
Pedaling Forward: Highlights from MassBike's Annual Meeting

On Saturday, January 25, 2025, MassBike Staff and Board hosted our Annual Meeting for a crowd of better bicycling advocates at the Major Taylor Museum in Worcester and virtually.
We shared some of our 2024 accomplishments and our thanks to the coalition members who make our work possible daily. Each of MassBike’s five staff members presented about their areas of expertise and shared how folks can get more involved on the local, regional, and state levels.
The meeting recording is now available on the MassBike YouTube Channel and you can read some of the highlights below. We extend our gratitude to everyone who joined us- whether in-person or virtually- your support is invaluable as we roll towards a more bike-friendly future.
Welcome to Worcester
Worcester Program Manager, Alex Salcedo, opened the meeting by welcoming everyone to Worcester and sharing her 2024 program accomplishments.
“We brought together the biking community in new and exciting ways, reminding us why we do this work,” said Alex.
Our Worcester engagement included community bike rides on Worcester’s first parking-protected bike lanes on Mill Street. MassBike hosted monthly rides throughout the summer months that had an average of almost 40 attendees per ride. These rides showcased the protected bike lanes and worked to build the bicycling community.
We also expanded MassBike’s e-bike program to ten additional communities and implemented a new model that provided income-based rebates between 60-75% of the cost of an e-bike.
“This expansion not only made e-bikes more accessible,” said Alex. “but also provided a boost to local bike shops, helping them reach new customers and grow their businesses.”
Our work in Worcester will continue to roll in 2025, Alex announced that thanks to a grant awarded by the Climate Advocacy Lab, we’ll be preparing a toolkit about our e-bike program to support policymakers and communities interested in implementing their own programs.
MassBike’s Strategic Planning Process
MassBike Board Chair, Doug Cornelius, provided an overview of MassBike’s strategic planning work with Community Consulting Teams who helped put together a SWOT Analysis and draft a supporter survey.
“They held dozens of interviews with staff, community partners, board members, and funders to identify our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats,” said Doug.
Our strengths included our ability to activate policy, and our weaknesses included staff capacity and the need to manage priorities. A surprise to the Board was a perception that MassBike is primarily advocating for “MAMILs” (Middle Aged Men in Lycra), which showed that we need to better define the organization to show that we’re advocating for riders of all ages and abilities.
“We’re going to digest all this great work to help us better define what MassBike is, what we stand for, what we do, and what we should do more of,” Doug remarked. “And then we got to put together a multi-year strategic plan to map out our growth, set goals, set priorities, and especially measure our successes.”
You can help guide MassBike’s strategic planning process by filling out our 2025 Supporter Survey. We need input from better bicycling advocates from across Massachusetts to inform our strategic plan and vision for the future.
Bicycling Education
Massbike Executive Director, Galen Mook, discussed MassBike’s statewide educational impacts for youth through Safe Routes to School and our driver trainings to help increase empathy towards vulnerable road users.
“A lot of what we’ve been able to do this year is also reaching drivers,” said Galen. “And I think that is absolutely key in order to make not just the empathy of our roads a little bit more ingrained in how we treat each other on our roadways.”
Thanks to a grant from the National Safety Council, we are working with LivableStreets Alliance and the RMV to build out vulnerable user modules that will be implemented in every driving school in the state.
Galen thanked the incredible part-time instructors who supported our education efforts, especially our Safe Routes to School and youth education work, and invited those who are interested in becoming a bicycling educator to reach out. We’re always looking for more instructors and to get more people League Cycling Instructor certified to grow the base of qualified bicycling educators across the commonwealth.
Legislative Advocacy
In 2024, we supported both state and federal legislative efforts. Hosting a lobby day in Massachusetts and joining the League of American Bicyclists in DC for their lobby day on Capitol Hill.
Galen highlighted that our legislators in Washington are all bike-friendly allies. “We hosted a Bike Month kickoff where Congresswoman Pressley came and gave a stirring speech on the combination of bike advocacy, mobility, justice, equity, and civil rights and how that is all ingrained,” he said.
Galen outlined two legislative wins on the state level: utility corridors public access for trails and the establishment of a micro-mobility commission.
“We know that we are well behind in our climate goals and our mode shift goals, and getting people out of single occupancy vehicles,” said Galen. “And one of the best ways to do that, as we’ve seen here in Worcester, is to give options that are useful for people to get around everyday riding.”
