We make sure that bikes are considered in new projects, encourage communities across city lines to pursue funding together, support ballot initiatives dedicated to outdoor recreation, andlobby for federal funding for path and trail development.

We support local groups focused on increasing outdoor participation, help cities rethink how to provide more opportunities for close-to-home bike riding, foster the development of pocket bike parks and force the prioritization of bike trails and parks in underserved communities.

We work with state departments of transportation to add or improve shoulders on major county and state arterial roads, work to require that funding for highway projects is contingent on adding/improving shoulders, and ask state departments of transportation to prioritize road improvements that improve bicyclists safety and benefit bike riders.

We help prioritize projects that serve historically underserved and disinvested communities, advance bills that provide financial incentives to recreate by bike, connect bike riding with health and wellness outcomes, force equity considerations in planning and value electric bicycle access on the same level as traditional bikes.

Bike riding opportunities in rural, non-urban areas are revenue raisers for local communities through tourism. We support funding and policy measures that help build out trail systems, connected bike networks and the infrastructure needed to cater to visitors and residents alike.

Jeremy McGhee is on a mission to ride and document every mountain bike trail in Northwest Arkansas, opening up the landscape for those who can’t ride a traditional bike.

When we describe cities as “bike friendly” or a region as a “mecca for mountain bicycling,” there’s a lot we’re not saying. After all, a city may have a comprehensive bike network, but a history of discriminatory enforcement policies makes it a “friendly” place to bike if you’re white and less so if you’re a person of color. Likewise, a place may boast an abundance of world-class downhill trails but lack any sort of accommodations for adaptive users, those that aren't able to ride a typical bike due to their physical, intellectual, neurological and/or sensory abilities. If a rider with paraplegia can’t navigate your network, is it truly world-class?

Recognizing its oversight and wanting to do right by adaptive riders, in late 2020, Bentonville, Arkansas, the “mountain bike capital of the world,” hired Jeremy McGhee, a professional athlete and consultant who happens to be paralyzed. McGhee grew up in California surfing and running, a self-proclaimed “ultra-weirdo” that tended to live his life with reckless abandon. At age 25, McGhee was riding his motorcycle when he was hit by a car, resulting in broken ribs, multiple lacerations and an immobilizing spinal cord injury. 

For someone that loved to be out in nature, the transition to life in a wheelchair was difficult. Wanting a bike that could navigate both sand and singletrack, with full suspension and a drivetrain, McGhee bought a $9,400 Sport-On, emptying out his bank account and changing his life.

“It was a step of faith,” said McGhee, who, nearly a decade later, has become Sport-On’s main U.S. dealer. “Getting out into nature and having a relationship with nature is super important to our mental well-being. This crazy bike is how I can do that.”

For most folks with disabilities, life is often relegated to hard, smooth surfaces. In 2017, McGhee founded The UnPavement project to counteract that narrative, creating videos documenting mountain bike trails for his YouTube channel and creating Trailforks listings for each specific trail, complete with detailed accessibility information and a customized rating system.

For adaptive riders, the project is a revelation, a first-of-its-kind resource that includes advice on how best to prepare for a ride (tire inflation, necessary equipment, etc.), as well as a play-by-play of the terrain. The goal is safety: Adaptive riders don’t have the luxury of walking their bike out of a tricky problem, making comprehensive preparation all the more important. 

“As cool as my bike is, it’s limiting and I've gotten myself into some pretty precarious situations out on the trail,” said McGhee, who’s twice had to call a helicopter for assistance. “The information of where these bikes can go safely has just not existed previously.”

As McGhee built a name for himself as a consultant, he was hired on for different trail builds and projects, working for the City of San Diego on adaptive signage and documenting trails for Mammoth Mountain. In November 2020, he came to Bentonville, Arkansas, and was soon connected with NWA Trailblazers and the Walton Family Foundation. After collaborating on a video, McGhee was contracted to work on the region’s adaptive trail infrastructure.

In and around Bentonville, McGhee rarely rides alone. Instead, he typically sets out with a support rider to methodically assess the trail network and avoid any sticky situations. Typically, he’ll find that a trail is mostly good, but there’s usually a couple of problem spots, and he’ll spend the ride taking copious notes and identifying the GPS coordinates of potential dilemmas. Afterward, McGhee will translate his notes into a comprehensive report and spend hours on his computer meticulously documenting the route on Trailforks using photos and his unique rating system.

After reviewing “Slaughter Pen,” a popular trail system with many difficult sections, McGhee submitted a 32-page report to NWA Trailblazers, who are committed to going in and fixing outstanding issues. Since there are all kinds of adaptive riders, equipment and ability levels, McGhee’s rating system incorporates multiple variables and recommendations for bringing trails up to various levels of difficulty.

