Adventure Cycling Association created this award to honor bike shops throughout the nation that go out of their way to provide unique services to bicycle tourists.  The Braxton Bike Shop, inaugural winner and namesake of the Braxton Bike Shop Award was a perfect example of a shop that went above and beyond the normal call of duty.  In the summer of 1976, as thousands of bicycle tourists were streaming through Missoula on the new TransAm Trail with every manner of mechanical failure, the Braxton's earned their reputation by fixing things right now, and getting riders back on the road on schedule. 

Adventure Cycling Association Executive Director, Jim Sayer said, "Our organization's mission to inspire people to travel by bicycle would be impossible to attain without bike shops to equip the cyclists and help them maintain their equipment. We hear great stories of miracle workers at bike shops on and off of National Bicycle Route Network and that's what our awards program is all about; recognizing the folks on the ground who help smooth out some of the bumps along the road of bicycle touring."

Any Adventure Cycling member can nominate one bike shop they believe meets the criteria for the 2005 Braxton Bike Shop Award. To make a nomination, submit your name and contact information, plus the name, location and contact information for the bike shop you want to nominate, and a 100 to 300-word explanation of why you think this bike shop should win the 2005 Braxton Bike Shop Award. Nominations will be accepted until September 30, 2005 by visiting www.adventurecycling.org/outreach/awards, e-mailing awards@adventurecycling.org, or by calling Adventure Cycling Association at 800-755-2453 and requesting a nomination form by mail or fax.

Adventure Cycling, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, is the largest recreational cycling association in the United States. The association's mission is to inspire people of all ages to travel by bicycle. Its 42,000 members reside primarily in the United States and Canada. Major services and products include bicycle-route development and mapping; periodical publishing (Adventure Cyclist magazine and The Cyclists' Yellow Pages); a guided bike-touring program; and a Cyclosource sales catalog. Thousands of cyclists annually tour along segments of the association's 33,023-mile National Bicycle Route Network, which includes three major transcontinental routes and three major north-south routes (from Canada to Mexico). For information, call (800) 755-BIKE (2453), visit www.adventurecycling.org, or email info@adventurecycling.org.