My 20-plus-year dream realized

I am, of course, speaking of the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin, which this year - after two decades of growing up and going through the turbulent trials and tribulations of childhood and adolescence - finally matured into a political force capable of changing the bicycling landscape.

This past June, not only did BFW help secure millions of additional dollars for bicycling (in the midst of a budget crunch, no less), but it won approval of a new law protecting bicyclists from motorists and passengers who throw open car doors in traffic. And, the biggest victory of all, it succeeded in the quest for the holy grail of bicycle advocacy: passage of a Complete Streets law.

Road planners will no longer be able to ignore bicyclists and pedestrians. As they develop plans for new roads and reconstruction projects, they will be required by state law to consider our needs.

This spring, BFW hosted its first bike summit in Madison. It attracted nearly 500 cyclists on two workdays, meaning they had to make special arrangements to attend. Manufacturers and shop owners took time off during a busy spring period to be at the summit with keynote speaker John Burke, president of Trek. Cyclists got to rub elbows with representatives of Wisconsin's $1 billion-plus bicycle industry.

That's how big the industry is in this state. With Trek, Saris, Pacific, Waterford, Planet Bike and a host of others located in Wisconsin, the state has emerged as the epicenter of the United States bicycle industry. Wisconsin is the nexus of the American bicycle industry.

When 500 volunteer bicycle lobbyists descended on the Capitol to talk to legislators, those lawmakers listened. When industry representatives met with Gov. Jim Doyle, the governor took note, too.

That's what growing from a few organizers 23 years ago to a vibrant organization of more than 4,000 members - with a goal to reach 10,000 in the near future - can do.

BFW's recent success is far more than I dreamed possible when I called Arthur Ross, Madison's bicycle coordinator, back in 1986 and suggested we work together organizing a conference aimed at creating a statewide bicycle federation.

Ross lined up the Madison Senior Center and I got Lon and Susan Haldeman, holders of numerous Race Across America records, as keynote speakers. I applied for and received a $900 grant from the Dane County Bicycle Association, on whose board I would later serve, to fund the conference.

Fifty cyclists from around the state attended that initial conference on April 30, 1988. After a dramatic slide presentation on how the Haldemans set transcontinental records on both singles and tandems in the Race Across America, a constitution and bylaws were adopted and officers elected.

As with any new group, the organizers frequently get to shoulder the initial work, so I became BFW's first president. Later, the responsibilities were turned over to Richard Wilson, of Green Bay, and others who carried on the vision.

Why was there a need for BFW? In the 1980s bicycle advocacy was in its infancy. I was the Wisconsin legislative representative for the League of American Wheelmen and struggled to get clubs to become involved. If a club had an advocacy person, and most did not, they struggled, too. Most bicyclists just wanted to cycle and not be involved in the politics of improving their surroundings.

I got involved in local advocacy as vice president of the Madison Bicycle Brigade, which worked on Madison cycling issues.

The emerging Wisconsin bicycle industry was not initially involved in advocacy. Shops and manufacturers worked through their trade associations on issues that interested the industry. But there were no real lines of communication between them and individual cyclists - their customers - to address their mutual needs.

It was my dream to bring cyclists, shops, manufacturers and bicycle tour operators together in one organization so they could work together on issues of shared interest. The original BFW constitution contemplated just that, although it has been only in the last few years that BFW reached out to the industry.

Now, with growing membership and the economic power of a major industry behind them, cyclists now enjoy unprecedented respect and political power.

Both Ross and I sat somewhat amazed in the audience at the recent bike summit and looked at how a dream of two decades ago had played out.

"Pretty impressive," Ross said. "What we started back in the late '80s really came to fruition now, and it's wonderful to see."

The dream didn't coalesce without some bumps in the road along the way. At one point I even stepped in briefly as executive director, successfully lobbying for the so-called "bicycle bill," which eliminated the onerous prohibition against riding two abreast and granted cyclists the same rights as motorists for the first time in state history.

There were political and philosophical divisions during a period when BFW became dominated by Madison activists. Positions were taken opposing local road projects that included bicycle facilities because of a fear they would stimulate urban sprawl. For me it was akin to cutting off one's nose to spite one's face. Efforts to actively reach out to the industry fell temporarily by the wayside, and for a time my BFW involvement waned.

But, whatever those problems were and the controversies they generated at the time, they were obviously not so serious as to be fatal. BFW has emerged stronger than ever under the effective leadership of Kevin Hardman, the current executive director, and an excellent staff.

Like my good friend Ross, I, too, stand amazed and in awe at what that dream of two decades ago has now produced and what it holds in store for bicycling in the future.

I don't know if French dramatist and novelist Victor Hugo ever bicycled. But he certainly understood the role of dreams, observing in "Les Miserables," "There is nothing like a dream to create the future. Utopia today, flesh and blood tomorrow."