Cycle
As smoke drifts east and berms loosen, Protect Our Winters (POW) is helping the cycling community shift into high gear to take action for cleaner air and a healthier planet. With the launch of POW Bike, POW will organize pro athletes, brands, and the larger bike community to protect the places we ride and the lifestyle we love, along with everything living beyond the singletrack, from the impacts of warming.
The inaugural POW Bike team includes icons, world champions, Olympians, and local legends including Rebecca Rusch, Dillon Osleger, Kait Boyle, Kurt Refsnider, Christopher Blevins, Sarah Sturm, Barry Wicks, Matthew Lieto, Chris Cosentino, Serena Gordon, Alyssa Gonzalez, William Cadham, Mark Taylor, Lea Davison, Peter Stetina, Evelyn Dong, Lael Wilcox, Kathy Pruitt, Kate Courtney, Ted King, Sam Schultz, Caitlin Bernstein, and Hannah Bergemann.
“Mountain biking has given me a sense of community, a way to push and learn about myself and an opportunity to explore and experience the natural environment in all of the beautiful places my bike takes me. In the last few years, fire season has become a fixture of every summer in California—impacting air quality and decimating so many communities, open spaces and trail networks. The consequences of climate change go far beyond its impact on sport – but I believe as athletes, we have a unique connection to the environment and an opportunity to use our platforms to combat climate change and help protect these precious places for the future.”
– Kate Courtney, world champion, Olympian and racer of bikes
POW will support POW Bike Alliance athletes by providing training and resources on how to advocate for climate solutions from talking directly to lawmakers and influencing policy to turning out the outdoor sports community to vote. The Bike Alliance both athletes and brands will also be empowered to educate and organize the 52 million people in the U.S. who bike, nearly doubling the size of what POW calls the Outdoor State, or people in the US who regularly participate in outdoor recreation.
Camelbak, Wild Rye, and Cannondale make up the inaugural POW Bike Brand Alliance. “Our mission at Cannondale is to be an inclusive brand, and welcome people into the outdoors, where they can build a lifetime of memories on a bike. This mission comes with a responsibility to protect the places we love to play in, and ensure future generations have clean air to breathe and water to drink, and this is exactly why being a part of POW Bike is a natural partnership for us,” said Massimo Alpian, Global Head of Communications at Cannondale, who joined POW on Capitol Hill in June.
In addition to athletes, brands, and cyclists across the country, POW is also partnering with like-minded organizations and non-profits including People for Bikes. “Whether you’re riding to your local single-track trailhead or grabbing groceries by bike, you’re taking climate action. Cheers to our partners at POW for bringing professional bike athletes–natural climate advocates–into their alliance,” said PeopleForBikes President and CEO Jenn Dice. “We are stoked to work together to protect the places we all love to ride.”
