Story by Leah Shapiro | Photos by Paul M. Howey
During the Asheville Holiday Parade in 2006, a swarm of cyclists in wacky costumes pedaled past festive onlookers. Following the parade, the group was awarded $250 for best use of the parade’s theme, “holidays in the mountains.” Their idea was, Every day is a holiday on a bicycle. “We all dressed as different holiday characters,” says Mike Sule. “We even had the groundhog. The tooth fairy was also there.”
Mike and his friends Rachel Reeser, Marty Gallagher, and Michael Mooney had come up with the idea. They thought it would be fun to get a group of cyclists together to participate in the parade, so they passed out flyers and sent some emails. While filling out the application, which asked for the organization’s name, Mike wrote down the first thing that popped in his head: Asheville on Bikes. The name stuck.
Beginning as a loose affiliation among cyclists nearly a decade ago, Asheville on Bikes (AoB) has grown into a 501c3 nonprofit organization that cultivates bike culture through celebration, education, and advocacy. Mike has served as director since 2014. From organizing community rides to affecting transportation policy, AoB has significantly enhanced the lives of urban and commuter cyclists in the Asheville area and beyond.
Noting the popularity of this first event, the organizers knew they were onto something. “From there, the concept and the idea caught like wild fire in the cycling community,” says Mike, who calls the $250 award AoB’s “seed money” to help it grow. At the time, several people wanted the City of Asheville to install bike lockers in downtown parking decks. This initiative inspired the first Bike Love fundraising event in February 2007. AoB helped raised money for the city and bike lockers were installed.
In keeping with the holiday theme, AoB next hosted the Bike of the Irish, which is its longest-standing community ride. For three years, it ran in the style of a pub crawl before organizers changed directions. Mike says that, although it began as a “fun and frolic” group, he and others began to agree on a vision: There are real needs in our community and a lot of people on bikes, but we’re not a biking city.
In 2010, the Bike of the Irish took an active role in a community conversation about what was then known as the Waller Tract, a privately owned wooded area of land that would be important in connecting greenways from Shelburne Road to the greenways at Carrier Park. The new route of the ride would direct about 400 cyclists across this tract of land, highlighting its importance for transportation. Following the event’s success, Blue Ridge Bicycle Club, RiverLink, AoB, private donors, and the City of Asheville and Buncombe County were able to purchase the land that would become the Hominy Creek Greenway in 2011.
“It’s not all costumes and parades,” says Mike with a smile. When it comes to affecting policy, there is no shortage of meetings to attend. In February of 2008, the City of Asheville completed the Comprehensive Bicycle Plan. AoB and Blue Ridge Bicycle Club sat down with Council members and discussed the value of it.
“Shortly after that was passed, South French Broad Avenue received shared lane markings (road markings that remind motorists they share the lane with cyclists). After that, Coxe Avenue got bicycle lanes. Hilliard has bicycle lanes. Martin Luther King Drive has bicycle lanes,” says Mike. “The bulk of the bicycle infrastructure that you see after 2008—the stuff that you see downtown—is a result of that plan passing and becoming policy.”
Part of the long-term plan is to address the needs of Haywood Road, which has the highest level of cyclist traffic in the city but has the least amount of bicycle infrastructure. This May, on-street bicycle parking will become available with a 15-bike corral in front of West Village Market on Haywood Road.
In 2012, Mike was working two jobs in addition to his role with AoB. He decided that if the organization was to move in the direction of true change, he would have to change things up. Soon after, he became the full-time director of AoB. “Volunteers are still essential to what we’re doing,” he says, “but unless there is someone who is waking up in the morning and going to work with bicycle advocacy, then things would stagnate. And once they stagnated, they’d begin to deteriorate.”
Education is a huge part of AoB’s mission. “We think about driver’s education, but we don’t think necessarily in terms of transportation education, but that’s where we need to go,” says Mike. A partnership between AoB and Asheville City Schools Foundation, After School Bike Club takes place at Asheville Middle School in the fall and spring. “The students learn everything they need to know about urban riding,” says Mike. “We supply the students with everything they need: helmets, water bottles, lights, quality bicycles.” Students learn basic maneuvering and safety measures, and then have the opportunity to go on group rides through the city.
Bike of the Irish is Sunday, March 20. Participants will gather at Pack Square in downtown Asheville at 1 p.m., and begin the ride at 1:30 p.m. For more, including sign-up, visit ashevilleonbikes.com or their Facebook page.
