Folks whose great work impacted me in 2010

Janette Sadik-Khan - NYDOT Summer Streets architect
Mia Birk - President ALTA Design and author of Joyride
Ray LaHood - USDOT - Bike-Ped policy inclusion, creation of Office of Livability
Barack and Michelle Obama - President and creator of Let's Move Healthy Campaign
Keith McLaughlin - Rails to Trails Director, AAA campaign
Ginny Sullivan - USBRS profiles of leaders
Kirsten E. Gillibrand, NY Senator kicking butt
Karl Enchelmayer - bike ride from Seattle to Miami for 'Aids Athens'
Rebecca Serna - Atlanta Bike Coalition Director - Streets Alive
Carrie Roetger - Teacher Morningside Elem.
Alice Waters - Community Gardens Awards
Jan - Athens Farmer's Market Manager
...thanks for all the great work and leadership. i'll try to follow your lead in 2011.
happy holidays to all!

10 best moments in 2010 came from freedom/focus

there are many, but since this is the year of bike/ped for me, my list truly has to start with the epiphany to focus on bike/ped policy in may as a volunteer at a conference that David Byrne headlined. perhaps it actually started in january in joan prittie's grantwriting course where i wrote a small grant to fund the REM Murmur trestle restoration. she gave me freedom. but the first time i knew it and acted on it was GA rides to the capitol on March 22 where hundreds of us descended on the capitol to lobby the general assembly to pass the 3-foot law.
1 - volunteering at CNU18 conference all week in exchange for attending anything i wanted including lectures from Andres Duany, HUD Sec. Donovan, Island Press authors, Charles Brewer, Mayors Reed, Franklin and of course David Byrne. many of you will say, duh, um tracie have you looked in a mirror? you are bike/ped and have been...what took you so long? well if i knew the answer to the latter many things might have come to pass by now. be that as it may, its a fine time to be involved in bike/ped.
2 - independent study on greenway corridors where a professor who sponsored my research said, oh, by the way, your keyword is 'active living' and thus focused my entire body of work on active living which cleverly combines transportation policy + public health policy.

3 - being asked to join Oconee River Greenway Commission and bikeAthens as boardmembers and joining up with a fine group of folks poised for the next chapter of alternative transportation solutions for athens
4 - being allowed to join the Firefly Trail advisory group and design their npo development plan
5 - are you sensing a theme here? yea, well it continues. each graduate school professor gave me freedom to write about bike/ped: cycling advocates as atypical leaders, greenway corridor plans, economic analysis of ciclovias, trail coalition development, active living as solutions to obesity, and grants for railroad trestle restoration...even though we dont offer a transportation policy degree. ha!

6 - attended three free transportation summits, bike summit 2010, Macon intermodal summit, and CNU18 whose focus was transportation solutions for ATL and being sought out as uber volunteer to help at CNU19 in Madison, WI
7 - being supported by it all by a patient, encouraging partner and the best hound dog ever who takes good care of me when my mind is on other things
8 - biking about a 1,000 miles and enjoying perfect health, weight loss, vacation adventures, new commuting & cycling friends and only incurring one loss, a broken seat post which josh, at sunshine cycles repaired in minutes and so far, is still holding
9 - managing to take the career on the horizon, all the passion, support, and new focus associated with it to shush the discontent from current job burn out
10 - holding out to see how the year finishes up...2 job interviews and lots of apps out, PMF, CDC, NPS, ATL, Beltline and such. 

ukelele by bicycle tour comin to athens this week

aaron lee is due in athens thursday by bike...he's been riding from maine since
february. all his songs feature the word ukelele. its gonna be fun. have a sneak peek or listen here and then swing by the Globe for an early show at 8pm Thurs 11/18.

meals from trader joe's new store in athens

I've eaten from this store for years, but not IN years b/c we didnt have one in Athens. Now we do and i'm thrilled. I can pretty much buy all i need to exist at this store. $88 buys all this and there will be several servings and thus numerous meals from this sampling...i'll let ya know how long it lasts.

breakfasts

• 10-grain bread with balade light butter and pumpkin butter
• greek style yogurt with canadian maple syrup on wholegrain waffle
• maple brown sugar whole grain oatmeal w/tart mortmorency dried cherries, w/toast n balade light butter
• oolong tea w/organic blue agave sweetener
• soymilk w/organic raisin pumpkin seed crunch cereal
  

lunches

• vegetable pad thai
• dover sole with butterbeans n spinach
• tarte d'alsace w/ham, carmelized onions, gruyere
• ham n cheese croissants w/ savory rice crackers w/flax
• mixed lettuce w/peppered turkey, cherries, cashews
  

snacks

• dark chocolate truffles, cashews, snapea crisps, peanut butter filled pretzel nuggets, dried cherries, super seeded tortilla chips w/flax, chia, & hemp seeds
  

dinners

• scallops n mushrooms in emmentaler cheese
• grilled comte cheese sandwich with colombus pepper turkey breast w/sweet potato chips
• arugula n reggiano ravioli with vodka sauce
• country potatoes with haricot verts and wild mushrooms
• roasted corn, chopped basil cubes
  
• organic tomato & roasted red pepper soup w/comte' french cheese and real bacon bits

note: almost every single item here is free of preservatives, artificial colors, flavors, organic and a trader joes brand except the turkey, cheese, tarte, butter. bon appetit y'all.

it's Dec 21 and i've been back twice to TJs. $100, 50 each trip. more delish stuff and a few new finds.

ride the ramble with us...i'll be the pokey one

a few of us are riding 11/7, its a ramble around atlanta organized by the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition. there are many routes and lengths...here is ours:

