Adventure Cycling Association

The Breakdown: Bike advocacy is more important than ever

• Bike advocacy improves safety and infrastructure: Better bike lanes, road design, and traffic policies come directly from cyclist input.
• Cycling routes boost local economies: Bike tourism generates major spending and supports small communities.
• Public lands protection keeps routes open: Trails and bicycle touring networks depend on continued access and funding.
• Transit access enables bike travel: Bike-friendly trains and transit expand long-distance and car-free bicycle travel options.
• Public input shapes real decisions: Quick actions like emails or surveys can directly influence infrastructure and policy.

Most cyclists don’t think of themselves as advocates. But you probably want a smooth shoulder on your commute, a quiet road for Saturday miles, and a campsite on public lands at the end of a long day of touring or bikepacking. Every one of those things exists because someone pushed for it.

Bike advocacy is the quiet scaffolding under every ride, and you don’t need a clipboard to engage in it. Even a single email or survey response goes a long way towards safer streets and bike infrastructure, protecting public lands access, increasing mass transit options that make bike tourism possible, and building bicycle routes that fund local economies. And, whether you’re a bike commuter or a cross-country tourer, the lift is probably lighter than you realize.

1. Safer Streets and Bike Infrastructure

The width of a bike lane, the depth of a rumble strip, the speed limit on a rural highway — none of these things are accidental. They are policy choices signed off by engineers following standards written decades ago, and they’re still being fought over today.

Adventure Cycling Association’s Rural Road Safety work has pushed for updating those manuals, focusing on rumble strip design and shoulder width on rural routes, where a disproportionate share of cycling crashes happen. And when a state department of transportation revises its standards with cyclists in mind, thousands of miles of future roadway get safer.

On a national level, cycling infrastructure falls under the federal Department of Transportation alongside pedestrian infrastructure and ADA access. Because funding for these groups overlaps, what affects one community often affects the others. That’s why broad coalitions tend to be more effective than a single group pushing alone, and it’s why Adventure Cycling seeks to connect cyclists to the wider network of advocates working toward safer streets for everyone.

Take action: Visit the League of American Bicyclists Action Center to send customizable one-click emails to your representatives supporting federal and state bike infrastructure bills.

Time commitment: About two minutes

2. Connected Bicycle Routes Boost Local Economies

Ovando, Montana, population of 65, sits on Adventure Cycling’s Great Divide Mountain Bike Route and Lewis & Clark Trail. Every summer, more than 1,000 cyclists pass through, and they spend between $65 and $105 per person per day on coffee at the Blackfoot Angler fly shop, beds in the town’s converted log jail, and meals at the café. For a town of 65, that math makes a big impact on the local economy.

Nationally, the numbers are just as impressive with bike tourism generating an estimated $83 billion in annual spending, according to the Outdoor Industry Association. The University of Montana’s Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research even found that touring cyclists spend roughly 40 percent more per trip than other types of travelers.

While those routes through Ovando are part of the 57,375-mile Adventure Cycling Route Network, the economic case for connected cycling infrastructure extends far beyond it. For example, the U.S. Bicycle Route System, a national network of signed cycling routes coordinated by Adventure Cycling in partnership with various state departments of transportation and local advocates, now spans more than 50,000 miles in its own right across dozens of states. Every mile started as a proposal, a plan, a state-level sign-off.

Take action: Check whether your state has designated USBRS routes. If it doesn’t, or if there are obvious gaps, our site has a toolkit for contacting your state DOT and local elected officials.

Time commitment: Two minutes to check; around 15 minutes to reach out

3. Public Lands and Trail Access

The Great Divide Mountain Bike Route also crosses national forest after national forest from Banff, Canada, to the Mexican border. Without public lands, that route doesn’t exist.

So when funding cuts hit the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service, their effect ripples out in ways cyclists feel quickly: Closed campgrounds, unmaintained roads, permit systems that didn’t exist a year ago. Access restrictions on specific parcels can even sever a route overnight.

The stewardship logic is straightforward: If cyclists use these places, cyclists have a stake in protecting them. And if cyclists don’t weigh other user groups will.

Take action: Join the Outdoor Alliance action network to follow public lands policy affecting cyclists.

Time commitment: About two minutes

4. Mass Transit Access for Bikes

A cyclist in Seattle can board an Amtrak Cascades train with a loaded touring rig, step off in Portland, and ride south down the Pacific Coast all without getting in a car. That roll-on bike service exists on certain routes because Adventure Cycling and partner organizations have been making the case to Amtrak and Congress for years through efforts like the Amtrak Task Force.

Progress on bike-friendly mass transportation has never been guaranteed, and what took years to build can be vulnerable to quick reversals in funding and policy. So staying engaged matters not just to push for new gains, but also to protect the ones already made.

Take action: Fill out the Bikes on Amtrak Feedback survey to weigh in on bike access on passenger rail.

Time commitment: 10 to 15 minutes

5. Public Input on Infrastructure Decisions

There is a lot of advocacy work that cyclists never see. Nearly every bike lane, land use decision, and speed limit change passes through a comment period, a public hearing, and a vote by a local body like a city council or county commission. Those moments are each an opportunity to make our voices heard, but they tend to attract the same small group of people.

That’s the gap worth closing. Public comments are formal submissions made during a designated window when a government agency must collect public input before making a decision. While the become part of the official record, they don’t need to be long or technical to count. But you don’t have to wait for an official comment period to reach out. A well-written email to a council member carries more weight than most people realize. Showing up once to a transportation meeting, even just to listen, keeps you informed when the next decision comes around.

Take action: While the League of American Bicyclists Action Center covers federal and state legislation, local decisions move on their own path. Use USA.gov’s elected officials finder to save your representatives’ contact information, then make a habit of checking back throughout the year.

Time commitment: As much or as little as your can give. Because public input windows open and close quickly, showing up consistently is how cyclists build real influence over time.