One year ago today, the Poky Pedaling Stevens Point website and blog went public. Here is the blog post that announced PPSP to Stevens Point and the world beyond.

In the year that has passed, I enjoyed sharing lots of Bike Fun with Poky Pedalers. I look forward to sharing more this year.

Although the PPSP website is fueled by Bike Fun, its scope is broader. I have always envisioned this website to be a resource for bicycle-themed news likely to be of interest to Stevens Point area residents.

By the term ‘bicycle-themed news’, I don’t mean a listing of area bicycle rides, although I have covered some bike rides that I felt Poky Pedalers would have interest in.

To me, here’s what ‘bicycle-themed news’ refers to:

• local street projects that are likely to affect the quality of our bicycling environment,
• activities of bicycle advocacy groups whose successes make bicycling safer and more convenient,
• statements and actions of elected officials and their staff at all levels of government regarding bicycling as transportation,
• bicycle infrastructure in other cities, other states, and other countries that can inspire us to improve our small city,
• bicycle culture on display elsewhere that broadens our horizons of what it means to be a Poky Pedaler sharing Bike Fun.

The public conversation about bicycling traditionally focuses on the ‘elite 1%’: those on highly technical bicycles riding 50-100 miles or more regularly at speeds over 20 MPH. I feel it is terrific that this ‘elite 1%’ – a figurative label more than an actual quantitative measure – is so passionate about their type of bicycling.

But the other 99% – ordinary people riding ordinary bikes in ordinary clothes to ordinary places – deserve safe, comfortable, and convenient ways to use a bicycle to get to work, to take their families to the movies, to pick up a few things at the grocery store, and to simply enjoy the journey on a sunny day. The other 99% deserve a voice, too.

I have always envisioned that Poky Pedaling Stevens Point would enable that voice.

Bike Fun inspires Poky Pedalers to ride bicycles around the Stevens Point urban area. The PPSP blog and Twitter feed enable Poky Pedalers to visualize possibilities for our urban bicycle network. The Speak Your Poky page empowers Poky Pedalers to take action in making these possibilities real. And as this reality takes shape, our opportunities for Bike Fun will magnify. This is what Poky Pedaling Stevens Point is all about.

Looking back on the past year, I’m satisfied with my efforts creating the PPSP website. And I look forward to building on this foundation in Year Two and beyond.

Now that we’re finally seeing temperatures that make being outside more pleasant, I look forward to sharing lots of Bike Fun with Poky Pedalers in the months to come.

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