Ramble 22 - Space

Share your bike routes @ Bikely.com

Campus Sustainability Day

UGA is getting there...as of this spring we have an office of sustainability and kevin hit the ground running to make good things happen. today is a fun day showing folks how to be car free, and take little steps towards sustainability. or big ones.
ben's bikes was there to handle bike tweaks to keep you riding smooth, GORP demo'd all the outdoor gear you can rent from UGA, pumpkins were sold, light bulbs exchanged, food scraps milled, pups adopted, and recycle bags distributed. parking services even told folks how to get credit for a car-free arrival at campus.

bike tour of athens MAP

fabulous map created by brent, bike guru in athens...get out and ride and call me if you want company.
View Bicycle Tour of Athens, GA in a larger map

on to the next quest, down the next trail

so i didnt get the job with georgia bikes but a really great guy here in town did. he's 7 years ahead of me in the NPO world experience and been at the work of bicycling advocacy longer. so it's all good. plus the quest showed me where my weaknesses were so that i could pick really useful classes this semester to build those up. now i'm really on a roll. and last sunday night, bike athens invited me to join their board along with 9 other folks who are jazzed about transportation choices. so i'm delighted and rolling again.

MPA socialization and class pic

Although i'm slated to complete my masters of public admin this spring, i was never oriented the year i began b/c i was off kayaking fjords around Norway. So this year, i joined our newest class in august and sat through our socialization opportunity and served a local organization at the end of the week in our group service effort. It was a worthwhile gathering and now i know the newbies. We are still 4th in the nation in PA programs and recruiting ~100 folks every year. I'm thrilled and honored to be part of such a great program. Who'd a thunk they'd let me in? MPA2011 class pic...a mix of year 1 and slackers like me who missed it and are year 2.

nail biting time - cool & tough job opens up...

georgia bikes is looking for an executive director of their statewide bicycling advocacy nonprofit. so if you know me, and many friends have echoed these words this month,...this job is perfect for me! a lifelong cyclist whose been paying dues forever and finally studying what she loves and intends to work in the field and is only 3 classes shy of a masters in public policy with a concentration on alternative transportation and nonprofit management...this is a dream come true. two rounds of interviews later and i honestly dont know where i stand. i think it went well and i really liked and connected with several of the board of directors, but we all know they never see the full picture of someone in an interview. i wish they'd ask for referrals and talk to some of y'all. y'all know me, y'all have been kind, and y'all are right, i can't imagine more perfect timing for this opportunity. i do hope they see it the same way. i sure am ready to do some good work in bicycling advocacy. so do a little dance for me and i'll promise to make safe places for you to ride when you come down georgia way. ;)

summertime

new look on the blog but same ole me. new passion tho, all things cycling. new you say? why that's not new. well, studying it and working in it is. for me. and that's what i'm up to this summer. all my links and notes are on facebook though, its just easier to grab them and post quick there. pop on in.

bike sharing takes off in europe

http://bike-sharing.blogspot.com/

JulieCanBlog: Sit Down And Pay Attention!

my friend julie, in munich now, and i bought our bikes together in berkeley
12 years ago! at missing link. she just shared a cool bike seat cover marketing idea i love. check it out. p.s. i'm getting that bike, a blue trek 7500 hybrid, tuned up today for the gambler ride on saturday.
JulieCanBlog: Sit Down And Pay Attention!

10th National Bike Summit Rocked!

Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood energized and thanked the crowd at the League of American Bicyclists National Bike Summit on March 11, 2010 in DC declaring, “You have a full partner in Ray LaHood.” Today, March 15, LaHood issued his new Policy Statement on Bicycle and Pedestrian Accommodation Regulations and Recommendations.
LaHood then made the most substantial statement the DOT has ever made about bicycling and announced, a ” sea change. People across America who value bicycling should have a voice when it comes to transportation planning. This is the end of favoring motorized transportation at the expense of non-motorized.”
summit press in bikeleague.org blog
Photos from facebook: LaHood and others on board.

East Coast Greenway

East Coast Greenway a trail that exists in segments and one day will run the length of the east coast. And USDOT says the total cost is 1/5 the price of a new bridge built on I-95 recently. hmmm, 1 bridge or thousands of miles of coastal greenway. i'll go with the bike route.

Athens Clarke Heritage Foundation

Fresh Approaches in Urban Redevelopment for Athens including bike transit! A symposium in Athens on March 27 at Cine'. count me in! Athens Clarke Heritage Foundation The agenda supported community design, good and smart design, and bike and urban transit...which to my delight almost took over the whole session. fabulous film shorts and food from martis at midday, ike's and janes, and the daily coop. awesome event! thanks amy and lara.

Google Maps Gets Bike-Friendly - AppScout

Just in time for the changing of the seasons, Google is rolling out bike directions for Google maps.

In addition to walking, car, and public transit, users can now find the best way to get from point A to point B on two wheels. The directions utilize "bike friendly" roads and attempt to avoid biking obstacles like steep hills.

A partnership with Rail-to-Trails Conservancy also brings more than 12,000 miles of bike trails to Google Maps. Lines on the map are divided into three varieties: bike-only trails, roads with dedicated bike lines, and "bike-friendly" roads without dedicated lanes.

Google Maps Gets Bike-Friendly - AppScout
no matter where you read about it, Wired, AppScout, PC Mag, its a good idea whose time has come. Rails-to-Trails supports it too.

get me on a bike!

dang these mornings below 30. i have a rule not to ride when its below 40 and that usually serves me well in winter. but i'm also usually biking daily by now. i suppose i just need some more gear! now there's a positive spin. REI, Performance, get ready.