We’re making biking better in Missouri through funding local bike projects, supporting pro-bike policies and legislation at the local and state levels and highlighting great hometown routes on Ride Spot. In Spring 2018, our Community Grant Program provided funding for The United Gospel Rescue Mission, who purchased and installed bike racks to provide secure bike parking for the homeless population that access its services in Poplar Bluff. 

On December 12, the PeopleForBikes Coalition Board of Directors approved our 2023 Industry Community Grants recipients, totaling $100,000 in funding across 13 grants. The grants will help fund projects that support our focus on building infrastructure that makes communities great places to ride a bike. The projects include several pump tracks, efforts to build safe routes to schools, demonstration projects to promote the importance of protected bike lanes, innovative solutions to combat bike theft in college towns, and mountain bike parks in flat urban areas.

2023 PeopleForBikes Industry Community Grants

Delmont, PA | Trail construction and intersection improvements for a connection to the Westmoreland Heritage Rail Trail. Our funds leverage an additional $18,000 to build a new and vital bikeway for residents and visitors in Delmont.

Sandersville, GA | Funding to construct the first 3 miles of a 250-mile trail system in Georgia, leveraging $6 million in other funding.

Los Angeles, CA | One in a series of “CicLAminis,” a neighborhood-focused open streets event celebrating new neighborhood bike infrastructure. This grant will highlight the specific trail extensions and protected bikeways that improve bicycling locally. 

Ann Arbor, MI | Demonstration project to install and evaluate permeable surfaces on a segment of the Treeline-Allen Creek Urban Trail to create a safe and accessible bike path through a floodplain.

Durango, CO | Demonstration projects of fully protected bike lanes on key portions of a proposed citywide network of low-stress bikeways.   

Saint Johns, AZ | A collaboration with the Legacy Teen Center to build a new pump track that will help launch the Legacy Bike Club. 

Jersey City, NJ | Demonstration project to install and evaluate protected bike lanes in Jersey City to leverage $670,590 in state funding for permanent construction.

Clear Creek Off-Road Bike Association — $7,650

Pearland, TX | Initial construction costs for an innovative mountain bike trail system in an urban park, using shipping containers to create hills in an otherwise flat, low-income neighborhood.  

Providence, RI | Community rides and organizing to win community support for protected bike lanes in low-income communities and leverage $28 million in federal grants.

Tempe, AZ | A "bike bus" to highlight the need for infrastructure that’s safe for children to enjoy on a bicycle and support its construction.

Eugene, OR | An innovative solution to prevent bike theft with a strategy to expand the use of public funding and provide an example for other college towns where bike theft prevents people from relying on a bike for transportation.

St. Louis, MO | Support for the construction of a quick-build protected bike lane on Compton Avenue, a key connection to existing bike boulevard projects in the citywide network.

Kearns, UT | An upgrade to the Lodestar XC Bike Park to enhance the trails and add skills features including adaptive features. Open to the public, the park provides the only training opportunities for students from six high school mountain bike teams.  

PeopleForBikes' Industry Community Grants Program provides funding for projects that make bicycling better in communities across the U.S. Since 1999, PeopleForBikes has awarded more than 400 grants to nonprofit organizations and local governments in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Our investments total more than $3.5 million and have leveraged $775 million in public and private funding for bike-related projects nationwide.

PeopleForBikes' 2023 Industry Community Grants Recipients

For the sixth consecutive year, PeopleForBikes is proud to release our annual City Ratings, a data-driven program to evaluate, identify and compare the best cities and towns for bicycling. For 2022, more than 1,000 cities were rated in the U.S. and Canada, the largest number in program history.

Below are 2022’s top-ranked small, medium and large U.S. cities for bicycling. All cities in these lists have a City Ratings score greater than 50, the threshold score for a great place to bike.

2022's Top-Ranking U.S. Cities for Bicycling

In 1984, when Will Chavez was 17, he signed on to participate in a month-long, multi-state, 950-mile bike ride. A member of the Cherokee Nation, Chavez grew up in Eastern Oklahoma where he’d spend summer days riding a one-speed motocross bike with his cousins, exploring nearby Marble City and the local creek, where they’d go swimming. By the time he was finishing high school, Chavez was invited to participate in the inaugural Remember the Removal Bike Ride.

Founded by Mike Morris and Mose Killer, the Remember the Removal ride was envisioned as a way to better involve youth in their Cherokee culture. The school in Marble City only goes through eighth grade and about a third of kids often drop out when it comes time to transition to high school. Morris and Killer saw a need to cultivate leadership qualities in Cherokee youth, as well as help them build self-esteem and confidence to face life’s challenges. The pair settled on a bike ride that would not only test the youth mentally and physically but also allow them to honor their shared history.

