Grounded
If things had gone as planned, I would not have cancelled my flight. If things had gone as planned, I would be in Washington, DC today. I would be attending day two of the League of American Bicyclists’ National Bike Summit, with “lobby day” tomorrow, St. Patrick’s Day.
Lobby Day you ask? Lobby Day is the very culmination of the National Bike Summit. It is the day set aside for meetings with Congress and/or their staff to discuss cycling concerns and advocate for specific bills (if filed) on behalf of the League. These meetings happen at the DC offices for all of Congress, for all the states, all on the same day. It is quite a sight to see hundreds of cycling advocates in business attire, donning those florescent bicycle pins and walking the halls of two Senate buildings (Hart and Russell) to the north and three House buildings (Rayburn, Longworth and Cannon) to the south of the United States Capitol.
Suffice to say, things have changed, for everyone. The League of American Bicyclists moved to provide a virtual National Bike Summit (view presentations on line) as opposed to flat-out cancelling it. Lobby day is also to be different; instead of meeting in person, the meetings are to take place by phone.
Team Florida, our National Bike Summit delegation (to which I am the state coordinator), decided not to place phone calls on Lobby Day; there’s enough going on as it is. Instead, we notified the League that our lobby delegation will make contact and plan for visits to Congress in district, when it will be safe to do so. In addition to these Congressional visits in district, Team Florida is looking to meet state elected officials in district and local City/Council members at home as a means to expand the education of the League “asks”.
Please give us time to get the LAB webinar links in order and the handout materials uploaded to our website. FBA will send an email to our membership with additional information, an outline for action and our own ask for volunteers to join Team Florida to assist implementing the plan.
We hope all our members and cycling friends are exercising good judgment to take care of themselves and loved ones during the COVID 19 pandemic. We offer the following links for additional information:
Expert Advice on COVID-19 from US Cycling Federation
Spit and Snot Etiquette for cyclists from Bicycling Magazine
Stay well.
Do you enjoy bicycle stories? Our quarterly Messenger newsletter is available online for your internet reading pleasure, just visit the FBA website Home page . Want a hard copy of our Messenger? FBA members have the Messenger delivered to their door every quarter. Join Florida Bicycle Association or visit one of our bicycle shop members to pick up a copy and use the membership form inside to join!