“Putting me on a trail with a shovel is useless,” said McGhee. “So my trail work is online and it feels really good to contribute in that way.”

Before riding, most people’s research is limited to a online write-up and maybe a YouTube video of the route. By offering both, McGhee hopes to alleviate some anxiety surrounding the unknown, allowing everyone to hit the trail with confidence. MTB Project, Singletracks and AllTrails are all in talks with McGhee about adopting his rating system, meaning that down the line, adaptive riders won’t be limited to one platform. Recognizing that the riding, documentation and computer work are incredibly time-consuming, McGhee is also in the process of training other adaptive riders to do it in their respective geographic areas. 

For now, as McGhee continues to plug away at all of the mountain bike trails in and around Bentonville, he’s also working on importing Sport-On's raw frames and proprietary parts in order to assemble bikes locally and become the company's first U.S. distributor. He’s already gone through virtual training with Sport-On, which is based in Poland, and has plans to put his first bike together in his Bentonville garage. He hopes to scale up quickly, offering bikes to ship as well as demo in town, eventually opening up a dedicated showroom.

“That's the goal, to get people outdoors safely and without all that anxiety,” said McGhee. “Equipment is a big part of that — these bikes are not cheap, so having them available for people to ride is a big deal.”

In the near future, adaptive riders will be able to come to Bentonville and demo a bike on any number of trails. They’ll be able to look at routes online and in videos, choosing one based on their needs and ability level. They’ll also ride with confidence, knowing that the city has addressed outstanding problems and installed adaptive signage. They’ll be able to come and enjoy Bentonville, just like any other bicyclist.

Meet the Rider Improving Access for Disabled Mountain Bikers

In Arizona’s Verde Valley, PeopleForBikes and other partners are coming together to create a community hub for mountain biking.

Roughly 100 miles north of Phoenix, in the geographic center of Arizona, the Verde River flows from north to south, carving through a stretch of land defined by red rocks, scenic mountain vistas and dense Ponderosa Pine forests. Known as the Verde Valley, this 714-square-mile area encompasses the towns of Cottonwood, Clarkdale, Camp Verde, Jerome and, most well known, Sedona. It’s here that a 2021 PeopleForBikes grant recipient, Verde Valley Wheel Fun, is building a mountain bike skills park. 

Although Sedona is generally known as a wealthy retiree community with a New Age vibe, the rest of the Verde Valley isn’t all art galleries and five-star spas. As is often the case with centers of wealth, many local residents work in the service industry or trades, raising kids on low-wage jobs. In fact, roughly half of the children attending school in the Verde Valley are enrolled in the National School Lunch Program, a federally assisted meal plan that provides low-cost or free lunches to students. Where the bike skills park is being built, at the Oak Creek Elementary School in the unincorporated town of Cornville, the landscape is more rural and tourists are a rarer sight.

Sedona and the surrounding area is famous for mountain and road biking, a year-round destination for people drawn to two-wheel fun on red dirt and long stretches of pavement flanked by incredible views. Most of the area’s trails are the result of Forest Service and community efforts including the Verde Valley Cyclists Coalition, an organization comprised of both road and mountain bikers that’s worked to improve the region’s bicycling environment since 1992. In 2017, the nonprofit began to focus on giving back to the local community beyond trail building and maintenance, launching a series of after-school mountain bike clubs. By 2019, it became its own entity, Verde Valley Wheel Fun (FUN).

“We just started growing faster than we could imagine,” said Kevin Adams, co-founder and treasurer at FUN. “This fall, we’ll start our thirteenth after-school club at 13 different schools here. We keep adding schools based on how fast we can raise money and get bikes.”

With the current programming in place, there will be some 130 kids participating in after-school mountain bike clubs throughout the Verde Valley, coached by 33 trained volunteers. As Adams sees it, one of the benefits of the clubs is that they get young people off their electronic devices and active outside. Since participating in the after-school clubs is a privilege, not a right, youth are also motivated to keep their grades up. Reports from the schools indicate that kids in the yearlong program either maintain or improve their reading levels and math scores. The bike clubs aren’t just for boys, either, with about 40% of participants identifying as female (as well as half of the coaches).

Alongside the $7,500 in funding received from PeopleForBikes, the Trek Foundation committed $60,000 to fund the Oak Creek School Mountain Bike Skills Park. Additional donations from the Catena Foundation, the Mountain Bike Association of Arizona, Arizona Community Foundation of Yavapai County, Arizona Community Foundation of Sedona and private individuals led to a total of more than $140,000 in funding. The bike park will break ground on January 3, 2022 — the best time to build in the desert — and will take six weeks to complete. A youth-led project to build a fitness course will be located adjacent to the park and is set to be completed this September.