The Remember the Removal Bike Ride retraces the Trail of Tears, a forced displacement campaign from the U.S. government that doubled as a form of ethnic cleansing. Between 1830 and 1850, some 60,000 people from the Cherokee, Muscogee, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw nations were forcibly removed from their homes in the southeastern United States and relocated west of the Mississippi River. The relocation to less fertile land took months, and more than 4,000 people died from exposure, disease, and starvation.

The Trail of Tears is actually a network of different routes  — Remember the Removal riders stick to the northern route.

By recreating the original route as a bike ride, Cherokee leadership hoped to expose youth to the hardships their ancestors faced when they made the same trek on foot decades before. That first year, Chavez joined 19 other students and ride coordinators on bikes, while support vans and a school bus followed with tents, food, and other necessary supplies. The group visited historical sites as they followed in their ancestor’s footsteps, averaging 60 miles a day. For Chaves, the trip was life-changing. 

“Before the ride, my self-esteem was not good and I didn’t have much confidence — that all changed after the ride,” says Chavez. “I credit the ride for giving me the confidence to take on numerous challenges like joining the army, finishing college, and having a career in journalism. The ride changed me because it forced me to go past my limits – physically and mentally. So, afterward, I had the fortitude to not give up when things got tough or when it seemed like a task was impossible.”

For the last 27 years, Chavez has been an assistant editor for the Cherokee Phoenix, which was first published in Cherokee and English in 1828 in New Echota (present-day Georgia), then the capital of the Cherokee Nation (the paper’s offices are now headquartered in the new capital, Tahlequah, Oklahoma). In addition to his full-time position, Chavez has worked as the coordinator and trainer for the Remember the Removal Bike Ride for the last four years. 

In addition to the inaugural ride in 1984, Chavez also participated as a mentor in the second iteration of the ride, 25 years later.

“In 2009, the chief at the time decided to bring the ride back and he consulted some of the original riders, asking how we did things,” says Chavez. “Except for 2020, it’s been going consistently since then.”

Today, the ride remains a youth leadership program for tribal members aged 16-24, with applications opening each year in September (there are also two mentor riders each year, for those 35 and older). The program interviews are comparable to a formal job interview — applicants are scored and selected by a panel at the end of October, before attending orientation in November. 

"When I was chosen to be on the ride, I felt a sense of pride grow within me," says Whitney Roach, who completed the ride in 2021. "I not only get to represent myself and my family, but I get to represent my ancestors who were forced on the Removal…I [had] the opportunity to retrace their steps in remembrance of their strength and resilience."

Selected participants sign a contract, committing to six months of rigorous physical training, clocking miles but also learning how to clip in and use a bike with drop handlebars and lots of gears. There’s also a cultural training component that includes Cherokee lessons.

“Most of our youth don’t speak Cherokee these days so that’s part of the training,” says Chavez, adding that the cohort’s formal introductions to the tribal council are always in Cherokee. “They learn the language, the culture, and the history of the Trail of Tears. They end up with a really good background of what happened so that they’re prepared when they go out on the road and people start asking them questions.”

Along the ride, which starts in Georgia, riders visit significant sites, including New Echota, the former Cherokee capital; Kituwah Mound, the original Cherokee homeland; Blythe Ferry, where Cherokees gathered during their forced removal; Mantle Rock in Kentucky, where the former Trail of Tears route is a hiking trail; and many, many unmarked grave sites. 

“There are so many points in history when the Cherokee people could have disappeared like some other tribes,” says Chavez, noting that in addition to surviving the Trail of Tears, the Cherokee survived a smallpox epidemic that decimated the tribe in the 1700s, the American Civil War in the 1800s, and the seizure of lands and destruction of tribal government the pushed the tribe into poverty in the 1900s. “Yet, we are still here today. From the standpoint of being a Cherokee person, the ride made me even more proud of who I am and even more proud of my ancestors for what they endured and survived,”

A body of research, published from 2020 to 2022, highlights the benefits of the Remember the Removal Bike Ride for participants’ physical, emotional, social, and cultural well-being. Past riders that were surveyed showed improvements in their diet and exercise habits, as well as their mental health, with reductions in things like stress, anxiety, depression, and anger. Perhaps most importantly, those surveyed also demonstrated improved social and cultural connection to one another, their Cherokee identity, and fundamental Cherokee values.

Participants from the 2019 Remember the Removal Bike Ride walk down a preserved section of trail used by Cherokees in Tennessee during their forced removal some 180 years ago.

Over the course of three weeks, the youth ride anywhere from 40 to 70 miles a day, some much more difficult than others (particularly those in Missouri, nicknamed “Misery” due to its constant heat, hills, and rough roads).

In 2021, the riders switched from using road bikes to gravel bikes, which makes traversing the mountains and backroads much easier. The Cherokee Education Department pays for rider’s helmets, shoes, sunglasses, a bike computer, custom cycling kits, and bikes, which are Fuji this year but have covered the gamut of quality brands over the last decade. To receive the kit, riders are required to pass a grueling 60-mile road test — friends and family are then invited to watch them receive their kits, an event with a strong ceremonial element. When participants complete the ride itself, they get to keep their bikes.

