If a city has the safe infrastructure, does that necessarily lead to bringing out more women on bikes? Because there are few off-road routes here in Southern California, is that why there are so few women pedaling to work? Is there a correlation? I had to see for myself.

Erasmus University in Rotterdam, Netherlands sent me an email invite to an entrepreneur event they were hosting. Would I attend as one of the Champions for their 'Get In The Ring' contest? I always play a little hard to get when these invitations appear, usually two or three times a year, even if I'm delighted to be asked. Yes, they'd cover my travel expenses; we worked out the terms. Throw in a personal assistant during the day of the big event and I received much more than I expected as the University folks catered to my every whim. One condition: I must arrive several days early to overcome a lifelong debility known as jet lag. No problem. Assistance with ground transportation? They would meet me at Schiphol airport and accompany me to my hotel in Rotterdam. I couldn't think of anything else to ask for. I was in.

News of my involvement spread and a week later I'm getting another invitation, this time from the State Department at the U.S. Embassy in The Hague. They were having an event, too, the very next night. If I agreed, they would coordinate with my University hosts and extend my travel to include a side trip for this more international event celebrating Global Entrepreneurship Week. I have to admit, this pumped my tires, so to speak and I had a hard time playing hard to get.

Frank at the U.S. Embassy hosted event in The Hague to celebrate Global Entrepreneurship week. Image by Molly Ackerman.

As I see a single speaking gig expanding to two and the trip extend from four days to five, I think, why not add a couple more to spend in Amsterdam observing what many of us think of as Nirvana of bicycling cities? So I tacked on the weekend and headed off for a delightful, if exhausting, eight-day trip to the Netherlands.

Why was I invited? I'm an entrepreneur turned angel investor, with a bad case of bicycle advocacy. For seven years I've done audio interviews of the world leaders in early-stage investing, people who make the earliest bets on high tech startups. Glamorous?  A little, it's so risky that my audience has become large and loyal as we all learn the best practices, so as to minimize our losses. Then just three years ago I got bit by my bicycle infatuation. A family member suggested that riding a bike would be more effective than dieting as I lamented my weight – I took his advice and my world has changed for the better.

Then somewhere along the way, my new bike advocacy pals suggested I do for cycling what I had been doing for angel investing, namely the audio interviews. Wish it had been that obvious to me, so start that I did. Likewise, I would combine a bicycle interview in the Netherlands with these photos to turn this trip into a mirror of my personal interests. What fun!

But I didn't know any Dutch bike advocates and needed help to get connected to the right people. It took me awhile, and now I wonder why, before I asked Carolyn Szczepanski, Director of Communications for the League of American Bicyclists in Washington, D.C. – they're connected big-time. Stephanie Noll at Oregon's BTA contributed a lead, too, and in only hours I'm pinging Tom Godefrooij at the Dutch Cycling Embassy in Utrecht. Soon I'd have my second embassy gig.

Carolyn was a good person to ask, in part because we spent an hour together recently discussing women-on-bikes and the emphasis she's spearheading to increase their numbers. Of course by now, we all know of the first Women's Bicycling Summit in Long Beach in September and then there's a full day session the day in front of the League's National Bike Summit in March, Women Bike.

It's a frequent talking point: men outnumber women when it comes to counting cyclists. Why? Many reasons, including women are more risk-averse and our present infrastructure on too many roadways across America doesn’t look safe. After my whirlwind visit to four cities in the Netherlands I have seen what safe looks like.

Here's a typical layout: sidewalk, separated bike path, median then car travel lanes.

Jet lag seldom has me popping out of bed in the early morning, but Friday towards the end of my trip I had to travel from The Hague to Amsterdam in time to meet a friend for lunch. Budgeting time for unforeseen delays got me up and out, it turns out, just in time to observe rush hour traffic heading into downtown. Women, children, babes in arms and men, too, were cruising along almost exclusively off-road paths. Me, I was crawling in a taxi wishing for a bike. The trails were parallel to neighborhoods cleverly camouflaged with thick woods; just a few miles from the train station these commuters were dashing along, well protected from traffic and making better time, too.

