League Cycling Coaches

The League of American Bicyclists provides the best in bicycling skills and safety education. A critical part of the team making that happen is our group of Certified League Cycling Coaches. Our Coaches are expert instructors and educators of bicycle safety education. They lead League Cycling Instructor certification seminars and certify new League Cycling Instructors. Leauge Cycling Coaches are approved and hired as independent contractors of the League of American Bicyclists.

 

Jim Baross

San Diego, CA

Jim was first certified as an Effective Cycling Instructor in 1986 by the League of American Wheelman he was then re-certified by the League of American Bicyclists after the name change. In 2002, Jim became a League Cycling Coach and has since conducted more than 30 training seminars for certification of League Cycling Instructors. He is active in local and state-wide bicycle advocacy and has worked with many California government agencies and local groups to improve the safety and convenience of bicycling in Southern California.  

 

Vanessa Bissey-Beard

Tomball, TX

Vanessa has been a National League Cycling Coach since 2013. She became a LCI in 2008 and has been actively teaching since then. She enjoys bicycling, teaching and helping new LCIs succeed. 

 

Steve Clark

Cushing, WI

Steve has spent his entire adult life and most of his childhood as a bicycle enthusiast: bike shop owner, city bike coordinator, bicycle advocate, city bike coordinator, bicycle advocate, bike/ped planner, racer, year 'round commuter and bike-packer. He became a LCI in 1986 the same year that he was President of the League of American Bicyclists' Board of Directors and Boulders Bike Coordinator. Today he is co-owner of CyclovaXC in St. Croix Fall, WI and operates the BikeFarm - where he grows organic fruits and vegetables and milks goats. When not selling bikes or pulling weeds, he helps cities become more bicycle friendly through his consulting business. What he loves more than anything is coaching LCI seminars - to train the trainers who will empower others! 

 

Rich Conroy

New York City, NY

Rich Conroy is the Education Director at Bike New York, and winner of the 2018 League of American Bicyclist “Educator of the Year” award. He has a doctorate and master’s from the University of Notre Dame. His bike industry experience includes two years working at a NYC bike shop, and two years teaching middle school kids for Recycle A Bicycle. Rich is certified as League Cycling Instructor, is a League Cycling Coach, and has served on the board of directors for New York Bicycling Coalition and Recycle a Bicycle.  

 

Jamie Gaskill

Fort Collins, CO

Jamie Gaskill is a people-focused educator and program developer who utilizes the League’s curriculum in innovative ways to reach diverse audiences and make communities better for bicycling. Gaskill became an LCI in 2014 and leads bicycle-related education efforts for the City of Fort Collins, CO, where she acts as a volunteer coordinator overseeing over 120 volunteer Bicycle Ambassadors who are trained to teach others about bicycling and bicycling safety.

Gaskill has educated people from a variety of ages, backgrounds and professions. From elementary school children to state Department of Transportation staff, Gaskill teaches bicycling skills to diverse audiences in ways that are relevant to their perspectives. If there is a bike-related organization near her, Gaskill wants to be part of it--she is an active member of Bike Fort Collins, Bicycle Colorado, NoCo Bike Ped Collaborative, Safe Routes to School, Overland Mountain Bike Club, and Team BOB.

In December 2015, Gaskill led the effort to launch the Bicycle Friendly Driver course, which has transformed how bicycling-related education is being deployed across the country. The Bicycle Friendly Driver curriculum has made its way to 46 states and four countries and has officially been adopted by the League as the official motor vehicle driver component of the Smart Cycling program.

 

Bernard Green

Monterey, CA

Bernard Green has been teaching Smart Cycling since 2013 and became a League Cycling Coach in 2018. He is an engaged member of multiple advocacy organizations: San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, California State Bicycle Coalition, and Families of Color Monterey County. He is the Director of Republic of Place. 

Jim Harms

Tucson, AZ

Jim has been a League Cycling Instructor since 2006 and a League Cycling Coach since 2008. He is also a Bicycle Expert Witness, the Pima County Bike Ambassador Program Manager, Race Official for Race Across America, Director of Officials for Race Across America, and the President and Supported Rides Coordinator for the Greater Arizona Bicycling Association. Jim pretty much does all things related to bicycling.  

 

Malia Harunaga

Honolulu, HI

Malia has enjoyed cycling from a young age in the balmy, beautiful Hawai'i weather. After becoming certified as a LCI in her freshman year of college she joined the Hawaii Bicycling League as their Adult Education Manager and has been rigorously putting her LCI certification to work for the past seven years. She is driven by her passion to make cycling accessible to everyone. 

