Re: league of american bicyclists

[Loren Demerath]

I hear you Feico, but aren't those cycling groups are either roadies or mountain biking folks that don't really cycle for transportation?  We really don't have a group that's organized around bicycling for transportation.

BTW, I saw Quito Ecuador's cyclovia yesterday. Every Sunday they block off two lanes of a huge street that goes the length of the city for 20 miles. There were all kinds of bikers, skateboarders, rollerbladers, joggers, dog walkers. How 'bout Shreveport? ...Line Avenue? Fairfield? Youree?

- Loren

On Mon, Jun 20, 2011 at 1:13 PM, Feico Kempff <fkem...@aol.com> wrote:

Ian,    I searched the website of League of Amer. Bicyclists and found only 3 members in the SBC city area and including you, they are all retailers.  No local advocacy groups, no bike clubs, or community activities are listed on the website.  What gives??  How can the areas cyclists have any public influence,  if they have no voice or no community support. 

 

I am not sure about spending a lot of time for public cycling infrastructure, when the biking community is not interested in public biking, only in recreational biking.

 

When are these bike clubs going to step up and speak for their interests???.

Feico Kempff,

682-554-4277

--
Loren Demerath
Department of Sociology
Centenary College
office: (318) 869-5161
fax: (318) 869-5795
cell: (318) 840-9703

[Stephanie Pedro]

We are that group!

--
Stephanie Pedro
Vicini LLC

(vi-chee-knee)

www.vicinibuild.com
318-751-7271

[Maurice Loridans]

True, but transportation cyclists are a small minority even in our group. The rest are waiting for "if you build it they will come".

On Jun 20, 2011, at 1:33 PM, Stephanie Pedro wrote:

> We are that group!

[Feico Kempff]

Isn't it also a problem of communication and awareness with the retailers.  What if the cost of buying a bike includes a membership in League of American Bicyclist??  Don't the weekend roadies with their racebikes and skinny tires ride their bikes on streets and highways??  The same street and highways that ABS has to advocate for transportation with sharrows and bike lanes is for the benefit of the wekend roadies.

 

 Feico Kempff, Broker
Commercial Real Estate Services
Fort Worth, Texas
682-554-4277

[Maurice Loridans]

The League has a good education program for teaching how to ride the streets and roads and mixing with traffic safely. I practice those techniques. 

The League has a not-so-good reputation for advocacy because it rewards cities for inferior facilities like "door zone", "dead end" and "gutter bunny" bike lanes. Not all segregated facilities are an improvement. Roadies doing 25 to 30 mph in pacelines are not interested in being among slow pokes in bike lanes or even  bike paths. They do support "share the road" signs which is the same notion as sharrows. Most of those signs were put up long before ABS was organized.