
  • New Hampshire had one of the ten largest ranking improvements thanks to being the only state recognized for taking two Bicycle Friendly Actions it had not taken in our last ranking by adopting a new statewide bike plan and spending more than 2% of its federal transportation funds on bicycling and walking.
  • Kentucky had the largest ranking improvement of any southern region state on the strength of a new statewide bike plan and strong performances in our Policies and Capacity & Support categories.
  • Maine, Oklahoma, and South Carolina adopted or shortly will adopt their first-ever statewide bike plan! At this time, only five states have never adopted a statewide bike plan.

At the League of American Bicyclists, we believe that education is a critical part of building a future where people can bike safely and where drivers know how to interact safely with people biking. We’re excited to see states like Washington commit to in-school bicycle education, and that more than half of all state DOTs support bicycle education programmatically in some way.” – Bill Nesper, executive director of the League of American Bicyclists

The 2024 Bicycle Friendly State Rankings are not just a report—they are a roadmap to building a more Bicycle Friendly America for everyone. The League encourages state leaders and advocates to:

  1. Benchmark Progress: Use the rankings to identify strengths and areas for improvement.
  2. Celebrate Successes: Look to leading states’ successes for inspiration.
  3. Take Action: Engage with state decision-makers to advocate for better policies, programs, and investments. 

“This year’s findings show that progress is possible, but it requires commitment and collaboration,” Nesper emphasized. “Now is the time for state leaders to take action—by enacting better laws, investing in safe and connected infrastructure, expanding access to bicycling education, and prioritizing proven safety measures—to reverse troubling trends and build a safer future for everyone who bikes.”

Download our summary report here »

Report cards for every state are available here »

For more information about the 2024 Bicycle Friendly State Rankings, visit bikeleague.org/states.

About the League of American Bicyclists

Since 1880, the League of American Bicyclists has been people-powered, with a goal to make bicycling safer and easier as a means of transportation and recreation. Today, the League continues to improve lives and strengthen communities through bicycling. We are more than 200,000 members and supporters strong with more than 1,000 state and local advocacy groups and bike clubs as well as thousands of businesses, universities, and communities together leading the movement to create a Bicycle Friendly America for everyone.

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Take Action: Protect Cyclists and Pedestrians by Supporting Safer Vehicle Standards

In the United States, pedestrian and bicyclist deaths have been increasing with an 83% increase in pedestrian deaths and 76% increase in bicyclist deaths between 2009 and 2022. 

If you care about stopping this tragic trend and creating conditions for a long-term decrease in bicyclist and pedestrian deaths, there’s an action you can take today.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has issued a proposal for the first-ever vehicle safety standard that ensures that vehicle hoods do not pose an excessive risk to people walking in a crash. The proposal brings the United States into harmony with global auto regulations regarding vehicle hoods created in the last twenty years and is estimated to cost four dollars per vehicle or less with estimated net benefits of between $480 and $593 million.

The hood crash standards are a common-sense proposal that will ensure vehicles in the United States meet global standards. Please take action today to submit a comment in support of swift adoption of the proposed standard with an eye toward future improvements that will specifically incorporate the safety of people who bike.

Whether you copy the League’s public comment or write your own, join us in calling for NHTSA to protect pedestrians and cyclists through safer vehicle standards today.

Read the League’s public comment to NHTSA

Action Alert Comment:

Please adopt the proposed Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard to ensure that passenger vehicles are designed to mitigate the risk of serious or fatal injuries in crashes with pedestrians. 

The United States has one of the highest rates of traffic deaths per capita among wealthy countries and the proposed standard reflects the Global Technical Regulation on pedestrian safety that other countries have used to successfully reduce traffic deaths. 

As the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) notes, the United States was the first signatory to the agreement establishing Global Technical Regulations (GTR) for vehicles in 1998. Due to the lag in US adoption of the GTR for pedestrian protection, nearly a quarter of new vehicles sold in the United States “may not be designed to the GTR requirements” according to NHTSA. NHTSA should adopt this proposal based on the GTR for pedestrian protection as soon as reasonably possible.

