2024 Recap

As 2024 draws to a close, the American Bicycling Education Association is deeply grateful to our donors, contributors, instructors, and students for their on-going support. THANK YOU!

Here is a recap of our work this year.

Group Ride Leader Training

I am currently finishing the last few modules of the long-awaited online version of our Group Leader Course. The course is designed to give cycling clubs the tool to fast-track best practices to members and ride leaders. It also offers skills and strategies for leading community social rides. This course will go live in January 2025.

Street Smarts in Spanish for Spain and North America

We have a completed Spanish translation of Bicycling Street Smarts – CyclingSavvy Edition. I am preparing a European edition e-pub for our colleagues in Madrid who generously provided the translation. We will soon be offering a Kindle edition of the North American Spanish translation. We would love to print paperback copies of this, too. We would need a large bulk order to accomplish that.

Ebike Training for Teens

This year, thanks to a generous donor, we were able to produce a much-needed course for teen ebike riders. In addition to teaching defensive driving and crash avoidance, the comprehensive Teen Ebike Training introduces new road users—future drivers—to CyclingSavvy’s culture of cooperation and self-efficacy.
We are extremely proud of this product. We believe in the value it offers, but I’m gonna be real with you: we face the same headwinds with this as we do with cycling education for adults. Everyone loves the idea and recognizes the need… for someone else. We continue to struggle with marketing this course to individual parents, and the roadblocks to government and school systems are formidable.
The good news is, we are beginning to gain traction in the injury-prevention community, including a Level 1 trauma center. These folks are on the frontlines of the tragic consequences for untrained ebike users. The need for training rolls in their doors with increasing regularity.

The Unsexy Solution that Pays Big Dividends

Rider education is about so much more than safety, but unsafe ebike riding behaviors are a growing concern. Speed increases risk in ways most new riders do not understand. Knowledge and skill reduce that risk. Alas, rider education is not flashy. There are no ribbon cuttings. Yet we all know that our courses improve—and in some cases, have saved—lives, one student at a time.

Understanding how to avoid frustrating conflicts is essential for anyone who wants to develop a long-lasting relationship with bicycling. Quality training for adults can remove the fear barriers and empower cyclists to master even the most complex traffic environments. Comprehensive training for teens can improve behaviors that lead to crashes and community frustration.

We need to do more to elevate the importance and perceived value of rider education. We can’t do it alone. We are building a relationship with the industry. At CABDA West in March 2025, I will be presenting the case for why empowering bicyclists creates life-long enthusiasts… and better customers.

We would like to do more marketing and create more educational materials that likeminded community groups and organizations can use to promote safety and empowerment to travel confidently by bike. We need your help to do that.

Our mission is an important one and your donation this year ensures that we can continue to help bicyclists learn to ride safely and confidently anywhere they wish to go. Whether the goal is to help the environment, get exercise, save money, or just introduce joy into your travels, bicycling has so much to offer.