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It was the late 1990s and I thought we were so clever. We had just convinced the San Francisco Department of Parking and Traffic to incorporate an innovative new design into its bike plan, a bold statement conveying “bikes belong” right there in the middle of the street. I had first seen a shared-use marking, or “sharrow” — a white bicycle painted directly on asphalt — in photos of Paris and Chicago, put there to help bicyclists get through intersections by indicating their path of travel. In 1993, James McKay, a bike planner in Denver, used it on a trial basis to emphasize a bicyclist’s right to ride in the middle of the lane. 

I was the young executive director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. We published a hard-hitting newsletter and organized leaders from businesses, churches, community organizations, youth groups, and more into a coalition that was giving unprecedented voice to the demands of San Franciscans for safer streets. Looking to those examples from Chicago, Paris, and Denver, we pushed to get an improved version of the sharrow design formally included in the city’s bike plan and approved for use by the state of California. Mayor Willie Brown famously painted the first sharrow on Grove Street outside of City Hall, getting some green paint on his fancy suit and laughing it off in his inimitable style. 

The City of Oakland, CA, experimented with this "super sharrow" on 40th Street in hopes that the symbol would be more effective if underlined by green pavement. It didn't work, and the USDOT did not approve the treatment.

San Francisco went on to paint thousands of these symbols all over its bike network, and hundreds of cities followed suit. I thought the sharrow would educate bicyclists to stay out of the “door zone”— the three or so feet of space adjacent to parked cars where motorists opening car doors and bicyclists could collide — and usher in a new era of safer streets, one where motorists would patiently wait behind bicyclists “taking the lane” because this painted symbol made it clear they had the right to do so. Where we couldn’t get a bike lane, I hoped this symbol would effectively convert the mixed-traffic lane into an adhoc bike lane when bicyclists were present.

It turns out that motorists really don’t like to wait behind someone on a bike, regardless of the paint on the street. Even Oakland’s experiment with the so-called “super sharrow,” where the bicycle path of travel is painted solid green, isn’t enough to get people on bikes to comfortably “take the lane.” Sharrow or no sharrow, most people on bikes dangerously hug the edge of the roadway, squeezing themselves into the door zone to avoid blocking car traffic.

Simply put, sharrows don’t do what we hoped they would. Studies back up that claim.

Early research in San Francisco and Florida showed evidence that behaviors changed slightly on streets with sharrows. For example, some bicycle riders positioned themselves a few inches further from the curb or car doors. A 2010 evaluation of shared lane markings in three separate cities again showed that the markings had some positive impact on behavior. Looking closely at the results, however, it was clear the changes were too minor to make a difference. After Oakland’s experiment with the super sharrow, the Federal Highway Administration announced it would not support future experiments, and Oakland does not plan to continue the treatment when it repaves the street. 

San Francisco still uses sharrows, but for the most part, city officials know better than to expect them to do much for safety. Today, beautiful sharrows point bicyclists along the circuitous path of the “wiggle,” where a right-left-right-left series of turns directs riders on a gentle grade between San Francisco’s steep hills. They are great for navigation and, perhaps, concentrating riders on certain streets — that’s about it.

Bright green arrows are useful for marking the zig-zag path that takes bicyclists across San Francisco while avoiding the steep hills.

It’s been more than 20 years since I had high hopes for the sharrow as a tool for safety. Today, we know so much more about what it takes to make our streets safer for bicycling. We need separate bike paths; we need protected bike lanes on busy roads; and where the lanes are shared, we need actual speeds reduced to 20 mph or slower. Sharrows don’t do any of that.

Sharrows do, however, accomplish something pernicious which I did not anticipate. They allow officials to take credit for doing something for bicycle safety without impacting car traffic, even though that something is next to nothing. It’s just pretending, and it’s worse than being honest about priorities. It’s insulting to the public to encourage bicycling by painting bike symbols on the street but doing nothing to actually make riding a bike any safer. 

