My acceptance speech for the 2025 Educator of the Year Award 🏆
I was a free-range kindergartner in the early '80s in the paper mill town of Wisconsin rapids and lived the epitome of the Goonies life - I wish Wes Marshall was here still, he’s a friend. When I was a teenager we moved to Peachtree City, Georgia where 40% of the high school parking lot is golf carts. I earned my degree at UGA in Athens, but a more important lesson was totalling my car. When I moved to my birth city of Madison for grad school, I biked everywhere and it I felt like home. Where did we move next? Boston, then ranked 5 worst in the world for biking...
Where is Galen Mook? Galen was among my Boston dream team ...
We then moved to Hood River, Oregon, to live a carless life near the woods. I started a bike train in 2020...
By no means am I the best educator in this room. Yes, I have taught thousands of kids and seen their empowerment.
But my true secret sauce is getting the kids in the street outside their school. In the fruit packing town of Odell...
When children walk or bike in a group in the street with music, they understand that they have a right to be there and their Joy is contagious, subversive advocacy ...
First, thanks to Shane Rhodes, my education Sensei who certified me as a League instructor.
Next my Grandpas...
Speaking of funding, thanks to ODOT and Governor's Highway Safety association for their support!
Thanks to Kiel Johnson l for starting the Portland bike train movement in 2010 that inspired me.
Sam Balto then exploded the bike bus movement and I am so thankful to have him as a partner in crime. Sam calls my husband my X-factor because he’s my photographer ghost writer and leads a group of volunteers called Ansons Bike Buddies. They refurbish used bikes so I can donate them to the kids I teach. I love you Kylie and will always wear these glasses for you.
Lastly, thanks to my mom and dad for giving me the Goonies life.
I will leave with a mantra for us a
"Joy as an act of resistance"
Perhaps one of the best phrases, the album name by The Idles. People are drawn to joy, as is the case of Justin Timberlake joining Coach Balto's Bike Bus last week.
Watch this video and know there is so much good happening in the world.
As someone who has the privilege of calling Sam a friend, co-conspirator, who I call for therapy and look to for inspiration, I want to thank him for bringing the joy.
Why is the #BikeBus movement so powerful?
🚲 🎒 FUNCTIONAL - giving children a way to bike to school safely
🏃🏽♀️ACTIVITY - building much need physical activity into the day
🧠 BRAIN POWER - physical activity wakes up the brain before school, yielding better concentration
🚗⬇️ TRAFFIC - the more kids who walk or bike to school, the less cars on the road
🌎 CLIMATE - less cars = cleaner air
🏥 SAFETY - less cars = safer streets
🔊 QUIET - less cars = quieter cities
🎶 MUSIC - the great uniter
🏡🏫🏢 COMMUNITY - knits neighborhood and people together
🧑🏽❤️🧑🏾 FRIENDSHIP - bonds children
🥰 JOY - impossible not to feel when you are riding with a group of people
Join the Bike Bus movement @bikebusworld!
@goodnews_movement #saferoutestoschool #biketoschool
Happy Birthday,
#TaylorSwift!
Thanks for being born on December 13th so my daughter forever remembers my birthday on the 14th. This is my favorite song and concert memory - you are a goofball and I love you for it.
10 years ago, we launched a bike travel guide for Vancouver. Our daughter, Annika, was 5 and never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be returning to see our first Taylor Swift show on the final weekend of The Eras Tour.
Back in July 2023, I was really mad at Taylor. Annika was crying because I wouldn't spend $$$ for Seattle tickets. How was I the bad guy?
I promised her we would see the film when it came out, which ended up being at Nitehawk Cinemas in Brooklyn, right after I spoke at the Vision Zero conference. Walking into the theater with her, I was like "what's the big deal?" 1 minute into the film, I was crying...WTF IS WRONG WITH ME. It was the crowd reactions that got me.
Fast forward to April 2024, I told her if she raised $4000, we would go to the Vancouver show in December. She got her first job as a 14 year old at Fat Tire Farm in Hood River and did some babysitting and cat sitting and little by little, she did it!
We took Amtrak with our bikes to Vancouver and took it ALL in. There were tears, fights over beads, loud singing, lots of walking and biking and amazing food.
Thank you, Taylor Swift and Vancouver, for the mother-daughter memories to last a lifetime.
Special nod to Tanner at @socialcornerrestaurants and the staff at @belgardkitchen and @askforluigi for some of the best GF meals ever.
Hats off @cityofvancouver! Keep installing those protected bikewaya and create more people centric streets!
#swiftcouver #vancouverbc #taylorswift #erastour #bikaboutvancouver
#kidcity #kidfriendly #familyfriendly #boulder #bikaboutboulder
What a great 1st time experience attending the Safe Routes to School conference.
My presentation "Teach them to Fly" during the EBike Boom conference was like therapy. So many of my colleagues around America are wrestling with new found freedom and growing pains of youth discovering Ebikes.
My roomie, Coach Balto, was a fantastic sounding board and source of inspiration, as always.
For those who saw my fun tees and wondered who designed them, it is no other than the genius of Tom Flood and @rovelocreative!
And Fort Collins out on quite the 🍁 show for us, providing a gorgeous canvas for the mobile workshops.
#srtsjoy #saferoutestoschool #hoodriverwalkandroll
When in Rome (Fort Collins), do a Fat Tire tour.
#bikaboutfortcollins #fortcollins #srtsconference
Indianapolis is secretly killing it.
Since the grand opening of the @indyculturaltrail, 8 miles in 2013, the network of protected bikeways has continued to grow, attracting public and private funding.
Just on September 5th, the @colts announced a $100,000 donation. And no wonder when you see the crowds of fans walking on the trail for game days.
👏 to this non-profit, the @cityofindianapolis and the community for rallying on this vision.
#indytrail #indyculturaltrail #biketrail #indianapolis #bikaboutIndy
Portland in summer is the best.
We played badminton 🏸 in the park, 🛼 @secretrollerdisco, sunset swim, 🍦 @saltandstraw, pool time and home hang out with @kielij who took our family photo and hosted us.
Seattle Center has a new grand entrance.
The new Thomas Street protected intersection and cycletracks (still in progress) is another piece of stellar infrastructure for the city.
#bikaboutseattle #seattle #seattlebybike
Happy Pride 🦄 Weekend, Seattle.
It felt so good to park our car at our hotel and use @lime bikes and scooters to get to our restaurant (door to door in 12 minutes) and bonus, saw many people celebrating pride 🌈 on scooters, too.
❤️ the @lime group ride option -it was so easy for our family to hop on and go.
Inspiring two wheeled tourism in cities across North America. Exploring cities on two wheels is exhilarating. 