In an average year, Chavez takes 8-10 riders, although this year it’ll be a group of six, having lost two to injury. Interestingly, since 2018, the Remember the Removal riders have been trending female, and since 2021, the cohort has been completely female. 

This years Remember the Removal cohort, which will begin their ride on June 5.

“Elders and council members have been asking, where are all the boys?” says Chavez, noting that male youth just aren’t applying. “Obviously, the girls aren’t afraid to do it — it’s tough and these girls want to take on the challenge.”

At the end of May, Chavez accompanied the riders to North Carolina, where they met up with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, who also has a team of six riders. While the two tribes share a lineage, there are still a few differences in language, which can become apparent in the call signs used, all of which are in Cherokee. After a training ride together to get on the same page, the group will travel to Georgia, where they’ll begin the Remember the Removal Bike Ride on June 5, traveling nearly 1,000 miles through Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma.

Upon completion, the riders will join more than 200 alumni, many of whom are still as committed to the ride as Chavez is, showing up to help with training, mentorship, or on-route support. It makes sense — after all, Remember the Removal is first and foremost a spiritual journey. Not only does it test the endurance and emotions of those who participate, but it directly connects them to their ancestors. In riding, they remember where they came from and find the strength to go on.

If you’re interested in following the riders’ journey along the northern Trail of Tears route, tune in to the official Remember the Removal Bike Ride Facebook page. 

This Annual Bike Ride Connects Cherokee Youth to Their History

PeopleForBikes, a national bicycling advocacy organization, and the U.S. bicycle industry’s trade association announced its latest round of community grants totaling $92,000. The 11 projects funded in 2022 will support bicycle infrastructure and advocacy projects across the U.S. 

PeopleForBikes’ Industry Community Grants Program is funded through the Employee Pro Purchase program, which collects donations from individuals who work in the bike industry and take advantage of pro-pricing discounts on new bikes and bicycling equipment. Cannondale and Trek currently participate. 

Since 1999, the PeopleForBikes Industry Community Grants Program has funded more than 400 projects in all 50 states totaling more than $3.6 million in direct funds. The total funding this year represents more than 1,000 individuals in the bike industry who gave back to grow bicycling through an employee pro purchase. 

“Seeing the industry come together to support community grants big and small continues to be incredibly inspiring,” said Jenn Dice, president and CEO of PeopleForBikes. “We thank the companies and thousands of employees that contribute to this important program. These projects will make a tangible difference in 11 communities while aiding our larger mission of getting more people on bikes more often and making biking better for everyone.” 

The Center of Southwest Culture
Albuquerque, NM 

This grant will support Story Riders, a program at The Center of Southwest Culture, Inc. that empowers Indigenous and Latino youth to reconnect with their natural and cultural heritage, all while providing practical training in bicycle safety, maintenance, and guided cycling experiences. Each student will take home the bike they work on and a new helmet. 

BikeHouston will use the funding to launch Gear Shifters, an advocacy training program for BikeHouston staff and volunteers. Gear Shifters will expand and enhance advocacy efforts by representing the needs of people who ride bikes at public meetings, as well as in conversations with elected officials, community groups, and developers.

Bike Works Seattle’s mission is to promote the bicycle as a vehicle for change and a tool for building resilient communities. This grant will be used for general operating support, more than 80% of which will go directly to youth, adult, community, and environmental cycling programs and services. 

Trails Utah will use this grant to launch a pilot project to modify existing trails with the specific goal of accommodating adaptive mountain bikers. Funds will be used to purchase equipment and signage, as well as pay for physical trail work by the Utah Conservation Corps.

Trailnet works to foster healthy, active, and vibrant communities where walking, bicycling, and the use of public transit is a way of life. Funding will help accelerate the installation of safer mobility networks in St. Louis by focusing on high-crash corridors, which are predominantly in Black and underserved communities. 

The Red Line Parkway Initiative empowers diverse communities to enjoy, develop, and enhance the Red Line Trail and Parkway, a 32-mile, multimodal rails-with-trails project. Grant funds will support a portion of 2023 engagement activities with an emphasis on social equity and physical and mental health. 

Girls in Gear teaches life skills through bike skills to help young female riders build confidence on and off their bikes. Funding will be used for coach training and support, as well as program supplies, to ensure every girl has the chance to safely and confidently bike through life.

Community Action Duluth’s BikePlus program provides those recently released from incarceration with a free bicycle, helmet, and bike lock. This grant will allow Community Action Duluth to continue its efforts and reach more people in need. 

This grant will fund bikepacking trips for those in Deaf community in the Mid-Atlantic region, offering environmental education, leadership training, and essential bicycle maintenance. Funds will also be used to provide a day trip for groups to a gravel or mountain biking trail, allowing for local community connections.

