Annual Impact Report

A Transformative Year: A letter from our Board President

It gives me great satisfaction to report that 2018 was among the most important years in Adventure Cycling’s history, both in terms of accomplishments and transformation.

Our staff and volunteers cranked out extraordinary services and products, and in the process inspired and empowered hundreds of thousands of people to achieve their bike travel dreams. Highlights for me included the better-than-ever (and award-winning) magazine, the dramatically improved Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, and the new Bicycle Route Navigator app along the with the availability of all ACA routes in digital format. I was also pleased to see major advocacy advances on Amtrak and in our state and national parks, and the further expansion of the US Bicycle Route System. And then there were 100+ guided tours and instructional courses crossing all over North America, as well as more than 20,000 people participating in our third annual Bike Travel Weekend and Bike Your Park Day.

But nothing excited me more than the adoption of a new strategic plan, which will steer Adventure Cycling through 2023. The plan builds on our strengths but also moves in bold new directions to transform ACA from a relatively concentrated group of bike travel experts into a much more expansive and dynamic bike travel community. We are already investing in new digital engagement platforms, modernized systems to produce our routes and navigation products more quickly, and a new safety advocacy program. In the coming year, look for a slew of new routes (on gravel and pavement) plus new initiatives to build an on-the-ground bike travel community.

You can read all about it at adventurecycling.org/strategic-plan and you can take great pride in your support of an organization that is not resting on its laurels but is re-tooling to remain relevant in the 21st Century – so much so, that I predict we will soon be connecting millions of people to the transformative power of bicycle travel.

This is my final letter to you as President of the Board of Directors. It has been a privilege to represent you, the wonderful members of Adventure Cycling Association, for the past nine years. I’m pleased to report to you that the leadership of the Board is in highly qualified hands with new President Joyce Casey and Vice President Rami Haddad.

Thank you for your support and for allowing me to serve as one of Adventure Cycling’s guides to a very bright future.