2025 brings a new legislative session in Massachusetts and we’re inviting people to build connections with their elected officials at our Massachusetts Lobby Day on February 11th.
Mass Central Rail Trail + Connected Networks
MassBike Communications Director, Jes Slavin, shared her experience on the Mass Central Rail Trail Northampton to Boston Ride and how it could be used as a case study for effective advocacy that brings stakeholders together for a behind-the-handlebars perspective. The three-day ride included community events celebrating the trail and stops to talk with local advocates about their current challenges.
“It brought together policymakers, funders, and local advocates so that the people who are going to be making the decisions about finishing the trail saw what it was like on the ground, saw what the local advocates were up against, and were able to brainstorm some ways that they could help get this trail finished,” Jes remarked.
One of MassBike’s goals is to connect all 351 municipalities with a network of safe infrastructure so that no matter your age or ability you can ride safely. The MassTrails Priority Network Vision for our trails is a big piece of the puzzle and MassBike is going to continue to advocate for filling in the gaps with on-street infrastructure and additional trails.
Jes ended her presentation by encouraging others to put together a behind-the-handlebars experience like the Mass Central Rail Trail Ride N2B to highlight their projects and showcase their vision to stakeholders.
Building the Coalition
Our Administrative Coordinator, Emma Walter, and Regional Advocacy Specialist, Alexis Hosea-Abbot, took part in a panel discussion moderated by Jes Slavin.
Emma shared how she grew MassBike’s volunteer program in 2024 by offering consistent opportunities for people to get involved and collaborating with local bike-friendly organizations for volunteer nights.
“It’s important to have a diversity of perspective of people that are involved,” said Emma. “I’m always thinking about vulnerable road users and how we’re all vulnerable road users. So, you don’t have to be an avid cyclist.”
Originally a MassBike volunteer before becoming a staffer, Alexis talked about the importance of getting engaged with regional planning organizations and municipalities. She highlighted her new Council of Advocates initiative, where she is seeking 10-20 individuals from around the state to up-level regional concerns and grow their bicycling advocacy skills with Massbike’s guidance.
“I just think it’s very important to support our planners to make the best plans for the future,” said Alexis. “And I think we need to hear from everybody.”
Advocate of the Year: Etel Haxhiaj
Worcester Program Manager, Alex Salcedo, presented our Advocate of the Year award to Worcster’s District 5 City Councillor, Etel Haxhiaj. Etel has been a vocal supporter of safer roadways for all users and has worked to implement policies to reduce fatal crashes in the city.
“Her incredible commitment to better cycling and mobility equity has been front and center in the implementation of the Vision Zero Safety Action Plan, the adoption of the 25-mile statutory speed limit, and the defense of the first Parking protected bike lanes in Worcester,” remarked Alex.
Alex went on to praise Etel for her deep empathy and dedication to safer roadways. In addition to her work on the City Council, Etel supported several MassBike events in 2024, attending our E-Bike Program Graduation and several community bike rides on Mill Street.
Etel gave thanks to the many people who have helped educate her on safer roadways, noting that she has never been an expert but grew up riding bikes for transportation in her native country of Albania. When she came to America she missed the feeling of building community with her neighbors that bicycling had brought her. She shared that MassBike’s events have centered community building and joy, which should be at the heart of all our advocacy.
“I want to share this award with you all, with the Worcester advocates and most importantly, with the families that we have lost and the people we have lost in the streets of Worcester because of decades long policies and infrastructure that has made our roads and streets unsafe,” said Etel.
Get Involved
Our Annual Meeting was a showcase of MassBike’s work in 2024, but more importantly, it showed how we are only as strong as our coalition. We need better bicycling supporters from across Massachusetts to help inform our advocacy and keep our wheels rolling.
Here are a few ways that you can help us continue to build momentum in 2025:
Take our 2025 Supporter Survey
Our strategic planning process needs your input! Take 5-10 minutes today to share your thoughts and help guide the next phase of our strategic planning.
Our advocacy depends on gifts from generous supporters like you! Please take a moment to give $30, $60, or $100 today to support our work.
Grow the Coalition
Share MassBike’s work with your network and help us grow the coalition! The more voices that join us in the calls for better bicycling, the bigger the potential impact. Forward this post to 5 friends and invite them to join MassBike’s mailing list.