Jerry Zebrak was on the Reno Bicycle Council in the 80’s and 90’s and he has no illusions about what happened.

“It was sponsored by all the bike stores in Reno,” Zebrak said. “At that time, no one wanted to listen to us, so we gave up.”

That explains why bike shops are not more engaged with bicycle safety advocacy today in Reno. They were crushed. What was the justification back then?

“The City Council at that time felt that they were unable to spend the money. It was the same with Washoe County.”

Now, Jan and Jerry Zebrak are back! They are trying to get the Regional Transportation Commission and City of Reno to follow Federal Bikeway Selection Guide standards on a deadly stretch of road (Lakeside Drive). It’s a popular cycling route with no shoulder or sidewalks and it is about to get even more dangerous with more traffic from planned housing developments according to Zebrak. Read about their efforts and send a form letter to local officials using BuildABetterBikeNetwork.com

Next episode, we will talk to Jan Zebrak about the effort.