2020 Vision, Seeing the road and the future of cycling clearly

The next five and half years will be very telling for the nation and the bike movement so we thought we should be prepared.  In that time, we are going to go through every iteration of government.  We will elect a new president possibly new senators and congressmen, governors and mayors but let's be honest, for a lot of them, bikes are far from their minds.

We decided to lay out some guidelines and some basic ideas for our vision of the year 2020, keeping a few things in mind.

A fate worse than death for a bike.

Cyclists make up a very small percentage of the population.  There are even fewer vocal cycling advocates out there.  So why should anyone care about a small group of spandex covered weirdos?  We are the future, that is why.

By the year 2020, we are going to double the number of bikes on the road.  Said aloud, this seems like a daunting task but when you think about it, not so.  South Carolina is currently ranked #47 on the list of bicycle friendly states. That leaves a lot of room for improvement, but we are also motivated by being able to effectively move up on a yearly basis. Through outreach and our vision for 2020, we are going to grow those numbers.

Accountability:  The vision for 2020 means saying what we do and doing what we say and encouraging the same standards for others.

Expansion in outreach:  The cycling landscape is very quickly finding an interesting level.  One of the things that we have found is that there is a need to be creative in finding a more diverse field of riders if the riding field is ever to expand.  A major part of that is engaging new riders from all demographics.  Let's make it safe, secure, affordable, and interesting.

Creativity in outreach:  Forgive the pun, but we are not trying to re-invent the wheel.  Other states with much more prosperous cycling cultures are doing so much more to increase their base.  We are going to challenge ourselves to think outside of the box and be creative with the way that we form events and engage with the public.

Conservation and ecology:  The price of gas is going through the roof.  Not to mention the ecological effects of driving.  How do we make riding bikes not just fun, not just a hobby, but a culture.  Riding on the weekends is fun, but how can we increase commuting. running errands, and more?  We could reduce the carbon footprint

Health and well being:  What are the peripheral issues that can be tied to the bike?  It is healthier to ride a bike, of course, but how do we get people, en mass to think about about the health benefits of riding, but how to we tap into a larger ideology of what to eat, and when.

Statewide economy:  How do we get others to invest in the bike culture and make the "tent" bigger.  We want to examine the financial incentives that make cycling more appealing not just to the rider, but to local business owners as well.  We want to see business owners support the bike corridor and in turn, the riders support them.

Local Economy  We have seen many businesses that have built themselves on a bike culture and we mean far and above bike repair and sales.  Coffee shops, clothing, event spaces are just a few of the places catering to cyclists.  Get a large enough group of people and they will eventually require services specific to them.

Done correctly, bikes and the cycling culture can be "mainstreamed" very effectively in South Carolina.  It has to be taken out of the shadows and out of the niche and made more beneficial to everyone. #2020visionsc
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