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Climate Ride Becomes Major Bike Advocacy Funder – Grants grow 69% in 2012

NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

Contact: Caeli Quinn, Climate Ride, 406.871.5477, [email protected]

CLIMATE RIDE BECOMES MAJOR BIKE ADVOCACY FUNDER

National Bike Ride Gave $133,000 to Bike Groups in 2011; Estimated to Give $225,000 in 2012
MISSOULA, MT – July 5, 2012: Climate Ride announced today that the bike advocacy portion of its granting portfolio will grow 69% in 2012, delivering more than $225,000 to bike advocacy groups. Participants are flocking to Climate Ride to support local bike coalitions, national bike policy organizations and groups working on bicycle infrastructure. On the heels of a very successful Climate Ride in May from New York City to Washington DC, Climate Ride California 2012, which will take place along California’s scenic North Coast from September 9-13, 2012, is also showing signs that it may double this year to 200 participants, with nearly 120 cyclists already registered.

“Bike advocacy is a very important part of the sustainability issue, and with the projected decrease in future funding for bicycles in the new transportation bill MAP-21, our funding is becoming essential,” said Caeli Quinn, Co-Founder and Director of Climate Ride. “With better bicycle infrastructure and safety, we’ll see more individuals and families using their bikes to commute and run errands, which can have a profound effect on pollution, congestion, and carbon emissions. More people riding bikes helps with troubling and expensive health problems such as obesity and heart disease. We’ve seen extraordinary interest in this year’s events and we know that our dedicated focus on bike advocacy is striking a tenor with the American public.”

Climate Ride pinpointed bike advocacy as a key part of their message from the beginning. One of their first grant recipients was Rails-to-Trails Conservancy in 2009. Since then, more than 12 bike advocacy organizations and bike coalitions have become beneficiaries of Climate Ride including Transportation Alternatives (NY), Washington Area Bicycle Association (DC), San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (CA), League of American Bicyclists, Alliance for Biking and Walking (DC), and the Active Transportation Alliance (Chicago). Climate Ride allows participants to nominate local bike groups so that the rides have an effect on both the local and national level.

“We’ve know that in order to see improvements to bike safety and infrastructure in local communities, we need to support the groups that are working on a city level,” said Geraldine Carter, Co-Founder and Director of Climate Ride. “Local bike coalitions have passionate volunteers and knowledgeable staff working day to day on these issues. They are the ones looking out for safe routes for kids as they pedal to school. Climate Ride wants to make sure that they get the funding they need to keep streets bike friendly.”

“We are amazed by the ability of Climate Ride to raise funds and support for our programs,” said Shane Farthing, Executive Director of the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA). “We hosted a meet and greet event this year and over 70 people showed up to find out how they could ride in Climate Ride to support us. We now have one of the biggest teams on Climate Ride this year and will see thousands of dollars come in to support our advocacy for improvements for bicycling in our Nation’s Capital.”

Josh Lasky, a 4-time participant and Climate Ride board member said “Bike advocacy and sustainability are very important to me, and through Climate Ride I can finally support both. This year, I’m raising funds for WABA because I live in Washington and want to see even more bike lanes throughout the city. I love that I now see families pedaling through downtown, where before they were too worried about cars misreading signs and rolling through stop signs potentially hitting their children. I keep doing this ride over and over again because I love having a choice of beneficiary organizations and seeing the impact.”

Climate Ride now supports bike groups in almost every major US city. Climate Ride invites bike coalitions to apply for beneficiary status. For more information, visit: http://www.climateride.org/reasons-to-ride/beneficiaries

2012 Ride Events

From May 19-23, 2012, Climate Ride returned to the East Coast with its fourth annual Climate Ride NYC-DC event from the heart of New York City to the steps of the US Capitol in Washington, DC.

The epic Climate Ride California will return for its third year from September 9-13, 2012, and will see more than 150 Climate Riders pedal more than 320 miles in 5 days.

About Climate Ride

Climate Ride was founded to inspire and empower citizens to work toward a new energy future. Climate Ride events raise money for a collection of bike advocacy and sustainability organizations including 350.org, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Green America, Climate Counts, 1% for the Planet, San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, Washington Area Bicyclist Association, and Transportation Alternatives. For more information, or to support a participant, visit www.climateride.org.