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Conversations about Creating a Culture of Activity: Profiling the people, places, programs, and policies that help to promote a culture of activity within our communities.
Note: This transcript was exported from the video version of this episode, and it has not been copyedited
00:00:00:03 - 00:00:22:13
Becky Furuta
The bike has truly this really unique ability to change lives. It can change our environmental context. It can change individual contexts. You know, for me, it allowed me to see the world. It's given my son the ability to get an education and get a job. You know, my daughter taught with Mike Friedman. You might have met my key used to ride for Garmin.
00:00:22:13 - 00:00:33:27
Becky Furuta
Slipstream is an Olympian. He has an organization now that teaches young kids to ride and ride competently and confidently and safely. And she was a coach with him, and that was one of her first jobs.
00:00:33:28 - 00:01:09:01
John Simmerman
Hey everyone, welcome to the Active Towns Channel. My name is John Simmerman and that is Becky Fruruta from the Boulder County area. She is a small business owner. She is a parent and she is a former professional athlete. We're going to be talking about her most recent experience at the velocity Conference, and how having an all ages and abilities network cycle network is really empowering for everyone, all ages and all abilities, and especially in the context of her son and some of the challenges that he's dealing with.
00:01:09:01 - 00:01:24:12
John Simmerman
But before we get into that, if you weren't doing this content here on the Active Towns Channel, please consider supporting my efforts by becoming an Active Towns Ambassador. Hey, super easy to do right here on YouTube. Just click on the join button right down below, or navigate over to Active Towns, or click on the support tab at the top of the page.
00:01:24:12 - 00:01:32:19
John Simmerman
And there are several different options. Okay, let's get right to it with Becky.
00:01:32:21 - 00:01:36:13
John Simmerman
Becky, thank you so much for joining me on the Active Towns podcast.
00:01:36:15 - 00:01:38:21
Becky Furuta
Yeah, thank you so much for having me, Becky.
00:01:38:22 - 00:01:55:00
John Simmerman
We have never met in person. I don't know how that is at all possible, but we've been friends on social media, on Facebook for many, many years. I don't even remember how long, but I love giving my guests just an opportunity to introduce themselves. So who the heck is Becky?
00:01:55:02 - 00:02:20:27
Becky Furuta
Yeah, so I'm surprised to that. We haven't overlapped because we do have so many kind of connections, just not only through Boulder, Colorado, but through cycling and everything else. But I'm Becky Fruita, I live just outside of Boulder, Colorado. I can safely say now that I am a retired professional cyclist. I did my last professional race in 2022 and started running in 2020 and just kind of never looked back.
00:02:20:28 - 00:02:44:10
Becky Furuta
It was kind of a Covid thing that just took hold and I'm now pretty passionate about running. I have two kids, I work in the space of public health, and I also own an independent eye care practice that focuses on sports vision in Golden, Colorado. And I still do a lot of bike advocacy, disability advocacy. I have a son with autism and a daughter with a rare genetic condition.
00:02:44:10 - 00:02:54:21
Becky Furuta
So really just trying to find ways to make myself useful and build happier, more inclusive communities that serve every one of our neighbors.
00:02:54:24 - 00:03:16:10
John Simmerman
I love that, I love that, and I'm going to pop on over here to your the landing page for Team Novo Nordisk. There you are. And you know, Team Novo Nordisk is a special team. It's it's it's one of those teams out there that is there for a reason. And that's important. Yeah. Let me.
00:03:16:13 - 00:03:46:00
Becky Furuta
Let me start by saying I think it's the best team in cycling. And that's, you know, probably my bias showing. But I've been with Team Nova Nordisk or their predecessor for more than a decade. And in the space of pro cycling, you know, it's incredibly rare for someone to have that kind of longevity in their cycling career. Team Nova Nordisk is a global all diabetes professional sports organization, so all of our writers are racing and the pro continental level with type one diabetes.
00:03:46:00 - 00:04:09:00
Becky Furuta
So just below the level of the world tour, I know the tour de France is going on right now and we're all watching that, but we race one level below that. But we have gotten wild cards to some big World Tour races, including the Tour of Hungary and Milano San Remo, which is one of the great classics. So yeah, it's amazing to watch what these guys do every single day with type one diabetes.
00:04:09:00 - 00:04:39:07
Becky Furuta
And then we've expanded out. We have ambassadors in the sport of stand up paddle boarding. We have my teammate Kate Brim, who is a parasite list out of Colorado Springs, an incredible athlete and very well decorated. So we've really kind of broadened over the last five years what what we focus on in terms of encouraging activity and mobility and even gone outside of diabetes to hopefully inspire other people who are living with stigmatized conditions or just want to be more active.
