VBike is rolling out to a totally exciting spring and we’re planning a whole bunch of activity for the spring and into the summer. There’s new additions to the fleet, funding that has come through (but not enough), and we’re getting recognized for the work that we have been doing to bring a vision to bike transportation in Vermont – transforming bike transportation into something exciting, doable, fun, relevant, practical and best of all, wildly contagious.
But before we go into any of that, we need to reiterate why VBike is doing what it doing. Some folks think that we’re trying to “save the planet”, be “politically correct” or “sustainable”, or do the “green” thing? Really the most important thing about VBike is to get us to show up in the world in a fundamental way that just doesn’t happen when we’re in an automobile regardless of the fuel source. And perhaps we’ve beaten this thing around a lot, but it’s always important to point out that we are excited to witness what happens when more of us show up in the world and pay attention to what we are doing and are more connected to our community, human and non-human. As we have mentioned many times, the word automobile clearly implies automatic mobility that mostly disengages our bodies from the act of transportation while largely overriding our sensory experience and emotional connection to the wondrous world. VBike is not anti-car, but we are for showing up, being present, bearing witness and dropping “into” the world in a way that is enlivening and transformative to ourselves our bodies, our children, and our communities.
But before we go into any of that, we need to reiterate why VBike is doing what it doing. Some folks think that we’re trying to “save the planet”, be “politically correct” or “sustainable”, or do the “green” thing? Really the most important thing about VBike is to get us to show up in the world in a fundamental way that just doesn’t happen when we’re in an automobile regardless of the fuel source. And perhaps we’ve beaten this thing around a lot, but it’s always important to point out that we are excited to witness what happens when more of us show up in the world and pay attention to what we are doing and are more connected to our community, human and non-human. As we have mentioned many times, the word automobile clearly implies automatic mobility that mostly disengages our bodies from the act of transportation while largely overriding our sensory experience and emotional connection to the wondrous world. VBike is not anti-car, but we are for showing up, being present, bearing witness and dropping “into” the world in a way that is enlivening and transformative to ourselves our bodies, our children, and our communities.
So, with all that said (and there will be more of that to come at a later date), we want to tell you more about our awesome start to the spring of 2016. We took four bikes up to the Vermont Walk/Bike Summit held in Rutland on April 1 - 2. The Summit was organized in a partnership between VTrans, the Rutland Regional Planning Commission, the Rutland Area Physical Activity Coalition and a number of other sponsor organizations. This was VBike’s first real group road trip and our bikes were a hit. The Summit drew public officials, legislators, planners, advocates and others from all over Vermont and featured some great speakers, engaging workshops, a bit of deep strategizing, and fun bike rides.
Karl Kemnitzer, Dave Cohen and Amy Enochs at the Summit VBike’s Dave Cohen presented on the great strides that the organization has accomplished in just 1 ½ years and lots of information on the sensory and emotional psychology of transportation. And, of course, he presented the amazing bike design and technology revolution that we have been witnessing over the past 5 years or so. In addition Dave’s presentation, by bringing the fleet bikes to the Summit, VBike really got the message across that the time is right now to transform our concept of the bike in order for it to become a way more viable transportation option for way more Vermonters. And oh yeah, we also want it to be wildly contagious.
VBike folks with awarding smiles - Amy Enochs, Josh Traeger, Becky Jones and Dave Cohen and next to Dave is Peter Keating, Senior Transportation Planner, Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission. Furthermore, the great news is that VBike is now an award winning organization. VBiker, Amy Enoch, pointed that out when we received our Notable Project of the Year award at the Summit and all of us smiled. Now that we are all past the award going to our heads, we’ve got lots of work to do and a fair bit of blogging and updates we will be sending out real soon.
And a huge thanks goes out to the VESCU and Go Vermont for generously sponsoring our trip to the Summit. Their support allowed us to bring our team and our bikes to clearly deliver the VBike message at the Summit. If you don’t know about the VSECU low-interest loans to get you on the transportation bike of your dreams drop in to our site to take a look!
Also, we have to thank our industry sponsors like Yuba Bikes, Dillenger Electric Bikes, Bar Mitts, and others for their great support. Additionally, we want to thank the Bellows Falls Community Bike Project for donating a bike for our electric-assist commuter bike collection. We’ll be sharing the bike with them from time to time.
And a huge thanks goes out to the VESCU and Go Vermont for generously sponsoring our trip to the Summit. Their support allowed us to bring our team and our bikes to clearly deliver the VBike message at the Summit. If you don’t know about the VSECU low-interest loans to get you on the transportation bike of your dreams drop in to our site to take a look!
Also, we have to thank our industry sponsors like Yuba Bikes, Dillenger Electric Bikes, Bar Mitts, and others for their great support. Additionally, we want to thank the Bellows Falls Community Bike Project for donating a bike for our electric-assist commuter bike collection. We’ll be sharing the bike with them from time to time.
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