Ellen Fletcher Passes Away but Her Powerful Efforts for Cyclists Will be Felt Forever

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America’s pioneering bike activist and arguably it’s most effective, succumbed to the cancer she has been battling for the last several years yesterday. Ellen Fletcher whose podcast and Busycle bike boulevard gratitude ride you saw me remaster here  just a few days ago passed away yesterday (RIP 11-7-12). An amazing lady, Palo Alto is on the national bike radar as one of its bike friendliest cities due in large part to Ellen’s work. A modest woman and a World War II Holocaust survivor, she inspired a whole generation of bike activists.

 

Indeed, I feel honored  to have been able to record a little bit of what has made her so great in this interview she gave to me:

Thanks Ellen for the example you set and for a life so well lived. The world is a better place because of your tireless work on behalf of cyclists everywhere.

 

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Ellen taught me how to ride safe and also basic bike maintenance during my 8th grade gym class.  She will be missed.
NBG Scout, Engineer, Blacksmith, Bike Artist

 

IN depth with the Palo Alto Daily News
Audio file published on

Ed Cox – Northern California’s Bicycle Lightning Rod

We traveled by phone from Ireland to the offices of long-time Sacramento Bike Coordinator, Ed Cox, a former architect  who played a big part in shaping the way people move about in the state capital city. In the words ahead you will hear the impact he had not only on Sacramento but the region and the entire state of California..

From “How America Can Bike and Grow Rich,  the NBG Manifesto“:

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“So is Ed riding (the amazing American River Parkway, ed) this year?” Marty asked. “I haven’t seen him since I used all those broken spokes from my wheel last year to get his his back tire to stay on.”

“He’ll be at the Capitol tomorrow,” I began,  “he’s still running the wheel off a kid bike like I had suggested. He never ever got the bad one fixed, says he’s too busy.”

We were talking about Ed Cox, a stocky guy who, even though his bike was not of the same quality as some of the other HiWheels that annually came out for the river ride, he still rode strong. Like Marty, Jacques, Peter Wagner, who would also be joining us on his homebuilt Penny Farthing, and myself, Ed had lots of cycles. A bike guy through and through, he was also the bike coordinator for the city of Sacramento.

And his passion is contagious. Much of the bicycle renaissance that Sacramento is enjoying in its downtown can be tracked to a lot of the ground work Ed has laid. When I stayed in the cool little guest cottage he had built in his backyard when I Eagled to Salt Lake in 2009, I learned a lot about this quiet, humble man.

Ed was a founding member of the Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates (SABA), the local bike activist organization. Under the authority of SABA to call for more bicycle awareness, some of its leadership then went on to  bring about Sacramento’s very own Bike Kitchen. An incubation cell for bicyclists wanting to enjoy more bike centric and not car centric lives, it is this bike co-op  that is giving birth to the swarms of cyclists now filling the downtown on every kind of pedal machine.

Ed was also one the main organizers of the annual Bike to Work Day in his Capital City. Probably the largest Bike to Work festival in the USA, it attracts cyclists and exhibitors from throughout the region. As if that were not enough, Ed was also active on the state level. Toward that end, he helped start the California Bike Coalition (CBC). A nonprofit, the CBC keeps an eye on all legislation affecting California cyclists.

 On the American River Parkway

Audio file published on