00:04:39:14 - 00:04:58:14
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah. And I'll we were referencing sort of the, the your bio and the story that you were there. So for those people who didn't have the chance to read that speed, read that real quick. Why don't you tell a little bit about that story? Because you were not born necessarily with type one diabetes. You discovered this?
00:04:58:15 - 00:04:59:08
Becky Furuta
No.
00:04:59:10 - 00:04:59:19
John Simmerman
Yeah.
00:04:59:20 - 00:05:19:02
Becky Furuta
No, I was racing for a professional team, actually based in Boulder and was pregnant with my daughter, and I knew something wasn't right. I just didn't feel good. I was so tired, and I went out for a training ride, and I just. I just felt like garbage the whole time. And it should have been an easy ride. It was like a coffee shop day.
00:05:19:02 - 00:05:39:04
Becky Furuta
We were writing from coffee shop to coffee shop, so it shouldn't have been a tough day, but I felt just wrecked and I went home and I filled up water bottle after water bottle and I down probably 40 60oz of water in the span of ten minutes. And I knew I had a family history of type one diabetes.
00:05:39:04 - 00:05:57:17
Becky Furuta
I knew that was not normal. I knew that was a sign. I obviously have a background in public health. So I told my husband at the time, I said, I'm pretty sure I have diabetes. I thought I would be diagnosed with gestational diabetes, which is diabetes and pregnancy. So I expected to have diabetes for 20 more weeks and then move on with my life.
00:05:57:18 - 00:06:03:27
Becky Furuta
In fact, when I went in my blood glucose fasting was so high that they realized right away it was probably type one.
00:06:04:02 - 00:06:19:15
John Simmerman
Wow. Oh my gosh, a shock, a wake up call. And as an athlete, somebody who is like their I mean, there's nothing more intimate than how your body is feeling and performing.
00:06:19:16 - 00:06:42:22
Becky Furuta
You know, I think it's actually a relief when you know something's wrong, when you know that you're not feeling good and you know your body isn't responding the way it has historically, you, you fear like the worst case scenarios, you know. And so diabetes was something I knew about. It was a condition I was familiar with. I knew it was manageable because I'd watched my grandmother manage it.
00:06:42:22 - 00:07:01:24
Becky Furuta
So in some ways, having that diagnosis was really reassuring. And I actually kind of watched my daughter go through this. In the last year. She developed a seizure disorder and all kinds of just weird things, and we went to like, literally exhausted every professional out there. And we could not come to a diagnosis until we did whole genome sequencing.
00:07:01:24 - 00:07:24:22
Becky Furuta
And you don't ever start with whole genome sequencing. That's like the end point, right. And they they did ultimately diagnose her with a very rare genetic condition. There's only about 450 known cases. But just having that diagnosis for her was affirming, even though with rare conditions, unlike type one diabetes, you don't have a clear path forward, and there's not a community of people living with the same condition.
00:07:24:22 - 00:07:30:03
Becky Furuta
But but just having a label to put on it is actually affirming and really reassuring.
00:07:30:09 - 00:07:30:24
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah.
00:07:30:27 - 00:07:33:06
Becky Furuta
And also I think the first step to managing it.
00:07:33:07 - 00:08:08:18
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you mentioned that and here's, here's a little snapshot in a post that you, that you shared with that journey. And you, you give her so much credit. You know, she's she's such a inspiring woman already at just 18 years old. And she's handling this like a trooper. And I'm sure there's good days and bad days and all of that, but I'm sure that she kind of looks to you and how you are managing a lot of the challenges of, you know, raising two children.
00:08:08:20 - 00:08:34:25
John Simmerman
And and we'll talk a little bit about those additional challenges in just a moment, because that's the whole context of why we got together to talk about this. Was the situation that your son finds himself in, and why having a built environment that encourages independence and mobility for for all ages, all abilities, all conditions, everyone is so important.
00:08:34:25 - 00:08:42:26
John Simmerman
But yeah, hats off to her. And she's getting ready to go to college and all these wonderful things. Yeah.
00:08:42:27 - 00:09:01:15
Becky Furuta
I think I think watching the team, you know, my kids are little. I used to get so mad because I do these speaking engagements and people would ask me, where are your kids? What are you doing with your kids? Right. And they'd get very defensive about the fact that at the time, my kids were young. I mean, they were like four and six, and I was off traveling and racing the world.