Last year, FUN secured a $15,000 grant from the Outride Fund — the matching community grant program offered by the youth bicycling organization Outride — to build a mountain bike skills park at Mountain View Preparatory, a public K-8 school in Cottonwood. That bike park, which opened in April 2021, serves as a proof of concept for the new project and is part of what’s making the region a true bicycling ecosystem. Outride, a PeopleForBikes partner, believes investing in bicycling communities not only creates a more equitable, accessible and diverse bike industry but also leads to improved health outcomes among youth. 

“So often, bike trails are inaccessible to kids whose parents aren’t cyclists,” said Andy Cunningham, who manages the Outride Fund. “One of the things that’s great about Verde Valley Wheel Fun is that they’re building bike parks adjacent to schools, where kids are actually living. That way, kids don’t need a parent to ride and can go there with their friends.”

Complementing FUN’s after-school programs is Outride’s Riding for Focus program, a middle school bike curriculum designed to be implemented as part of a typical physical education class. Once FUN completed its first skills park, it reached out to the principal of another nearby middle school in the district, the Cottonwood Community School, to see if they’d be interested in applying for a Riding for Focus grant. Cottonwood Community is located downtown in a part of the city that has 85% participation in the National School Lunch Program and a student population that’s about 58% Hispanic. For the school, applying for the program was a no-brainer.

“The outcome of that is going to be a fleet of bikes in the middle school plus a trained P.E. teacher, so those kids are going to learn how to ride safely,” said Cunningham. “Once they have that basic level of confidence, they can actually walk over and ride on the new bike park that’s down the road. It's pretty awesome.”

Outride’s own research has shown that beyond the many physical benefits of riding, biking is a great way for kids to build social connections and community. Youths who regularly engage in physical activity report less depression and anxiety symptoms, have higher self-esteem and also perform better academically than kids who are inactive. Through the Riding for Focus program, kids become excited about P.E. and many gain access to a bike for the first time.

Long term, Outride wants access to bikes and bike programs to be as ubiquitous as our public libraries, ever-present even in America’s smallest towns. That means helping to grow bicycling communities through Riding for Focus and new bike parks, as well as educational initiatives, earn-a-bike programs and even bicycle cooperatives. In the nearby Four Corners region, which encompasses parts of Arizona, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and the Diné (Navajo) nation, Outride is working with community partners like Silver Stallion Bicycle & Coffee, a mobile bike shop, and Project Bike Tech to build a bicycling ecosystem. There, like in the Verde Valley and other rural communities, bikes play a crucial role when it comes to connecting people and improving both mental and physical health outcomes for children. 

“In a lot of these small, rural, isolated towns, there’s often not a lot kids can do — especially in the last year, when indoor spaces were shut down,” said Cunningham. “For these kids that can safely ride in a bike park? There must be such a sense of joy and freedom. That’s a pretty cool gift we can bring that hopefully doesn't benefit just children, but families and the whole community too.”

We recently awarded $50,000 to eight projects across eight states through our spring Industry Community Grants Program. 

PeopleForBikes, a national bicycling advocacy and industry trade organization dedicated to putting more people on bikes more often and making biking better for everyone, announced its latest round of community grants. After a short hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the latest grant round for spring 2021 totals $50,000 and includes eight projects across eight states. 

PeopleForBikes’ Industry Community Grants Program is funded through the Employee Pro Purchase program, which collects donations from individuals who work in the bike industry and take advantage of pro-pricing discounts on new bikes and bicycling equipment. Batch, Cannondale, Giant, Niner, Shimano, Trek and Vaast currently participate. Since 1999, the PeopleForBikes Industry Community Grants Program has funded more than 400 projects in all 50 states totaling more than $3.6 million in direct funds and leveraged more than $775 million. The total funding this year represents more than 2,500 individuals in the bike industry who gave back to grow bicycling through an employee pro purchase. 

“Our industry has a long history of giving back and investing in important bike projects across the country,” said Jenn Dice, president and CEO of PeopleForBikes. “We thank the seven companies and thousands of employees that contribute to this important program and are excited for the newest group of inspiring projects that will improve communities through bicycling and leverage even more investment.” 

Recycled Tires as Bike Lane Barriers - Broad Ave. Demonstration Project | $10,000
Memphis, TN 

The Binghampton Development Corporation (BDC), in partnership with the City of Memphis, will use this grant to pilot a 1.2-mile demonstration project using upcycled car tires as bike lane barriers. If successful, the BDC will help launch an employee-owned business to produce the barriers as part of its new Business Hub. 

Families Come Together to Play | $8,000 
Porcupine, SD 

PeopleForBikes’ grant will fund a bike repair station and bike racks for the community center and multigenerational playground on the Pine Ridge Reservation. This project is part of a larger development led by the Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation to provide community and recreational spaces for the Lakota people. 

