Summit Inspires First-timer with Bicycle Success Stories
by Nancy Grant

I was lucky to be part of the eight-person delegation from Maine that attended the National Bike Summit in Washington, D.C. organized by the League of American Bicyclists. We joined bicycle enthusiasts from all over the country at the three-day conference in March.

I attended several sessions on trends in the bicycle world. My favorite session was titled "Health, Wealth and Freedom: The Very Tangible Benefits of Bicycling and the Bicycle Industry."

Those on the panel included the executive director of Velo Quebec, which is opening a 3000-km network of bike trails in Quebec this summer, the director of the Park City, Utah trails foundation, the president of Granny Gear Productions, which organizes 24-hour mountain bike races and the president of the Outdoor Industry Association, which has just completed extensive research on the active outdoor recreation economy and the bicycling economy. It was really exciting and encouraging to hear the many success stories and to realize what a critical mass is developing in the bicycle world.

A significant part of the conference focused on educating us about the most important bills related to bicycling and teaching us how to use the legislative process to support them.

During the second day of the summit, our delegation visited all four of Maine's congressional offices and made our "asks" related to the bills. I had never done this before. I felt a bit intimidated at first, but then realized that we were just one of many groups that visit legislators daily. Thankfully, our legislators are pro-bike, and seemed willing to help on all of our issues.

The summit is a great combination of learning about truly exciting developments in bicycling and participating first-hand in the democratic process. It was fun to be surrounded by the movers and shakers of the bike world (Floyd Landis was there!) and to feel like together, we could make a difference.

My goal for next year is to double the size of the Maine contingent. A larger contingent will be noticed by our legislators and will bring more great ideas and challenges related to bicycling back to Maine. Think about going next March!

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