History of Advocacy in the Blue Ridge Bicycle Club

Advocacy has been part of this club since its formation in 1974 as “Asheville Bikeways”. The club was formed out of a community meeting which was held at the YWCA on bicycle facilities. Claudia Nix, who worked at the YWCA at the time, was instrumental in the forming of the organization. The desire of the forming group was to work toward the development of bicycle facilities for the city of Asheville. Local group rides were a way to develop interest and a constituency.

Looking at advocacy from a broad view of developing awareness of bicyclists and their needs and making cyclists visible on the road is one area that the club has always held. The development of the Hilly Hellacious Hundred in 1979 was seen as a way to develop more visibility as the event grew we realized it could be a great way to fund our advocacy efforts.

Beginning in the late 80’s mountain biking became popular and the National Forest in the Asheville area became an ideal place to ride. At the time many areas of the country were outlawing bicycles from forest trails. In an effort to keeping this from happening in WNC the BRBC members took on a more active form of advocacy by volunteering to work on the trails. Ed Erwin, our mountain biking advocate and club President, Gary Bartlett were early leaders in this effort. Later on Julie White and Woody Keen kept these fires burning with their good work. Trail maintenance days and clean ups in the Bent Creek and Davidson River areas were high on the list. One of the first trail labeling efforts saw club members putting up signs in the Bent Creek area to tell cyclists were they could not ride. BRBC was a major leader of National Forest trail maintenance. Much of our advocacy work and money beginning in the 90’s was spent on mountain biking efforts. The first complete map of the Bent Creek area that was used by bicyclists and forest personnel was developed by Arlin Geyer, past club president, who walked the entire area carrying a GPS unit. When an official Bent Creek Trail Map was finally developed and approved by the Forest Service it was BRBC with the WNC Bicycle Dealer’s Association who funded the printing of the map. Today this map has been updated and is a project of the Pisgah Area SORBA (The Southern Off Road Bicycle Association). SORBA is a new organization whose main purpose is advocating for mountain bike access. After the formation of the local chapter the BRBC decided to turn over the mountain biking advocacy to SORBA and to concentrate their efforts on road bikes. BRBC supports the efforts of SORBA and has turned much of their mountain bike equipment and funds to SORBA.

BRBC has had a road and mountain advocacy volunteer for a number of years these individuals have attended many meetings advocating for the rights of bicyclists. Club members have been kept abreast of these efforts through the club newsletter and web site. Members have been encouraged to write letters & attend hearings when necessary. Relationships with city officials and Forest Service personnel have been favorable because bicyclists have by far been agreeable and participated in great numbers.

· BRBC has donated money to police and fire departments that have assisted in our events like Hilly and Fletcher Flyer.

· For a number of years BRBC adopted Hwy 251 from Ledges Park north for 2 miles. After the development of the bike lanes on Riverside Drive and Lyman Streets we changed our location to adopt them. It was apparent the city needed our help in maintaining these lanes. This is done four times a year. Ellen Bailey is the coordinator of this program today and you can contact her at ebailey@mtnarea.net.

· In 2006 BRBC encouraged the city of Asheville to apply for a grant from the NCDOT Bicycle Program for developing a Comprehensive Bicycle Plan, along with several other businesses we agreed to pay $1,000.00 each to help the city with their match. This plan worked, the city applied and received the grant. None of those agreeing to pay have been asked to fulfill our promise.

· In 1996 BRBC hosted the League of American Bicyclists National Rally which was held at UNC-Asheville. This event brought around 900 cyclists to Asheville for a long weekend of bike clinics and rides. The rides developed for this rally were put into a book which was published and has given us minimal revenues and gave bicyclist a huge visibility in Asheville.

· We have assisted in helmet fittings and bike rodeos that have been put on by various organizations in the community.

· Under the guidance of Ralph Draves we have developed an incredible bicycling source library of cue sheets and maps for over 100 rides around Western North Carolina. This is the most extensive listing in WNC with the best cue sheets in the country. All of these available for no cost. This assists local riders and visitors with the knowledge of great places to ride and increases visibility.

As we have increased our funds we found it possible to give larger amounts of money to support other events and organizations beside our own events.

· We financed the purchase of mountain biking maintenance tools and food for those working to maintain trails, as well as co-sponsoring the original Bent Creek Map.

· We have been a financial sponsor events like the Assault on the Carolinas, Tour de Leaves, The Burnsville Metric, for a number of years.

· As of March, 2009, the BRBC has contributed $70,000 to advocacy in the last five years.

Claudia Nix

N.C. Rec. Trails Committee

N.C. Bicycle Committee

Facilitator, Bike/Ped. Task Force

Ex. Council, Healthy Buncombe Coalition

Blue Ridge Bike Club Advocacy Chair

Co-Owner, Liberty Bicycles, Inc.

1378 Hendersonville Hwy. Asheville, NC 28803

828-274-2453