Bikes, bikes and more bikes. If you’ve ever wondered what an entire week of bicycling events feels like, I invite you to continue reading.
This year, San Diego had the honor of hosting the National Bike Tourism Conference in Mission Beach. The week was full to the brim of all things bicycles, meeting new people who love bicycles, and riding on boats with bicycles (seriously – it happened twice). Oh, and on my end- coordinating media, organizing bicycle tours and hosting bicycle parties.
The week began with a bicycle tour we organized in conjunction with the San Diego Bike Coalition, slated for the day most folks flew into San Diego for the upcoming conference. New friends and media joined us to hear Supervisor Greg Cox speak on the importance of bicycling in San Diego before we continued onto the ferry to Coronado. We chatted, laughed, and introduced our group to the latest on bicycling in the region. We wheeled our bikes off the ferry for a leisurely morning ride around the bicycle-friendly community of Coronado and parts of the world-class Bayshore Bikeway.
That evening, attendees of the conference ate, drank, and acted merrily on a short dinner cruise around Mission Bay. See, I told you there were two boats of bicyclists.
On Thursday the conference kicked off in full swing. I spent the morning juggling simultaneous media segments, making new friends, and nerding out on all things bikes in great company.
I had the pleasure of speaking on the panel, “Attracting More Women to Bicycle Touring and Tourism” with three other incredible women; Elayne Fowler, Kellie Morris, and Melissa Balmer. We each presented on our topics of expertise (mine being social media) and then spent half an hour laughing and answering questions. Turns out attracting women to bicycle touring is a very up-and-coming topic and area of interest. I left the panel wishing we had more time to engage with everyone because there was so much more to be said.
The next two days consisted of more incredible panels, time spent with friends new and old and a plethora of learning about bicycling all over the world. On Friday, Andy, Executive Director of the Bike Coalition, presented on a panel called “Working with Local Advocacy Organizations as Partners for Greater Success,” which he did by stripping one t-shirt after the others to showcase all the local events (and their super cool t-shirts) that San Diego hosts each year. By the end of his panel, the audience was laughing and cheering – I think he may have even trended on Twitter.
It goes without saying I was very proud.
On Friday, Mixte and the Bike Coalition hosted a post-conference party at a local bar on the beach. We welcomed friends and spent time with people we’d gotten to know over the past few days in our element: Over beers at the beach with bicycles.
As the perfect cap to the perfect bike week, CicloSDias rolled through two miles of Hillcrest and Bankers Hill streets on the following Sunday. Conference attendees from around the country stayed in town for the event and got to see first hand what makes San Diego a bike-friendly community and enjoy car-free streets in two of San Diego’s most beautiful neighborhoods.
On behalf of Mixte and the Bike Coalition, we look forward to having the National Bike Tourism Conference back in San Diego next November. I’ll start clearing my schedule now.
*Note: My panel mates and I have been discussing hosting more panels or webinars on attracting women to bicycle touring. Would you be interested in something like this?
