Cycling the Road to Freedom
A Journey along The Underground Railroad
Street Address
150 E Pine Street
City
Missoula
State/Province
Montana
Postal/Zip Code
59802
Country
United States
Year innovation began
2003
Geotourism Challenge Addressed by Entrant
Quality of tourism management and impact on the destination
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Indicate sector in which you principally work
Tourism-related business
Geographic location
Multiple locations.
Main insight addressed
Education through hands-on experience
Name Your Project
Cycling the Road to Freedom: A Journey along The Underground Railroad
Describe Your Idea
What is the goal of your innovation?
Create a bicycle route that honors the Underground Railroad while attracting underserved demographics to the health/recreation benefits of cycling.
How does your approach support or embody geotourism?
The long, difficult struggle to free enslaved people in the U.S. and to restore their human rights is an integral part of our collective history and identity. The Underground Railroad Bicycle Route (UGRBR) focuses awareness on this cross-cultural struggle, highlights the obstacles, triumphs, and bravery of Americans — both black and white — who risked their own safety for the freedom of others, and presents an opportunity to heal emotional and psychological wounds from the past.
Traveling under one’s own power, great distances at the mercy of the elements and relying on the kindness of strangers, provides plenty of opportunity to peek into history and reflect. Cycling past civil war monuments, murky swamps, and historically black churches in the South; crossing the Mason Dixon Line to find a bevy of safe houses and museums devoted to preserving the story of the Underground Railroad (UGR); experiencing natural landscapes that change dramatically as the route flows north.
Immersed in the route’s communities, culture, and landscapes, cyclists can engage with their surroundings and its heritage in a uniquely rich manner, gaining immense health, cultural, and spiritual benefits, with no negative environmental impact.
Describe your approach in detail. How is it innovative?
Pairing bicycle travel with a historical theme is not entirely novel, however this authentic experience, a self-powered exploration of the Underground Railroad, makes this project distinctively innovative. The journey connects cyclists directly to history as they follow the relative path that so many took in their bid for freedom. Escaping slaves took thousands of different routes, so we used the slave spiritual, “Follow the Drinking Gourd,” as a starting point.
Also, our partnership with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Minority Health (CMH) is unique. CMH is dedicated to the elimination of racial and ethnic health disparities and focuses on community-based interventions to empower people to take charge of their health.
Over the past four years, we have shared cultural and technical expertise to bring this route to life and reach out to new cyclist, both nationally and in Pittsburgh. We have cultivated greater diversity in our cycling photography and magazine articles, increased our beginner-level tours, created shorter, day trip maps, and used more inclusive and accessible language. CMH promoted cycling in their Healthy Black Families project, founded a Pittsburgh Major Taylor Cycling Club, and have used health indicators on participants/staff to show the health benefits of cycling.
What types of partnerships or professional development would be most beneficial in spreading your innovation?
Local partnerships are critical in creating and distributing 10-20 mile day trip maps like those created for Ripley, Ohio. Here we utilized local cycling knowledge to map three short loops along a portion of the UGRBR and Brown County Tourism received a grant to produce and distribute them for free.
Making a portion of the route accessible to day trip cyclists, novices, and families expands a community’s knowledge and understanding of their part of this story. Experiential learning opportunities created through additional partnerships with health organizations, schools, churches, and youth groups would be very beneficial.
In one sentence describe what kind of impact, change, or reform your approach is intended to achieve.
To connect with populations and cyclists outside our current demographic, especially African Americans, offering a quality, culturally relevant cycling experience.
Describe the degree of success of your approach to date. Clearly define how you measure quantitative and qualitative impact in terms of how your approach contributes to the sustainability or enhancement of local culture, environment, heritage, or aesthetics? How does your approach minimize negative impacts? 200 words or less
No exact method of counting cyclists using the route exists. However we can look at several quantitative indicators. UGRBR map sales have exceeded expectation with 3,208 sold to date. Since 2006, Pittsburgh’s Major Taylor Cycling Club has grown from 19 to 75 members. In 2007, UGRBR tours filled, with 16 (self-contained tour) and 87 (supported event) riders.
Qualitatively, we have successfully reached new demographics. On the event tour we welcomed families, a variety of ages and experience levels, and the most African Americans than in any previous entire season!
The tour received unprecedented media coverage and support from local communities. Events with schools, local agencies, UGR organizations, bike clubs, advocacy groups, and museums/historical sites were integrated. Media coverage included National Public Radio, Smithsonian, USA Today, Detroit Free Press, Washington Post, Associated Press, and the special, produced by WPXI in Pittsburgh, “Biking Through Black History.” This attention impacts tourism related to the UGR and encourages historic site and story preservation.
