Welcoming Signs

March 26, 2013

Spring has sprung here in Western Montana (well, kind of) but just as important, there are new welcoming signs on our headquarters building to greet visiting cyclists and let them know they've arrived at the mecca of bicycle travel.

For the longest time, the west wall of Adventure Cycling's Missoula headquarters has been big and blank. When cyclists rode into downtown Missoula up the town's main street (Higgins Avenue), they could see our building but had no idea that we had anything to do with cycling. For years, we kicked around ideas of ways to change that, including a painted mural.

Details from Map 46 of the TransAmerica Trail, at the nexus of three beautiful
Rocky Mountain states: Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming.

But with the recent expansion of our building, and a west wall that's now two stories tall, we moved ahead on a grand idea. If you know Adventure Cycling, you know we love photos and maps. So on the west wall, we've created three big full-color banners (about 18 feet by 12 feet featuring two cool photos and a map panel from the Yellowstone Park area of the TransAmerica Trail.

These two fantastic families rode six tandems from Virginia to Washington State in the summer of 2012, and are now standing tall, smiles, frowns, and all, on the west wall of Adventure Cycling headquarters.

The banners are vivid and visible from Higgins Avenue, a full block away. They leave no doubt that this building is connected to biking and adventure. (And when you look at the two families in one of the photos, there's also no doubt that the building and the folks inside it are all about fun!)

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Installing the banners: they're interchangeable so look for more
?larger-than-life maps and photos in the coming years.

The banners are interchangeable, so as time goes on, we'll be able to share more images and maps from our library with the folks of Western Montana and the thousands of visitors who come by our headquarters every year.

Thanks to all our donors and life members who made the building expansion and banners possible, and please come visit. With spring hitting its stride, we're looking forward to meeting lots of adventure cyclists in the coming months!

Top three photos by Jim Sayer, bottom photo by Greg Siple

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JIM SAYER is executive director of Adventure Cycling Association.