Many Dutch have striking good looks. No, that’s not a prejudice; I took a large sample as I people-watched my way across the country. Tall blonds, tall everyone, yet what I don't notice at first is the trim fitness. When it does dawn on me that I'm not visiting Halifax or Prince Edward Island, Canada as I did just a month ago, or New York City in June, or New Hampshire last spring – it's the obesity rates – these Dutch are packing many fewer pounds compared to their North American peers. Could this, too, be because of their preferred mode of travel?

Ok, so they're good looking, tall and fit and due to the much-cooler-than-I'm-used-to temperatures, they all have rosy cheeks, so it's a day or two before I spot the next anomaly: no helmets. I’d heard this before I arrived, but it was just an intellectual factoid I read somewhere; to see it in person, well, chalk it up to another stark distinction that world travel is great for. I never saw a single helmet on any bike rider.

Since mopeds and motorcycles get to share the bike paths, too, it's not till I get back to my hotel room and look at the photos that I see, or I don't see – they're not wearing helmets either! These are not risk-taking Dutch Dames, as the restroom doors label them, they have safe paths to ride, separated from car traffic and when they must share the road, it's typically in the inner city where the roads are so narrow that cars must tip toe along, too. Moms and dads were chaffering their young on their bikes, even babes in arms, yet not a single helmet could be seen.

Judging, making a value assessment is hard not to do – one society is obviously crazy, with a skewed view of the risks, but which society is that? Americans can be snobs with a superiority complex, so I've read, and I'm fighting the urge to point out to my new friends this fiendish disregard for child safety. Instead I quietly observe.

Making small talk with my new friends, I tell them of my previous visit eight years ago when I exhibited my dance photography in an Amsterdam art gallery. That body of work began with frozen stills – poses the students needed for their college applications. Years later I would abandon the still-look to capture dancers in motion; that’s when my work gained more attention. Likewise with cycling – these permanently gray skies and short days made for brooding images of cyclists in motion.

These bikes aren't used for weekend recreation – everyone's got a utility bike with thick tires, fenders and a rack for groceries, too.

About Frank Peters

Frank Peters is a member of the Newport Beach, CA Citizens Bicycle Safety Committee. He writes for bikeNewportBeach and romanticizes his bike rides at cdmCyclist. He was a little defensive about titling this piece, “Dutch Dames,” but explains: “Not in a Rat Pack derogatory sense, but this is how women are referred to in the Netherlands.” We’ll take his word for it.

It was very rewarding for me to meet Janae Noble the head of Noble Pursuit celebratory bike rides just for women and the host of the upcoming sold out "Beach Babe Bicycling Classic" here in Long Beach on July 15, as well as the "Princess Promenade Bike Festival" in Sacramento on Oct. 14, 2012 and the "Senorita Century" in San Diego March 3, 2013. Janae and I first met a couple of years ago over the phone as she was preparing to host her first "Beach Babe Bicycling Classic" in Long Beach and it was such a fun meeting of the minds, of speaking to someone who knows your language. We clicked over our feelings on how to successfully market the concept of bicycling to a broader female audience and I have enjoyed watching how beautifully Janae's rides have unfolded.

We finally had the chance to meet in person last December during the Belmont Shore Christmas Parade, and I am very appreciative to say she was one of our very early Women On Bikes SoCal supporters. I am thrilled at the success this dynamic and talented woman is experiencing with her three rides, and cheer her on to new heights with exciting new rides on the horizon.

MAB: You have created three amazingly successful themed bike-rides for women in three different areas of California: Sacramento, Long Beach and now San Diego. Share with us your vision of why
it was so important to create rides just for women. What does this help accomplish that other rides simply don't?

