Past NYCC Webinars

Our guests will be the hosts of the award-winning podcast "The War on Cars": Aaron Naparstek, Sarah Goodyear and Doug Gordon.  Aaron, Sarah and Doug are renowned for their incisive critique of car-dominated cities, and fresh vision of more bikable, livable streets.

Listen to their podcast here to learn more!

Dr. Ian Walker is one of those rare people who truly has fully engaged with the bike, intellectually, athletically, and politically. As an expert in environmental and traffic psychology, he has conducted groundbreaking research on driver passing behavior and other topics. As an athlete, he holds the world record for traversing Europe in the North-South direction, among other unsupported ultradistance races. Politically, he is a leading international advocate for supporting and expanding cycling (as you’ll learn from this eve-of-lockdown, in-the-saddle interview).

Peter Flax is a journalist and lifelong cyclist. As the editor in chief of Bicycling magazine, he got to cover the Tour de France and ride more than 500 different bikes. He has ridden with Eddy Merckx, Greg Lemond, Miguel Indurain—and maintains a complicated relationship with Lance Armstrong. He has ridden cross-country and raced bikes for year with great passion and little success. Six years ago, Flax moved to Los Angeles, where his bike life has become centered around transit riding, and that experience has shifted the focus of much of his writing to advocacy. When asked his mission statement, Flax says that anyone riding a bike is doing it right.

Ayesha McGowan (A Quick Brown Fox) is a professional bike racer and an advocate for better representation of people of color in cycling. She has recently become the first African-American female pro road cyclist. Through her ‘Do Better Together’ virtual ride series and her Quick Brown Foxes podcast, Ayesha has inspired people of color and others to ride their bikes more often both competitively and recreationally. Ayesha is supported by Liv Cycling, SRAM, Clif Bar, and Carmichael Training Systems, and has been featured in VICE Sports, Outside Magazine, Bicycling Magazine, and BBC World. Ayesha will discuss her personal quest to become a professional racer and her advocacy work to open up road and pro cycling to women of color.

Brendt Barbur is the Founder and Director of the Bicycle Film Festival, now in its 20th year, with events in nearly 100 cities worldwide and annual attendance in the hundreds of thousands. It has been called “the best film festival you never heard of.” Brendt also has set to music and created a “making of” film (The Commentator) of Jorgen Leth’s cycling classic A Sunday in Hell , chronicling the 1976 Paris-Rubaix race. Each year, Barbur sifts through scores of submissions to select the best short films representing a dizzying array of cycling subcultures: professional racing, endurance bikepacking, road cycling, alleycat racing, BMX, commuting and more. Steeped in the diverse world of cycling for decades, Brendt will trace the long arc of bike culture since the 80s, including the breathtaking pandemic-era upsurge in commuter and protest cycling, and give his tips on the best cycling films to watch if the pandemic has you mostly indoors. Join us!

Join us for a talk with leading bike attorney and advocate Steve Vaccaro of the Law Office of Vaccaro & White>, on the impact of the pandemic on recreational and commuter cycling. Steve speaks for himself, but his views are informed by his experience as a board member/advisor of New York Cycle Club, Bike New York, Transportation Alternatives, and StreetsPAC; his fourteen years as a lawyer primarily representing cyclists and other crash victims; and his forty years as a New York City cyclist. Topics will include: the pandemic-fueled bike boom; the risk of disease transmission during cycling; the government’s pandemic transportation policy; and some practical tips on cycling in the age of covid. Steve will leave plenty of time for Q&A at the end in the hopes you will contribute to a robust and open community discussion!

Jon Orcutt, bicycle policy expert and NYC utility and racing cyclist will discuss how cities around the world have seized on cycling as virus-safe means of transport and recreation and transport--while a seemingly rudderless New York City experiences a dramatic uptick in cyclist road deaths. Jon has nearly 30 years experience advocating and implementing sustainable transportation. As Director of Policy at the NYC Dept. of Transportation from 2007 to 2014, Jon managed the creation of the bike share system, development of the Vision Zero approach to traffic safety, and implementation of the bike infrastructure and traffic calming measures that New Yorkers already take for granted. Jon had previously served as executive director of both Transportation Alternatives and the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, and is currently Communications Director for Bike New York.

Oct 2020 Shabazz Stuart: An Infrastructure Economy