00:09:01:15 - 00:09:26:24
Becky Furuta
And I would tell them over and over again, I could not have hand-selected 20 better role models for my kids and my teammates. And I see that now. My daughter was in the hospital, intubated. They excavated her, you know, they were bringing her back conscious after a really pretty serious seizure. She'd been taken by LifeFlight. And the first thing she said is, when am I going to be able to go back and play basketball?
00:09:26:24 - 00:09:49:19
Becky Furuta
And she was back on the court 48 hours later. You know, I mean, she was she she had watched all of us go through those struggles. And she knew that with planning and preparation and a good set of tools, you know, a condition doesn't have to be the limiting factor in your life. And watching her live that out, you know, and seeing that that example finally paid dividends.
00:09:49:19 - 00:09:55:09
Becky Furuta
It was a really cool moment. And she's still yeah, she's incredible. She's a great kid. Both my kids I won the lottery.
00:09:55:10 - 00:10:18:00
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I hear you there. Okay, now let's shift gears. Let's talk a little bit about Italy and the Velocity Conference. I was just so delighted when I saw that you had the opportunity to attend the Velocity Conference. I have attended a couple of different times, and I'm going to zoom in on this, this photo right here.
00:10:18:00 - 00:10:32:02
John Simmerman
Boom boom boom. Talk a little bit about this experience that where you had the opportunity to attend the velocity Conference. And we'll go from there. Take it away.
00:10:32:03 - 00:10:57:10
Becky Furuta
Well, so that photo was actually taken, I should say, at one of the coolest dinners I've ever attended. The guys in the background are three of the Italian legends in the sport of cycling their Giro d'Italia stage winners, tour de France stage winners, set records on the velodrome, and every once in a while you're seated at a table with these just incredible athletes and legends in the sport and you realize what an amazing gift that is.
00:10:57:12 - 00:11:20:06
Becky Furuta
Like, how did I get in this room? And so that that particular dinner was very cool. But the cool thing about velocity, there's a lot of bike conferences. There's a lot of bike advocacy conferences. Velocity takes stakeholders from every possible area of cycling. It has people who are doing retail cycling. It has people who are selling commercial products like safe bike storage systems.
00:11:20:06 - 00:11:50:08
Becky Furuta
It has. I met a linguist who's studying how the way that we talk about cycling can influence political decisions and policy making. Obviously, there's a lot of urban planning and design, so it's really all these different areas, environmental activists, anything that cycling touches becomes part of that velocity conference. And what you realize is that access to mobility is not about recreation, and it's not about physical activity.
00:11:50:08 - 00:12:00:09
Becky Furuta
It's really about this expanse of opportunity. We can create opportunities for people, but if they can't get to the opportunities, they're not really opportunities at all.
00:12:00:15 - 00:12:04:04
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah. Was that your first Felicity?
00:12:04:07 - 00:12:12:14
Becky Furuta
It was. Yeah. I've been to hundreds of white conferences in the last two decades, and fellow city is probably one of the coolest I've ever attended.
00:12:12:18 - 00:12:39:12
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah, it's only made it here to North America twice. Montreal and Vancouver, a long, long time ago. And then next year, of course, is going to be in Japan. I will most likely make my way to that conference. It really is special, and I'm glad that you pointed out the fact that it it comes at it from a multitude of different directions, which I think is really, really important and that it's global.
00:12:39:12 - 00:13:04:02
John Simmerman
It's literally bringing in people from all around the world. It is probably the only conference that I can think of in the bicycle advocacy world that kind of does things, all things velo, all things bicycle, you know, that does that, that brings people in from, from all around the globe, which is just really super, super cool.
00:13:04:04 - 00:13:36:08
Becky Furuta
Well, and I think what you realize in that context is that, you know, people are designing solutions in very different climates with very different preexisting infrastructure, with very different social attitudes about cycling. So there's not just one model, like when people look, here's ago, everyone is talking about Barcelona and these super blocks, right? Like Barcelona reclaimed these three by three blocks and made them more pedestrian and more cycling friendly, while still not restricting transportation from like delivery trucks or locals who needed to get through.
00:13:36:09 - 00:13:55:26
Becky Furuta
And everyone is like, well, how do we replicate this? Well, in a lot of cities you don't, right? Like a lot of cities just don't lend themselves to three by three patches of land that become these kind of green spaces or these urban cycling centers. Instead, you know, you have to look at the context where you live. And of course, the cultural context in Spain is very different.