JN: I thought it was important to reach out to women in a nonthreatening, noncompetitive way because of the market I wanted to reach. I wanted to reach the on-the-couch exerciser - and also I like to call her the woman who "was never picked at recess," so to speak, who got sidelined from sports - and create an atmosphere where sh felt comfortable, where she wouldn't be intimidated, where it wouldn't be a race, where you could bring your girlfriends and have some fun and relax.

MAB: Your Beach Babe Bicycling Classic in Long Beach is sold out! Congratulations! At the time that you came up with the idea to bring a ride back to your home town you were living in Sacramento and doing quite well as fitness expert and running your Princess Promenade Bicycle Festival at Discovery Park. Did you have an "aha" moment when you realized it was time to create a ride for Long Beach?

JN: Actually, I felt like Sacramento was a test market for a larger city like Long Beach and once we saw the success in Sacramento, we knew it was time to carve out the recreational cycling market for women in Southern California. Now we have been asked to put up ten more women's rides across the country with our charity partner HealthCorps, founded by Dr. Mehmet Oz.

But back to Long Beach, I do remember quite vividly as a young woman trying to negotiate my way from North Long Beach to the beach on a bike. It was very difficult. Now that Long Beach is on track to become the most bike-friendly urban city, it is my pleasure to help the city reach its goal. Our events are like a kick-start to get women riding again or for the first time.

MAB: You have been a passionate life-long fitness focused person. How did this happen? Did you know in college you wanted to dedicate your life to helping others be fit, or was there a slower realization of how important this was to you?

While in the corporate world, our team worked hard and played hard, and playing hard included training for the Ironman distance triathlons. After completing my first Ironman in Canada, I crossed the finish line thinking "that wasn't so hard at all." The "aha" moment hit me then, that I could train other women to go at least as far as I had been able to bring myself. I left the corporate world soon thereafter and started my first fitness company in 1996.

MAB: You went to Jordan High School here in Long Beach and through your partner non-profit Health Corps Jordan will benefit from your Beach Babe ride - can you share with us some of those details? What ideally would you like to help make happen?

JN: Yes, I went to Jordan and we do have our sites on helping Jordan raise the funds to have the HealthCorps wellness program on campus. However, Jordan is still working on getting the program approved with LB Unified School District. In the meantime, our friends from the California Endowment granted HealthCorps with funds to start a program this year at Cabrillo High School in Long Beach, along with a few other schools in California.

It is taking much longer than I had hoped because our community is still learning about HeathCorps' program and certainly fundraising requests are everywhere you turn. Ideally, I would like to shorten the learning curve and fund Jordan this year, but the awareness and desire has to be there first. Sadly, teaching kids to prevent childhood obesity, prevent diabetes, prevent heart disease, or prevent cancer is not as emotional as fundraising for a medical "cure." But we believe the bike is part of the lifestyle "cure" so we feel we have a great solution.

MAB: What's the most important message you want a woman who participates in one of your rides to ride away with from the event. They are fun, certainly, but what for you is at the heart of the matter?

JN: The main message is a call for action through what I call "sustainable exercise." You don't have to go out and do a marathon, a triathlon or climb a tall mountain. All you need to do is take your bike instead of your car for those short trips around town, ditch the processed, engineered foods and eat food that doesn't come in packages, and realize that these small changes add up to big results in your fitness, your health, your city streets, and our world together.

On April 1, 2012 Cruz Cycling in collaboration with the Arts Council for Long Beach and MoLAA and will hold the first annual "Bike Scavenger Hunt" in support of their join venture The Collaborative art gallery. We were so intrigued by this new event and by the effervescent charm of Molly that we chose her as our cover model for this issue and asked her to not only share with us all about this family fun event, but also about her own bike-friendly feelings.

WoBSoCal: How did the idea of this April 1st "Bike Scavenger Hunt" as a fundraiser in support of "The Collaborative" come together? Is this an idea Long Beach's Bicycle Ambassador Tony Cruz brought to The Arts Council & MoLAA?

