Shifting Gears and Switching Lanes

Biking in the Upstate has been my home to explore and document bike-related stories and issues that have been relevant to the growing bike culture of South Carolina's Upstate. For more than four and a half years I enjoyed sharing and discussing these opportunities and challenges with you. This has been an amazing opportunity to build knowledge, pass along the latest biking news and share experiences.

However, for a while, I've been considering how I could stay active in promoting biking while allowing myself to grow. As you may have noticed, this summer my blog posts dropped off from my typical four posts a month. As some things in my life were shifting, I started to wonder if this was also a good time to start switching gears with my blog and efforts related to advocating for biking. I have really enjoyed sharing local, state and national biking news, documenting great case studies and exploring how biking can influence lives and impact communities through my blog – and with you.

Still wanting to make an impact and be involved with the biking community, it took me a while to figure out what the right outlet would continue to be for my interests, skills and passion. Continue with the blog? Become active in a local biking non-profit? Do more group riding? Early this summer an opportunity came up the Palmetto Cycling Coalition, the state bicycle advocacy organization, that aligned with my interests, so I jumped at it. It’ll be a great chance to meet new people, grow in my ability to continue to support biking and learn how things operate from a new perspective.

I’m excited to be starting on a new adventure devoting my volunteer time to help drive biking improvements at the state level. While my day job will continue to allow me to stay tuned into local issues, I’m looking forward in my extra time to getting involved at a larger scale. My love of living an active lifestyle, having a lighter environmental footprint and having fun is sure to continue to inspire me to support improvements in biking and walking where I live. 

So, officially, I’m going to be stepping down and signing off from this blog. There may be an occasional future update or story to share, but my efforts will largely be focused on work through other means. I do still enjoy connecting with folks, so I will stay active on Twitter (at least for a while). You can follow me at BikingintheUpstateSC.

Thank you for support and interest during this journey. I appreciate the comments, stories and support. I know that biking in the Upstate will continue to improve and grow. I am excited to help propel it in new ways. Happy Trails!