NHTSA’s proposal allows vehicles to have hoods that create between an 11 and 36 percent chance of severe or greater brain injury in a head-to-hood impact in the areas subject to the standard during a crash at 25 miles per hour or less. According to NHTSA, “when only model year 2010 or later vehicles are considered, there were only 8 instances out of 155 tests (5.2%)” where current vehicle hoods posed greater injury risk for the areas that NHTSA proposes to test. At a cost of $4 per vehicle or less, and with estimated net benefits of between $480.8 and $593.3 million, NHTSA should move quickly to adopt its proposed safety standard.

While NHTSA should move to adopt its proposal as quickly as possible, that should not be NHTSA’s last action on the issue of crashworthiness for people outside of vehicles. If NHTSA is working towards a goal of zero traffic deaths then this obviously important standard is not sufficient and continued improvement is necessary.

For bicyclist safety, NHTSA should expand the areas of vehicles subject to safety standards, including “the [anticipated] Euro NCAP requirements… referred to as the Cyclist Zone.” Similarly, ensuring the vehicle front ends and windshields are subject to a safety standard would improve safety for people outside of vehicles. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), “SUVs tended to cause injuries with their wheels or their undercarriage or by knocking the bicyclist to the ground. The ground, wheels or undercarriage caused 82 percent of the head injuries in the eight SUV crashes.” As proposed, the standard appears to not address these risks to people outside of vehicles caused by vehicle design features not captured by static testing of a headform launched into a hood. NHTSA should work to quickly address these other sources of head injury risk and publish any relevant research it has developed on the safety of people outside of vehicles, including the bicyclist Automatic Emergency Braking research that it has mentioned in previous comment periods but has not yet published.

Submit your comment supporting safer vehicle standards »

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New League Staff: Meet Chris Vaughan

Introducing Chris Vaughan, the League’s new Bicycle Friendly America Program Coordinator! An educator, poet, and advocate for sustainable transportation, Chris’s journey into bike advocacy began with a grassroots effort to make his Minneapolis neighborhood streets safer for families like his own. From his studies at Stanford to his years as an ESL/multilingual teacher and school administrator, Chris is passionate about making communities more inclusive, human-centered, and livable for everyone. Bringing a wonderful mix of technical skills and storytelling talent to the team, we’re thrilled to have Chris join us in building a Bicycle Friendly America for all. Keep reading to learn more about our newest team member!

What’s your first memory of riding a bike?

I remember learning how to ride a bike with training wheels on my street in Western Massachusetts and wobbling around a lot!

What does your bike journey look like? What got you into biking as an adult?

Bikes have been a deeply important part of my life. I cut my teeth riding a mountain bike all around my town growing up, and loved exploring the local trails.

While I biked a little in college, my adult bike journey began seriously when I moved to Milwaukee to volunteer with AmeriCorps during my first year out of college. I bought a mountain bike from a small shop down the street from my apartment. I had no car, so I got around the city mainly on the bus system and with this bike. I happened to live across the street from the Oak Leaf Trail, so that was my primary “on-ramp” to exploring the city by bike. Later, while living in Boston, I began bike commuting on the, uh, sometimes unfriendly streets of that city. I also got into doing long rides and bought my first road bike. Now living car-free in Minneapolis, where I moved in 2012, I got into year-round commuting (studded tires in the winter!), biking for general transportation, and hauling my kids around on the back of a cargo bike. 

Some recreational riding highlights include completing RAGBRAI 2018 with three friends, competing as the bicycle leg in several half-iron relay triathlons with teacher friends, as well as some multi-day New England journeys with my friends Seth and Nate. 

Tell us a bit about your background. How did you get into transportation advocacy, and what excites you about joining the League?

While I’d had a longtime interest in urbanism and multi-modal transportation, my sustainable transportation advocacy got a kick-start in 2021 when my young twins and I experienced two dire near-misses while crossing Lyndale Avenue, a dangerous county-owned arterial that runs through my neighborhood in Minneapolis. I became (a very small, but committed!) part of an organizing effort that pushed the county to do a 4:3 “road diet” pilot, which substantially lowered crashes for all street users and ultimately became permanent. As I sensed a growing passion for this, I was accepted to the 2023 Walking College Fellowship through America Walks. From that, I have been teaming up with a neighbor and friend to co-lead safe walking and rolling initiatives at our children’s school and through our neighborhood association. 

What are some of your favorite routes and trails to explore?

These days, all the routes around the Twin Cities! In addition to excellent and growing urban bike infrastructure, we have an extensive set of trails in the broader region that enable longer rides.

What bike are you riding now?

