From the League of American Bicyclists:

On Monday, June 14, 2010, we alerted you to the possibility that the federal Safe Routes to School program could be targeted for a House floor vote to cut the program. Rep. Cantor (R-VA) had identified Safe Routes to School as one of five options that the public could vote on cutting through his YouCut initiative. Fortunately, Safe Routes to School was not subjected to a vote at that time, selling off excess federal property, got the most votes.

On very short notice, advocates across the country sprang into action and contacted their Members of Congress to ask them to vote against any effort to cut Safe Routes to School. More than 1150 people used the League of American Bicyclists’ advocacy system in a 24-hour period to contact their Members of Congress via email. We also heard from many others that made phone calls or contacted a Congressional staff person directly that wouldn’t be included in that tally.

The League and Safe Routes to School National Partnership is grateful to all the national, state and local organizations that helped quickly spread the word about this threat. And, thank you to everyone who took the time to contact their Members of Congress. Even though there was not a vote this time, it helped raise awareness about the importance of Safe Routes to School and the wide support it has across the country.

However, we will have to remain vigilant. This isn’t the first time Rep. Cantor has attacked bicycling and walking, and his press secretary has stated that bicycling and walking will likely be the subject of future YouCut votes.

If you have not done so please contact your Representative to urge them to support Safe Routes to Schools.

Thanks to everyone who wrote or called their representatives. Be ready to do it again though — we can probably expect more attacks on federal bike-ped funding soon.

What if you were to take driven, elite-level cyclists and develop them into civic leaders? That’s the idea behind Richmond Pro Cycling, a whole new paradigm for professional racing teams. Enjoy the video.

After a long battle with the City of Virginia Beach over pedestrian and cyclist fatalities, safety advocates have finally convinced the city to lower the speed limit on Shore Drive from 45 to 35 MPH, along a four mile stretch between N. Great Neck Rd and Kendall St. The Hampton Roads Cyclist has the story, with links to newspaper coverage, and a chart of motor vehicle fatality rates with respect to speed. Please also see the Virginian-Pilot editorial, Slow Down on Shore Drive.

Congratulations to VBF board members Bruce Drees and Bill Hart, and all the other bike-ped advocates who worked long and hard to make this happen.

Under optimal circumstances, with no signals or traffic, the difference between 35 and 45 MPH on a four mile stretch of road corresponds to just 1.6 minutes.

The Virginia Bicycling Federation created the Daniel Wayne Hersh Memorial Fund for safety education, in memory of a cyclist who was killed on Shore Drive.

Ideas from the 2010 Charlottesville Bike Summit, posted on Charlottesville's Free Speech Wall -- photo courtesy of Vince Caristo, ACCT

A local bike summit was held in Charlottesville on Saturday, May 22, 2010. The Richmond Times-Dispatch has the story.

The following day, the group met up with VBF’s Cross-State riders.

From ACCT director Vince Caristo:

We had a nice turnout, had some fun, got a bunch of great ideas up on the wall, and hopefully we can turn this into a mandate for change. It was great to see Barb, Joe, and the rest of the 76 crew the next day too. They are really doing a great thing for the USBR 76. We had our “ceremony” at the Free Speech Wall right in front of where our ideas from the Bike Summit were written up for all to see.

Be sure to check out ACCT’s website — they’re the driving force behind a lot of good things in Charlottesville.

The 7th annual International Ride of Silence will take place Wednesday, May 19, at 7pm. Cyclists around the world will convene at for local memorial rides, to honor those injured or killed while bicycling. Participants will wear black armbands and ride together, parade-style, in silence, for several miles.

So far, these Rides of Silence are planned for Virginia:

• Charlottesville
• Hampton
• Harrisonburg, in honor of Joseph V. Mirenda
• Norfolk
• Radford, in honor of Forrest “Fess” Green
• Virginia Beach

While the ride itself is solemn, it’s an inspirational event that’s often followed by a festive get-together, in the tradition of an Irish wake. We encourage all cyclists to participate in their local Ride of Silence, or to organize one if there isn’t one.

For more information about scheduled rides, click the links above, and check the Locations section of the Ride of Silence website. Check back for new listings, or submit your own event. List your event on this page too — drop us a note, or just put it in the comments section below. You can use basic HTML to add links.

