Last week, three of your BTA staffers joined an eight-person delegation to Washington, DC to participate in the annual National Bike Summit.

Our BTA group included Executive Director Evan Manvel, Policy Director Scott Bricker, and Metro-Area Advocate Jessica Roberts (that's me). We were joined by representatives from Cycle Oregon, local bike businesses (The Bike Gallery, Team Estrogen and Alta Planning and Design) and Portland's own bike media maven Jonathan Maus (of Bikeportland.org fame).

We're proud to have brought a delegation of eight to the summit; considering that we're a relatively small state and we had to travel across the entire country, bringing so many folks really sent the message that our state is serious about bicycles and bicycling.

We went to the Bike Summit for two main reasons:
- To learn from our peers around the country
- To meet with our Congressional delegation and let them know that biking matters to Oregonians

Every year I'm inspired and sometimes overwhelmed to hear about all the good things that are happening for bikes. It's also food for the soul to be together with "our people": the national bike advocacy community. If you lived in Chattanooga, Austin, or the other Portland (Maine), these folks are the ones you'd wave to as you biked past each other, and the ones you'd be volunteering with to make your city, state, and nation a better place.

We'll be recounting some of our stories, but overall our message was clear: our hard work is paying off for bikes and the people who ride them, but we can't let up. As our esteemed Congressman Earl Blumenauer said in his speech at the opening plenary:

We are all together in one great big paceline. We've pulled ahead of the pack together, but now is not the time to coast. Now is the time for a big boost of energy.

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