Friday, March 26, 2010

Update on International Tour Survey

It's been a little over a month since we began our international tour survey. If you haven't taken it yet and want to register your preference, click here to take our survey.

So far, 226 people have weighed in and Italy is by far the overall winner.  That's a good thing, as we already go to Italy. There's still space on our fall tours to the Amalfi Coast. Here are our results to date:

Argentina - 64
Belize - 53
Bhutan - 32
Italy - 101
Peru - 56
South Africa - 48
Vietnam - 50

The country with the most write-in votes is France with 17 with Ireland running a close second at 15. Thanks for your input. We'll keep counting and we'll keep working on some new international tours for y'all!

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Please Take This Cycling Survey

The Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals (APBP) is coordinating a survey of female bicyclists. Please take the anonymous survey by clicking on the link - I did. It's worth the 15 minutes of your time. I hope it helps get more women and girls on their bikes!

The APBP is also sponsoring a free webinar on March 31, 2010 at 3:00pm eastern time. It's entitled, Writing Women Back into Bicycling: Changing Transportation Culture to Encourage More Women to Cycle More Places More Often. Read more about it and register here. 

Feel free to pass this information on to all the female cyclists you know.

Monday, March 22, 2010

NY Bicycling Coalition Seeks Executive Director

The New York Bicycling Coalition (NYBC) seeks an Executive Director. It is a well established, 20 year-old statewide non-profit organization whose mission is to provide a coherent, credible voice for the interests of all bicyclists in the state, on- or off-road, recreational or racer. NYBC is looking for a highly energetic, innovative
individual willing to make at least a three-year commitment to this challenging position.

The Executive Director has responsibility for all NYBC activities, including:

1) Working with the Board of Directors on legislative matters and meetings with representatives from New York State government Executive and Legislative branches and other priorities that may arise.
2) Communication with members and other related parties via the tri-annual newsletter, website updates, monthly e-news and club outreach letters, and managing an ongoing membership drive.
3) General program administration, operational activities, grants management, and regular correspondence with the Board.
4) Annual budgets for the Board’s review and advice, oversee the allocation of financial and staff resources among the various projects and functions, and devise any needed work plans.
5) Networking with personal contacts, cycling groups, and officials for the purpose of NYBC program and fund development.

The Qualifications needed for the position are:
1) Commitment to the mission: The E/D is a cyclist and committed to creating an improved, safer environment for bicycling throughout New York State. This involves working collaboratively with an equally committed volunteer Board of Directors.
2) Strong communication skills: The E/D is the public "face" of the organization, and needs excellent written, presentation and oral communication skills. Ideally, the candidate will also have some web programming and desktop publishing experience.
3) Leadership skills: The E/D must have the capacity to work with a wide array of interests — government officials, bicycle clubs, civic and business leaders and the news media. The E/D will have thoughts and plans on reaching-out to clubs for mobilizing and activating their membership.
4) Professional expertise: The E/D must have an understanding of bicycling, pedestrian and transportation issues. This includes the ability to manage advocacy and plan projects. A body of published papers and presentations and recognized stature in the field is a plus.
5) Management skills: The E/D must be able to identify strategies for achieving NYBC goals, and raise resources to support those strategies. Key is the ability to plan and budget, evaluate operations and programs, and control spending. E/D must also be able to manage outside consultants as well as full and part-time paid staff.

Salary range: $35K-40K/yr (with benefits)
Start Date: Spring 2010
Resumes accepted until an Executive Director is selected, expected to be early April.
Location: Capital Region of New York, the seat of State Government

To apply, please send the following materials via email to the Coalition or mail to:
NYBC Executive Director Search
PO Box 8868
Albany, NY 12208
1. Cover letter that speaks to your experience in fundraising and campaign management.
2. Résumé
3. Two writing samples of less than one page each for which you were the sole author--one should be a fundraising piece and the other should reflect advocacy or policy work.

The New York Bicycling Coalition is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Subaru Outback Joins Cross-Country Tour Fleet

Please welcome the newest member of the WomanTours support vehicle fleet. She's a 2007 Subaru Outback, soon to be equipped with WomanTours signage, roof rack, first aid kit, bicycle tool kit, water cooler, snack tray, spare tires and tubes, sunscreen and toilet paper.

We'll use her as a SAG (Support and Gear) vehicle on our Northern Tier tour this June instead of a sweep bicyclist. Four of our riders will switch off driving her along the route, providing everything a fellow bicyclist might need, including a lift. In return for volunteering their time one out of every four days, the SAG drivers receive a discount on the tour price. We still need one more driver for this summer's tour.

We use our Subarus and SAG drivers on all our epic bike tours, such as the cross-country Southern Tier and Northern Tier, the Meandering Mississippi and the Northwest Loop. We couldn't run the tours without them!

Thursday, March 11, 2010

12 Years to the Southern Tier

It took Patti Hall 12 years to finally do our Southern Tier cross-country bike tour. It was 1998 when she read this article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and she's been hanging onto it ever since. She gave it to me at the start of this year's tour in San Diego last week.

It was Barbara Manger who biked across the country and wrote about it 12 years ago. As she explains, "Every journey is about more than the journey."

She used the tour to raise $28,000 in the fight against breast cancer, and as top fund raiser on the tour, she won a Terry bicycle. She gave it to a friend who didn't have a bike and who's since become an avid cyclist.  While on the tour, Barbara came up with the idea to create a nonprofit to expose children to art. Twelve years later, her non-profit Artists Working in Education operates mobile truck studios bringing art and art-making materials to Milwaukee youth. Just last year, she got together with friends she met on the tour and they all biked the all-female, metric century Cinderella Classic bike ride together. They still keep in touch.

And finally, 12 years later, she's inspired Patti Hall to do the tour. "I hope she has a great time - I did!"

Monday, March 08, 2010

Southern Tier cross-country bike tour takes off!

Our 2010 Southern Tier cross-country bike tour left San Diego last Friday on a gorgeous sunny spring day. All 25 of them made it 40 miles down the road to the first stop in Alpine, at an altitude of 1800'. The group consists of a pair of sisters, a couple women in their 70s and a big bunch of bloggers. I think we have them all listed below now. We wish them a wonderful ride!

JoAnn Bary
Linda Beiler
Karen Cooper
Sue Hersman
Suzanne Howze
Kathy Kirby
Katie Lemley
Lois Nafziger
Rita Rowe

Monday, March 01, 2010

Visit to the Handmade Bicycle Show

The Handmade Bicycle Show in Richmond this past weekend was a feast for snow-weary eyes. Beautiful bikes were everywhere. They ranged from the pristine, titanium beauties from Moots to the down, dirty and funky Banjo Bicycles here.

I couldn't justify a new bike quite yet, but I did plunk down $240 for a new pair of handmade cycling shoes from Dromarti. I figure I saved myself at least $10,000. Now that's a deal!