00:13:55:27 - 00:14:16:25
Becky Furuta
Like people gather on a Tuesday night after dinner pretty regularly, whereas in the US we all go home from work and head to our houses and probably don't go out again on a weeknight. Right. I mean, I'm old, I'm in bed by like nine. You know, I'm not going anywhere, so. Right. But in Spain, you know, 9:00, you're headed out to dinner, right?
00:14:16:26 - 00:14:33:07
Becky Furuta
I mean, this is when your night's getting started, so the cultural context is shifted as well. So replicating that in some place like, you know, eastern Kansas probably doesn't make a lot of sense. And that's I think a driving point of velocity is that there's so many ways to do this.
00:14:33:09 - 00:15:06:06
John Simmerman
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's it's what I also enjoy about it to is the pragmatism of saying, okay, each of these communities and each of these regions are very, very different. We need to really, truly understand the challenges that they face and then bring the opportunity to say, oh, we understand you. We appreciate, you know, what you're going through.
00:15:06:06 - 00:15:35:02
John Simmerman
And then looking at the bicycle as a potential tool that can maybe not solve the world's problems, but may be part one of the tools in that thing. And everything from the the ECF, the European Cyclist Better Federation also has the Euro Velo, which is very similar to some of the long distance cycle routes that that we're trying to establish here in North America.
00:15:35:04 - 00:16:00:21
John Simmerman
But they really talk about, you know, one of the biggest challenges for some of these smaller villages throughout Europe is, you know, economic vibrancy and some sort of of of, you know, they've been forgotten. And yet the bicycle, you know, through the Euro Velo and through encouraging bicycle tourism and travel can really help bring a fresh bit of life into some of these communities.
00:16:00:22 - 00:16:12:06
John Simmerman
And even then, you still have to really talk to and listen to those communities so that they don't feel like they're being invaded by people on bikes. So I think.
00:16:12:08 - 00:16:14:12
John Simmerman
There's the context for cyclists.
00:16:14:14 - 00:16:32:19
Becky Furuta
Yeah, I think the context for cyclists is different to. Right. Like when we talk about I mean, you lived in Boulder. You know, Boulder is very easy to navigate by bike, especially if you're an adept cyclist. But it's a little bit more challenging if you're a 70 year old, right? Or if you're a 15 year old kid that doesn't have really great bike handling skills.
00:16:32:19 - 00:16:53:03
Becky Furuta
And so sometimes the barriers, it's not about infrastructure. It's about, you know, does it feel safe? My daughter works a mile and a half from our house and would love to be able to just walk it, but the pedestrian underpass where she walks is now an encampment of unhoused people. And I hate to criminalize, you know, people who are on housed.
00:16:53:04 - 00:17:16:18
Becky Furuta
I mean, but for a teenage girl, it doesn't feel particularly safe to travel that thoroughfare by herself in the dark and in the early morning hours. And so instead, she opts for her car. And so sometimes it's issues of safety, sometimes it's issues of skills or competency. There can be a lot of barriers that people don't recognize as barriers when they're doing that design.
00:17:16:20 - 00:17:50:16
John Simmerman
I'm glad you mentioned that, too, because that oftentimes comes up when we talk about what I call the hardware and software interface, our wonderful network of trails and pathways that we have in throughout Boulder County really sets us apart. When you look at the 1970s, when they first built the Boulder Creek Path, they knew that it was going to be special, but I don't think they had any clue that it was going to be as special as it was when I lived there in the 1990s, I started calling it the the.
00:17:50:21 - 00:18:21:19
John Simmerman
The Boulder Creek path effect is that all of a sudden, all these other Boulder County cities, Longmont and Louisville and Superior, many of these others were like, oh man, we need to start thinking about building these off street network of pathways to. And pretty much they all did. And it really is empowering. But that as an activity asset, as a hardware activity asset is still only as good as your software management program.
00:18:21:19 - 00:18:48:24
John Simmerman
You have to upkeep them. You have to keep them safe and inviting. In other words, you can't have them be taken over by homeless encampments and things of that nature. You also have to take into consideration how well does that built environment work and feel? Is it a scary underpass, or is it a well lit and a welcoming environment for, especially for women and elderly to feel like, oh, this is not a scary environment.
00:18:48:25 - 00:19:16:18
John Simmerman
You know, it's one thing if it's works fine for the elite level cyclists because you're just zipping right through totally different if you're a child going, no, I don't want to go into that underpass and Boulder special. I mean, it's got a hundred underpasses now and throughout its cycle network, but there's some that are really, really well done and some that are needing some work and needing to be upgraded.