MG: Yes! As a matter of fact Tony Cruz and Carlos Romero brought this idea of a public art bicycle scavenger hunt to MOLAA because of their connections. Since MOLAA and the Arts Council for Long Beach have a gallery together in Downtown Long Beach, they decided it would be a great idea to use this event as a fundraiser for The Collaborative. The Collaborative is The Collaborative is a gallery space in Downtown Long Beach that presents exciting, innovative exhibitions and site specific installations that raise awareness of emerging artists and introduce the public to new innovative approaches to art. The Arts Council for Long Beach and the Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) are partners at The Collaborative providing curatorial direction and administrative oversight for the gallery with each organization responsible for planning two exhibitions per year. The Collaborative is funded by Lyon Communities through the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency's Percent for Public Art Policy. We are excited to raise the funds for this fantastic art venue as well as raise awareness of the public art in Long Beach. This has been a great synergy between the Arts Council’s extensive public art collection, MOLAA’s fantastic resources, and Tony and Carlos’ vision for making this city more bicycle friendly.

WoBSoCal: Why do you feel the experience of riding a bike our Long Beach to discover (or rediscover) our public art will be more fun than say simply driving around in a car?

MG: Since the public will be riding on their bikes from each public art stop to the next, it is more of a journey than going from point A to point B. They will get to experience everything in between each location as well as standing up close and personal with each piece. Not to mention the activities that will make them interact with each public art stop. There will be nothing short of a good time on April 1^st. This event will ultimately engage our community by taking a closer look at our surroundings and the lovely public art that we have in Long Beach that often times goes unnoticed while driving in a car.

WoBSoCal: It looks like this will be a day of fun for everyone with all kinds of activities for children after the "hunt" at the after party MoLAA. Why did the group of organizers feel it was so important to include so many fun things for children such as the "Safe Routes to School" bicycle safety rodeo?

MG: We wanted this to not only be a fundraiser for The Collaborative, but a chance to help improve our biking community in Long Beach. We want all ages to participate in this amazing event and know how extremely important it is to teach our children how to safely ride a bike. It is one thing to just pick up a bike and wear a helmet, it is another thing to learn and be aware of riding a bike around city streets. Bike safety is extremely important, especially learning it at such a young age.

WoBSoCal: Do you remember the first time you rode a bike? How old were you?

MG: I definitely remember the first time I rode a bike, I was six years old and I learned on the cul-de-sac where my parents still live today. There is this giant tree in the middle and as soon as I learned how to ride my bike without training wheels I would practice hours biking around that tree. It was the most liberating feeling with the wind in my hair and feeling the cold air on my face. Then I was biking all over the neighborhood, every chance I got.

WoBSoCal: What was your most memorable bike?

MG: My most memorable bike is the bike I had in college. It was a baby blue beach cruiser that I painted colorful daisies on the white wheel protectors. I would go all over campus on that bike from one art class to the next. The most memorable moment was when I tried to grab an actual daisy to put in my hair on my way to class and fell in the bushes. I never tried that again. But the sad ending to the story was because it was so dang cute, it got stolen.

WoBSoCal: After participating in our recent photo session for Women On Bikes do you feel even more inspired to get out and ride your bike?

MG: I absolutely love the growing biking community. When riding on bikes, you see people as individuals and not just drones in a car. You start to see the similar faces of people biking around town. Doing the photo shoot and meeting more people involved in the biking culture, there is definitely camaraderie with cyclists in Long Beach. They like to experience the city on their bike and encourage others to do the same. There are so many positives to riding your bike: gas prices are sky rocketing and people stay more inside these days than they do outside. Biking gives people a chance to create sustainable communities and getting quality exercise while doing so. After doing this photo shoot, I realized that I don’t have to wear hard core biking clothing to go on a leisurly stroll through town. I can use my own unique sense of fashion and enjoy my surroundings as I breeze by shops, cafes and businesses I never would know existed if I were just stuck in my car. 