I ride three bikes these days:

  • A Surly Cross-check which has been much overhauled to make it more upright, comfortable, and commuting-oriented,
  • A road bike for longer recreational rides,
  • And an e-cargo bike with my 6-year-old twins on the back — it’s my family’s “car”!

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    Will the Trump Administration pull back Transportation Grants?

    During the campaign, Candidate Trump talked about pulling back funding from President Biden’s signature accomplishments including the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law). 

    This week marks the third anniversary of IIJA and to celebrate it, the Department of Transportation announced multiple grant awards including $172 million in Safe Streets for All awards. This $172 million means now $3 billion of Safe Streets planning and implementation grants have been awarded. Whether or not Congress will try and pull back this funding, or other funding from other grant programs in the new year is yet to be seen, but there are some things we can do to safeguard the funds that have already been awarded.

    USDOT Map of SS4A Awards to Date from SS4A Fact Sheet

    First, it’s important to understand that just because a grant has been announced, does not mean the funding is safe. For funding to be safe there needs to be a grant agreement or contract signed. When it comes to federal funding, this can take months. For local governments doing this for the first time, it can take even longer. 

    Here’s what you can do in the meantime. Talk to your local government about who helped put the grant together, or who is supportive. If there were business interests, local advocacy organizations, etc., work with them to do the following:

    1 — Publicize it as much as possible. Contact reporters at your local newspaper and radio station.  Put it out on social media, and on every organizational newsletter you know. 

    2 — Say thank you to your Mayor or Tribal leader who applied for the grant. If there was anyone or any agency that wrote a letter of support or co-sponsored the grant, thank them too.  So if your state DOT signed off on the grant (and they almost definitely at least knew about it), make sure to thank the Governor and the DOT Secretary. Not sure? Ask your city or town’s planning department.

      Those thank yous can be public and private. When Congress got rid of the requirement for state DOTs to have Safe Routes To School coordinators, one SRTS coordinator made sure every school sent homemade thank-you cards to the Secretary of Transportation. That coordinator kept her job for years! 

      3 — Let your US Representative, or your US Representative-elect, know how important this grant is to your community.  Every member of Congress has a local office in your community, take the time to set up a meeting with community leaders to go in and talk to them about why the grant matters to their constituents. Invite them to visit the area the grant will address. Show them the articles in the paper. 

      The more you publicize and thank everyone involved, the more they will feel ownership over the project and feel the need to help protect it. 

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      2025 Community Spark Grant Accepting Applications

      For the 4th year in a row, the League of American Bicyclists is thrilled to announce that we are accepting proposals for Community Spark Grants! Launched in 2022, this mini-grant program awards organizations for projects and initiatives that catalyze a community’s ability to create places where bicycling is safer, easier, and more accessible. 

      The League’s Community Spark Grants support the growing number of local grassroots changemakers and organizations nationwide working to improve their communities through better bicycling. This year, the awards have been increased to $2,000 each. Any nonprofit organization or public agency can apply to receive this funding. The goal is for organizations to propose projects that spark change by expanding the capacity for local leaders and creating inclusive coalitions that help build more Bicycle Friendly Communities. Learn more about project eligibility here.

      In 2025, 10 Community Spark Grants will be awarded. Generous support for these grants comes from General Motors (GM). Of the 10 organizations to receive awards, five must be in GM Facility communities. The other five can be based anywhere in the United States but must align with our Equity and Accessibility criteria, which can be found below.

      Equity and Accessibility Criteria

      The League is proud to offer equity and accessibility criteria as a determining factor for at least five of the 10 Community Spark Grants this year. The questions within the application’s equity section are meant to help applying organizations demonstrate need, establish project scope, and describe community characteristics as applicable. We encourage potential applicants to take the League’s definition of equity and accessibility into consideration and use it as the framework for guidance in this section. 

      The League firmly believes that Equity & Accessibility are essential lenses through which all other Bicycle Friendly America work must be viewed in order to achieve a Bicycle Friendly America for everyone. The League defines “Equity” as the just and fair inclusion into a society in which everyone can participate and prosper. The goals of equity must be to create conditions that allow all to reach their full potential by erasing disparities in race, income, ability, geography, age, gender, and sexual orientation. The principle of equity acknowledges that there are historically underserved and underrepresented populations and that fairness regarding these unbalanced conditions is needed to assist equality in the provision of effective opportunities to all groups.