The League of American Bicyclists has designated Roanoke as a Bronze-level Bicycle Friendly Community. Cities are judged on their bicycle-friendliness in 5 areas, known as the “5 Es”: Engineering, Education, Encouragement, Enforcement, and Evaluation & Planning. Only 3 Virginia cities have received Bicycle Friendly designations: Charlottesville and Alexandria, also Bronze, and Arlington with Silver. Only 3 cities in the US have achieved the highest level of Platinum: the well-known bike meccas of Davis CA, Portland OR, and Boulder CO.

Congratulations and thanks to everyone who helped make this happen, either directly by working for the city, or indirectly by promoting the idea, and contributing to the energy of Roanoke’s bike scene. RIDE Solutions is definitely among that group, and they have the story, including a press release.

A Day in The Life of RPC from craig dodson on Vimeo.

Richmond Pro Cycling is a 501c-3 non-profit organization that develops elite-level cyclists into civic leaders. Richmondprocycling.com

With the first large-scale electric streetcar system, Richmond was once a leader in transportation technology. Local business and community leaders believe that Richmond can lead again, in transportation and economic development — by embracing modern, sustainable transportation.

To this end, the Sustainable Transportation Initiative of Richmond, aka Project STIR, is co-sponsoring a panel discussion on Monday, April 12, 7pm, at the University of Richmond’s Jepson Alumni Center, along with the University of Richmond, and Leadership Metro Richmond. See the press release for details. All are welcome, but please register ahead of time.

Bicycling must be a part of this vision, and VBF will be there to help make the case. Richmond has a small but growing number of regular bike commuters, and a thriving bike community and culture.

The Virginia Capital Trail and other corridors running through Richmond are poised to become backbones for an extensive bike-ped network — tying together local paths, bike lanes, and bike-friendly roadways. A Portland for the east coast? It’s not too far-fetched! In fact it may be necessary for attracting tomorrow’s industries and workers. Note how Portland and Milwaukee have weathered the recession better than most.

Lance Armstrong appeared on The Tony Kornheiser Show this morning. Has Tony repented? Listen for yourself (MP3) and see.

In response to the new bike lanes in front of the White House, AM talk radio loudmouth Tony Kornheiser went on a rant against cyclists, encouraging people to “run them down.” This went largely unnoticed (AM talk radio is pretty marginal anyway), but it made its way to Lance Armstrong and Bob Roll — who took offense, and have spoken out.

Now it’s all over the media. Bob Roll’s video rebuttal is above, and USA Today’s article “Lance Armstrong Thinks Tony Kornheiser is an Idiot,” reported Lance Armstrong’s Twitter postings:

Listening to Tony Kornheiser’s comments/rant on ESPN radio re: cyclists. Disgusting, ignorant, foolish. What a complete f-ing idiot.

Tony Kornheiser on cyclists on the road, “run ‘em down”. Really? Big mistake, Tony.

Have a listen. http://ow.ly/1nByQ. Listen to the March 11, part 1 segment and go to 30 mins in. #whatapunkasschump

(Washcycle did a nice transcript of the Kornheiser segment.)

Armstrong then encouraged us to write to ESPN 980 management:

Not happy about Kornheiser’s comments? Let them know @ESPNRadio980, @ptishow, and here http://www.espn980.com/info/contact_us.php

I hope everyone will. If anyone has good contact info for ESPN at the corporate level, please share it, so we can write to them too.

Later, Armstrong posted:

…just off the phone w/ Tony Kornheiser who’s very sorry 4 his comments re: cyclists. Going on the show 2morrow 2 discuss this w/ him.

To me this is all about a relationship. It’s bikes and cars. Both will be here forever. Awareness needs to exist as well as mutual respect.

Indeed. As Bob Roll pointed out, that cyclist “in your way” is someone’s dad, mom, son, daughter, or grandparent. To even think about harming or trying to intimidate them, because you’re feeling impatient or inconvenienced, is simply unacceptable.

Dr. Christopher Thompson found this out the hard way, and will spend the next five years in prison, for doing what Tony Kornheiser has advocated.

Update: Has Tony repented? Listen to Lance Armstrong on The Tony Kornheiser Show (MP3), March 19, 2010.