WoBSoCal: What do you think bicycle advocacy groups can do to entice more young women into getting outand riding bikes? Do you agree with Women On Bikes SoCal that fashion and style are smart engagement tools?

MG: Women on Bikes SoCal is such a fantastic way to get more women out and about without feeling like they have to look super sporty all the time. Women on Bikes SoCal has proved that you can look classy and fashionable while still riding your bike around town. Since I have to take my car to work everyday to Long Beach from Irvine, I know the benefits that driving has vs. riding your bike to work everyday. One simply experiences their day with more joy while riding a bike than sitting on the freeway, somehow angry at the people around you who are in the same situation you are in. I love when I see bikers in the morning going to work. They start their day off fresh, gets the blood going and you can’t help but smile! For women, we feel empowered by riding our bikes especially when we are wearing what we want to wear. It is definitely more of a chance to show off your style which is always fun.

WoBSoCal: You work in Long Beach but live in Orange County - what do you tell your friends about Long Beach's goal to become the most bicycle friendly city in America? Are we doing a good job?

MG: Long Beach has the infrastructure, the motivation, and the leadership to make this city the most bicycle friendly city in America. The advocacy groups such as Women on Bikes, Bikable Communities, Cruz cycling club, Long Beach Cyclists etc. are doing a great job of highlighting the ever growing cycling culture in southern California. When I describe the scene here to my friends in Orange County – it seems very foreign since Orange County is a bit more spread out than Long Beach. They are excited that there is such a lively community here in Long Beach and want to spend more time here. So in a nutshell, yes Long Beach is doing a good job and I think we are on the right track in becoming the most bicycle friendly city in America.

These two dynamic young women not only play key leadership roles in the preeminent advocacy organization for bicycle advocacy in the greater Los Angeles region, they also do a tremendous job collaborating with government and advocacy organizations on both the regional and state wide level to further the cause, voice and presence of a bicycle friendly agenda.

Jennifer Klausner - the LACBC's Executive Director

WoBSoCal: Give us a little background on the LACBC. The organization was founded in 1998 by Ron Milam, correct?

LACBC: Yes, LACBC was founded by a group of volunteers lead by Ron Milam in 1998 with the support of the California Bicycle Coalition. We became a 501c3 in 2001.  Some of our early successful campaigns included getting bike racks on buses and bicycle lanes implemented on Sunset Blvd., Silver Lake Blvd., and Venice Blvd. in the City of Los Angeles.

WoBSoCal: What are the accomplishments for 2011 that you're most proud of and what are you most excited about moving forward into 2012?

LACBC: We have grown as an organization, increased our capacity and our geographic reach, and we’re working directly with a greater number of cities than ever before.  One of the ways we have been able to expand our capacity is through fostering local advocacy chapters of LACBC around the county, we refer to this program as our Regional Partnership. We now have nine regional chapters and have also become the fiscal umbrella for a handful of projects that are consistent with our mission. We hope to see these chapters and programs thrive and further effect our growth during this next year.

Last year the City of LA adopted their bike plan, which we and the entire bike community in the City of Los Angeles fought long and hard to improve. Additionally we worked with seven cities in the South Bay to have them adopt a seven city bicycle master plan. Also a number of other cities around the county adopted bike plans in 2011 and we hope to see more cities create and adopt bike plans in 2012. We are dedicated to seeing more cities implement more miles of bike lanes, boulevards, and paths to support the many people who ride bicycles currently and make it safer and more appealing for the many folks who would like to bicycle for transportation or recreation.

WoBSoCal: Greater Los Angeles is a very culturally diverse place with many different languages spoken. Tell us about the Metabolic Studio grant that you were recently awarded and how that will be assisting the LABCB in your goals?