With this grant, Salem Bike Vision (SBV) will host three community rides in 2023, working to educate the public about what makes for effective bike infrastructure and helping identify areas where safety is lacking. The organization will also engage local decision-makers around opportunities to use the city’s recently passed bond for safe bike infrastructure.

Dunn Gardens will use funding to purchase and install two bike racks, which will allow for more car-free commuting and send a welcoming message to the many visitors in the neighborhood who rely on bicycles for transportation. 

PeopleForBikes Announces 2022 Industry Community Grant Recipients

BikeWalkKC and Safe Routes to School released a new publication designed for advocates that want to repeal and modify unsafe, racialized traffic laws.

The murder of George Floyd was the straw that broke many an advocate's back — passionate people across the country utilized the mainstream attention the tragedy garnered to shine a light on the racialized enforcement of many American laws. In the mobility space, there was a renewed effort to critically examine traffic laws related to walking and bicycling that fail to meet their intended safety goals and instead disproportionately affect Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC), as well as the unhoused and low-income communities. BikeWalkKC, alongside the Safe Routes to School National Partnership, recently released “Taking on Traffic Laws: A How-To Guide For Decriminalizing Mobility,” based on the organization’s experience reforming unjust laws locally. 

Since its founding, BikeWalkKC, based in Kansas City, Missouri, has centered equity in its work, lobbying for better infrastructure but also larger policy reform. In 2020, as Floyd’s murder sparked protests around the country, the Kansas City City Council adopted Resolution #200450, which directed city staff to review the full municipal code to identify elements of racist language as well as statutes that could disproportionately harm Black and brown residents. BikeWalkKC used the resolution as an opportunity to search for laws that could specifically be used to over-police BIPOC while walking or biking.

“We essentially identified three laws related to jaywalking, bike inspections and dirty wheels that needed to be modified or repealed,” said Michael Kelley, policy director at BikeWalkKC. “Over the course of the next few months, we were able to push for the introduction of legislation, build a coalition and ultimately, successfully advocate for those changes in May of 2021.”

In his new podcast, “Arrested Mobility,” researcher Charles T. Brown explores the adverse social, political, economic and health outcomes of over-policing BIPOC movement — whether on bikes, walking, running or driving — in the U.S. The first episode is all about jaywalking and showcases how while illegal in many places, jaywalking is inequitably enforced in areas with fewer sidewalks, signals and pedestrian crossing areas. Similarly, research shows that areas with less bike infrastructure experience disproportionate ticketing, compounding the effects of racially biased policing and transportation policies.

To showcase the inequitable enforcement of jaywalking laws in Kansas City specifically, BikeWalkKC obtained data from the municipal court (because the city doesn’t have local control over its police department, it’s incredibly difficult to secure arrest data). The data showed a definite racial bias in charges related to jaywalking: 65% of jaywalking tickets were given out to Black residents, even though they make up less than 30% of the city’s population. The other two laws identified as problematic pertained to dirty wheels, which made it illegal to drive a car, bike or other vehicle that deposited mud on city streets, and bike inspections, which allowed officers to stop someone biking if they believed the bike was in a state of disrepair. 

On paper, many bicycle laws — such as those for inspections or others that require people to wear helmets, use bike lights, obtain a bike license or register their bikes — seem like a great idea. After all, inspecting a bike that’s in poor shape might save someone from injury, helmets can protect our heads in the case of a crash, lights help bikers see and be seen, bike licenses can raise money for infrastructure and bike registrations safeguard people against theft. In reality, these laws are widely virtually unknown and rarely enforced. When they do get enforced, it’s usually to the detriment of BIPOC citizens or those experiencing homelessness.

Something like a bike inspection law can be used by police officers as a pretextual traffic stop, or the practice of using a minor traffic stop to investigate a more serious crime. These sorts of stops bring with them a myriad of risks: the disruption of a person’s daily affairs, policing for profit, overcriminalization of already marginalized groups and, in extreme scenarios, even policing killings. There is also evidence that a crime-fighting approach based on traffic stops is largely ineffective.

Importantly, bicycle laws and by association, pretextual stops, also gatekeep bicycling, ensuring that certain populations feel less safe traveling on two wheels, which hurts all of us working in the bike space. Suzanne Hogan is a community volunteer and shop coordinator at the 816 Bicycle Collective in Kansas City, a volunteer-run, DIY recycle bike shop that welcomes everyone and focuses on the empowerment and education of low-income bike commuters. 

“At the shop, one of the big things I hear all the time from our patrons is about bike lights — not having lights is an excuse for someone to get pulled over on their bikes,” said Hogan, noting that other stories she hears are a direct reaction to an unsafe urban bicycling environment. “I've heard many patrons say that they've been stopped by a police officer for violating a traffic law, like say riding on a sidewalk.”