Yes, good bike infrastructure can require tradeoffs that are more politically challenging than simply painting a symbol on the street. Now, at PeopleForBikes, I’m part of a team that has successfully helped cities build networks of bikeways that actually get more people riding safely and joyfully. We help city leaders with communications, organizing, and political strategies to overcome the challenges they will surely face in building truly effective infrastructure. 

We never suggest using sharrows to create a bikeway. We’ve learned our lessons. Now that we know better, it’s time to do more.

In the fall of 2021, PeopleForBikes, with the support of its Coalition board of directors, made the decision to double down on its data, statistics, and research program. After all, it’s nearly impossible to grow the number of bicyclists and the bike industry as a whole without having a firm grasp on things like participation trends and forecasting, the direct-to-consumer market, or an understanding of people’s proximity to recreational trails. For those that don’t often deal with research, however, sorting through charts, numbers, and analyses can quickly become overwhelming. That’s where “Inside the Outdoors” comes in.

A podcast produced by PeopleForBikes (PFB) and the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA), “Inside the Outdoors” isn’t just about bikes or data. The show features each organization’s chief data person, however, and episodes speak to larger trends in the outdoor industry, often with a special focus on bicycling. In each 20 to 30-minute episode, co-hosts Patrick Hogan, PFB’s senior research manager, and Kelly Davis, research director at the OIA, provide insights to help outdoor recreation-related companies grow their businesses.

“Inside the Outdoors” launched at the end of last year and has steadily released a new episode each week, available wherever you listen to podcasts. The name is meant to evoke the show’s mission: to peel back the curtain on the outdoor industry and help any listener understand what’s happening at the top level. As industry nonprofits, PFB and OIA want to welcome people at all levels to join in on industry happenings, ultimately leveraging the knowledge shared to help guide better business decisions.

“We are hoping that this medium will offer members of the outdoor recreation industry a way to easily access information about trends we're seeing,” says Hogan, who directs all of PFB’s research related to bicycling participation, market sales, and consumer insights. “In addition to conducting the research, PeopleForBikes is prioritizing new ways of communicating our findings with audiences, which is why we've chosen to begin podcasting.”

Since its launch in November, “Inside the Outdoors” has covered a variety of topics, some timely — an episode on 2022 holiday shopping, for example — and others more evergreen. The latter category includes an episode on what goes into forecasting and how it should influence business decisions (“Forecasting the Future”), as well as on the rise of direct-to-consumer sales (“Shifting Market Channels and the Rise of DTC”). Other episodes respond to bigger trends in outdoor recreation, like youth participation and social media. Curious about how outdoor recreation contributes to the U.S. economy? There’s an episode for that, too. 

“Only a few hundred individuals will travel to conferences and events for live presentations of research, and only a handful of people will open a 20-page PDF research report,” says Hogan. “This podcast helps us fill the gaps by serving up data to our audience in bite-sized chunks.”

It helps that Hogan and Davis are affable hosts — episodes are filled with witty banter, personal anecdotes, and a lot of “aha” moments. While many of the topics discussed are complex by nature, the show makes for easy listening. While the content will primarily appeal to brands, it offers a great deal of value to dealers, marketers, local clubs and organizations, and other types of groups making, selling, or using products related to the outdoors.

“The intended audience is really anyone working in the outdoor recreation industry,” says Hogan. “We are working to help folks access critical information and stay successful in an environment that is constantly changing.”

Tune into “Inside the Outdoors” on Spotify, Audible, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or wherever you stream content. New episodes drop on Mondays. 

PeopleForBikes Has a New, Data-Driven Podcast

Mountain biking trails exist all across the U.S., and the number of bicycle-optimized trails continues to increase as more new trails open and old ones are refurbished or updated. To celebrate another great year of mountain biking, PeopleForBikes (with the help of our supporters on social media) compiled some great new mountain bike trails that opened in 2022.

