NEWS RELEASE, September 28, 2004
New Leadership at Adventure Cycling
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ADVENTURE CYCLING ASSOCIATION NAMES NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
MISSOULA, Mont. -- Adventure Cycling Association, the nation's premier bicycle touring organization and the largest recreational cycling
membership organization in the U.S., has announced that Jim Sayer of Truckee, CA has been hired as executive director. Sayer is just the
fifth individual to hold the post in the organization's 30-year history.
The timing of this shift in leadership is notable, since three other leading cycling organizations have also had executive director
positions open up this year.
"Adventure Cycling Association received many qualified applicants for this position," said Dan Hungate, president of the board of
directors, "but Jim stood out because of his leadership qualities. We feel very fortunate that he has accepted the position and is eager to
further our mission of inspiring people of all ages to travel by bicycle. Jim recognizes and appreciates the strong staff and the board's
commitment to the organization, and we all believe that we have a sound foundation to grow into the future."
Sayer was drawn to the Adventure Cycling position by his enthusiasm for cycling. "I'm an absolutely avid bicyclist," he said, "and I enjoy
it all the more when it's tied to a purpose. This was too great an opportunity to pass up."
According to the Outdoor Industry Association, bicycling participation surged in 2003, with participant levels up 8% and enthusiast levels
increasing 19%. This translates to 87 million bicycling participants and 20 million bicycling enthusiasts on U.S. roads and trails.
"I'm a big advocate of people-powered transportation," Sayer added. "Adventure Cycling is doing so much to help make bikes an essential
part of American transportation, with its National Bicycle Route Network and its terrific publications and tours... I am excited by the
enormous growth potential of this great organization."
Growing up on the steep streets of a California mountain town, Sayer began cycling later than many kids ("when I was 10 or 11," he
recalls). But he quickly made up for lost time, becoming a committed bicycle commuter in high school. After graduating, he participated in
a Rotary International exchange in Monterrey, Mexico, where, he said, he naturally gravitated toward the bicycle for getting around and
becoming acquainted with the place.
Sayer attended college at UC Santa Barbara and the University of Edinburgh, where bikes were an important mode of transportation. "I also
bicycled in grad school in Medford and Cambridge, Massachusetts," he said, "where I rode in all sorts of conditions, including on black ice
in the winter."
In 1990, while serving as a director of Greenbelt Alliance, a conservation non-profit, Sayer launched the 480 mile Go Greenbelt! tour.
Finishing its 15th year in 2004, the 480-mile tour has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for open space protection in the San
Francisco Bay Area.
For the past three-and-a-half years, Sayer has served as president of the Sierra Business Council, a nationally acclaimed nonprofit
association of more than 600 businesses, agencies, and individuals working to secure the social, natural, and financial health of
California's Sierra Nevada region. He and his wife, Wendy Calvert, the parents of an eight-year-old and twin six-year-old daughters, look
forward to residing in Missoula, which Sayer expects will be similar in many ways to his current hometown of Truckee.
"Both are four season mountain meccas with a strong sense of community," said Sayer. "My family and I look forward to experiencing all
that Missoula has to offer."
"I love bicycling for so many reasons," he said, "including exercise, social interaction, and environmentally friendly transportation.
Perhaps the first tip-off to my passion for cycling is my oft-noted briefcase: it's actually a pannier!"
Adventure Cycling, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit established in 1973, is America's largest recreational cycling association, with over 41,000
members. Headquartered in Missoula, Montana, the association's mission is to inspire people of all ages to travel by bicycle and to help
cyclists explore the landscapes and history of America for fitness, fun, and self-discovery. Adventure Cycling's services include
bicycle-route development and mapping, periodical publishing (Adventure Cyclist magazine and The Cyclists' Yellow Pages resource
directory), and one of the top guided bicycle-touring programs in the U.S.
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