mattotoole

VBF just announced our annual Cross-State Ride for 2009:

https://www.vabike.org/2009-cross-state-ride/

We hope to get as many local cyclists as possible join us for each stage. Please look at our itinerary to see when we'll be passing through your area. Then schedule a ride-along ride for your club.

Come join us for the day, or for as many days as you can!

The Cross-State Ride is held every year by VBF to promote bicycle tourism in Virginia, especially on Bike 76. This year, starting with the Cross-State Ride, we're starting a program of passports, certificates, and achievement pins for riders who complete all 570 miles of Bike 76 in Virginia.

tulip

Is this in conjunction with Bike Virginia? Is VBF associated with BikeWalkVirginia? I've lived here for a year, but I haven't figured it all out yet.

mattotoole

We're two separate organizations. A lot of the same people have been involved with both. In theory there could be overlap but in practice there's none. We each have our jobs to do.

BikeWalk Virginia runs Bike Virginia, the largest bike event in the state. They also do other big rides. With money raised from that they do education-oriented stuff, like Safe Routes to School programs. They have paid staff to write grants, etc. They do a lot of good, but taking grant money precludes them from lobbying.

That's where VBF comes in. We're all-volunteer, so we're free to lobby for bike-friendly legislation. Read Bud's reports from the Capitol to see what we do there. The rest of our activities are about networking with other advocates (including BikeWalk), and with people in agencies like VDOT and DCR.

So VBF does more actual advocacy, while BikeWalk does more outreach.

VBF's Cross-State Ride is nothing like Bike Virginia! Cross-State is a small group, maybe 8-20 core riders plus whoever joins us for the day, while Bike Virginia is a huge event with over 2000.

If you're trying to figure out who to give your money to, just give it to us!