LACBC: We recently received a $50,000 grant from the Metabolic Studio to support our City of Lights and Bici Libre programs. These funds will allow us to continue to grow and expand our bi-lingual bicycle safety education program. Andy Rodriguez, our Bilingual Bicycle Safety Coordinator, who oversees our City of Lights program is expanding our Spanish bicycle safety education program to youth and families in East, Central, and South Los Angeles.In addition, a portion of the funding will also allow us to maintain our community run bike repair space, Bici Libre in the MacArthur Park neighborhood of the City of Los Angeles.

WoBSoCal: We live in challenging economic times and yet non profits are currently a growth industry. What are your biggest challenges right now, and on the other side, what are the bright lights on the horizon?

LACBC: We constantly find ourselves not having enough staff capacity to take on the many challenges and issues in working with the 88 cities in Los Angeles County along with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Authority and the unincorporated areas of the Los Angeles County. We have several grants that will expire this year and there will be a gap before they can be replaced.  We also had several very generous donors grant LACBC unrestricted operating funds in 2011, and we know that kind of funding doesn’t come around every year.  Hope on the horizon lies with the ever-expanding bicycle community.  We need to continue efforts to grow our membership and donor base among the two-wheel enlightened.

Alexis Lantz - the LACBC's Planning & Policy Director

WoBSoCal: You both have very eclectic professional backgrounds that include marketing, graphic design and creative products. How do you feel this type of background helps you in bringing fresh ideas and approaches to advocacy in general, and in specific, to a region that is very media savvy?

LACBC:Southern California is very media savvy and because there are so many new cyclists who are young, social media is increasingly important for what we do.  I think having diverse business backgrounds helps us frame what we are working towards in a larger context that makes sense for our audience.

WobSoCal: On the media savvy and culture note speak to us of the importance of having a distinctive female voice for bicycling advocacy here in the greater Los Angeles region. You currently have a mostly female staff. How has that allowed you to grow your membership and programs in new and important ways?

LACBC:We know that in cultures that embrace cycling and in cities that do a good job of accommodating cyclists' needs safely, greater numbers of women choose to ride. Our culture and roadway infrastructure here in Southern California (and let's be honest, some aspects of our cycling community's sub-cultures) are such that women cyclists are still far outnumbered by their male counterparts, even though we have seen increases in ridership across the board. I think it is effective in this context for us to have women in senior staff positions and as spokespeople, because we can represent the desire and potential for more, better, safer cycling in L.A. County, from the perspectives of not just those who already ride, but also for those would-be cyclists who may not feel safe, supported, or invited just yet.

WoBSoCal: One last question - Jen you are an avid athletic cyclist and Alexis you claim you're more in the "interested but concerned" category (which makes up about 60% of those of us who are interested in riding bikes). Share why it's so important to make sure the LACBC is the voice of all kinds of people who want to ride bikes.

Alexis: Our mission is to build a better bike-able Los Angeles County. We strive to represent the needs of all people regardless of age or ability who want to bicycle (for whatever reason), which is at the core of our mission. Cycling is something that is great for people of all ages and abilities for every day transportation, their health, and their wallets. So for me in my role as the Planning & Policy Director it is extremely important to improve our urban and rural roadways for everyday transportation as well as recreational cycling. In particular though I am really interested in addressing the "concerned but interested" Angelenos since they make up the bulk of the population in the county. Better infrastructure, like what the City of Long Beach has been implementing, is one of the primary ways we are going to see more of these people start to use bicycle for their short trips and in turn hopefully become LACBC members. ;)

Jen: Yes! I so agree. We're just two examples of the different connections you can have with bikes and with this movement. There are so many reasons to ride - whether for convenience, cost savings, transportation, fun, fitness, competition, socializing, etc etc etc - it shouldn't really matter *why* you ride bikes, just that you do. LA County's real cycling community is made of many diverse segments - different kinds of riders with different reasons for riding, clubs and groups that may have some cross-over in their composition but never ride together, huge numbers of unaffiliated solo riders, more and more young people and families. We need to consider all of these people, all of these cycling segments, when we're looking ahead to the future of bicycle mobility.