All of this creates mental stress and anguish for these communities and a general feeling of being unsafe when trying to move around. While many of the incidents Hogan hears about aren’t codified in city law, they’re part of a larger culture that polices the mobility of lower-income individuals and BIPOC. Combatting arrested mobility requires a cultural approach (this includes shops like the 816 Collective, which helps build a more inclusive community) in addition to a policy approach, like the one taken by BikeWalkKC.

Following the organization’s success, calls began rolling in from advocates in places like Atlanta, and Denver, asking for advice on how they might recreate such wins in their cities. The guide for decriminalizing mobility was a response to inquiries and is broken up into three sections: The first being an explanation of how we have overpoliced traffic enforcement and how that disproportionately harms certain groups, the second detailing what BikeWalkKC did in Kansas City, and the third is a call to action, asking advocates to learn from what BikeWalkKC did and to apply it to their own communities.

“One of the big takeaways was the importance of building an effective and varied coalition,” said Kelley, noting that in addition to people from transportation, the Kansas City coalition included folks working in housing, livability and sustainability backgrounds. “Another big part is the importance of being willing and able to get the data and the stories earlier in order to help build and strengthen your case.”

Kelley adds that an important part of that story gathering is also guarding your own vulnerability — advocacy often requires people to explain and share parts of their own lived experiences that are difficult and that they are still sometimes working through. Even though advocacy work is important and requires us to use our voices, it’s important to practice self-care and limit the parts of ourselves we share.

“We wrote this guide for other advocates,” said Kelley. “If and when there are other communities that want to take these steps, here’s our detailed account of how you can get it done and do it better than us by avoiding the mistakes we made.”

Kelly and the other authors are also clear that this is a guide, not the guide for taking on traffic laws. Language and terminology will differ from place to place; someone might be looking at laws that are more expansive or more narrow depending on where you are. Even the way BikeWalkKC went through its municipal code searching for certain terms like “sidewalk” and “walking” might be replaced with “pedestrian path” or “crosswalk” elsewhere. Kelley is also adamant that it doesn’t have to be an organization or nonprofit leading the charge — a group of community members can make a difference.

“We want people to understand that there are multiple ways to do this work,” said Kelley. “We don't necessarily think that everyone has to do things the exact same way to get the same results. You can change things to better suit the nuances of the community you’re working in.”

The guide is itself an acknowledgment that the work doesn’t end in Kansas City. Even just outside of town, in Independence, Missouri, 37-year-old Justin Layton was tackled, tased, beaten and ultimately arrested by police in 2020 after being initially stopped for the crime of jaywalking. He’d like to see the entire Kansas City metro area decriminalize jaywalking — the authors of “Taking on Traffic Laws” are thinking even bigger.

“This is not something that just ends with Kansas City and it doesn't just end with BikeWalkKC,” said Kelley. “We want this guide to be a catalyst for similar changes across the country.” 

Check out “Taking on Traffic Laws: A How-To Guide for Decriminalizing Mobility,” from BikeWalkKC and the Safe Routes to School National Partnership. 

Are you or any groups you know of working locally to repeal unjust traffic laws related to bicycling? We’d love to hear from you. Drop us a line: kiran@peopleforbikes.org.

A How-To Guide for Decriminalizing Mobility

Two-thirds of U.S. states now define and regulate electric bicycles in three-class system 

PeopleForBikes is pleased to announce that 36 states have now signed our model electric bicycle legislation into law, eight of which occurred just this year. We’re seeing increased momentum in states passing this model legislation that clarifies the use and regulation of electric bicycles, making the law easier for retailers, riders and decision makers to understand. Thank you to all of our partners who have supported this initiative so far.

The eight states that signed this model legislation into law in 2021 include Alabama, Iowa, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Dakota and Vermont. Each state has subtle differences in its laws, but fundamentally, these bills do the following:

Define electric bicycles using the three-class system.

Regulate electric bicycles like bicycles, meaning the same rules of the road apply to both electric bicycles and human-powered bicycles.

Exempt electric bicycles from the registration, licensing or insurance requirements that apply to motor vehicles.

There are still 14 states that have not adopted model legislation. Four of these states lack a specific vehicle classification for electric bicycles and the remaining 10 states recognize electric bicycles in some form, but do not utilize the three-class system. 

Our goal is to clearly define electric bicycles and provide sensible rules for their use. We strive to pass our model legislation in all 50 states to ensure that:

Outdated vehicle regulations are updated to reflect technological advances.

Low-speed electric bicycles are regulated similarly to traditional bicycles.

Consumers and retailers are not confused about their state’s electric bicycle laws.

The public is encouraged to take advantage of the benefits that electric bicycles offer.

PeopleForBikes believes that electric bicycles are the future of bike riding due to the immense benefits they can provide in improving communities' health and decreasing carbon emissions by replacing trips that would be otherwise taken by car. Electric bicycles are replacing single vehicle trips, helping people ride their bikes further with more convenience and making them happier and healthier in the process.

