Bike Delaware celebrates 10 years of service 

Bike Delaware, the First State’s nonprofit advocacy organization for cycling and walking, turned 10 years old in March.

In the past 10 years, Delaware entered a new and unprecedentedly aggressive era of trail building, including the Lewes-Georgetown Trail, the Castle Trail connecting Delaware City and Chesapeake City, Md., and the Markell Trail connecting Wilmington and New Castle.

“We are proud of the campaign Bike Delaware has led over the last decade for Delaware’s phenomenally popular new trails,” said James Wilson, executive director of Bike Delaware. “But while Bike Delaware is best known for its trail advocacy, we do a lot more than trails. We are the only nonprofit in Delaware with a pedestrian safety mission. We work for better land-use policy and improved transit under the banner of Complete Communities, and helped Sen. McDowell and Rep. Osienski to pass their innovative Healthy and Transit-Friendly Development Act. And, of course, Delaware has the best bike laws in America because of our work with Rep. Mitchell and Sen. Sokola on the Bicycle Friendly Delaware Act, which has now inspired states from Arkansas to Washington to copy Delaware’s example.”

Every year, or at least whenever there isn’t a pandemic, Bike Delaware hosts the Walkable Bikeable Delaware Summit, which brings speakers with deep expertise from around the country and the world to Delaware to talk with government officials, planners, engineers and community leaders. Bike Delaware is also the proud custodian of a 35-year Kent County tradition, the famous Amish Country Bike Tour. Known as the ride for pie, this event in September is Delaware’s largest bike ride. It annually draws nearly 2,000 cyclists of all ages and abilities from throughout Delaware and the region for a day of cycling on the beautiful back roads of Kent County, with routes varying from 15 to 100 miles, along with friendship, fun, lunch and homemade local pie.

Bike Delaware is a member-supported, nonprofit charitable organization. To learn more, go to bikede.org.