The 2018 New York State Bike Summit was the premier event for sharing ideas and insights on advancing bicycling across the Empire State.

Bike Summit 2018 DSC 1989 300pxWe were delighted to see more than 200 diverse panelists and registrants exchanging information and ideas in sixteen exciting panels, two plenaries and one artisan beer award reception. From the advancement of the Empire Trail to empowering women to bike to getting into the nitty gritty of applications of New York State law to bike crashes, the summit encouraged a productive discourse between planners, policy makers, advocates, and every day cyclists, setting New York State on course to become one of the most bicycle friendly states in the country by 2020.

Summit Highlights:

  • On Thursday, we hosted a NYSERDA-funded Active Transportation workshop to provide education on complete streets planning to urban planners and transportation professionals from across New York State
  • Our opening Bike and Beer ride was held in honor of Saratoga Springs-bike builder Ben Serotta, who joined us on the ride
  • The summit opened with comments from Megan Kelly, City of Saratoga Springs Mayor, Matthew Driscoll, Executive Director of the New York State Thruway, and a Rob Limoges from NYSDOT.
  • Our lunchtime plenary featured Empire State Trail planners and project managers providing updates on the 750-mile Empire State Trail (on track to be completed in 2020)
  • The energy of the summit was carried to two bike rides on Saturday —Adventure Cycling’s #BikeYourParkDay ride in the Saratoga National Historical Park and Saratoga Greenbelt Committee-guided 20-mile tour of the city’s premier bike path project

Award Recipients

Each year, we honor those who have compelled New York State towards becoming a safer, more comfortable and more connected place for residents, tourists and visitors to ride their bikes. This year, we honored the following individuals and organizations: 

Ben Serotta – Lifetime Achievement & Innovation in Bicycling
Doug Haller – President Emeritus Bikeatoga, Lifetime Achievement Award
Bike New York – Organizational Excellence & Innovation Award
Susan Levin - Women's Cycling Champion
Harvey Botzman  - Lifetime Bicycle Champion
Richard DeSarra - Lifetime Bicycle Champion
Lois Chaplin - Lifetime Achievement in Bicycle Education
Gabriella O'Shea - Safe Cycling Fighter

Special thanks to our generous roster of sponsors—their financial support allowed us to drive down registration cost to far below the per person cost of a statewide summit at the luxurious Gideon Putnam—and ensure folks under our tent represented every segment of the bike world in New York State, including everyday cyclists and students.