After purchasing the 450-acre Chestnut Mountain property in 2020, the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy transferred the property to the Town of Canton in an ambitious endeavor to pair permanent protection of habitat and water resources with the creation of a conservation-friendly, community-centric outdoor recreation space. Chestnut Mountain will be an important stop along North Carolina’s Hellbender Trail, a 150-mile regional greenway system that is being championed by The Land of Sky Regional Council and local governments.

As of 2022, there are 11 trails for all ability levels on Chestnut Mountain, totaling four miles of singletrack with almost 700 feet of descent. 

Chestnut Mountain is also home to Berm Park, a public mountain bike skills park with trails for all skill levels.

Yakety Yak and Swamp Angel trails
Leadville, Colorado

After several years of planning and negotiations, the Leadville area’s first public trails on private land are officially ready to ride. After working with the Newmont Mining Corporation and Lake County, the Cloud City Wheelers, a local trail building and advocacy group, constructed two directional trails just outside of Leadville, Colorado. A directional uphill (Yakety Yak) and directional downhill trail (Swamp Angel) will bring users from the Landfill Road up to the Swamp Angel site on the Mineral Belt Trail. These trails provide new public access to land otherwise off limits to the public, and they are also the closest singletrack trails to the town of Leadville.

Swamp Angel: Lake County's first directional downhill trail. Lots of rollers, doubles, berms, and options make up this blue-rated trail with some black options. The trail is 1.8 miles long with 381 feet of descent.

Yakety Yak: An uphill trail that travels up to the Swamp Angel area on the Mineral Belt Trail, allowing for some great loop options as you can head east to the Mining District or west to the Timberline Trails. The trail is 1.7 miles long with 381 feet of elevation gain.

Serenity & Adrenaline trail
Stowe, Vermont

Stowe’s first downhill-only, double-black expert trail, Serenity & Adrenaline, opened in July of 2022. Part 1 of the trail was built between 2021 and 2022 by Stowe Trails Partnership volunteers, including an all-women trail crew. Serenity & Adrenaline is located in the Adams Camp trail network and is made possible through partner and landowner Trapp Family Lodge. This expert-level trail has Vermont’s longest wooden bridge feature, big rock slabs, skinnies, gap jumps, and challenges to keep even the most advanced riders entertained. The trail builders drew inspiration from trails in Vancouver’s “North Shore,” Squamish, BC, and Quebec. 

Serenity & Adrenaline: Stowe’s first fully sanctioned and mapped double-black trail located in the Adams Camp trail network on Trapp Family Lodge land. The current trail is 0.4 miles long with 131 feet of descent.

East Bluff Bike Park
Copper Harbor, Michigan

East Bluff Bike Park occupies East Bluff, a prominent topographic feature with more than 525 feet of vertical rise just east of Copper Harbor, Michigan. Rock Solid Trail Contracting currently owns 525 acres of East Bluff and constructed 8 miles of bicycle-optimized trails for all levels of riders on the property. Seven trails are open as of 2022 and the bike park also connects to the existing Keweenaw Point Trail Trailhead via a segment of newly completed singletrack. Looking ahead, Rock Solid intends to continue building a system of gravity and cross-country trails which will contain more than 30 miles of singletrack once completed. East Bluff Bike Park will also act as a link between the existing Copper Harbor Trails Club System and the Keweenaw Point Trail System.

Flo'Rion is an intermediate gravity trail. The trail is 1 mile long with 525 feet of descent.

Citrus Tech is a new advanced downhill trail. The trail is 1 mile long with 497 feet of descent.

Exciting New Mountain Biking Trails Opened in 2022

Since 2019, Outride has proudly supported community nonprofits by committing more than $1.5 million in grant funding to more than 170 youth cycling projects across the country. Outride is excited to announce the opening of its 2023 Outride Fund grant application cycle, partnering with community nonprofits to promote bicycling as a tool to transform the lives of U.S.-based youth.

In order to create an immediate impact in communities across the country, the Outride Fund will now provide direct community grants. That means selected organizations are no longer required to contribute 1:1 matching funds, making it easier to apply and providing grant recipients more time to focus on the work they are doing.

