Help us Celebrate 25 Years, Welcome New Staff, and More: BikeTexas Today May 2016

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Celebrate 25 Years of BikeTexas by Sharing Your Bike Tour Stories!

Everyone has at least one great story of how riding a bike makes life better. To help us celebrate 25 years of BikeTexas, we’re asking you to share your stories, pictures, videos, and even audio podcast with us for the chance to to be featured on our website, in the newsletter, our media outreach, and more. Please send your stories to Beth@BikeTexas.org by June 30, 2016.

Great News for Bike Month

Celebrate Bike Month by congratulating new Bicycle Friendly Communities and Businesses in Texas! Frisco is Texas’ newest Bicycle Friendly Community, earning the League of American Bicyclists’ Bronze designation. Denton, Hollywood Park, and Sugar Land have each earned Bicycle Friendly Honorable Mention from the League.

New Bicycle Friendly Businesses are Asakura Robinson in Austin at the bronze level, and B&B Bicycles in Cedar Hill (owned by BikeTexas board member Beth Farrell) is a new silver-level bicycle friendly business.

Image of bike racks at Frisco City Hall courtesy of Joel Hoback.

Fernando Martinez is Advocate of the Year!

BikeTexas is proud to announce that our own Fernando Martinez has been named Advocate of the Year by the Alliance for Biking and Walking. Fernando received his award as part of the National Bike Summit on March 7.

BikeTexas congratulates Fernando on his achievement, and we’re delighted that he has brought the Advocate of the Year award back home to Texas.

Meet Beth Nobles

BikeTexas is pleased to announce that this June the very talented Beth Nobles, the former Executive Director of Texas Mountain Trail Region of the Texas Heritage Trails program, returns to Texas as the first ever BikeTexas Deputy Director. Beth has most recently been the Associate Director of Development for the University of Iowa Museum of Art.

Beth brings to BikeTexas her deep knowledge of fundraising, storytelling, strategic partnerships, and her passion for discovering the beauty and grandeur of Texas by bike. Please join us in welcoming Beth back to Texas!

Welcome Back Leslie Luciano

Our friends, fans and followers will be delighted to know Leslie Luciano has returned to BikeTexas full time this May as our Business Manager.

Most recently Leslie has been our Special Projects Manager, using her skills as a policy expert to lead our state delegates at the National Bike Summit in March. Leslie has also spent the last two years working as the Collaboration Director for Rocket Electrics in Austin. We’re so glad to welcome Leslie back to the BikeTexas office!

Meet Lynn Haas

Join BikeTexas in welcoming our newest member of staff, Lynn Haas. Lynn holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from UT Austin and will be doing transportation engineering for BikeTexas. Lynn particularly enjoys intersection and interchange design, and will often pause in her commute to study traffic flow–watching how road users interact with infrastructure is one of her favorite things about bike commuting.

Lynn’s major project for BikeTexas will be the 2017 Benchmarking Report.

Texas Trails and Active Transportation Conference 2016

Thanks for a fantastic Texas Trails and Active Transportation Conference! March 9-11 were three great days in Houston and we’re so glad you were able to attend.

Did you hear the news? Read conference coverage here:

Executive Director Robin Stallings spoke about TTAT 2016 and the Electric Bike Expo.
TTAT 2016 Conference Director John Rath: “Confidence is Key to Get More Houstonians on Bikes”.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner’s remarks were well-received by the crowd.
Read about all three days as seen on social media here.

You ought to be in pictures – and you are! Above is a photo collage from the conference. See the complete 2016 TTAT photo gallery here.

Save the date! The next Texas Trails and Active Transportation Conference is scheduled for Spring 2018, location to be announced soon.

BikePedEd is Here!

As rides are starting earlier and finishing later to beat the Texas heat, now is the perfect time to order bike lights for your whole bike club. Do you know a summer youth camp, a government agency, Boy or Girl Scout troop, or other group that needs bicycle and pedestrian education and safety materials? We have you covered!

Learn more and order BikePedEd here.

Thank You, BikeTexas Sponsors!

For 25 years, many folks have worked hard to make Texas a great place to walk or bike. The BikeTexas Advisory Board makes it possible to educate more legislators, work with more city officials, and provide more materials to teachers around the state, to keep bicycle advocacy in Texas alive and well for the next 25 years! Many thanks to Dr. Bill Shea, Trammell S. Crow, Luci Baines Johnson and Ian Turpin, Senator Rodney Ellis, and Gail and Jim Spann.