You can find details on your state’s specific electric bicycle law here. Any additional questions? Contact PeopleForBikes Regulatory and Policy Analyst Ashley Seaward at ashley@peopleforbikes.org for more information.

Model Electric Bicycle Laws Now in 36 States

Pedaling along city paths or winding country roads, bicycle tourists are rewarded with unique vantage points and stunning views — it’s a travel experience unlike any other. And, as networks of bike trails continue to expand and connect, more journeys destinations than ever are safely accessible by bike. But taking advantage of these extensive networks by traditional pedal bike isn’t feasible for all riders; fortunately, electric bikes make long-distance tours accessible to a broader audience.

Before you take off on a cross-country e-bike tour, there are a few things you should know about long-distance riding on e-bikes:

Plan for the life of your battery. Know the range of your bike’s battery and plan accordingly, whether that means mapping out charging stops or carting along a spare.

Anticipate service needs. Research bike shops along your route to find out where you can get your bike serviced for any necessary maintenance or repairs — not all shops will be able to accommodate e-bikes.

Keep an open mind. Even with the pedal assist, consecutive days of riding can be tiresome. Map out your route to include options for early stopping points or rest days.

For those wanting to tackle a ride greater than 100 miles on an e-bike, the country’s rails-to-trails system is the perfect place to plot a bike tour. With nearly 25,000 miles of trail spanning a myriad of tourist-friendly trail towns, the network holds abundant opportunities for exploration.

To plan your own e-bike tour, the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy’s TrailLink is an outstanding resource. It allows riders to search for trails by city, state, zip code or keyword. Detailed descriptions of the trail — from geography to history to availability of restrooms and parking — accompany links to websites and maps.* For those who would rather let someone else handle the logistics, many tour companies offer e-bike options on their catered bike tours.

To help kickstart your next pedal-assisted adventure, we’ve listed some of our favorite long-distance rides that are open to e-bikes. Regulations and rules can change frequently, so it’s always best to check the managing agency’s website before you travel.

The Katy Trail
A Missouri state park, the Katy Trail spans nearly the full width of Missouri — nearly 240 miles. The trail passes through a link of small towns boasting cozy accommodations, tasty restaurants and easy access to transportation. Oenophiles in particular will enjoy the stretch of trail near Hermann, with more than 10 tucked in the rolling hillside.

The Mickelson Trail
In the heart of the Black Hills of South Dakota, the Mickelson Trail leads riders down 109 miles of crushed limestone rail trail containing more than 100 converted railroad bridges and four rock tunnels. It’s easy to combine the Mickelson with paved routes in nearby Badlands National Park.

The Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) Trail
The GAP Trail is the longest rail trail east of the Mississippi River. On the 150-mile trail, travelers ride from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Cumberland, Maryland. For those looking for a longer tour, it’s possible to plan a multi-day, 333-mile bike tour to Washington, D.C., by connecting to the 184.5-mile C&O Canal Towpath. This route visits three states (Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia) and the District of Columbia, and passes through four national parks: the C&O Canal, Antietam Battlefield, Harpers Ferry and Rock Creek Park.

Trail of the Coeur d’Alene/Route of the Hiawatha
These Idaho rail trails can be combined to form a 90-mile ride through the West’s scenic natural beauty while also traveling through time. A highlight is the Taft Tunnel, which traverses between Idaho and Montana under the crest of the rugged Bitterroot Mountains. The tunnel was once used by the former Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, also known as the “Milwaukee Road.”.

Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail
Like the other rail trails of the West, the Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail follows the corridor of the Milwaukee Road. The trail showcases the impressive construction of the railbed with its tunnels and trestles while also taking riders through a stunning array of ecosystems — including coniferous forests, arid farmland and deeply cut river canyons.

The Paul Bunyan State Trail
This 123-mile paved trail is rich in Minnesota history: Thirteen recorded prehistoric sites have been identified along the trail. Now, the landscape bears marks of more recent mining and logging activity, and the towns that dot the trail tell tales of how the area was developed. For a longer trip, the unpaved Blue Ox Trail extends northward from Lake Bemidji State Park for another 90 miles, forming one of the longest rail-to-trail conversions in the country.

Taking the Scenic Route: Long-Distance E-Bike Adventures

Brent Hugh couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing.

The executive director of the Missouri Bicycle and Pedestrian Federation was looking at the Strava heat map for Louisiana, Missouri, a town of about 3,200 people on the Mississippi River. To cross the river into Illinois, bicyclists must ride over the 88-year-old Champ Clark Bridge, a 20-foot-wide, five-truss span with no shoulders. After driving over the structure, a reporter from the Boone County Journal in Illinois described it as “so painfully narrow, you squeeze your shoulders together and hold your breath as you slowly inch your way over it.” And it was glowing.

“I was astonished,” Hugh said. “You would not believe the number of people who bicycle across that bridge.”