“While matching grants were a good way to stoke community involvement in the fundraising process, we wanted to simplify the process for prospective grantees and lower the barrier to receiving funds,” says Chazz Robinson, program manager at the Outride Fund. “This change will allow awarded organizations to receive funds more quickly and start creating an impact on a more predictable timeline.”

Outride Fund grants will continue to support trails, pump tracks, rider education, workforce learning, after-school programs, and more, with a renewed focus on answering the question: “How can bicycling improve social, emotional, and cognitive health?” All nonprofit organizations that apply for a 2023 grant should consider this question in their proposal.

“One of the most incredible components of getting an Outride Fund grant is not only the impact that the funds provide, but also becoming a part of the Outride community,” says Tasha Tinagero, Outride’s strategic partnerships manager. “We have seen impressive impacts come out of cross-collaboration between our grantees and partners, which is something unique to our program within the cycling industry.”

The Outride Fund grant committee will carefully select grant recipients after evaluating applications on their alignment with Outride’s mission and research, an organization’s capacity to create impact, and their commitment to equity and access.  Outride Fund grant amounts vary depending on the project proposal but tend to fall between $5,000 and $15,000.  

What hasn’t changed in 2023 is the Outride Fund’s commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion. Not only does Outride hope to use its grant program to harness the power of cycling to improve lived experiences for youth, but it also wants to specifically target underrepresented demographic groups, ultimately helping to diversify the populations that participate in cycling. Vast disparities exist when it comes to accessing bicycling and its benefits for mental health — competitive proposals will demonstrate an intentional commitment to building equity and inclusion.

The 2023 application cycle is open through February 6, 2023, with Q&A webinars scheduled with Robinson on January 19 and 26. Please review Outride’s application guidelines and frequently asked questions before submitting. Grant award notifications and disbursements will be announced between March and April 2023.

2022 brought so much good news and momentum for bike infrastructure in the U.S., laying a strong foundation for even more progress in 2023. From beginning the implementation of the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) to funding the first-ever federal grant program dedicated to connecting the missing gaps in our active transportation networks, the opportunities are tremendous.

At the end of 2022, Congress sent the appropriations omnibus for fiscal year 2023 to President Biden’s desk, which included $45 million for the new Active Transportation Infrastructure Investment Program. As a reminder, this was authorized by the BIL, but not funded, meaning it requires Congressional appropriations. Streetsblog has a great summary article for additional details. 

Though this number is lower than the $200 million authorized in the BIL, the most important point is that it was funded in this appropriations bill at all. As a brand new program, it was especially vulnerable at the negotiating table. Thankfully, having any amount of funding allows advocates and grant applicants to prove the need for such a program and ensure its continued and increased funding in future years. We’re celebrating this win and ready to get to work with our partners across the U.S. as the Federal Highway Administration begins implementation of the program later this year. 

And that’s not all! On December 14, 2022, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced a Notice of Funding Opportunity for the FY 2023 RAISE grant cycle. These grants offer $1.5 billion to regionally significant transportation infrastructure projects, with applications due February 28, 2022. A majority of the funding will be awarded to projects that include at least one element of walking and biking.

Want to learn more? Join our partners at the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy for a webinar on January 12 on how to submit a competitive RAISE grant application. 

Leveraging Federal Infrastructure Funding for Bikes in 2023

Inclusive Biking

Sustainable Transportation

Electric Bikes

Bike Business

Recreational Bike Access

City Riding

See How Your City Rates

Battery Recycling

A Climate Solution

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See How Your City Rates

Community Grants

Bike Webinars

Final Mile Campaign

Use the Ride Spot App to access great rides

PeopleForBikes News

We Were Wrong About Sharrows

PeopleForBikes Has a New, Data-Driven Podcast

Exciting New Mountain Biking Trails Opened in 2022

2023 Outride Fund Applications Are Open

Leveraging Federal Infrastructure Funding for Bikes in 2023