Dear Mayor Curtis,

Thank you for your (almost magical) advocacy for Provo residents who walk and ride bicycles in the city.

Eight years ago, a small group approached you and asked if they could work towards making Provo more bicycle-friendly. You invited us to become the mayor’s Provo Bicycle Committee.

Since then, you’ve worked in public and in private to make our streets safer for all road users, including kids headed to school, bicycle commuters, moms pushing strollers, and BYU students.

As you’re headed to Washington, we just wanted to let you know one thing. We remember.

Remember when you made it a priority to understand our concerns by riding your bicycle to work on Provo’s streets for 100 days in a year? We remember.

Remember when state agencies told us there was no way of getting bike lanes on University Ave? But, just before the project was finalized, the lanes showed up in the plan anyway? We remember.

Remember when you were willing to stand up (in spite of push-back) for trying new things? Like the city’s first bicycle-friendly intersection or the buffered bicycle lanes soon coming to Bulldog Boulevard? We remember.

Remember when your family rode a bicycle in the Independence Day Parade and invited community cyclists to join in the fun? We remember. 

Remember when you hosted Bike-to-School Week, Clear-the-Air Challenges, and all of the Bike-to-Work Weeks. We remember.

Remember when you always heard us out, even when we weren’t the most patient? We remember.

Remember when you took a Taco Crawl throughout downtown on a tandem? We remember.

Remember all the little and big risks you took to make streets safer for all of us? We won’t forget. 

Thank you, Mayor Curtis.

Sincerely,

So many families, students, children, seniors, and people who enjoy Provo’s streets.

For the last five years, the Provo Bicycle Committee has recognized a dedicated bicycle commuter with Golden Spoke Award at the annual Mayor’s Bike to Work Day in May. Starting last year, to remind folks that we can commute to work and school by bicycle all year round, even in the dead of winter, the Committee inaugurated the Golden Spoke Winter Bicycle Commuter Award, and Canyon Bicycles has kindly acted as the sponsor for the winter award.

Last year, the committee recognized Lexi Williamson, a BYU student who lives on the west side and commutes to campus year round by bicycle.

This year, we would again like to recognize another west-sider. To introduce his story take a look at this short clip from KSL news that was broadcast last April.

In the report, Stan says “I have fallen in love with bike riding. I ride a lot—good weather, bad weather.” You may have also noticed him wearing Adobe bike shorts.

His wife Becky shared with us the following:

“When he made the goal to lose 100 pounds, he was already in the habit of using Frontrunner to get to work at Adobe, but he started riding his bike to get to the Orem train station and then from the Lehi station up the hill to the Adobe building. At first he biked two or three times a week but before long it was every day. He didn’t commute that first winter but he has ever since. He’s pretty stubborn about riding regardless of the weather.

At first he always rode to the Orem station but after several months changed to the Provo station. It’s a little bit farther and but it’s a safer route because going to Orem he would be on Geneva Road. [BTW, the two roads Stan would like Provo to make safer for bicyclists are Geneva and 900 East.] At first he used the Lehi station exclusively but now he usually rides to the American Fork station at the end of his workday, just to get more miles in (and to lose more weight.) Through most of the summer, he would ride from Lehi all the way home (26 miles) every Friday. In 2015, Stan rode just shy of 7000 miles, both through commuting and recreationally.”

Becky continued by writing, “Adobe pays for their employee’s Frontrunner passes. This made all the difference in his decision to ride his bike to work. Otherwise, it would have been rather expensive, and it’s hard to say if he would’ve developed the habit of using Frontunner. Adobe’s commuter check program–the biking incentive program–pays him $20 per month which is very nice. Stan says he would commute anyway, even without that incentive, because he likes it. I think though, that this commuter check program has had an indirect effect as well: Adobe has a cycling community and that it makes a difference when you have buddies at work that you share bike riding stories with.

In conclusion, Becky wrote, “It is probably not exaggerating to say that bicycle commuting has saved Stan’s life. Losing weight has increased the quality of his life immeasurably. The key to his successful weight loss has been consistency, and that consistency has been facilitated by combining his exercise with his commute to work. He’s in the best shape of his adult life. He loves to get out in the fresh air every single day”—even in the dead of winter.

Congratulations to Stan Paulson, the recipient of the 2016 Canyon Bicycles’ Golden Spoke Winter Commuter Award! I hope Provo residents will emulate Stan, and employers—including Provo City—will emulate Adobe by offering their employees incentives to use active transportation and improve their health and lives. It is a pleasure to present this award to Stan today, which happens to his and Becky’s 25th wedding anniversary. Congratulations!

Check out more about Stan from the Adobe blog.