As must be evident by now, I not only love to ride bikes, but I care a lot about cycling  too.  I care that we have access to ride on roads and trails in our communities and I care that we are safe when doing so.

Over the summer we had three cyclists that were hit by drivers and killed, two within a day of each other and the third just a few weeks later.Â

Also, in an earlier incident where a cyclist was hit and killed by an inattentive driver, the driver was convicted of Negligent Homicide, unbelievably a misdemeanor.  Instead of receiving a possible sentence of one year in jail, the driver received probation and was given 40 hours of community service.  I was outraged at the lack of justice and value given to this cyclist’s life.

I decided to do something with my outrage and became more involved in advocating for the rights of bicyclists.

One thing was to expand the focus of this blog to include more on advocacy, another was to get involved in local efforts to improve bicycling.  Mark and I joined Oklahoma Bicycling Coalition (OBC) and bought “Share the Road” tags for both of our cars.  Additionally, we wrote to our local representatives about the recent deaths and the outcome of the trial noted above.  Small steps for sure, but small steps are the way most things like this get done.

Especially if a large number of cyclists take those same small steps.

This past Sunday we took it a step further and attended the annual meeting for the OBC held in Stillwater.  Although we knew little about the organization, we were excited to find a group of people passionate about cycling, and although they were a small group they had achieved quite a bit over the previous year.

The group is energized and determined to build on the previous accomplishments made as well as to strengthen the OBC voice.  A new logo and slogan have been developed as well as a new website – obc1voice.org – to further the OBC mission:  promoting bicycle access, safety and education throughout Oklahoma.

If we are to make our state more bicycle and bicyclist friendly, we need a strong and clear voice.  OBC can be the umbrella for all our voices to gather and be heard.

I encourage you become a  member of OBC, if you are not already.  The more voices speaking up for the rights of bicyclists – the louder our collective voice – and the more we can achieve.