      “Accessibility” refers to improving and increasing access to mobility options for everyone, particularly for people with disabilities. The League recognizes that not every disability is visible to others and that not every person with a mobility or accessibility need identifies as ‘disabled.’ Whether from a cognitive, sensory, or physical disability, age, temporary illness, or injury, there are people in every community who face a range of mobility challenges for whom a bike or cycle may open a world of possibilities to increase accessibility.

      Disability Pride Ride, organized by The Street Trust Mobility Justice 101 workshop, organized by Go Gulfport Chain Reactions: Fixing Bikes, Empowering People, Building Community, organized by McClintock High School

      We will review the applications holistically and use the specific equity and accessibility questions to help us narrow down the candidates. Selection will be based on those who demonstrate the highest impact of their project for the community with the most demonstrated need.

      2025 Community Spark Grant Timeline

      • Application Opens: November 12, 2024
      • Application Closes: January 17, 2025 at 5pm ET
      • Applications Reviewed: January/February 2025
      • Applicants Selected and Notified: March 2025
      • Project Execution: March-December 2025
      • Final Reports Due: End of December 2025

      Apply Here

      We hope this seed funding can be the spark that puts your next idea into action! Learn more about the Community Spark Grant, how to apply, project eligibility, and deadlines, and read about past winners on the Community Spark Grant webpage: https://bikeleague.org/bfa/about-spark-grants/ 

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      What a Trump Department of Transportation could mean for bicycling and walking

      As we prepare for the second Trump Department of Transportation we have two things we can look at for direction. First, we have the first term of the Trump Administration, the discussions about an Infrastructure bill, discretionary grant awards, and how the previous administration set policy and implemented existing law. The second thing we can look at is Project 2025, a playbook for the next conservative administration, written by the Heritage Foundation. The Heritage Foundation has been significantly involved in transportation policy, funding, and advocacy work for the last few decades. 

      The other thing to consider is what President-Elect Trump has said during the campaign. However, these comments have mostly been limited to electric vehicles, and then contradictory. Until the summer, Trump voiced his plan to undo the Biden Administration’s pro-electric cars stances. Then in August Trump said, “I’m for electric cars. I have to be, because Elon [Musk] endorsed me very strongly.” The market seems to trust this latest pronouncement since Tesla’s share price increased by 13 percent the day after the election.  

      On Transportation Bill Reauthorization Role of the Administration 

      While Congress writes the laws, the president is often involved in the negotiations, and both the White House and DOT Advisors make the case for priorities. As an example, the Biden Administration weighed in heavily on the Safe Streets for All program and advocated for the $5 billion in funding it received in the past bill.

      Trump Administration and Reauthorization of the Transportation Bill

      In his first term, the Trump Administration tried often to get a transportation bill moving — the joke in Washington was that every week was infrastructure week. However, the administration and Republican congressional leaders had a hard time coming together on how to pay for a transportation bill without increasing the gas tax. Currently, federal transportation funding raised through the gas tax and other transportation-related taxes generally pays for 80 percent of new projects with state or local governments responsible for the remaining 20 percent. The Trump Administration’s proposal would have raised the state and/or local governments’ share to 50 percent or more for transportation projects. 

      Project 2025

      At this point, infrastructure investment seems to have fallen off the Trump Administration’s list of priorities, however the Heritage Foundation has several recommendations that we could see come into the discussion as we get closer to the election. 

      Project 2025 echoes statements we’ve heard from Heritage for over a decade that bicycling, walking and transit projects are not in the federal interest and should not be eligible for federal funds. Project 2025 also argues that the DOT should discourage ‘Vision Zero’ projects as congestion creation. 

      Discretionary Grant Awards Role of the Administration

      Discretionary grants are those like Safe Streets for All and RAISE where Congress sets high level criteria and guidelines in the law but the US DOT interprets the criteria and is responsible for awarding the grants. 

      Trump Administration

      Even though Congress gives the Administration significant discretion in implementing grant programs, congressional leaders often expressed frustration with the Trump DOT under  Secretary Chao on the DOT’s process for discretionary grants. The Trump Administration infamously slow-walked Capital Investment Transit grants and did not meet the spirit of the congressional intent behind other grant programs. 

