Working it

In our last blog, our very own Board President, Patty Huff, told her story of taking advantage of a scheduled presentation to arrive early for a bicycle adventure.  Nice work if you can get it, right?  Absolutely!  Bicycling is all about balance, and for FBA, it’s a balance of work and play.  Today it’s my turn to share strategy on scheduling around an award presentation.

First, a brief reminder that FBA headquarters is in the City of Oldsmar, a City that boasts itself as a place to ‘Live. Work. Play. Stay’.  A city on the northernmost point of Tampa Bay.  A city approximately 237 miles from Delray Beach, district headquarters of Representative Emily Slosberg, one of three of our Elected Official Champion award recipients for their sponsorship and diligent work on bills HB 33 and SB 90 to make texting while driving a primary offense.

Scheduling this presentation took a little time, but we finally settled for a Thursday morning presentation, which for me, usually means a stay over the night before because an out-and-back to the east coast is a long day of driving and not much work gets done.  Luckily, FBA received a request to attend an event in downtown Miami the next day, so now we have a legitimate business trip. Yay! For business trips, I will bring the folding Dahon should time allow for a ride, but the ride itself is not on the agenda.  Business trips are all about getting work done and what other work can be incorporated into the trip.

For example, I had been asked back in March for a sit down with the Peace River Riders Bicycle Club in Punta Gorda; specifically, to have a two hour or so meeting to share ideas, etc..  Remembering this ask, I contacted PRRBC to see if such a meeting could be scheduled the morning of my drive to south Florida.  The answer, Yes!

PRRBC arranged a great meeting with representation from Team Punta Gorda, the Charlotte County Metropolitan Planning Organization and the City of Punta Gorda.  We met at Nino’s Bakery over coffee and breakfast, sharing ideas and best practices with a goal of Punta Gorda becoming a League of American Bicyclists designated Bicycle Friendly Community.

Surprisingly, fitting a two-hour (or in this case, 2.5 hour) meeting in the middle of a five-hour drive breaks up the monotony quite well.  I had plenty of coffee to stay awake and things to think about all the way from Punta Gorda to Deerfield Beach.

Once at the hotel and checked in, I found time to catch up on email and calls, then relax and prepare for the next day.  In this case, rain was in the forecast for the next day with no thoughts to getting to ride the Dahon.

Representative Slosberg’s staff  contacted me in the morning to move the initial presentation from the roadside memorial where her sister and four others died in a tragic vehicle crash (Family, friends remember teens killed in horrific crash in 1996) in Boca Raton to coming to the district office in Delray Beach.  This turned into its own two-hour meeting.  In fact, by the time we finished the impromptu meeting, the skies had cleared and we went to the roadside memorial.

The rest of the afternoon for me was spent visiting area bicycle shops to say hello and replenish our publication supplies of Florida Bicycle and Pedestrian Law Enforcement Guides and Florida Bicycling Street Smarts CyclingSavvy edition.  (Stop by Bicycle Generation in Deerfield Beach and Lauderdale Cyclery in Fort Lauderdale to ask for yours.)

To wrap up this business trip, I checked out of the hotel and headed to Miami.  Human Resources at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel had recently launched a corporate responsibility initiative to provide their employees resources and information with regards to various subjects, such as recycling, once a month during employee lunch hours from 11AM – 2:30PM.  We tried to schedule the benefits of bicycling during National Bike Month but the timing for this trip last week worked out much better.

Sometimes it’s the quality and not the quantity, and in this case, having the opportunity to discuss bicycling one-on-one with employees who commute to work or are thinking to start commuting to work is enriching beyond just standing around a booth at a large event with numerous distractions.  Yes, I’ll make the trip to do this kind of work when asked, and I did.

Now then, about that Dahon in the back seat…well, unfortunately, with all the rain, a ride did not happen this time.  I did, however, clock out on Friday afternoon and spent the evening catching up with a good friend and his new Sun Conure.  I enjoy quitting time as much as I enjoy work – balance is key.

Register NOW for our Inaugural Ride Leader / Ride Marshal Public Certification Session on June 23 – Details HERE!

Do you have a bicycle story to tell?  Photos to share?  Be our guest and be our next guest blogger!  Send your story and photos to Becky@floridabicycle.net.

Speaking of stories, our quarterly Messenger newsletter is available online for your internet reading pleasure.  Visit the FBA website Home page or click here.  Want a hard copy of our Messenger?  Join Florida Bicycle Association or visit one of our bicycle shop members!

Complete Streets Savvy, or CSS, is a general bicycle educational presentation.  The purpose is to provide basic information with regards to the Florida Department of Transportation’s adoption of Complete Streets policy and how cyclists and motorists can share the road safely. This presentation runs 10 – 15 minutes and is designed for legislators, county and city elected officials, civic organizations and other entities that meet regularly and need informative content.  There is no fee.  Visit the FBA Presentations page to see our complete line of signature presentations.

Bike Florida and Florida Bicycle Association share a common cause in bicycle education and promotion for residents and visitors to the Sunshine State.  Share the Road license plate proceeds benefit Bike Florida and Florida Bicycle Association to further these efforts.  What’s on your motor vehicle?  Get the Share the Road license plate!