The bridge’s replacement, which will have two 10-foot shoulders, will likely attract even more riders when it opens next November. “It’s going to be a huge improvement for bicycle access,” Hugh says.

The new Champ Clark (see map, 1) is just one of many bicycle-related projects that could transform the riding scene in Northern Missouri. In many respects, the region is a bicycle rider’s dream. Shaped by glaciers during the Ice Age, the terrain is gently rolling, much less rugged and more human scale than the Ozark Mountains to the south. The area is mostly rural, with miles of low-traffic paved roads connecting small, friendly towns through vast stretches of farmland. “It has a huge potential for bicycle tourism,” Hugh says.

Bike touring has long been big business in Missouri. Bicycling and walking trail use accounts for $2.8 billion in annual consumer direct spend statewide, as well as 28,043 jobs and $219 million in local and state tax revenue, according to the Outdoor Industry Association. The state is home to seven cross-state or national bicycle routes—the most of any state in the nation; bicyclists spend an average of $200 a day while crossing the state. Missouri also boasts the longest developed rail trail in the United States, the 240-mile Katy Trail, which sees 400,000 visitors from all 50 states each year and has an annual economic impact of $18.6 million, according to a 2012 state department of natural resources study. But until recently, the state’s bike-related tourism was concentrated almost exclusively south of the Missouri River.

In 2012, Dave Fiedler, a cyclist, writer and history enthusiast worked with the Missouri Highway 36 Heritage Alliance to create the Highway 36 Bicycle Route (see map, 2), which extends about 260 miles on low-traffic county and state roads from St. Joseph to Hannibal. It closely parallels Highway 36, which is nicknamed the Way of American Genius because of the numerous historical figures—including Mark Twain, Walt Disney, General John “Black Jack” Pershing and J. C. Penney—who have connections to the route. In 2016, the organizers of Big BAM, Missouri’s first cross-state bicycle tour, chose the Highway 36 route for their second annual ride. More than 500 people pedaled from St. Joseph to Hannibal, with overnight stops in five towns along the way.

While official figures aren’t yet available, ride director Greg Wood believes the economic impact of the ride is sizeable. Now in its fourth year, the ride attracts participants from 30 states. Although most riders opt to camp, they’re responsible for purchasing their own meals and snacks. About 20 to 25 percent of them bring a support vehicle; in addition to buying gas, most support crew members stay in hotel rooms. Wood estimates that riders bring $20,000 a day into the local economy—and that doesn’t include the fees the ride pays to vendors for services such as showers, route marking, and SAG support.

At least two other routes in the making have the potential to bring more tourists on bikes to northern Missouri. A new section of the United States Bicycle Route System, USBR 51, is currently under development and will pass through Missouri on its way between Louisiana and Minnesota (see map, 3). Hugh says there’s a statewide group working on the route that hopes to have the Missouri segment mapped within the next two years; right now the plan is to cross the Missouri River at Lexington, then head north to the Iowa border. The route will provide a key connection to other established bikeways, including the Katy (see map, 4) and Rock Island Trails (see map, 5), USBRs 76 and 66 (see map, 6), and Adventure Cycling’s Lewis and Clark Route. The segment will be the first north-south bike route on the western side of the state.

Also in the works is a plan to connect northern Missouri to the Katy Trail. Hugh says that the Rock Island Trail spur connecting the Katy to Kansas City will be complete by next year. Advocates hope to eventually extend the trail north to St. Joseph and Rock Port, then west to connect with trails in Nebraska. Once completed, riders would be able to enjoy a car-free trip from St. Louis to Omaha.

The benefits of such infrastructure extend well beyond the trail: research suggests that communities don’t have to be on the bike path itself to see economic benefits from bicycle tourism. In 2013, the Adventure Cycling Association conducted a survey focusing on routes in its home state of Montana. The study found that riders used Adventure Cycling’s routes as a general guide, but often ventured elsewhere—to visit a friend in the area, for example.

“You would assume if there’s a route, that’s where people go,” Hugh says. “But you can’t corral them.”

Could Northern Missouri Become the Midwest’s Next Great Bicycling Destination?

We know that sometimes the best bike ride of your life can take place right outside your front door, on your local neighborhood streets and trails. Then there are those other times—when the wanderlust kicks in and the need to travel with your bike just overwhelms you. For those moments, here are a dozen bike riding events that we think are worth the trip.

Started by endurance champion Rebecca Rusch, RPI is not for the faint of heart. To conquer this event you’ll have to ride 100 miles, “on grueling gravel roads, through canyons, over summits, and across high mountain basins.” Still, if you’ve ever wanted to explore riding in the Gem State, this is the ride for you. Plus, a portion of the proceeds are donated to PeopleForBikes, to help us toward our goal of making every bike ride better across the U.S.