00:19:16:19 - 00:19:17:00
John Simmerman
Well.
00:19:17:01 - 00:19:29:28
Becky Furuta
And in terms of skill sets, I used to ride the Longmont to Boulder Trail all the time, which is hard packed dirt, and I'd write it on my road bike and I, I mean, I loved rubies when I was racing, my favorite races were on dirt. And so yeah.
00:19:29:28 - 00:19:30:28
John Simmerman
The transitioning to.
00:19:30:28 - 00:19:50:22
Becky Furuta
Gravel cycling. Yeah. And I saw all this commentary the other day. There's actually a change. Org petition because a segment of that is around 79th and highway 52 and highway 52, for people who are not local to Boulder, is not a place you would want to ride on a bicycle. It is. It is not a super safe highway to be on on a bike.
00:19:50:24 - 00:20:08:24
Becky Furuta
And then same thing. This thoroughfare, 79th, was designed as a rural road, but there's now a lot of traffic on that road, and the road's very narrow. There's not really a good shoulder. So these people are calling for people to like for the city to ban bikes on that stretch of road and shift them all onto that local trail.
00:20:08:24 - 00:20:26:07
Becky Furuta
And I was like, well, yeah, I mean, of course, like, I never would have gone on that street anyway. I always would have ridden the Lobo. But I started seeing people comment that they were not comfortable on this hard packed dirt, and it never occurred. You know, I was writing like a 22 inch tire road tire on 20 hard packed dirt and felt fine.
00:20:26:07 - 00:20:43:25
Becky Furuta
But my background is professional cycling. If again, you're somebody who doesn't have that same background and you don't have the same bike handling and skill sets, that can be really intimidating. And so what we think is a solution might, for a large swath of people, not be a solution at all.
00:20:44:00 - 00:21:24:00
John Simmerman
Yeah. Yeah. And I think that's a good, good opportunity for us to shift gears a little bit, because when you do become a parent and when the context changes, it's like, oh yeah, it's not John and Becky the confident, you know, athlete. It's like, oh that's right. Some people are intimidated by these types of environments. Or maybe it's not appropriate for a young child to be out on that shoulder next to these high speed, you know, cars, etc., or on an uncomfortable surface like a natural surface trail, etc..
00:21:24:00 - 00:21:49:14
John Simmerman
So it's like it sort of changes the, you know, the way that we think. And I think that's a good thing too, because when I talk with folks about building all ages and abilities, infrastructure, the protected bike lanes and the separated paths and the trails, oftentimes we get resistance from the athletes saying, we don't need that. We've got a shoulder on a road, and this is, well, it's not for you.
00:21:49:15 - 00:22:19:12
John Simmerman
You're confident out there. Go, go do your thing. You can control the lane if you want to. It's not for the athletes, it's for everybody else. So that brings us to this photo here and the post that you put out in the immediate aftermath of attending velocity, because it really inspired you to write a nice little thing. And I'll scroll down to that so that folks can see the words that you did, but introduce this for us.
00:22:19:14 - 00:22:22:26
John Simmerman
You were so inspired by the conference to talk about this.
00:22:22:28 - 00:22:43:27
Becky Furuta
That's my son, Henry. Henry is 20 years old and he has autism. And when I say that, you know, people who are in the autism community, he's a level three autism. So he's on the more severe end of the spectrum. When I used to travel and he was young, people would always assume he had what at that time was referred to as Asperger's, that he was just a little socially awkward.
00:22:43:27 - 00:23:08:24
Becky Furuta
But Henry has pretty significant language impairment. I mean, you would know within a half a second of meeting him that he has autism. He's an incredible student. He's now at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. He's studying inclusive education, and he wants to help kids like him. He works over the summer for an agency here locally that serves people with developmental and intellectual disabilities, and not something he's very passionate about.
00:23:08:24 - 00:23:34:18
Becky Furuta
But Henry can't drive. He doesn't have the executive functioning to drive. That's a skill that a lot of people with developmental disabilities and certainly with intellectual disabilities, really struggle with. And it's not that they're not smart enough to figure out traffic laws. It's not that they're not competent and capable it it's that the executive functioning required to operate a motor vehicle presents a challenge across a lot of different disabilities.
00:23:34:18 - 00:24:07:26
Becky Furuta
And so for a large segment of the disability population, independent transportation doesn't look like a vehicle. This is also true, by the way, for people with various physical disabilities to get a vehicle modified for someone who has limited like leg mobility or arm mobility, you can get vehicles outfitted, but it is incredibly expensive. And so, you know, for a lot of people, car ownership and driving just isn't possible if they're living with a significant disability.
