Seventy-three people converged on Sacramento on Wednesday May 21 for California Bike Advocacy Day. We met with 63 legislative offices and staff from Caltrans and the California State Transportation Agency, explaining how enabling more people to bike will improve our economy and health. Our priorities were the two bills we’re sponsoring this year, AB 1193, the Protected Bike Lanes Act; and AB 2398, the Vulnerable Road Users Protection Act.

Every legislator got this flashy report explaining how protected bike lanes are good for business and our own fact sheets on each bill (AB 1193, AB 2398), how we think California should invest in bikes, and on bicycling in California in general. Dan Leaverton, who participated in Advocacy Day after 250 miles of biking in the Climate Ride, said he enjoyed “meeting our elected representatives’ staff and seeing them listen carefully and respond meaningfully and with strategies to succeed. Our voice was heard!”

Assemblymember Phil Ting welcomed us in the morning, saying, “I’ve seen how bike lanes can make a city better and I want all of California to enjoy those benefits.”

The day was capped off with a reception where we enjoyed delicious pizza from Hot Italian, wine from Sacramento’s own Revolution Wines and cold beer from California’s own Sierra Nevada.

A special thanks to Davis’ B & L Bike Shop and Zipcar for sponsoring this event (get your discount here with the promo code: CALBIKE50), Phil Ting for greeting us in the morning, and all of the volunteers who made this event happen.