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Tammy Duckworth: Rockstar

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Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth (IL), shares her story & belief in bicycles with us at the Women’s Bicycling Forum.

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As an Iraq War veteran, Duckworth lost both of her legs while piloting a helicopter, she truly is an inspiration to us all. On what bicycles have offered for our veterans:

“Bicycling has represented an idea of never giving up, and given us the motivation to keep going.”

“For our wounded warriors the hardest part is not being able to use your body anymore.”

Needless to say, she is a rockstar!

The Capitol Building

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Look closely, those are two people riding some Capital Bikeshare bikes here on the Hill.

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We were finally able to get outside for the first time today and see the cherry blossoms in full bloom, making for a beautiful day in DC. We can’t wait to get out to the national mall and see more of them from the Bikeshare bikes ourselves!

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More From Capitol Hill

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We just wrapped up our day on Capitol Hill, and were able to meet with staffers from both Rep Capps’ and Rep McCarthy’s office, our elected officials from SLO County!

In Lois Capps office with our neighbors from Santa Barbara County

In Kevin McCarthy’s office with his transportation staffer, Rob McCarthy

All of the California delegation almost all posing for a photo! We’ve got people from all across the state, and sat together to make sure we could meet with every representative in the California legislature.

For now, we’re off for a much needed bite to eat, it’s been a long day of meetings all over the hill, and a slice of pizza is in order. We’ll provide a more detailed update of our day on the hill tomorrow.

From Capitol Hill

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Today is off to a great start! With meetings scheduled with Sen Boxer & Rep Capps’ offices, we’re excited to share the benefits that biking & walking will provide for our future!

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In between these meetings we’ve been dropping in to chat with other elected officials, on behalf of those who couldn’t make it out to DC to join us. Our message is concise and extremely relevant, as the federal transportation bill is on the top of everyone’s mind.

House leadership proposed a 3 month extension this morning and it has been the buzz on Capitol Hill in the hallways. This timing allows the conversation to run parallel to what’s being discussed in the House of Representatives today.

Have we mentioned how much everyone loves the bike pins we’re all wearing?!

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Here we are before our meeting with Capps’ office with our fellow advocates and neighbors from Santa Barbara:

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Stay tuned for some better photos later today when we have time to upload them from a computer!

Getting Prepped

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Going over our last minute details & fueling up in the Rayburn House Office Building before we start our day of meetings of leaders throughout CA!

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Fancy Pants

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We dress to impress here in DC.

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After a day of advocacy strategy meetings with others from California and beyond, we’re prepping for our meetings with elected officials tomorrow.

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Off to dinner first, then more prep for tomorrows meetings! Wish us luck!

Importance of Safe Routes to School

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The founder and champion of Safe Routes to School, Deb Hubsmith, shares some astounding statistics about kids biking & walking to school.

In 2005, the medical costs of treatment for kid’s biking & walking injuries, including fatalities, totalled $839 MILLION – 4.5 times what we annually spend on Safe Routes to School

10-14% of ALL road traffic is made of kids being driven to school

Only 13% of kids ages 5 to 14 walk or bike to school. In 1960 this number was over 50%

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One of the BIG reasons we’re in Washington DC is to fight to SAVE Safe Routes to School funding. We KNOW it’s important for our children to safely get to/from school for years to come!

Notes from Day Two

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This morning we heard from Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood about the future of bicycling in America. It was early morning east coast time, even earlier if you take ito account the time change, yet LaHood was able to offer some inspiring words before we take to Capitol Hill tomorrow and meet with our elected officials.

A good transportation bill, is a good jobs bill.

Our goal here in DC is to ask for continued, dedicated funding for biking & walking, LaHood is right there with us:

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Read more about his words this morning on his own site here.

We’ll have more updates from the rest of the day soon enough! Twitter has been the place where a lot of acivity is happening here at the Bike Summit, follow us on there to see updates we’re sharing from other groups too.