By Andy Rohrer, Executive Director, League of Michigan Bicyclists

LMB refocused our mission and strategy this year. We Unify. We Advocate. We Educate. In that spirit, I made the decision after meeting with and listening to riders from many communities, LMB must be clear that we work for and support everyone who rides a bicycle. Some of you will read that and wonder what it has to do with safer roads or more connected and accessible trails.

I’m glad you’re here asking that. It has everything to do with both.

Our non-discrimination statement isn’t boilerplate

Plenty of organizations post one because a funder asked for it. Ours sits on our Bicycling for Everyone page because it says what we are for. Every person in Michigan deserves the chance to choose a bicycle. Not everyone gets that chance. LMB works to lower those barriers, and to remove them outright wherever we can, through our advocacy and our education programs. That is the mission. It isn’t a paragraph sitting next to the mission.

More riders make riding safer

This is one of the most consistent findings in cycling research. When the number of people riding in a place goes up, the crash rate per rider goes down. Drivers who see cyclists every day expect cyclists. They look twice at intersections. They give more room on a pass. The rider who starts riding this year makes the road safer for the rider who was already out there.

That effect doesn’t care why someone rides. A commuter in Grand Rapids helps the racer training on the same roads. A family on a rail-trail helps the gravel rider who uses that trail as a connector. Every new rider counts.

More riders make the case stronger

I spend a lot of time in Lansing. Legislators respond to numbers. When I walk into an office representing a narrow slice of Michigan, the ask sounds like a hobby. When I walk in representing riders of every age, every income, and every corner of the state, the ask sounds like transportation policy.

Safer roads. Connected trails. Equal protection under the law. None of that passes because cyclists are right. It passes because enough constituents want it. Our political weight is a headcount.

Our reach goes further with you in it

LMB works statewide. We work the Capitol, and we work with agencies and communities across Michigan. That reach still has a limit. It stops where local knowledge starts.

You know what your community needs. We don’t in the way you do. So the work divides cleanly. LMB sets the conditions at the state level — the laws, the funding, the posture of the agencies. You make the case at home.

That’s how the trail riders in the Keweenaw get the facilities they want built. It’s how the transportation advocate in metro Detroit gets safe infrastructure installed. It’s how the gravel racer in West Michigan gets a safe route from the driveway to the training loop. It’s how the local club president pushes her community to sign roads used all summer long in the Thumb. We open the door. You walk through it in your own town. This is our strategy: focus where we can have the greatest impact so you can leverage your local knowledge to do good in your communities.

When we say bicycling is for everyone, we are not softening our advocacy. We are unifying the thing that makes our advocacy work: the voices of cyclists across Michigan.

What that asks of us

It asks us to look honestly at what keeps people off bikes. Traffic scares them. Trails don’t connect. A decent bike costs real money. Some riders never learned the skills to feel safe around cars. Some need a different machine entirely.

Those aren’t separate from the issues LMB already works on. They’re the issues, seen from the seat of someone who isn’t riding yet.

What that asks of you

Ride. Bring someone with you. Tell your legislator what you need on the roads you use. Join LMB, renew, or get your club to join.

Every rider who joins us, rides with us, or speaks up with us adds weight to the argument. That’s what “Unify” means in our strategy. It isn’t a sentiment. It’s how we win.

Read our full statement, Bicycling for Everyone →

Categorised in: Advocacy