What’s in it for the NBG:
As a project of the National Bicycle Greenway (NBG), our annual Mayors' Rides serve as rallying points to help us spread our message all throughout America. And as they do they help us to build name recognition for the programs we foresee. Once our business plan is fully funded, these will include:
- NBG Hubs in each of our Mayors' Ride cities where one will find:
- Bicycle visitor’s bureaus
- Bicycle recycling
- Bicycle repair classes
- A bicycle museum
- Bicycle rentals
- Bicycle swap meets
- Community bicycle repair
- And all the community events we will host in our large meeting halls such as mixers, booksignings, lectures, dances and activities for youth, etc.
- Regional NBG bicycle festivals
- Guest home program
- National bike route directory.
- NBG.net, like a bicycle Yahoo.com featuring free email addresses
- Etc
What’s in it for cities:
Since the most important trip you can take on a bicycle is one that replaces a car trip, our annual Mayors' Rides have the purpose of highlighting the beauty of cycling right where most cyclists are - not out on the back roads but in the city itself. And as we do so, we are also making civic leaders all across America, allies in our cause.
As they follow the lead often set by local bike activists, we are giving them a scorecard they can use to to see where their infrastructure stands in relation to other Mayors' Ride cities. We are also helping them show America and their own citizens how much value they place on the bicycle as a part of their own transportation mix. And as we do so, we are giving these officials a way to make their city look healthy and alive for prospective tourists, employers and other revenue generating concerns thinking about setting up shop in their city.
The Big Picture:
Besides helping cities to see that good bike infrastructure means good quality of life, by placing them in friendly competition with one another, as they make it safe for bike riders to get to their own businesses and attractions, our Mayors' Ride cities, by default, will also become attractive travel destinations for out of the area bike riders. And as our NBG Scouts help us fine tune the roads and paths they use to make these connections, when population centers see how much fun our long haul cyclists are having, and that they are every day people like you and I, they will lobby the NBG to include them in our Mayors' Ride network. And as this happens, the momentum for a Greenway network that connects our growing network of Mayors' Ride cities to one another will explode into a momentum that cannot be stopped!!!