The Challenge
If we get 10,000 signatures, a $10,000 check will be given to the Iowa Bicycle Coalition on Wednesday afternoon in Mason City during RAGBRAI.
Whether you ride a bike every day or once a year, your voice matters.Join PeopleForBikes to add your support toward improving bicycling in communities across America.
It takes less than a minute to fill out the form. Click HERE and sign up for the FREE membership to PeopleForBikes. They promise not to sell or share your contact information.
Join PeopleForBikes now to become part of the movement.
BIKEIOWA Message
We at BIKEIOWA are just a leaf on a big tree. The Iowa Bicycle Coalition is one of 50 branches on that big tree, PeopleForBikes IS the tree.
We see Iowabicycle advocates building local relationships, growing our communities. PeopleForBikes works to enhance our efforts by bringing reinforcements, money, inspiration, and positive publicity to local groups.
We just spent last weekend in Clear Lake with the crew from PeopleForBikes. We talked bikes, biking and more bikes.
We want a stronger voice! There is nothing more powerful than connecting millions of riders into a single powerful voice for bicycling. Whether you’re a bike commuter, roadie, mountain biker, casual rider, pro-bike business owner, or all of the above, if you’re a person and you enjoy riding a bike,PeopleForBikesrepresents you.
2,265 cyclists have signed up in the last week. We need YOU, YOUR friends, YOUR family and YOUR co-workers to sign up before. This is such a SIMPLE way to SUPPORT bicycle advocacy in Iowa.
IBC Message
As of now, we have 3,765 Iowans who have joined the PeopleForBikes campaign. We need 6,235 more and for a $10,000 donation. And, we have less than a week. Maybe even less time if you are going to Rock Valley.
I am going to be completely honest. We don’t have 6,000 people on our email list. We cannot finish the PeopleForBikes $10k for 10k challenge without you doing two things:
1. Going to http://www.peopleforbikes.org/ragbrai and signing up for a free PeopleForBikes membership.
2. Share the link with 3 or 4 friends by email. (There is a form to help you do that)
Every person opening this email needs to take action. EVERYONE. When this challenge is up, we have 10,000 People For Bikes that will speak together. This will be a powerful force that can influence bike policy and legislation, increase funding for trails and bike lanes, and put more people on bikes.
What Will Iowa Do With the PeopleForBikes $10,000 If We Get 10,000 Bicyclists to Sign-up?
Over the past year, Iowa has made some strides on safe passing. While many states have a 3’ Passing Law, the Iowa DOT has rewritten the Iowa Driver’s Manual to simply state, Change Lanes to Pass Bicycles. Seems pretty simple and no need for a yard stick.
We need to sink some money behind this campaign. We want to produce some marketing material to promote Change Lanes to Pass. If you are an Iowa Bicycle Coalition member, you can pick up a Change Lanes to Pass Bikes sticker at our RAGBRAI Expo Booth.
We are going to utilize that campaign moving forward. We imagine billboards, online ads, and social media messaging. We are going to try to leverage grants to keep the PSA rolling. We are going to keep pushing the message until we stop seeing bicyclists run over.
PeopleForBikes have already donated to Iowa causes
We provided a $3,000 grant to the Iowa Valley Resource Council to begin work on the Ioway Trail project. Once complete, this trail will span 80 miles and seven counties.
The Des Moines County Nature Trails Association (DMCNTA) received $7,500 to help complete their Gateway Project in Burlington, Iowa.|
The Raccoon River Valley Trail Association (RRVTA) receives $10,000 to help pave their namesake trail in west-central Iowa.
A $5,000 grant helped the City of Asbury develop its bike/ped trail project, providing a safe, non-motorized route through town.
The Iowa Bicycle Coalition, in partnership with the University of Northern Iowa Sustainable Tourism and Environment Program, will study the statewide economic impacts of bicycling by looking at retail sales, tourism, and bicycling-related events.
About PeopleForBikes
Launched in 1999 as Bikes Belong, PeopleForBikes includes both an industry coalition of bicycling suppliers and retailers, as well as a charitable foundation. Our foundation is where we house our major programs and engage individual members, affiliate organizations, and corporate sponsors.
Over the years, we have spent more than $30 million to make bicycling better. We’ve invested $2.1 million in community bicycling projects and leveraged more than $654 million in federal, state, and private funding. We have contributed millions to national groups and programs like the Safe Routes to School National Partnership, the League of American Bicyclists, and the International Mountain Bicycling Association, ensuring safer places to ride for both children and adults.
By connecting the bicycle industry and millions of individual riders, we generated political clout that secures a seat at the congressional table for people who benefit from bikes. (And that's just about everyone.) Through these efforts, federal investment in bicycling has quadrupled since we've been on the scene.
We provide a unified front for advocating for bicycling on a national level, a strategic center to ensure collaboration between each piece in the bicycling movement, and the ability to support local efforts through our financial, community and communication resources.