Oak Creek School Mountain Bike Skills Park | $7,500 
Cornville, AZ 

Verde Valley Wheel Fun will use PeopleForBikes’ funding to build a mountain bike skills park on school property to serve the rural school population. A youth-led project to build a fitness course will be located adjacent, providing opportunities and motivation to get students outside and active. 

Mott Park Bicycle Garden | $6,600 
Flint, MI 

An unused tennis court in this urban neighborhood park will become a new traffic garden where local youth can learn bike skills. Spearheaded by the Mott Park Neighborhood Association in collaboration with the Flint Public Art Project, this facility will resemble and reflect the streets surrounding it. 

OSPREYS Bike Rack and Bike Repair Station | $5,000 
Ocean Springs, MS 

Ocean Springs Pedestrians and Residents for Exercise and Youth Safety (OSPREYS) has been working diligently to make its community safer and more appealing for people walking and biking. This funding, matched by a contribution from the city, will be used to purchase and install eight bike racks and two bike repair stations near popular destinations. 

Ben's Bike Playground | $5,000 
Chugiak, AK 

PeopleForBikes’ grant will support the construction of the first pump track in the Anchorage area. The facility will prioritize beginner-level features to attract kids and families and is named for a founding member and beloved coach who passed away in a car crash last winter. 

MKE Modular Parklet | $4,900 
Milwaukee, WI 

The Wisconsin Bicycle Federation will use this grant to build a demonstration parklet including seating, flex space/stage area, bike parking and a small pump track. The parklet will travel to several locations, hosted by business improvement districts throughout the City of Milwaukee, before being awarded to one permanent home. 

Enabling Active Transportation for Low-Income People of All Ages and Abilities | $3,000 
Austin, TX 

Working in partnership with local nonprofits and low-income/affordable housing sites, Ghisallo Cycling Initiative will provide bikes, locks and helmets to residents and use this funding to build and install two bike parking corrals where residents can secure their new bikes. 

Do you work in the bike industry and are interested in supporting PeopleForBikes and our Industry Community Grants Program? Contact PeopleForBikes Director of Membership and Industry Engagement Rod Judd (rod@peopleforbikes.org) to enroll your company in the Employee Pro Purchase program. The more companies we have participate, the more funding we have to support amazing local projects that get more people on bikes.

Introducing Our Spring 2021 Community Grants Recipients 

The $547 billion INVEST in America Act offers promising funding for connecting our nation.

On Friday, June 4, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee released the INVEST in America Act, a five-year, $547 billion transportation reauthorization bill. This is the House counterpart to the Senate Environment and Public Works’ Committee’s Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act (which we wrote about here). There are some differences between the two on what federal investments and commitments they propose for bike infrastructure, so here’s a finer look at some of the details.

A massive win in this bill is the inclusion of $1 billion for a brand new program that will build connections between bike lanes, sidewalks and trails to create complete active transportation networks. This is similar to the proposed investment in the Senate’s bill and will be a critical tool to meet the rising demand for safe, connected places to bike nationwide. You can read more in an op-ed we co-wrote in The Hill alongside our partners at the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy and America Walks. This $1 billion in new funding for bike networks is an increase from the $250 million offered in the House last year (which we wrote about here), thanks to the growing voice of active transportation advocates across the United States. 

This bill also matches the Senate’s when it comes to increasing funding for the Transportation Alternatives Program, the largest source of federal funding for bike infrastructure. A main difference with the House bill is that it’s not bipartisan like the Senate’s. Questions on how the two committees, parties and chambers eventually negotiate the differences in their bills, and how to pay for these policies and programs, certainly remain.

Beyond funding, the INVEST in America Act updates classifications for electric bicycles within two important programs for bike infrastructure. PeopleForBikes has been working at the state level to update electric bicycle definitions for more than six years, and more than 30 states have adopted model, three-class electric bicycle language in their transportation codes.

Bringing that advocacy to the federal level, we are pleased to see the three-class electric bicycle definition included in the INVEST in America Act under the Transportation Alternatives Program and in a critical classification update in the Recreation Trails Program. 

As the use of electric bicycles grows for both transportation and recreation across the nation, our policies need to adapt and evolve to make it easier to build trails and define access. We’re glad to see the INVEST in America Act meet the increased demand with updated definitions and classifications of electric bicycles. 

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will hold a markup for this bill on June 9, and we’ll be watching to see what amendments are offered and what the committee’s vote will look like. We will be sharing our analysis live on Twitter, @pfbpolicy, for anything related to bike infrastructure and electric bicycles, and we’re optimistic that the bill will advance out of committee. 

House Committee Transportation Bill Makes Big Strides for Bikes

These four U.S. cities, all with populations under 50,000 people, scored well in the 2021 City Ratings. Here’s what they’re doing right.

