![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/LA-River-Bikeway.jpg\")
<\/a>Rendering of the LA River Bikeway, part of the larger Festival Trail project.<\/p>\nOver the last year I\u2019ve become fascinated by bike infrastructure: how it gets built, who uses it, who pays for it, and why it\u2019s important. If I look at my past, this makes sense. I started a running event (The Santa Monica Classic) that involved closing miles of roads, and doing the political advocacy to make the event possible. After selling that event to the LA Marathon, I became the head of marketing there and was part of the team that developed the \u201cStadium to the Sea\u201d course, which basically closed down five cities across LA for a day. So the physical activity + infrastructure combination has always been interesting to me. Add to that my own experiences training and racing on bikes over the last 45 years and this all starts coming into focus.<\/p>\n
I also volunteer my time to help the largest bike industry non-profit group, People for Bikes. Last year PfB CEO Jenn Dice pulled me into a task force that would look at how we can encourage more bike infrastructure to be built around the LA28 Olympics. So I\u2019ve been discussing bikes and cities with many stakeholders here in Los Angeles. Not to mention interviewing many guests on my podcast (with co-host Mark Riedy) Speaking of Bikes.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s why bike infrastructure is a leading indicator for successful cities:<\/p>\n
Quality of Life: Living in any urban area is more enjoyable if you are not forced to get around by car. I\u2019ve spent a lot of time riding bikes in places like Bentonville, London, France and Prague. Yes, I\u2019m biased. But there\u2019s no question that cities that welcome bikes are more enjoyable to live in, even if you never ride a bike. Places like grocery stores are more accessible, there is less noise, and, let\u2019s be honest, people overall are just happier. There is quite a bit of research that shows cyclists are the happiest commuters (vs cars, pedestrians, buses, trains). And if you have ridden bikes in cities that have safe bike lanes or bike paths, there is no doubt that you yourself can confirm this.<\/p>\n
Public health: Our society is less sick when we\u2019re more active. That should not be a surprise. But there\u2019s more to it than that. Data from the last 20 years in London and Paris, where bike infrastructure has been a priority, shows that pedestrian, cyclist and driver deaths all decrease as bike ridership increases. And, importantly, the air quality improves dramatically.<\/p>\n
The Olympics are a rare opportunity for a city to expand its bike infrastructure. I have spent time speaking with the people who led bike ridership initiatives in both Paris and London around the 2024 and 2012 Olympics. They were very strategic about how they thought about building infrastructure. It was not just \u201clet\u2019s build some bike lanes.\u201d Careful thought was put into motivating people to get out on bikes, to ride to work and participate in cycling events. Big urban bike share systems were built into the plan as well as extensive investments in infrastructure. And importantly there was true leadership around bikes from the mayor of each city. Read former London mayor Boris Johnson\u2019s 30-page manifesto on bike infrastructure, or the story of Anne Hidalgo\u2019s leadership in Paris around bikes. We\u2019re two years out from the LA Olympics, and I don\u2019t see this kind of leadership from either the Governor Newsom or Mayor Karen Bass. That\u2019s a shame. I realize there are many challenging things going on in Los Angeles right now: recovering from the devastating fires we had last year, ICE raids, the FIFA World Cup and elections this year for both LA mayor and California governor. But I would love to see some of our political leaders prioritize safe streets for pedestrians, bikes and cars.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Bike-Ridership-in-Paris.jpg\")
<\/a>Bike ridership in Paris, 2000\u20132025.
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Pollution-in-Paris.jpg\")
<\/a>Air quality improvement in Paris as more people ride bikes.
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Road-Fatalities-Paris.jpg\")
<\/a>Safer roads for all in Paris during the same time frame (remember that as you move the the right, there are many, many times the number of bikes on the road).<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/London-Bike-Ridership-copy.jpg\")
<\/a>Bike ridership in London before and after the 2012 Olympics.<\/p>\n