Cynthia Hoyle has over 30 years of transportation planning experience at the local, state, and national levels.  An active bike commuter, she helps to raise awareness for creating bike and pedestrian friendly infrastructure both in her adopted home of Urbana, IL and across the nation. During our interview, she shared her perspective on bike commuting, transportation planning, and lessons for the future.   

Cynthia works with Alta Planning and Design, which started as a design firm to help municipalities create walking and bicycling-friendly communities. One way this is accomplished is through the design of Complete Streets, which provide safe, comfortable, and convenient travel for everyone including motorists, pedestrians, bicyclists, and public transportation riders. For example, a Complete Street may include separated biking and driving lanes to support multiple modes of transportation. 

Cynthia explains that people want to bike more however they are scared of cars. She cites survey after survey showing that Americans want to spend less time driving and Millennials look for places to live that do not require driving. ​For communities that want to position themselves well for the future, one the best things to implement are Complete Streets that accommodate everybody. 

In a recent engagement in Wichita, KS, Cynthia and the Alta team created education materials to support new biking infrastructure. She points out that drivers don't automatically know what to do when riders are present and need training. The same holds true for bike riders. Through education and modeling the correct behavior a culture of what's expected from others is created. A similar social change for instance occurred through education to build awareness on the benefits of wearing seat belts. 

Roscoe Village Bikes is located at 2016 Roscoe Avenue in Chicago which is a very appropriate address since the bike shop is celebrating 10 years in operation. First and foremost, it is a local bike shop that serves the needs of bike commuters, recreational riders and families within the Roscoe Village neighborhood. Co-owner and Founder, Lesley Tweedie shared her perspective on starting a business and the changes she has witnessed in bike commuting and operating a retail business over the past decade. 

During college, Lesley was a bike commuter at the University of Oregon in Eugene which had a significant bike presence. After returning to Chicago, she commuted daily from Roscoe Village to Evanston - a good 8 miles one way. The yearning to run her own business must have been strong since she is a 4th generation Chicago entrepreneur. She and her husband, who raced and worked as a mechanic at another local shop at the time, had talked about opening a bike shop for years. 

Shortly after getting married they turned their dream into reality. Lesley recalls working at the Chicago Food Depository at the time and. continued to do so until they got the shop off the ground. Eventually she transitioned to part-time and after a year had segued into a full-time role at the bike shop. Lesley credits their timing with part of the shop's success, noting that gas prices were soaring and there was no bike shop in the immediate area. 

Emily Thornton is a confident young woman making her way in Chicago - literally by bicycle. Last summer, she relocated to Chicago from central Missouri and has embraced bike commuting. This past winter she averaged 20 miles per day biking to her job in the Streeterville neighborhood.

Her no-nonsense approach to biking "it's a great way to maintain a budget" reflects the practical attitude of the Midwestern city she now calls home.  I recently met with Emily at a nearby Whole Foods coffee bar to hear her story. 

As the Publicity Coordinator for the  Prairie Cycle Club, Daniella Birch is always thinking about how to get more people involved in riding. A biker for 10 years, she has expanded her notion of what's possible on a bike as her confidence has grown. Today, as a member of a Community Support Agriculture (CSA), she does not hesitate to ride 20 miles to buy eggs from a local farmer.  

As her confidence and love of biking has grown, so has her commitment to helping others see and experience the benefits of biking.  Daniella recent.y shared with me her motivation for riding and her efforts to share this with others. 

Meet Waymond Smith - avid recreational cyclist, bike commuter and volunteer for youth bike programs. Riding since he was a child, he has been a year round commuter for 15 years. Active in bike touring, he has ridden the  Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI) 7 times. as well as numerous recreation rides on the weekends. 

He used to commute to work by bike from Hyde Park to Skokie - a 40 mile round-trip ride, year-round. A real commitment!  Now retired, he volunteers at  Working Bikes and uses his bike to get around town and explore different neighborhoods. Despite some the challenges he has experienced, Waymond's passion for riding is undimmed.

Neutral Cycle was started in 2008 in a run-down garage by founder Tim Chao who was a student at the University of Illinois. Located one-block from campus, the “shop” served students and families in the neighborhood. It was basically a repair shop operating as a home business that would informally teach people about riding.
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Today, Neutral Cycle has two shops and a sister company, Neutral Design Studio. Unlike other bike shops, the team looks at design and biking issues simultaneously to develop innovations and support rapid growth. I met with Tim recently to learn more about their novel approach.​

This month, we are adding a new feature to ZappaWheels: Bike Commuter Profiles. The focus is on bike commuters and their stories. We want to share your story, whether you bike to work all the time, one day a year, or use the bike just to get around, 

Today's story is about Chicago resident, Rebecca Resman. ​Her evolution as a rider is a great example of integrating biking through life: first as a commuter, then advocate, and finally champion of family riding.

Rebecca's story starts when she was working full-time. Back then she was an avid bike commuter, riding to work regularly for over a dozen years. She became an advocate for bike safety issues. In 2010, she lead the efforts to create a Crash Support Hotline while she was an employee of the Active Transportation Alliance. ​But then changes started happening.