Background - The First Post!

This is the introductory post of what will be an epic adventure, cycling and learning in The Netherlands, beginning June 28th.

A little background about myself:

I grew up in Wisconsin, just outside Milwaukee. I attended UW-Milwaukee for three years as a pre-nursing student, but decided that was not for me. I headed out west, settled in San Francisco where I lived for six years. It was in San Francisco that I was introduced to the ultimate utility of the bicycle. I went back to school at SF State, started volunteering at the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, and obtained a degree in Geography. A year after graduating from SF State I moved to Brooklyn and enrolled in the Urban Planning Graduate Program at Hunter College. I currently intern at the New York City Department of Transportation in the Bicycle Program, and have had the privilege of working on a number of bicycle projects. I also work part-time for New York City Bike Share as an Outreach Ambassador, assisting people with questions about the system or signing them up to use it.

This course offers a great opportunity to learn from those who have excelled at bicycle planning. I look forward to taking what I learn in The Netherlands back to the chaotic streets of New York City, as the popularity of cycling continues to grow along with the desire for safer streets.

Somehow I made it on the cover of the Metro about the one year anniversary for Bike Share.