 

Hokan

Minneapolis, MN

An LCI since 2008, Hōkan loves to ride bicycles and rides year-round for basic transportation. He works as a computer system administrator for the University of Minnesota when not teaching people about urban riding. He's a founder of Our Streets Minneapolis and has worked with the Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota from the very beginning. 

 

Les Leathem

New Orleans, LA

Les is a life-long bicycle driver who has been involved with many types of riding: urban, suburban, rural; short- and long-distance (week-long, 500-mile rides). As a cycling advocate, he rewrote state driver manuals, created and edited bicycle safety materials for public and law enforcement use, and testified before municipal and state committees. His career in marketing and research consulting built success creating and delivering presentations and teaching audiences, large and small. Les is excited to teach not only standard League curricula, but also custom courses based on LAB material that he has developed for specific needs in groups ranging from bicycling clubs to Cub Scouts to law enforcement. 

 

Shane MacRhodes

Eugene, OR

Shane MacRhodes has worked in the bicycle industry and on active transportation education and advocacy since the mid-90s. He was certified as an LCI in the East Bay of California in 1992 and became a coach in his hometown of Eugene, Oregon in 2013. He has taught many styles of bike education classes to students ranging from 3 to 83 and as a Safe Routes to School professional has a special focus on youth and family courses.

 

Jan Matheus

Richfield, MN 

Jan Matheus got involved in bike education as a result of her passion for bike advocacy. She is a proud original member of the Richfield Bike Advocates, the local organization which introduced her to the statewide advocacy group, Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota. Matheus is also a Minneapolis Public Schools Safe Routes to School volunteer and part of the Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota Education Committee. She became an LCI in 2014 and immediately began teaching Smart Cycling to people all ages and abilities. She is excited to join the Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota Coach Team.

 

Larry Mysz

Chicago Heights, IL

Larry became an LCI because he believes the League’s Smart Cycling programs can save cyclist’s lives. He is involved in bike advocacy as a Director at Active Transportation Alliance, and as a member of his community’s Active Transportation Committee. Larry enjoys cycle touring with his wife Mary Lynn.

 

Jim Nicholson

Okatie, SC

Jim has been a LCI since 2006 and a League Cycling Coach since 2010. He is the founder and past president of the New Jersey Bike and Walk Coalition and currently lives in South Carolina. 

 

Rio Oxas

Woodland Hills, CA

Rio was born and raised in Echo Park with Central American roots. Rio is People for Mobility Justice's (PMJ) Policy & Programs Organizer. PMJ is a Black Indigenous People of Coloer (BIPOC) family that seeds critical consciousness around mobility justice in all the communities in which they work to ensure that everyone can move in public spaces with love and dignity. Since 2002, Rio has worked across all of California and the nation on issues of mobility justice, transportation equity, food justice, healing justice, land liberation, resisting displacement and much more. Rio has self-acclaimed doctorates in bicycles - from safety, mechanics, art, bike touring, and more. PMJ see bikes as medicine and prioritize this type of work alongside other BIPCOC who are Queer Trans* and Intersex. Follow PMJ on Facebook: People for Mobility Justice and Twitter: PeopleforMJ.

 

John Rider

Madison, WI

John has been teaching bicycling and pedestrian safety education for almost 20 years at the local, state, and national level. He has been a League Cycling Instructor since 1998, and a League Cycling Coach since 2005. He led bicycle and pedestrian safety seminars and trainings for the Wisconsin Bike Fed, and taught classes for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. John is a daily year-round bicycle commuter and has ridden across the country twice. 

 

Neil Walker

New Kensington, PA

Neil was born and raised in Pittsburgh. He has been League Cycling Coach since 2013 and has worked extensively in educating both youth and adults, working in Minnesota, North Carolina, Pittsburgh and Detroit. Walker spent 17 years as the educatin coordinator for BRAG Dream Team (Bicycle Race Across Georgia). In 2010, Walker created a company, Cycles and Change, to increase bicycle education and to bring change in communities of color and low-income areas. He is the recipient of the 2011 Community Service Award from the National Brotherhood of Cyclists, where he also serves as Education Director. Walker is one of the founding members of the Equity Advisory Council, a group of advocates from various programs across the country, looking to bring equity and social justice to cycling. In 2016, Walker was named the League of American Bicyclists' Instructor of the Year.