Bicycle Friendly America Summer 2018 - 4

VIEWPOINT

NEW BOARD MEMBERS
BOB OPPLIGER

t is with great pleasure and anticipation that I join the Board
of Directors. Like others on the board I have been a long
time bike commuter and tour cyclist. I'm active civically in
a wide range of community activities and have advocated for
bicycling for three decades. In 1989, our community organized
its first Bike to Work Day. The event has grown to a month of
activities and in 2018 there will be more than two dozen events.
We have successfully generated interest in bike friendliness in
our community not only among cyclists but also community
and school leaders as well as local businesses. Our success was
noted in a recent Bicycle Friendly America magazine article. As a
board member one of my goals will be to create communication
networks to allow members to share ideas and best practices for
promoting bicycling, advocacy and the Bike Friendly American
program. The League's recently opened Bike Hub offers an
example of one good step in this process.
By education, I am an exercise scientist and promoted
physical activity as part of my career. As a leader in my
professional society, the American College of Sports Medicine,
we have worked to create partnerships and synergy with likeminded groups. The LAB's interest in encouraging biking for
everyone and active transportation would be an example of
goal shared by ACSM. As a member of the board, a second goal
would be for LAB to find partners who see the value in working
cooperatively to promote common goals at the local, state and
national level.
Over the past decade,
I've become a regular at
the National Bike Summit.
During this time I've come
to know Bill Nesper and
the very capable national
office staff. As we move
forward there will be new and
different challenges. A last
goal, for me, will be to work
effectively with Bill and his
staff and the board members
to serve LAB members and
find creative responses to our
challenges.

4 BICYCLE FRIENDLY AMERICA

MIKE SEWELL

hanks for the opportunity
to serve the League.
It is an exciting time
to serve on the board of the
League because it feels like
there is so much positive
momentum now with current
leadership, support from our
members, clubs, and with
programming. I also think we
are catching this momentum
at a critical time when there
are so many unknowns with
t r a n s p o r t a t i o n f u n d i n g.
With the League being the
national advocates for biking, we have a huge responsibility
to the people and communities that depend on this mode
of transportation. Along those lines, we have to formulate
responses and programming that supports having a positive
impact - and the current board feels like it has the right mix
of passion, diversity, and background to be able to respond
accordingly. My background is engineering and planning, so
I understand directly how critical the work we do advocating
for better multimodal connections impacts local cities and in
turn, our riders and members. I also have a background with
other boards that I serve on and my hope is that some of the
successes I have developed with those groups will translate into
a new era of bicycle friendly America with the League.

KARIN WEISBURGH

am 63. Back in my 20s I joined the League one summer so
I could tour the San Juan Islands, followed by a bike rally
in Seattle. Needless to say, it was a blast! The camaraderie
among the riders on the tour
and the joyful spirit at the
summer rally was infectious.
To be able to share riding
and enthusiasm is what the
League is about.
My job as a market analyst
for Consumer Reports was
to pick products (including
bikes) to test. As a product
picker, I attended many trade
shows (including Interbike
in Las Vegas) at which new
products are introduced by
manufacturers to retailers. At

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