Saturday, March 8, 2008

Images From The Summit

Finally back in the hometown of Tampa after a few days of joining forces with bicycle advocates from across the country and turning into lobbyist-for-the-day to tell our Congressmen from Florida about the good things bicycling can do for a community.

The 2008 National Bike Summit is in the books and I hope you will attend next year's Summit. Your only qualification is that you believe bicycling is good for the soul and for the Earth.

I enjoyed listening to leaders in the bicycle movement like Congressman Earl Blumenauer, a bicycling House of Rep. member from Portland, Or. He gave the opening speech Wednesday morning with a pants tie still on.


Jim Oberstar, a Congressman from Minnesota, stirred up bicyclists half his age with a rousing speech to end the Summit.




Before we lobbied Congress on Thursday, we gathered by state to go over the game plan, the proposed legislation and get one last lesson on lobbying and influencing the folks on The Hill.




We had a funny lady tutor us on how to lobby Congressmen, and her schtick included a few questions like this one.


Trek CEO John Burke thanked dealers for stepping up and being bike advocates.


Thursday morning, we wait on line for the security check to get into the Spartan halls of Congress.


Adventure Cycling, a Montana-based group, was in the house and discussed its efforts for a cycling routes across the country.


There sure were a lot of cops and Secret Service folks by that place they call the White House. And some of them even like to use bicycles.


Wow baby, see Washington, DC by bike!


Naturally, the tourist stores were selling the local fare.




People like to bike to get acround Washington. It's a great way to get around.


I hear the White House is behind bars.


Seems like everything is behind secured fencing.

2 comments:

GhostRider said...

Things are looking up for the D.C. bicycle enthusiast...they're getting ready to roll out a Paris/Velib- style bike rental program called Smart Bike D.C. :

http://bike-sharing.blogspot.com/2008/02/smartbike-dc-program-website.html

The Smart Bike site appears to be down currently, but I've checked it out before. It's a great deal for the urban explorer!

Bindindi said...

Hey Alan, it was great getting together with you in Washington last week -- I'm glad we were able to do that.

Maybe next time you visit DC the Smart Bike thing will be up and you can view the sites from the seat of a rented bicycle.