Small cities have an inherent advantage when it comes to bicycling — since they tend to have smaller road networks, changes to a few key streets can really make a difference when it comes to bicycling. On average, the top small cities (those with populations of 50,000 or fewer) score higher in the 2021 City Ratings than the top medium and large cities. Independent of a city's efforts to build great bike infrastructure, there are a few possible explanations for this scoring trend.

First, many of the smaller cities and towns in the 2021 City Ratings tend to have smaller boundaries than we might think. We often envision a small city as extending into the land surrounding it, while in reality, its borders might not encompass much beyond a few main streets. Our 2021 City Ratings are based on our Bicycle Network Analysis (BNA), which only evaluates trips that start within the city boundary. Thus, if your home falls outside the city limits and it’s difficult to bike downtown, that wouldn’t impact your city's score. Inaccurate or missing data in OpenStreetMap will also have a larger impact on a small city's network score, with poor data sometimes improving a city's score. 

Moreover, small cities, especially more rural ones, often consist of a traditional downtown street grid, a few main connecting streets and one or two roads that lead out of town. If speed limits are low, the downtown grid becomes largely low stress, offering multiple routes to reach the same destination. The flip side is that if there’s only one high-stress road to your destination, it can be impossible to bike there using only low-stress routes.

Although the four small cities below definitely benefit from their size, we’ve chosen to highlight them for reasons that go beyond breadth. While completely different in terms of geography, culture and approach, they're all doing something right when it comes to bicycling.

“You hear a lot of people talking about the 15-minute city,” said Rik Ahlberg, chair of the Provincetown Bicycle Committee and owner of Pedal Ptown Bike Tours. “Well, this is the five-minute town. I can get from one end to the other in seven minutes on my bicycle.”

Located on the northern tip of Cape Cod, Provincetown has a year-round population of 3,000 people and five bike shops. Bicycles were introduced to Provincetown in the late 1800s — the first bike path was proposed in 1899 — and they’ve been a primary mode of transportation ever since. Today, residents are able to access all essential services, from the grocery store to the dentist, within a two-mile bike ride. 

“There’s virtually no corner you can stand on in Provincetown and not see a bike rack somewhere,” said Ahlberg, noting that there’s even waterfront bike parking at the beach. “Our bike racks were old and not attractive, so we invested in upgrading them all to the APBP [Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professional] standards.” 

Commercial Street, Provincetown’s main drag, is one way for cars but two way for bicycles. Almost every other street is small, forcing drivers to go slow, creating naturally low-stress bikeways. It also helps that development is dense in Provincetown and no highways bisect it. In the summer months, Provincetown’s population balloons to nearly 60,000 people, and although many people arrive by car, they also bring their bikes.

“Bikes also aren’t tied to economic status here,” said Ahlberg, noting that Provincetown has one of the best year-round commuter rates, as high as 20% by some counts. “Across the board, people ride bikes just because it’s convenient.”

This year, we featured Provincetown in our Advocacy Academy series, “Lessons from the Best Biking Cities.” Watch to learn more about how the town has embraced and encouraged bicycling, engaged its community and invested in low-stress, complete streets.

Traverse City, located in the northwest part of Michigan’s mitten and bordering Lake Michigan, has a population of roughly 15,000 people. With a total area of 8.66 square miles, the small city is flat and laid out on a grid, making it easy to navigate by bike for folks of all ages and abilities. There’s also a strong history of recreational mountain biking, which helped lay the foundation for in-town bike culture.

“Most of the biking in Traverse City really started off as recreation and we have a lot of very large areas of mountain bike trails right around downtown,” said Shawn Winter, planning director for the city. “Within five minutes you can be in the woods — everything is just compact and accessible.”

Although recreational riding helped jumpstart the bike culture in Traverse City, Winter attributes the larger shift to different organizations that have come together and advocated for change over the years. Nonprofit TART Trails, for example, maintains a network of multi-use trails, 5.4 miles of which are in Traverse City proper, and has been hosting a bike commuter event for 27 years. Likewise, Norte, a bike-centric, youth-focused advocacy organization, has been instrumental in achieving a 473% increase in participation in kids actively transporting themselves in the Grand Traverse region. There are also three bike shops in town and regular workshops where residents can learn about things like winter biking.

“Winter is very real in Michigan — it’s a legitimate season that dominates most of the calendar,” said Winter, noting that people sometimes use it as an excuse for not investing in non-motorized infrastructure. “Traverse City does a great job of plowing the sidewalks and people have the gear to bike year-round. Winter really doesn't have the impact on bicycling that I think people assume it would.”

In the summer, tourists flock to Traverse City, taking part in Kayak, Bike & Brew tours and using the bike racks on BATA, the local transit system, to pedal trails further outside of town. According to Winter, Traverse City’s downtown, as well as most parks and beaches, are so popular that they’re actually more accessible by bike due to limited parking. The city’s main east-west corridor, 8th Street, was also redesigned to be more walkable and safe, with lowered speed limits and new bicycle tracks.

