Free Bicycle Ambassador Training Workshop - January 25, 2012 – Port Discovery

50 Bicycle Ambassadors Join Bike Maryland

Free Bicycle Ambassador Training Workshop - January 25, 2012 – Port Discovery

Contact:
Carol Silldoff, Bike Maryland Executive Director

410-960-6493 Carol@bikemd.org

Katie Gore, Bike Maryland Bike-MINDED Coordinator

410-262-2818 ktgoremtb@comcast.net

Marla Streb, Bike Maryland Bike-MINDED Coordinator

415-260-3991 Marla@bikemd.org

Maryland, January 18, 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: On Wednesday, January 25, 2012, non-profit Bike Maryland is training 50+ new Bike-MINDED Program Ambassadors to promote bicycle safety in Baltimore City and throughout Maryland. As part of a two year old partnership between Bike Maryland and the Maryland State Highway Administration, the Bike-MINDED Program Ambassador Training will be the first effort of this magnitude in Maryland to train bike safety educators in an effort to increase rider, driver, and walker safety while reducing crash and fatality rates.

Over the last two years, bicycle commuters within Baltimore City alone have increased by 41%. Bike Maryland and the Maryland State Highway Administration are working hard to recruit and educate Ambassadors on safety policies for youth and adult cyclists, as they take to the trails and roads. Ambassadors will be prepared to go into community and recreation centers, schools, and the workplace in an effort to educate Maryland cyclists on bike safety helping to reduce bicycle crash and fatality rates. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in 2009 there were 630 US bicyclist fatalities (down from 718 in 2008.) Like drivers on the roads, cyclists of all ages will now have the opportunity to participate in this safety course which will greatly impact bike safety in Maryland. With an increase in youth and adult cyclists on the roads, Bike Maryland has made the Bike-MINDED Program Ambassador training a major focus within its mission.

Participating Ambassadors will take part in a free training workshop to help prepare them to work with and teach the broader community including cyclists of all ages, as well as, walkers and drivers, about bike safety. Ambassadors will work side-by-side with Bike Maryland’s Program Coordinators for a series of community workshops, as part of their training, before heading out on their own. Each Ambassador is awarded throughout the program for their volunteer efforts as they help to increase bike safety and education throughout Maryland. Alongside Bike Maryland, Ambassadors will work to promote safe bicycling for fun, fitness, and transportation with a specific focus on youth bicycle safety classes in Baltimore and adult commuter workshops throughout Maryland!

Bike-Ambassadors are volunteers, educators, and enthusiast who are working to bring better bicycling to Maryland. Carefully selected for a love of bikes and an enthusiastic personality, Bike Ambassadors work to teach youth and adult bicycle safety.

The first Bike-MINDED Ambassador Training Workshop will take place:

January 25, 2012
FREE Bike Maryland Ambassador Training Workshop
Two Sessions:  12:30-4 p.m. or 5:30-9 p.m.
Location: Port Discovery Children's Museum, 35 Market Place, Baltimore, MD
21202 - Directions and parking here
<http://www.portdiscovery.org/generalinfo/directions> .

During this free Bike Maryland Ambassador Training Workshop - you will learn
how to teach youth bike safety and adult commuter workshops that are part of
the Bike Maryland Bike-MINDED Program <http://bikemd.org/page.php?id=359>
(http://bikemd.org/page.php?id=359). A meal will be served. Space is
limited. Click here to register (http://www.doodle.com/q9kb3m6wk76hcfnq) and
then fill in your name, check the time you are available to attend
the workshop and click on save.

For more information on the Ambassador program and a list of Bike-MINDED
partners, click here <http://bikemd.org/page.php?id=359>.

INTERESTED IN BIKE MARYLAND HOSTING A FREE WORKSHOP FOR YOUR COMPANY, SCHOOL, or COMMUNITY GROUP? Have a Bike Maryland instructor come to you! Support alternative modes of transportation with an adult commuter or youth bike class at your place of work, school, community center, place of worship etc.... Please contact us at www.bikemd.org to schedule a workshop.

Mission and who we are:

Bike Maryland is a non-profit whose mission is to promote cycling, increase safety, improve conditions, and provide a voice for bicyclists in Maryland. We do this by advocating at state and local levels for stronger bike-friendly legislation; by providing workshop trainings free to the community; by hosting fun and safe bike tour events for cyclists of all ages; and by increasing the infrastructure needed to make cycling a feasible form of everyday transportation.

For more information please visit www.bikemd.org