The National Park Service Network to Freedom Program and National Underground Railroad Freedom Center support us, and with our Advisory Board, ensure cultural sensitivity and representational accuracy. We ensure route quality by creating map addenda based upon suggestions sent in by cyclists.
How does your program promote traveler enthusiasm, satisfaction, and engagement with the locale?
Bike travelers are especially engaged due to the level of planning a long-distance trip entails. On the road, bike travelers stop more often and engage with the local clientele due to their slower pace, exertion-level, and the elements. For the “do-it-yourself” traveler, we provide numerous resources on our maps and website. Resources are two-fold: bike travel know-how and UGR interpretive information. On our tours, we provide a “Before You Go” handbook, including recommended reading lists. We also plan events, history lessons, and museums/historical site visits on the UGRBR tours.
Describe how your innovation helps travelers and local residents better understand the value of the area’s cultural and natural heritage, and educates them on local environmental issues. How do you motivate them to act responsibly in their future travel decisions?
When traveling by bicycle, the traveler and local resident are more apt to interact. Barriers are broken due to pace and exposure, cultivating approachability. Often residents are curious or sympathetic when they see touring cyclists. As a result, there are usually dynamic exchanges on local issues, history, customs, and the how and why of traveling thousands of miles by bicycle. Because sites, services, local history, and geographical information are included on our maps and tours, we encourage touring cyclists to engage with local residents as ambassadors for the greater bicycling community through our publications and programs.
In what ways are local residents actively involved in your innovation, including participation and community input? How has the community responded to or benefited from your approach?
We utilized local knowledge in the route’s development and hundreds of local contacts received an introductory letter/brochure. Local residents continue to be involved with planned events, by providing services and local know-how, and through casual interactions. We collaborate with On Line Computer Library Center’s initiative, WebJunction, to connect with community libraries (a welcome resource for traveling cyclists). We seek partnerships for tour events, interpretive information, and the day trip map projects. Cyclists share insights on our online forums and “Ride Registry.” Locals benefit from these interactions, the tourism dollars spent, and the limited environmental impact of cyclists.
This Entry is about (Issues)
Is your initiative financially and organizationally sustainable? If not, what is required to make it so? What is the potential demand for your innovation?
Once a route is established ACA maintains it through a comment card feedback system. Valuable route, site, and service changes are first incorporated via online addenda available for free from our website. When maps are reprinted, updates are reflected. Route researchers are also sent out to develop alternatives to trouble areas, spurs into cities (such as Pittsburgh to Erie for the UGRBR), and connectors to other routes. We promote maps and tours to our members (43,000) and to a developed UGRBR press list. Potential demand, which ranges in the hundreds per year, can be met through map sales and tours.
How is your initiative currently financed? If available, provide information on your finances and organization that could help others. Please list: Annual budget, annual revenue generated, size of part-time, full-time and volunteer staff.
Route research was initially financed through a combination of membership donations and grants ($20,000 from REI, $10,000 from Bikes Belong). Staffing includes a route coordinator, cartography, sales, tours, and media/marketing. Since releasing the route in 2007, staff time has significantly reduced, however initial investment included:
Staff salary – mapping and outreach 70,600
Contract research on route and profile 6,000
Administrative costs 7,300
Travel 5,600
Postage 1,825
Promotional material 1,500
Printing 5,700
Telephone 1,260
Hardware 630
Miscellaneous 500
Software 350
TOTAL 101,265
Today, the route is financed through membership donations, and map and tour sales. For information on organizational annual budget, see our Annual Report www.adventurecycling.org/whoweare/AC_07_Annual_Report.pdf
What is your plan to expand your approach? Please indicate where/how you would like to grow or enhance your innovation, or have others do so.
We are already expanding the route by creating 10-20 mile day trip maps, and the first spur route off the main corridor, connecting Pittsburgh to Erie, PA. Plans are underway to produce a day trip map for Louisville, KY and a second spur will be developed in 2009. These expansions will increase awareness of and involve more UGR communities in the project, as well as attract more people to enjoy an active exploration of history. We are also in the planning stages of creating another historical route honoring the Trail of Tears.
What are the main barriers you encounter in managing, implementing, or replicating your innovation? What barriers keep your program from having greater impact?
The main organizational barrier is staff time. With almost 38,000 total miles of routes to maintain, our cartographers’ workload severely limits route expansion and replication with different historical themes. UGRBR additions are carefully planned to integrate with the map addenda and reprints. Also our cartography department is currently in transition from graphic map creation to GIS (Geographic Information System); this takes training and time. All of our existing routes will be converted to the database system over the next few years. This complication, in addition to other evolving projects of national significance, have stretched our work force and pushed our efforts to develop a Trail of Tears Bicycle Route into 2010. Another less controllable barrier to greater impact is cycling itself. Cycling needs to be accessible both in terms of bicycle availability and safe and encouraging places to ride. As people gain more experience, their confidence in taking bicycling to the next level increases. Beyond that, the barriers are awareness and time. People need to know the route exists and they need the time off from work to enjoy it.
Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers' marketing material.
As the New Routes Coordinator for Adventure Cycling Association, Ginny Sullivan is responsible for coordinating two major projects. Ginny’s work supports the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO) efforts to define a U.S. Bicycle Route System. Ginny works in the Routes and Mapping Department on developing routes, including the Underground Railroad Bicycle Route. She is an ardent fitness advocate, a skilled and driven organizer, and a highly personable outreach specialist who works with a wide variety of people and groups. Ginny holds a Bachelors degree in Communications from Montana State University and studied English at the University of Montana.
What is the origin of your innovation? Tell your story.
Adventure Cycling Association (ACA), founded in 1973 as Bikecentennial, organized a TransAmerica bicycle ride to celebrate America’s bicentennial (drawing 4,100 cyclists in 1976). Now America’s largest bicycling non-profit with 44,000 members, our mission is to inspire people of all ages to travel by bicycle to explore the landscapes and history of America for fitness, fun and self-discovery.
Established in 1994 through a R.K. Mellon Foundation grant, The Center for Minority Health (CMH) is located in the Graduate School of Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh. CMH is dedicated to the elimination of racial and ethnic health disparities by the year 2010. CMH focuses on community-based interventions to empower people to take charge of their health.
In 2003 ACA conceptualized the Underground Railroad Bicycle Route (UGRBR) after a survey of the membership. Following the success of our Lewis & Clark Bicycle Trail (published in 2002); ACA knew that heritage touring was gaining popularity. More importantly, ACA realized that tracing a representative freedom trail would welcome a more diverse demographic to bicycle travel – for history, health, and recreation. According to the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA), bicycling is the most popular outdoor recreation activity in America, however, cycling is not as popular in the South and African Americans make up only 6% of the cycling population. For CMH, the challenge to eliminate ethnic health disparities requires interventions that are scientifically sound and culturally appropriate. Lack of physical activity is a risk factor in several leading causes of preventable disease, and minority populations are especially at risk; blacks are 2-3 times more likely to develop diabetes compared to whites (CDC, 2004). For bicycling to grow, the bike movement needs to reach out with new, culturally relevant approaches – like the Underground Railroad Bicycle Route.
ACA worked with the National Park Service and UGR historians to conceptualize a route using the “Follow the Drink Gourd” song as a navigational guide to the Ohio River, a crossing point from slavery. From there historic sites took the route through Ohio. Buffalo, NY provides the crossing point to Canada and the terminus of the route at Owen Sound, a town originally settled by blacks. In 2006 an Advisory Board, representing spiritual, transportation, bicycling, health, human rights, education and media interests, formed and meets bi-monthly to review project planning. Calling themselves “Rock Stars,” the intrepid cyclists riding the inaugural tour (self-contained, carrying their gear) were treated to a more media and community attention than any tour since the 1976 Bicentennial tour. Another tour, fully supported (luggage truck and catered meals) with 87 cyclists, covered 250 miles ending at the 145th Annual Emancipation Day Festival in Owen Sound.
CMH has seen incredible growth with the Pittsburgh Major Taylor Cycling Club which is also working with an inner-city school to help educate and train youth, receiving 10 bicycles from REI, Inc. CMH partnered with WPXI TV to produce an award winning 30 minute special that highlighted the route, cycling’s health benefits, UGR history, and safe cycling techniques.
Please write an overview of your project. This text will appear when people scroll over the icon for your entry on the Google map located on the competition homepage.
The Underground Railroad Bicycle Route was created through a partnership between Adventure Cycling Association and the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Minority Health. Our organizations recognize the capacity for bicycle travel to build stronger cross-cultural relationships while promoting lifelong health through physical activity available to people of all ages and socioeconomic backgrounds. The UGRBR traverses 8 states and 1 Canadian province, from Alabama to Ontario, following the water ways north as slaves might have done previous to the Civil War. The route demonstrates the use of cultural tailoring designed to get people physically active.
Our objectives are: to grow bicycling enthusiasts by reaching out to new populations; to develop working partnerships with affected communities to develop and promote the UGRBR route; to publish 2 kinds of maps – one suited for long-distance cyclists and one for novice or casual cyclists who want short day rides; and to generate visibility for the route, the Underground Railroad’s history, and for the many benefits of bicycling via outreach, promotions, and special events. We sell maps, provide tours and encourage other groups to use our route. CMH is involved in local initiatives, encouraging other organizations to replicate their work through innovative partnerships and active-based programs.
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