A History of Cycling Advocacy
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Health & Happiness

Fulton Tom, HUB Cycling New Westminster committee co-chair

I would drive to the community centre to take fitness classes, and after a while I thought, "why I am doing this?" It seemed strange to leave work, get in a car and go to a fitness centre to exercise, and I was sort of looking for something to keep me active.
And I decided one day, you know what, I'm going to see if I can bike to work.

Ken Ohrn, former HUB Cycling director, Price Tags co-editor

I discovered that a bike is a wonderful way to maintain fitness. You can get into cardio to as great or as little extent as you want.
If you're just going to go to the grocery store for a litre of milk, it's leisurely and easy. If you want to do a long ride, you can push it, you can go up hills and so on. 
So you can peg your cardio wherever you want.

Dustin Anderson, "The Purple Pirate" children's entertainer

I had a pivotal moment where I saw this young girl who was a huge fan of the Purple Pirate. Quite overweight — six, seven years old, probably 150, 160 pounds. And when mom brought out the candy, her eyes went 'bling', and it was like an addict. 
So I thought — active living. I developed a show based on that. And I decided to commit to being car-free.

Carmen Mills, former editor The Spoke'n Word & co-founder Momentum Magazine

It's a physical practice. It's a direct experience of the world. I didn't get into biking for any kind of altruistic reason, or to get into shape, or anything.
I got into it because it felt good, it made the world great for me. There was that feeling when you're riding that you're part of the air, and you're part of the road, and you're part of the city, and it's part of you.

Dave Perfitt, former member of North Vancouver Joint Bicycle Advisory Committee & VACC volunteer

After a stressful work day, you process what happened, you get your breathing up, it becomes rhythmic. It's a good way to unwind.
You get home and you've worked out some of the stuff that you faced during the day.