      When it came to BUILD grants (now referred to as RAISE grants), the Chao DOT prioritized projects that improved interstate commerce and were in rural areas. One of the frustrations of congress members is that the administration counted interstate projects that ran through a rural county as benefiting small communities economically even when there were no exits to those communities. The Chao DOT did fund several complete streets in each round of grants as an answer to this criticism. 

      Project 2025

      Project 2025 calls for the end of discretionary grants, preferring that all federal transportation funds pass to state DOTs as large block grants. 

      Setting Policy, Guidance, and Regulation Role of the Administration

      One of the major roles of an administration is interpreting the law as written by Congress. This is a powerful role because transportation funds flow to states as reimbursement for projects built. The guidance tells states what they have to do to follow the law, and therefore be reimbursed.

      For instance, federal law requires states to provide bicycling access — and in the 2021 IIJA, walking access — on bridge repair projects as long as it can be done for a reasonable cost.  Before the 2021 law, states could just state that providing access couldn’t be done for a reasonable cost. The Buttigieg DOT set “reasonable cost” as up to 20 percent of the price of the project, and required a state DOT to show the math if they wanted to be exempted. A new administration could just allow a state DOT to make the claim the cost is unreasonable and not require any proof or explanation.

      Congress also directs the US DOT National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to set car safety regulations for automatic emergency braking for pedestrians, technology to stop drunk driving or autonomous vehicles.

      The DOT can also use its own resources and expertise to forward the administration’s goals. The Buttigieg DOT also set internal policies and created external tools and guidance, such as the Equitable Transportation Community (ETC) Explorer, to help state DOTs meet the Biden Administration’s goals on climate and equity.

      Trump Administration 

      One of the first actions of the Trump Administration was to create the ‘one decision’ process in permitting to make it easier to get projects off the ground. It also continued to push for increased streamlining of big projects and was slow to implement performance measures. It was the Trump Administration that started the practice of allowing state DOTs to set regressive safety performance measures, allowing a state to set a goal of increased fatalities over five years. 

      President Trump also set an executive order early in his presidency to say there could be no new regulation unless an old one was repealed. The result was we saw few, if any, new safety regulations out of NHTSA; instead the Chao DOT did promote some voluntary data-sharing agreements.

      Project 2025

      Project 2025 calls for fewer DOT rules and regulations, and admonishes a Republican administration to be clear that guidance is only guidance and not something the DOT can enforce. 

      Project 2025 is bullish on autonomous vehicles (AVs), and calls on the US DOT to allow for more AVs to be sold. It also calls for the US DOT to remove the mandatory data sharing among AV companies now required by the Biden Administration. 

      How can Congress respond? I’ll address that in my next blog.

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      LCI & Advocate Spotlight: Patrick Valandra

      The League certifies hundreds of League Cycling Instructors every year and there are thousands of LCIs across the country leading bike education efforts in their communities. In our LCI spotlight series, we share the stories of League Cycling Instructors doing what they do daily: educating, mentoring, and empowering. You don’t have to be an extraordinary athlete or overachieving student to be a stellar LCI, all you need is the conviction that life is better for everyone when more people ride bikes.

      Another month, another spotlight interview! We love passing the microphone to advocates, leaders, and changemakers who are strengthening the bike movement. This month, we played phone tag with Tempe, Arizona-based advocate and educator Patrick Valandra. Patrick has been a League Cycling Instructor (LCI) for years, and he recently doubled up with an LCA certification at our first-ever League Cycling Advocate workshop last March. We asked Patrick if he’s been using his LCI or LCA certification more frequently, and his answer was resounding: “Definitely advocacy. We’re in a good spot in Tempe, with huge opportunities on the horizon that I’ve seen coming for 10 or 15 years.”

      Patrick, an avid traveler, showing how his folding bike fits neatly in an airplane’s overhead storage

      What, if any, advocacy group, club, or bike organization are you a part of?

      For many years, I was the President of Bike Tempe, also known as the Tempe Bicycle Action Group. I’m proud to say there is a new leadership group that has taken up the torch to promote cycling, and the organization is doing really well. They hosted an LCI Seminar here last fall which I volunteered to help with, and it was a great time.

