Interviewee: Chuck Ayers
Occupation: Executive director of Cascade Bicycle Club
Riding style: Commuting; recreational
His ride: A K2 cyclocross bike. “I bought it off a friend to do cyclocross with. It turned into a great commuter,” Ayers said. Ayers said cyclocross "is the most fun I have had on a bike in a long time.”

In recognition of National Bike Month, I biked with Chuck Ayers, Executive director of Cascade Bicycle Club, on a grey Friday morning as he commuted to a meeting in downtown Seattle. The dark sky threatened to rain but the commute stayed dry.
Cascade Bicycle Club is the largest bicycling club in the U.S. and during the month of May they celebrate Bike Month with activities, competitions and encouragement to motivate new riders and inspire experienced cyclists to get out and commute on bike.

“It’s been great being out here riding, particularly downtown, and see how many people are out riding,” Ayers said.
“The frustrating part is that we can’t get that many people when it’s not bike to work month."

During Bike Month, the Group Health Commute Challenge challenges teams of coworkers (as well as individuals) to log the most miles and percent of trips by bike during May for a chance to win prizes. Ayers said around 12,000 people participate in the contest.

It's the encouragement, making people feel safe, and the competition that gets those kind of number out on bikes, Ayers said. "We just wish we could get them to do it year-round," he said.

On Bike to Work Day, May 20th, close to 20,000 people will ride their bike to work. Cascade Bicycle Club, with the help of many local organizations and bike shops, will host bike stations around town in the morning and celebrations in the afternoon.

"We'll have 20,000 people out riding bikes - that just shows the strength of how many people are willing to bike when they feel safe,” Ayes said.

“It’s a great event but the flip side is the frustration of people not feeling safe to ride everyday on their own. Seattle is a very safe biking town. It has gotten safer through the infrastructure that we’ve build and also through more people biking. There’s safety in numbers."

Ayers himself commutes on his bike year-round. As we rode together he pointed out his packed pannier bags, explaining that he coaches little league baseball and carries his mitt, clothes, and gear with him on his bike.

Ayers said that in order to get people out bike commuting to work throughout the year, infrastructure and culture needs to change.

"Separate [the bikes] from cars will get a lot more people out," he said. "There’s lots of space. Yes, there are spaces you will have to consider limiting general traffic lanes or parking but these are public rights of way and they should be used to the best public use.

"People want to be on their bikes as an alternative of choice, the problem is accommodating that. Three percent of all trips right now are made by bike yet less than one percent of all the funding for transportation projects goes to bike projects."

Climbing up Dexter Avenue, Ayers started to get a little out of breath and I asked him if hills are a problem for bike infrastructure in Seattle.

"Hills are a problem. We need to build infrastructure along flat roads – Westlake would be a great alternative to Dexter," he said. "I think e-bikes are helping a lot. Also, the idea that you don’t have to go fast. You can go at a leisurely pace and still get where you want to get to conveniently."

Ayers is heading to Copenhagen in early June with city councilmembers Sally Bagshaw and Nick Licata and SDOT representatives to look at the infrastructure there.

"The other thing about biking is that more and more people are biking without lycra and looking like racers like we sometimes do. I think it encourages more people to say ‘I can do that’," he said, adding that Cascade Bicycle Club is pushing for people biking in normal clothes.

"If you look at people in Europe biking, they’re in normal clothes. Bike chic has become very big but whatever your taste, it gets people biking, out of their cars and getting to know the neighborhood, getting to know each other.”

And that's the whole goal of Bike Month, to get people out on bicycles. "Bike to Work Day is a vision for what the region can look like in the future. The roads are packed with more than 20,000 cyclists. More bicyclists mean safer streets, healthier people, cleaner air and more livable communities," according to the Bike Month website.

Ayers has been with the Cascade Bicycle Club for 14 years but in October of last year, a rather public clash over the leadership of the Club and the directions it should take in the future, led to Ayers being asked to resign by the Club's board. One week later, he was re-hired to serve for six months on an interim basis and a new board has since been elected by club members.

"I’m really excited about the new board. We have some great people on it who really fit with the club, understand the culture of the club and the whole approach of what we’re trying to do – through education, commute, advocacy and events," Ayers said. "I think we missed some of that with the last board.

"The outgoing board was very supportive of our advocacy work, they just didn't like some comments we made in the press. They were supportive of our legislative agenda and playing hard ball when we needed to, so I don't think that was so much of a riff as a culture clash."

Ayers said he's meeting with the executive committee this week to discuss his tenure and salary.

"I'd be surprised if the new board would want to get rid of me quickly because there would be such a leadership gap."

To learn more about Cascade Bicycling Club, visit their website at www.cbcef.org.
To find out more about Bike Month and to start logging your milage, click here.

The Riding Reporter is a feature series in which BNT's bike-riding reporter, Anne-Marije Rook takes interviewees on a short bike ride around town to talk bicycles, transit, and any other issues that may arise when seeing the city from a two-wheeled point of view. Previous interviewees include Mayor Mike McGinn, ultra-cyclist Chris Ragsdale, and bike messenger world champion Craig Etheridge.