“When they redid the street, they added three mid-block crossings in that stretch and did a lot of streetscape improvements with landscaping design, lighting and benches,” said Winter, noting that there are now brand new multi-story buildings under construction in a once bleak stretch. “It's a great example of how public investment can be a catalyst for additional private investment.”

Pella is a small midwestern town of around 10,300 people, home to Central College and famous for its Dutch roots. The tourist town, which covers just 8.73 square miles, celebrates that history with a fully functional 1850s-style windmill, an annual tulip festival and a downtown canal. Like the Netherlands, Pella is also a great place to bike — although it could do more to embrace that aspect of its heritage.

“It’s a small, grid town that’s just easy to get around in,” said Mark Wyatt, executive director of the Iowa Bicycle Coalition. “Pella also has a pretty substantial trail system leading out of town.”

That trail, the Volksweg Trail, is a 17-mile asphalt path that extends from town to Lake Red Rock, Iowa’s largest lake. Aside from the miles connecting the trail to town though, Pella hasn’t invested in the infrastructure that might set it apart as a bicycling destination. Chris Van Gent, who owns the sole bike shop in town — Iowa Bike Co. — believes relatively inexpensive investments like wayfinding signs, sharrows and crucially, more much-needed bike parking, would help boost ridership.

“Protected bike lanes don’t really make sense here,” said Van Gent, adding that the bike “advertising” that comes with some of the low-cost fixes does. “People would bike more and shop more if there was bike parking.”

In 2018, Pella launched a bike share system in partnership with VeoRide, which despite being profitable and working well, was pulled by the national micromobility company in 2020. In large part, Pella scores well because the town has grown around its downtown core and is evenly dispersed with clusters of essential services, retail shops and residences. Unlike many other small towns in rural America, Pella’s main street is also distinct from the highway, leaving a series of connected, low-stress streets intact. 

Iowa is also home to RAGBRAI, Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, an epic seven-day bicycling adventure that changes routes every year. The longest, largest and oldest bicycle touring event in the world, it’s an Iowa institution that has a real effect on the whole state. For many, the race is the reason people start biking in the first place.

“It can be a real financial generator, with 20,000-plus bicyclists rolling through,” said Wyatt. “It’s created this opportunity for rural Iowa to see bicycling as an economic generator.”

Pella is blessed with a setup that naturally makes it a great place for riding bikes. With some smart investments and political willpower, it could easily become a true bike town, thriving economically and benefitting from safer streets in the process.

With a population of 47,302, San Luis Obispo, or SLO, is the largest city on this list. Located in California’s Central Coast region, the city is just under 13 square miles. Its relatively small size coupled with the temperate climate makes SLO a great place to bicycle, whether you're going to work, recreating or running errands. Around town, you’re as likely to see a mountain biker as you are two kids on the back of their parent’s cargo bike.

“It’s a dynamic community and we have a major university in California Polytechnic State,” said Rick Ellison, executive director of Bike SLO County. “College towns bring a certain energy that’s good for the whole bicycling community.”

The city is also phenomenally progressive when it comes to roadway safety, consistently improving bike lanes, planning for a safe, complete network and promoting bikes as a way to address climate change. 

“The city recognizes that the key to getting more people on bikes is to have effective and safe infrastructure,” said Ellison, noting that greenways, neighborhood networks, bike lanes and traffic calming efforts all play into that vision. “Our leadership believes that San Luis Obispo can be the leader when it comes to climate action by making bikes part of the solution.”

Last year, SLO was featured in our Advocacy Academy series, “Lessons from the Best Biking Cities.” In the episode, we learn from SLO Active Transportation Manager Adam Fukushima about the city’s 75-mile-plus bike network and how climate action funds are allocated for bike improvements.

How does your city rank? Check out our 2021 City Ratings and learn how to improve your score.

From world-class mountain biking to wine tasting tours on two wheels, don’t forget to bring your helmet the next time you pack your bags.

For most Americans, the pandemic forced leisure travel to the back burner throughout 2020. Instead, people began to explore the outdoors closer to home: A survey of American adults conducted by PeopleForBikes found that, in 2020, 10% of American adults engaged in bicycling in a new way and that 87% of those new riders plan to keep riding in a post-pandemic world.

For those looking to combine their newfound (or longtime favorite) hobby with their next getaway, here are five vacation cities to experience by bike. 

In a region known for great mountain biking, Fayetteville stands out, although that hasn’t always been the case. “Trying to ride a bike across town as a kid and even into my teenage years, we didn’t have any bike lanes and there wasn’t even a sharrow until the early 2000s,” said Fayetteville Mobility Coordinator Dane Eifling. “Then, our mayor got support to fund a trails program. No one knew quite what it was at the time, but it led to the creation of the backbone of our trail system today.”

