Little did she know that they would hit the jackpot with bicycling By:  Carolyn Szczepanski Pat Brown was just hoping to hang on in a tough economy. When she relocated her art gallery in 2008, it was the rock-bottom rent that drew her to a still struggling strip of downtown Memphis, TN. “We were just trying to survive,” she said. Brown was betting on a small core of community members determined to transform Broad Avenue from a fast-moving thoroughfare, where traffic whizzed past boarded-up storefronts at 50 mph, into a bustling arts district. Little did she know that they would hit the jackpot with bicycling. Shortly after Brown opened T Clifton Gallery, Sarah Newstok walked in. The local nonprofit Newstok led, Livable Memphis, had a vision for Broad Avenue, too. They wanted to build a protected bike lane that would pass right by Brown’s door, creating a vital connection between a popular multi-use trail and the city’s largest park. “We’re a retail business, so any time there’s

It's starting to catch on across the country as more and more major corporations see the future in biking and are investing in safe biking infrastructure, siting "bikes are the way to go in reducing traffic, pollution and other mayhem caused by auto's." Separating cars from cyclists will be turning point in getting people on bikes and out of cars. The city of Cupertino, CA has received a $1.8 million donation from Apple Inc. that will help fund the first leg of a protected bike lane project. The City Council accepted the donation, and staff plans to work early next year with a consultant to design bike lanes separated from vehicular traffic. The planned bike lanes are called Class IV lanes, and according to the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition, they are “physically separated from the vehicle travel lane by more than the white stripe. This can entail grade separation, flexible bollards or permanent barriers.”   READ >>

From the Colorado Office of Economic Development "By now, you’ve probably seen the headlines exclaiming that “Cycling is the New Golf.”  Business Insider  and the  New York Times  have covered the trend, and while golf has long been the go-to activity for business meetings outside the boardroom, there’s a new way to network. More and more business people are investing in bikes and hitting the pavement. This trend isn’t just on the rise in Silicon Valley or on the East Coast—thanks to its sunny weather and panoramic views, Colorado is home to dozens of top-notch golf courses, and has made a name for itself as a prime cycling destination, too. These days, it’s no longer just an after-work hobby—a cycling meeting is now a fairly standard way to network in Colorado."  READ  >>