Our Advocacy
The power to improve bicycle travel is in our collective voice.
For nearly 50 years, we’ve helped people explore the country by bike. As cycling grows and riding environments become more complex, we are reengaging in advocacy to protect the routes, access, and infrastructure that make bicycle travel possible.
Our advocacy focuses on the real-world systems and decisions that shape how people experience bike travel, including bicycle infrastructure, public land access, transportation planning, road design, safety, and connectivity along long-distance and rural routes.
We do this work in partnership. By collaborating with trusted advocacy organizations and elevating the voices of the people who ride, we focus our efforts where Adventure Cycling has the greatest impact: protecting route access, improving safety along long-distance corridors, and supporting the systems that make bike travel possible.
In partnership with state departments of transportation, local agencies, and American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), Adventure Cycling helps build and steward the largest official cycling route network in the world: the U.S. Bicycle Route System, a nationally designated network of bicycle routes.
A connected national network creates safer, more accessible opportunities for cross-country travel, regional touring, and everyday riding. These routes support rural connectivity, tourism, and economic development while providing agencies with a clear framework for planning bicycle infrastructure.
Our advocacy role includes supporting route designation, maintaining accurate route data, and ensuring that bicycle routes are considered in transportation planning and funding decisions nationwide.
Adventure Cycling supports advocacy efforts that focus on the systems and decisions that shape rider safety across long-distance and rural routes. This includes how transportation funding is allocated, how corridors are planned and maintained, and whether the needs of cyclists are meaningfully considered in infrastructure standards.
Our safety advocacy is informed by common conditions along long-distance cycling corridors, particularly where roadway design, funding priorities, and maintenance practices influence safety outcomes.
We work alongside partners with expertise in transportation policy and infrastructure advocacy to support funding programs, design standards, and planning approaches that lead to safer riding conditions. By grounding these efforts in rider experience and route-based insight, Adventure Cycling helps ensure that safety improvements reflect the realities of long-distance bicycle travel.
Adventure Cycling supports advocacy efforts that protect and expand bicycle access across transportation systems and public lands. Long-distance bike travel depends more than roads and rail; it relies on connected corridors, public land stewardship, camping access, and policies that allow people to move freely and responsibly across landscapes.
Public lands play a central role in many of our routes. Forest Service roads, Bureau of Land Management lands, state parks, and other public spaces provide some of the most meaningful and iconic riding experiences in the country. We support thoughtful stewardship that protects these places while maintaining appropriate access for human-powered travel.
Passenger rail and multimodal transportation are also critical components of access. Adventure Cycling represents the needs of long-distance and touring cyclists in national conversations about bicycle access on trains and other transportation systems. Reliable, consistent bike policies make it possible for more people to begin, end, or adapt a route.
Our advocacy recognizes that access is interconnected. A protected public lands corridor, a safe shoulder through a rural community, and the ability to roll a loaded bike onto a train are all part of the same ecosystem. By working alongside land managers, transportation agencies, and national advocacy partners, we help ensure that bicycles are considered in integrated planning efforts.
Expanding access strengthens connections between routes, communities, and regions — and expands who can participate in bike travel, and how far they can go.
Adventure Cycling supports efforts that expand and improve bike-friendly services by elevating what works and sharing resources that help communities better serve people traveling by bike. Through storytelling, partnerships, and information-sharing, we highlight services and practices that reduce barriers to bike travel and strengthen the places riders depend on.
This work includes promoting bike-friendly camping and lodging options, supporting communities that invest in cyclist amenities, and showcasing how welcoming cyclists can support local economies. By connecting rider experience with community readiness, we help encourage environments where bike travel is not only possible but supported.
Expanding bike-friendly services benefits both riders and communities; creating more accessible routes, more resilient local economies, and better experiences for people traveling by bike.
Our Position on eBikes
eBikes enable more people to discover the joy of bicycle travel. Thanks to their increased mobility, cargo utility, and physical accommodations, eBikes expand opportunities for transportation and recreation to new populations. Adventure Cycling supports eBike use in accordance with current laws and regulations and welcomes eBike riders into the bicycle travel community.
Adventure Cycling has a long history of leading advocacy efforts, from building and stewarding national route systems to advancing access, safety, and recognition for bicycle travel across the United States. That work established Adventure Cycling as a trusted expert in long-distance bike travel and the systems that support it.
As the advocacy landscape has grown more complex, our approach has evolved. Today, we continue to lead where our expertise is strongest, while also working alongside partners with complementary strengths in policy, infrastructure, public lands, and transportation systems. Collaboration allows us to combine deep route knowledge and rider experience with policy and technical expertise; strengthening outcomes for bike travel nationwide.
By bringing leadership and partnership together, Adventure Cycling helps ensure advocacy efforts are both grounded in real-world experience and positioned to create lasting, system-level change.