Since the installation of its first trails, Fayetteville’s bike network has grown exponentially. Eifling nods to smart planning by the city being a major factor behind the network’s success. “We built trails that would get the most use — not ones that would be the cheapest or most convenient to build,” said Eifling. “Focusing on trails that would get the most activity first helped us get funding and support to build more.”

Today, Fayetteville is one of the best cities to visit for hardcore bike enthusiasts and general outdoor recreationalists alike, reflected in its top Community Score among all medium-sized cities in our 2021 City Ratings. For mountain bikers, 50 miles of paved multi-use paths throughout town mean you never have to load up the car to access a great ride. Dozens of trails, including brand new Centennial Park, are within a short pedal from town, offering up enticing terrain for riders of all abilities. And if you’re looking for an epic road ride, Fayetteville’s unique topography allows for some all-time rides. 

“We host a lot of world-renowned stage races,” Eifling said. “The rolling hills of the Ozarks are the perfect terrain for those looking for something advanced.” 

Trying to spend more time around town? Eifling says there’s a laundry list of hotels that cater to bicyclists throughout Fayetteville’s downtown area. “You can stay at a bike-friendly hotel and easily ride to a coffee shop or take a leisurely ride on the paved trails,” said Eifling. “Our recreational trails follow along the creeks to avoid major hills and the trees lining the water keep things shaded and cool during the summer months. You can truly see all of Fayetteville from a bicycle.”

Going forward, Fayetteville is working to build a shared-use paved trail within a 10-minute walk of every resident, a goal that’s 80% complete. Once it’s done, it’ll benefit visitors too.

Looking to add a little pedal power to your next relaxing tropical vacation? Look no further than Key West, Florida, one of the top 10 small cities in our 2021 City Ratings. Perched at the southernmost tip of the U.S., just 90 miles north of Cuba, the island is known for its bright, pastel-colored architecture, lively nightlife, beaches and historic sites. It’s also best experienced on two wheels. 

Sizing up at just under five square miles, Key West is incredibly bikeable — it takes less than half an hour to bike from one end of the island to the other. Car-Free Key West, a program developed by the city’s planning department dedicated to promoting a smart and attainable future for the island, champions a “Park It and Forget It” approach to visiting by car. Once you arrive, everything you’ll need is an easy walk or bike ride away.

Key West’s tourist destinations include everything from the Southernmost Point, an Instagram-worthy spot marking the lowest latitudinal point in the continental U.S., to the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum, which offers daily tours of the famous writer’s estate. Pedaling around southern Florida all day is sure to work up an appetite, and the island’s main drag — Duval Street — is flush with restaurants and bars serving up local specialties like fried conch.

Round out your trip with a truly unique bicycling experience: the Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Trail. Paralleling U.S. Highway 1, a designated National Scenic Highway, this paved, multi-use trail stretches nearly 100 miles between Key Largo and Key West. Crossing 23 historic Flagler Railroad bridges built at the turn of the 20th century, the trail passes through some of the most scenic nature southern Florida has to offer. It also offers access to two national parks, four wildlife refuges and 10 Florida State Parks, making it a must-pedal for nature and bicycling lovers alike.

Solvang, California, nestled in a lush valley about 125 miles north of Los Angeles, is easily one of the most unique destinations on this list. Part wine country, part Danish, this southern California treasure is truly one of a kind. 

Solvang prides itself on being “a little slice of Denmark in Southern California,” and when you walk through the quaint downtown, it’s easy to see why. Old-world Danish architecture lines the streets and Solvang’s rich cultural heritage is evident around every corner. Like many of the customs borrowed from its lineage, Solvang is also an amazing place for bicycling, ranking fifth out of 307 small U.S. cities in our 2021 City Ratings.

The surrounding rolling hills are home to some of the best road riding in the United States. Solvang is the spring basecamp for many pro cycling teams training in the U.S. and there’s an abundance of wine country cycling tours available to riders of all abilities. Upwards of 125 wineries speckle the Santa Ynez Valley, serving as pit stops for private tastings. Whether you come for the biking and stay for the wine, or vice versa, Solvang is the perfect destination for folks looking for the very best of both. 

Back in town, more than 35 restaurants within an easy biking distance of 18 hotels offer up international cuisine (and more wine) for the appetite you surely worked up while out in the saddle. Plus, it’s California — even in the coldest winter months, daytime highs average around 66 degrees.

Park City is primarily known for its skiing, but Trails and Open Space Manager Heinrich Deters says the rise of mountain biking during the early ‘90s helped transform it into a year-round destination. “It used to just be people that would come to ski during the winter and leave during the summer,” said Deter. “Mountain biking was something that caught on with 10 or 20 of us who would build trails on the old mining company property. In my opinion, that was the first shift from winter-only resort to full-year resort.”