00:24:07:26 - 00:24:32:04
Becky Furuta
So then we have to look at alternative modes of transportation. And for overwhelmingly most people living in suburban areas, that's not going to be public transit because it just doesn't meet the need. The times don't work. The the transit services aren't comprehensive enough, and a bicycle provides for most of those folks, the easiest, most accessible, least costly opportunity to get where they need to go.
00:24:32:04 - 00:24:56:19
Becky Furuta
And so Henry rides his bike independently to work. He rides it around campus. The other day he wrote it to a movie and went and watched a movie in the middle of the day. Like that for him is his access to independence. And it's the equalizer, right? It's it's what, you know, allows people. We can't we measure so much of transportation by how many people we can move and how quickly.
00:24:56:22 - 00:25:26:22
Becky Furuta
We don't measure the success of transportation by how many people can participate, how many people can access health care services, how many people can access education or recreation or community services? How many people can have a job that is more than five miles away? What is our transportation network look like in that regard? And so I think my call would be for us to reorganize the way that we think of transportation success to make sure that it's not excluding a large share of the population.
00:25:26:25 - 00:25:42:28
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah. And literally I zoomed in on your words here. I've spent the week talking about something very simple. Mobility is freedom. And when I saw that post I was just like, all right, I got to get Becky on the pod.
00:25:43:01 - 00:25:59:24
Becky Furuta
And it's true. We all remember, you know, all of us remember when we were like 12 or 13 years old and we got that like huffy bike and we hopped off the curb and we just took off. And you know, my own story, you know, and I mean, this has been told many times, but I grew up very, very poor.
00:25:59:25 - 00:26:18:06
Becky Furuta
You know, I grew up actually homeless for a time, and I didn't learn to drive until I was 25 because, you know, there was no one to teach me to drive, and there was no way that I could have afforded a car, a car insurance or a registration. So I started cycling to get out of the Will Rogers Motel on the western slope of Colorado.
00:26:18:07 - 00:26:43:02
Becky Furuta
That's that's where I developed my passion for the sport. And for me, that meant freedom. It gave me not only access to the world, but it empowered me. It made me feel competent. It let me get physically away from what was a very challenging situation. And, you know, mentally certainly gave me a release, too. And so I do believe that I believe that, you know, mobility is freedom.
00:26:43:02 - 00:26:46:19
Becky Furuta
And the bike, for most of us is our first taste of that freedom.
00:26:46:21 - 00:27:18:28
John Simmerman
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I don't know if you are aware of the statistics I've had Anna Bartz on when driving is not an option, and she has an eye condition that prevents her from being able to drive a motor vehicle. And so her primary way of getting around is by walking, biking and transit. And and she's had the, you know, the situation of living in places that weren't well served by transit.
00:27:18:28 - 00:27:43:19
John Simmerman
So you do feel like you are a prisoner in your own home when you can't get around. If you're living in an area that isn't conducive to providing mobility options and freedom and independence of movement. And so we talk a we talked a lot about that fact that, yeah, what how what is the percentage. And he's through her research.
00:27:43:20 - 00:28:08:01
John Simmerman
It varies from community to community. But somewhere between 30 to 40% of the population are quote unquote non drivers for whatever reason. Maybe two too young to old have physical conditions. Maybe they just don't have the money to be able to support a motor vehicle, a car. And so I think it's important for us to understand that those percentages are actually that high.
00:28:08:03 - 00:28:42:16
Becky Furuta
Car centric communities inevitably disadvantaged the most vulnerable people in society, right? Whether that be people with disabilities or, yeah, low income people. I mean, you know, I were a multi-car family and, you know, three cars. That's that's expensive, right? You've got the registrations, the insurance, the upkeep, you know. And so when we design cities around cars, which is most of the US, by the way, most of the US urban planning happened post automobile, which is why our cities look so different than European cities.
00:28:42:16 - 00:29:05:07
Becky Furuta
We have these Euclidean zoning regulations. And then, you know, cities were designed around highways. And so as a result, we do have a very car centric culture. And in that context, it really does disadvantage, you know, low income people, people with disabilities, younger people, older people, and makes their lives sometimes very, very hard.
00:29:05:13 - 00:29:43:06
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah. You referenced Euclidean zoning. And of course, that comes from a Supreme Court case that basically affirmed, reaffirmed that it was okay for cities to do single family only zoning processes. And now many cities around the world and across the United States are starting to to loosen up so that it's not single family, only zoning, which when that happens, when you have, you know, when you have communities that are single family homes only, it just pushes more and more things further out.