      I’ve also been working with Rez (Reservation) Gravel to put on events this summer. I’m Native American and grew up on a reservation here in AZ, we’ve been trying to open up some of those lands to cycling by promoting events. Lots of reservations are rural, with lots of forest roads and good gravel to ride on as well as great scenery and elevation. Rex Gravel will promote more events next year to highlight more reservations, especially ones that aren’t as visible as the ones around Phoenix and Tempe. The reservation I grew up on, White Mountain Apache, is four hours east of here. You can ride 400 miles without ever seeing a paved road. We want to celebrate the landscape and the culture of each reservation and provide economic opportunity by sourcing all event materials and supplies from within the community. 

      Is there a moment or experience that solidified your commitment to bike advocacy? 

      I grew up in a really rural environment. As kids, we had bikes that we’d ride all over the reservation. We were literally wild Indians, doing whatever we wanted to do and going wherever we wanted to go. When I grew up and joined the military, I got a bike instead of a car and realized biking was still a viable option for getting around. I was stationed all over — North Carolina, Georgia, Houston, even NJ on the east coast — and I got to ride my bike everywhere I went. 

      What first motivated you to become an LCI? 

      When I became board president of the Tempe Bicycle Action Group, my vision was for every board member to certify in Traffic Skills 101 and become an LCI. We set up a seminar in town and we got four of six board members trained right away. I also advocated for sending people to the National Bike Summit, because this is where ideas get exchanged. This is an opportunity to expand our perceptions and see other ways of succeeding. I’ve been going to the Summit for the past ten years, and I’ve never had a bad one. In fact, it was the bike advocacy workshop following the 2024 National Bike Summit where I got my LCA certification. There’s always something cool to do, people to meet, and, after the day’s activities wrap up, so many options around DC to get into some late-night karaoke! 

      What’s one takeaway from the LCA Workshop that you are incorporating into your bike advocacy?

      The first takeaway is that we as a movement have needed this type of training for a while. The engagement was phenomenal and I wish I could’ve joined the Philly workshop, too. My second takeaway was a lesson about leadership, and how we as leaders balance responsibility, accountability, and authority. Suppose someone wants to do something in their town, whether it’s down the street or across the country. Your first thought might be, well, what can I do? What is my responsibility to this person? As leaders, we have to think about how to show up for each other and be willing to take responsibility.

      Patrick (second from right) at the first League Cycling Advocate workshop in Washington, D.C.

      Whether it’s making a donation, offering a piece of advice, or organizing a letter of support — there’s a lot we can do. Technologically speaking, we’re more linked up than ever before. Our capacity will only grow as more trained leaders like League Cycling Advocates are active in our communities. 

      What project or campaign are you involved with right now?

      From a nonprofit leadership perspective, I’ve been getting involved with a project to help veterans access whitewater rafting. The idea is to connect veterans with nature, teach them how to paddle, learn water safety skills, and build up a sense of community. I just filed that paperwork last week to incorporate the nonprofit. We’ve already put in some permits for the Grand Canyon, and we’ve spent months training on whitewater in Colorado.

      What is one of your core memories from being on a bike?

      One of the strongest memories I have is from my childhood. I was about eight years old, riding my bike with a bunch of kids, and my friend Keno and I bumped wheels and crashed. Luckily, we weren’t going too fast (although at the time, we thought we were flying) and no one was seriously hurt. We decided to push our bikes back up the hill to Keno’s house. His mom wasn’t home, so we got the hose out and cleaned up the scrapes ourselves. It was a bonding moment for us, and we’re still in touch to this day. 

      That was my first big crash, so the memory really stuck with me. It also moved me toward my career path in medicine — all the other kids were grossed out by the scrapes, but I didn’t mind it. So in a way, that experience helped get me into the army as a combat medic and eventually into my past career in Healthcare IT.

      What is your favorite thing about being on a bike?

      I’ve always equated bicycling with the ability to be free, to expand my horizons around what’s possible. As a kid, you can walk a mile without too much trouble, but then when you get a bike, one mile is nothing! A mile goes by before you know it, quickly turning into five or six miles, and your world just keeps growing. Being on a bike is also great for your wellbeing. It’s a great way to think without distraction, get your pace going and your body moving. Anytime I need to be alone, I just go pedal around. Some days I go to the park, an easy 30-mile ride, and other days I’ll go out into the middle of the desert and just ride as long as I can. No traffic, no worries — as long as you bring enough water! 

      Give us an interesting or funny fact about you.