Today, those ski-bums-turned-trail builders who stuck around are the reason Park City has a family-friendly bike culture and earned one of the highest Community Scores among small U.S. cities in the 2021 City Ratings. “Everyone that lives here now are the ones that stayed for the summers, and now they’re raising kids,” said Deters. “The core group of locals have been here 25 to 30 years, and that's a lot of who you’ll see out on trails — a mom, a dad and some kids.”

Deters also notes that Park City’s immediate access to trails makes the town perfect for bike enthusiasts of all ages and abilities. “In Park City, we like to say that your garage is your trailhead: You can ride out of any neighborhood around town and be at a trail in two to three minutes,” said Deters, adding that there’s plenty of options to keep even the most avid riders busy. “You can visit Park City every summer and not ride the same trail for at least five years.”

Less than an hour drive from downtown Salt Lake City, Park City’s high mountain locale blesses it with favorable weather during the summer months. “The elevation change is a couple of thousand feet between the valley and here, and with that, we get great weather,” said Deters. “It’s not too hot, there are no bugs and it’s fairly temperate during the biking season.” 

While Park City’s bike culture definitely leans more off-road, Deters says there’s still plenty to do around town on two wheels. “Our public bike share system in town is a cheap, economical way to experience everything Park City has to offer — whether it’s stopping by a free concert happening every other block or just pedaling out to one of our many parks and open spaces,” said Deters. “You can come up and have a great, entry-level cycling experience with little investment.”

A small college town bordering Lake Superior in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Marquette is an ideal off-the-radar vacation spot. The city of 21,000 sits adjacent to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and Isle Royale National Park along with scores of lakes, rivers and forests, and hosts a vibrant, easily bikeable downtown — full of restaurants, art shops and breweries. 

Marquette’s been investing in active transportation since the 1970s, building routes along former railway corridors and other scenic spaces. According to David Stensaas, planner and zoning administrator for Marquette, the city has a winning combination of easily accessible singletrack combined with paved trails along the Lake Superior shoreline and through the downtown corridor. 

While lake-effect weather systems blanket Marquette in snow from October to May, the long winter season has fostered a diehard community of fat bikers. The fat-tire trails are maintained by the Noquemanon Trail Network (NTN) organization, who grooms dozens of miles of trails within biking distance of downtown for use throughout the winter. 

“For those who believe in ‘cyclotherapy,’ biking through the dark days of winter is a much better option than Prozac,” joked Stensaas, noting the colder months of the year not only see a lot of snow, but also little sunlight for the northern latitude city.

In the milder summer months, NTN has hundreds of local members who help maintain 40-plus miles of singletrack mountain biking trails surrounding Marquette. In the fall, those same trails boast some of the best leaf-peeping in the Upper Peninsula, with the entire forested region covered in stunning hues of yellow, orange and red.

Marquette prides itself on an extensive history of mining in the region, highlighted through the Iron Ore Heritage Trail. The 47-mile, multi-use paved trail follows corridors that brought lumber and iron ore to the Lake Superior Harbor. Equal parts recreation and education, the heritage trail connects communities across Marquette County and allows visitors to experience historical sites while winding through a stunning natural landscape. Marquette’s diverse biking amenities, which earned the city ninth place among small U.S. cities in our 2021 City Ratings, make it an easy choice for repeat visits.

Every summer, Provincetown, a coastal town with 3,000 year-round residents on the tip of Cape Cod, floods with tourists drawn to the scenic beaches, small-town charm and abundance of LGBTQ+ festivities. Provincetown has long been a queer vacation destination, with gay culture in the town dating back to as early as the start of the 20th century. Celebrations like Carnival, a weeklong celebration of LGBTQ+ life, see upwards of 90,000 visitors every August, and Provincetown’s gay and lesbian events stretch all summer long.

Ranking number one overall for U.S. cities in our 2021 City Ratings, Provincetown’s open, accepting culture combined with its ease of bikeability make it the perfect destination for anyone looking for a relaxing summer vacation. Whether it’s whale watching along Race Point Beach, letting the pup off the leash at the Pilgrim Bark Park or catching one of the countless parties and parades that stretch down Provincetown’s main drag — Commercial Street — every destination is no more than a 15-minute bike ride away from the heart of town.

No matter your reason for visiting, everyone is welcome in Provincetown. While it may be small in size, the town is filled to the brim with places to see and things to do — so much so that many visitors have been returning every summer, year after year, for decades.

Policy

Improving Recreational Access for Bikes

Securing Funding for New Parks and Trails

Helping Cities Build Great Places to Bike That Are Close to Home

Improving Road Cyclist Safety

Increasing Access for Kids, Veterans, Electric Bicycle Riders and Underserved Communities

Promoting Recreation-Based Economic Development in Rural Areas