00:29:43:07 - 00:30:07:24
John Simmerman
You have horizontal expansion and you have meaningful destinations like schools and and shops and places that you want to go to become a further distance away. And I'm going to emphasize on this, this sentence that we have right here, you keep coming back to one basic truth. Access to community should not be a privilege reserved for people who can drive.
00:30:07:25 - 00:30:30:14
Becky Furuta
Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, in some ways I, I say this in, in a myriad of different contexts. But I think in some ways America is a victim of its own abundance. Right? We do like those Euclidean zoning laws. We want not only single family homes, but big single family homes that are spread way apart. We want, you know, we don't like apartments like in Boulder County.
00:30:30:15 - 00:30:51:26
Becky Furuta
There's a big deal right now where people are saying, stop building these apartments. Compared to some place like Spain, where about 70% of families actually live in apartments, that's pretty normal. Most of Europe it's about 50%. But in pockets of the US, outside of major cities like New York and San Francisco, it's pretty uncommon to have families living in apartments.
00:30:51:26 - 00:31:11:02
Becky Furuta
And so, you know, we have this abundance, but it has created a lot of challenges. It's created a lot of environmental impacts. It's created a lot of transportation challenges. It's forced us to be more car centric, like you have to get in your car and drive across town instead of being able to just walk to school or walk to dinner.
00:31:11:04 - 00:31:29:19
Becky Furuta
We have bigger highways now. We have bigger cars on bigger highways, and we have more cars on these bigger highways, and we spend more time in traffic. And so all those downstream impacts come from, in a lot of ways, the economic success of the United States. And I see this in obesity, too. I you know, my background is obesity research.
00:31:29:19 - 00:31:42:01
Becky Furuta
And I say this all the time in the context of obesity research, that we have really fallen victim to the abundance that we are fortunate enough to have. It's a bit of a double edged sword.
00:31:42:07 - 00:32:23:22
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah, I'm going to scroll up to this next little comment that you made here, because you also talked a little bit about the concern that you have about the direction policies are heading, and you sort of touched upon it there just just a moment ago in talking about how there's this resistance to creating more housing opportunities so that more people can live closer to meaningful destinations, which is sort of ironic, because usually the thing that people say when they say, no enough, we don't need any more people in x wise community, whether it's Boulder or anywhere else.
00:32:23:24 - 00:32:35:03
John Simmerman
It's like, we don't need more cars. It's like the whole point of trying to get more people near meaningful destinations is hopefully you're not bringing more cars into the equation.
00:32:35:06 - 00:33:01:03
Becky Furuta
Yeah, I mean, that's the argument that they're having now. Like, if we build these apartment buildings, what's the traffic going to be like? And at the same time, it's ironic because I try not to get too political, but just this week, you know, there was a shift in government policy in the US saying, hey, we're going to deprive what they consider Dei initiatives around bicycles and prioritize these, you know, highway infrastructure projects.
00:33:01:03 - 00:33:26:19
Becky Furuta
And again, like a lot of the infrastructure in the US is aging. I mean, we do need to do something about unsafe bridges and aging infrastructure in the US, but it's being treated as an either or with, I think, what is a very short sighted policy strategy of the very bikeways that might mitigate some of that traffic and make some of those infrastructure improvements easier to undertake.
00:33:26:21 - 00:34:05:27
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it is unfortunate that we are currently in a political reality where creating livable communities that works for everyone, all ages, all abilities and yes, all political spectrums, all political ideologies like everybody, that transforming our cities into more walkable bike places, more places where people can flourish has become politicized. It's just mind boggling. It should not be surprising and it really isn't surprising.
00:34:05:27 - 00:34:07:19
John Simmerman
But and people is frustrating.
00:34:07:20 - 00:34:26:20
Becky Furuta
I mean, I think yeah, I think people know people know that they would be healthier if they walked more or if they cycled more. Right. This isn't some extreme idea, and it's not something that we need to educate people about. I mean, they know that the challenge is, yeah. Are things like that like, do we have safe infrastructure?
00:34:26:21 - 00:34:46:26
Becky Furuta
Do we have, you know, shaded streets? Right. Like it's 100 degrees outside. I don't I don't want to go for a long walk with my dog if it's not shaded. I mean, there's, there's these very small barriers that could create healthier, healthier communities. And from a human health standpoint, you know, the way that that we're existing right now is unsustainable.
