Gary Sjoquist 20 Years of Bicycle Advocacy
Posted by Bikeverywhere, March 26th, 2018Gary Sjoquist has been a professional bicycle advocate for 20 years, long enough to accumulate a rich trove of stories that put him in the middle of some of the most significant advancements in recent bicycle history. Hired in 1998 by Quality Bicycle Products, Gary says he was given a “long leash” to do what he could for the promotion of bicycling in Minnesota and across the nation. His fingerprints are all over the $25 million federal grant to promote bicycling in Minneapolis, he was a founder and early executive director of Bikes Belong, now People for Bikes, he was instrumental in Safe Routes to Schools, Cayuna Lakes Mountain Bike Trails and most recently the NICA High School Mountain Bike League. He’s been inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in the Marin Museum of Bicycling.
Gary told his story this weekend at the last of the 2018 SpokesPeople series at the Cycling Museum of Minnesota. His entertaining talk was rich in anecdotal information and creative tactics for getting everyone from powerful congressmen to local business leaders on board with bicycling programs. He makes bicycle advocacy sound like fun.
Thanks to Gary for his tireless advocacy on behalf of bicyclists and to the Cycling Museum of Minnesota for their wide ranging SpokesPeople series of talks.