Founded in 2011, Slow Roll Detroit is a weekly bike ride (every Monday from May through October) dedicated to promoting cycling in the City of Detroit. Thousands of riders show up for a leisurely ride that builds community at a pace that welcomes riders of all types. You may not think of Detroit as a top bike riding destination—this event will surely change your mind.

Climate Ride is an organization that produces charitable multi-day rides, allowing participants to explore different regions of the world while raising money for non-profit beneficiaries. Some of the event locations include Bhutan, Glacier National Park and Nova Scotia, but you can do an independent challenge any time, anywhere. Participants can choose from more than 100 beneficiary organizations, including PeopleForBikes. That means you can enjoy a great ride and also contribute to making bike riding better across the U.S.

If you think there’s nothing exciting about riding in Iowa in the middle of summer, you’d be wrong. RAGBRAI is the largest bike touring event in the world and there’s a reason why people come from all over to participate. Yes, the riding is fun, but the atmosphere can’t be beat. Rest stops along the multi-day route feature local food vendors and you’re guaranteed to get a laugh from the hilariously-named teams.

On the higher end of bike trips are the all-inclusive tours put on by Trek Travel. With destinations all over the world, Trek Travel makes it easy by providing guides, bikes, gear, accommodations and support. From Italy to the Rocky Mountains, from road riding to mountain biking, the only hard part is choosing which trip to take.

Don’t try getting around New York City on the first Sunday in May because you’ll probably get rerouted. The Five Boro Bike Tour is the nation’s biggest cycling event, with about 32,000 cyclists participating. Proceeds fund Bike New York’s free bike education programs, which means you’re doing a good deed while riding on roads and over bridged across the five boroughs of NYC.

The second oldest 100-mile mountain bike race in the United States, the Leadville Trail 100 MTB was first run in 1994 and takes place in Leadville, Colorado on the second Saturday in August. With a total elevation gain of 11,000 feet, this mountain bike race is definitely not an entry-level event. You’ll be totally wiped if you finish, but you’ll get a special belt buckle for your effort.

What better way to navigate the hills of San Francisco than on a kid’s big wheel bike? The race takes place at 20th and Vermont Streets in San Francisco, California on Easter Sunday and features funny bikes and costumed riders. The event is held rain or shine and only plastic wheels are allowed.

Riders of all ages and levels can explore some of the best rail trails in the U.S. on the annual Rails-to-Trails Sojourn. The 2018 event will take place in Pennsylvania on the beautiful D&L Trail. The event is a fully supported bicycle tour that includes hot showers, great food, fun evening activities, and awesome optional trips.

With 70 cities participating, there’s bound to be a World Naked Bike Ride near you, or in a place you’ve always wanted to visit. Participants ride bikes naked to “celebrate cycling and the human body,” during the event which has been taking place for more than a dozen years. Participants see the event as a creative way to draw attention to the presence of bike riders and our worldwide dependence on non-renewable energy.

Bike MS is the largest fundraising bike series in the world. There are rides throughout the nation and route distances vary from 15 to 150 miles, including one day and multi-day events. You can ride as an individual or as a part of a team and each ride has a fundraising minimum and features cycling routes, support, volunteers and experiences. To date, Bike MS cyclists, volunteers, and donors have raised more than $1 billion for MS research.

A combo bike ride and music festival, the Pedaler’s Jamboree will celebrate its 10th year in 2018. Riders can enjoy the Katy Trail in Missouri by bike and then celebrate their accomplishment by jamming to a solid lineup of bands. The 2018 performers will be announced soon, but you can click here to see previous bands who have rocked the stage.

In September 2020, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) announced this year’s awards for the Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development grants (BUILD, formerly TIGER). Of the $1 billion in grants awarded, nearly $300 million focus on or support bicycle infrastructure and active transportation. Ranging from recreational trails to river walks, large interchanges and shoulder expansions, BUILD grants provide the necessary dollars to complete important transportation projects that would otherwise lack sufficient funding from other sources. 

This year, 21 of the 70 total projects include bicycle infrastructure, a significant increase compared to previous years of BUILD grants. Applicants (generally cities, counties and transportation authorities) recognize that adding and improving bike infrastructure not only makes their applications more competitive, but represents their communities’ needs to serve the growing number of people riding bikes for both transportation and recreation.

Jefferson Avenue and 20th Street Revitalization Corridors — St. Louis, MO

SR 96 Improvement Project: Providing the Critical Link Between I-16 and I-75 — Twiggs County, GA

More Americans than ever are relying on bikes as a means for efficient, socially distanced transportation and close-to-home recreation. Trail counters across the U.S. report a 75% increase in ridership compared to 2019, and governments at the local, state and federal levels face increased pressure to support the growing trends in active transportation by advancing infrastructure projects, enhancing safety and expanding mobility options. 

Nearly $300 Million in Federal Infrastructure Grants Include Bikes

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The Big Tree Loop

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Joe and Brook's After School Route - 1984-1986

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