      I was recently told, “You see things in the future before others do. You tend to think other people can see the same thing, but they don’t.” But I don’t always want to be that guy — if people can’t see what I see, how do I explain to others my vision for the cycling community? That comment made me step back and consider how this could be a leadership learning point. My funny fact is that I am crazy for cycling gloves! I have at least 10 pairs and some haven’t even been unwrapped!

      What advice do you have for emerging leaders in bike advocacy?

      You might not always know where a project is going, but just keep trying. Don’t give up. Continue developing your skill sets, keep a great attitude, and you’ll always end up with a great result or a new skill!

      Where do you see the future of bike advocacy heading? 

      I appreciate how the League focuses on federal legislation and translates what that means for the cycling community, and I have a feeling we’ll see an increase in those strings coming back locally. Especially now that we’re training LCAs, we’re going to see more local leaders reach out to leverage national connections — to ask, how will this legislation impact my city? How can we tactically align for it to work out well for us? A national network also helps small towns and cities better understand and ask questions like, “Are we doing the right thing in terms of Vision Zero? What can we do to improve?” So I love the strategy the League has. We have to play to the tactics on the ground to keep moving forward. 

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      Q&A with Ken Podziba, Director Emeritus of the League of American Bicyclists

      The bike movement is led by tens of thousands of state and local advocates across the country who make the case for better biking at city council meetings, state legislatures, and local op-ed pages. We’re celebrating these leaders in the movement in our series by spotlighting the individuals at the local level who will hopefully inspire you to take the next step in your advocacy journey.  

      In our inaugural advocate spotlight, we’re thrilled to speak to Ken Podziba, CEO of Bike New York, past chair of the League’s Board of Directors, and now a director emeritus of the board. Prior to joining Bike New York, Podziba served as the New York City Sports Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner/Chief Financial Officer of the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission, Assistant Commissioner of the Department of Youth & Community Development, and urban planner for the NYC Department of Housing Preservation & Development. He earned an MS at Columbia University’s School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation and a BS at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications and Whitman School of Management.

      Ken Podziba (left) networks with fellow leaders on day three of the League’s 2024 National Bike Summit.

      Q: Congratulations on your recent appointment as a Director Emeritus of the League of American Bicyclists Board of Directors. After your years of service chairing the League, how are you approaching this new role? A: It’s been a privilege to serve on the League’s board since 2015, and I’m truly honored to be able to continue working with this extraordinary organization with such a rich history and an even brighter future.  I’m grateful to the League’s board of directors for this appointment and look forward to continue working with them in this new capacity and supporting them in their efforts to create safer and more equitable streets, strengthen communities, fundraise, and implement the strategic plan. 

      Q: What do you see as the biggest challenges facing the cycling community today?

      A: There are far too many communities in our country with significant barriers to bicycling, including a lack of protected bike lanes, poor bike design, and negative perceptions of bicyclists. We need to continue educating stakeholders and advocating for greater investments in bicycling infrastructure, particularly in historically underserved communities.  So much progress has been made, but these success stories are all reminders of how much more still needs to be done, and I know the League will not rest until there’s truly a Bicycle Friendly America for everyone. 

      Q: How does Bike New York contribute to the League’s mission?

      A: Bike New York is a proud member of the League and runs the largest free bike education program in the country based on the League’s Smart cycling program.  We recently co-launched a national Kids Learn to Ride program with the League, and we hope to be able to partner with the League on more initiatives through education and advocacy. We also want to work with the League on bringing some of our successful programs to other bike organizations around the country.  Our Bike Path program for example trains formerly incarcerated individuals to become bike mechanics who then secure good-paying jobs at Citi Bike, NYC’s bike share provider.  We’d also like to promote more programs, like Recycle-A-Bicycle, in which we encourage New Yorkers to donate their old bikes to us rather than having them sent to a landfill.  We, in turn, completely refurbish these bikes and either give them away to people who can’t afford them or sell these born-again bikes in our community bike shop in Brooklyn. 

      Q: What advice would you give to aspiring cycling advocates?

      A: My advice is for them to get involved with the League and their local bike advocacy group.  They should attend their neighborhood community board and council meetings, as well as the National Bike Summit.  Every bike advocate has a responsibility to fight for the safety of all road users and to help create the next generation of advocates.  One person can make an incredible difference, and the feeling of improving and saving lives, however challenging the process may be, is extremely rewarding and purely exhilarating. 

      Know an inspiring bike advocate we should feature next? Submit your nominations here!

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