00:34:46:27 - 00:35:14:14
Becky Furuta
Like we can't this isn't a sustainable model for human health, right? We're going to have to figure out some solutions. And the thing I love about cycling and walking and, you know, pedestrian friendly areas is like so much of youth athletics. And I say this as, as a parent who had kids who played, you know, sports, youth athletics is very much pay to play right in the US today.
00:35:14:14 - 00:35:32:06
Becky Furuta
It's not a pick up game of basketball in a park. It's a league. And you know, if you're really into it, it's like a travel league that, you know, takes out a second mortgage on the house and requires like a phenomenal amount of time from the entire family and a huge commitment. And that exempts a large number of families.
00:35:32:06 - 00:35:49:09
Becky Furuta
But but we can create safe routes to schools and have kids biking and walking that would integrate movement into their daily life and improve their overall health for free. You know, I mean, a bicycle is one of the cheapest tools out there for recreation.
00:35:49:13 - 00:35:53:10
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah. Let's get patriotic a little bit here.
00:35:53:15 - 00:36:01:04
John Simmerman
So I mean, I think there are some good things, you know, and I don't think it's all doom and gloom. I mean, look at just daddy like. Exactly. I do.
00:36:01:07 - 00:36:20:25
Becky Furuta
Like again, Boulder County just made a huge seed. It made a huge investment in a bike way. Recognized actually that the Longmont to Boulder Trail, which we were talking about earlier, Lobo takes people kind of off route and cost people about 5 or 6 extra miles, and that people in their commuting to work don't want the most scenic route, they want the most direct route.
00:36:20:25 - 00:36:47:22
Becky Furuta
And so they went ahead and built that for for cyclists. And I, you know, it's not too far from my house. So sometimes I've snuck out and run portions of it when they're not working on it. And it's a very cool project. I mean, there are definitely things that I think we do get right. And I think especially during Covid, when bike sales went through the roof, communities really started considering how can we create better cycling infrastructure.
00:36:47:22 - 00:36:53:15
Becky Furuta
And we've seen that in communities throughout the US. So I think there are things that that we're getting right.
00:36:53:18 - 00:37:16:08
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah. And that's kind of the gist of your your 4th of July post that you had here is that, you know, we've we've been around for 250 years as a country. We're still pretty young in the context of especially some of these European countries that we reference here. And yeah, we've we get some things right and then we stumble and we do some brain dead things as well.
00:37:16:10 - 00:37:42:13
John Simmerman
But I love the fact that you put on the Stars and Stripes. You went out and you got your run done and and had some fun out there. Talk a little bit about this. Do you phase of your athletic career because now you are continuing. You're mostly doing running. You're mostly participating in these runs and you're a bit of an influencer.
00:37:42:13 - 00:38:16:19
John Simmerman
You talk a little bit about the challenges that are out there. You're getting out there, you're mixing it up in these races, but then you also blend in the context of your reality a type one diabetes, a working mom, all of these types of things. So talk a little bit about that new phase of your life, of where you're pushing the content out and hopefully you lifting up and inspiring other people to get off the couch and maybe go out and go for a walk, maybe sign up for their first five K.
00:38:16:20 - 00:38:23:07
Becky Furuta
Yeah, I mean, I certainly never wanted to be an influencer, and I'm hesitant to say that I am. But what I will.
00:38:23:07 - 00:38:23:14
John Simmerman
Say.
00:38:23:15 - 00:38:27:19
John Simmerman
It's sometimes it's become like a dirty word, a term.
00:38:27:20 - 00:38:28:25
John Simmerman
Like accident.
00:38:28:27 - 00:38:31:28
John Simmerman
I have a YouTube channel. I guess I'm an influencer too. So there you go.
00:38:32:00 - 00:38:32:20
John Simmerman
Right? Yeah.
00:38:32:21 - 00:38:57:13
Becky Furuta
And you know, I team Novo Nordisk, so we have millions of followers from all over the world. A lot of people are familiar with the team. A lot of people follow the team because they love cycling. Some people follow it because they have a connection to type one diabetes. Some people just like the messaging that we're a group of people overcoming significant challenges and and doing it in a way that's positive and helpful to others.
00:38:57:16 - 00:39:17:13
Becky Furuta
But I think when you have that kind of platform, it's like, well, what do you do with it? Right? I mean, what do you do with it when you have people watching you? You I guess, you know, I mean, I could share things and I do sometimes share things that are just nonsense. You know, my dog, if you if you look at my feet, it's a good amount about my dog.
00:39:17:14 - 00:39:42:02
Becky Furuta
But I think there's also a responsibility to touch on really important issues, things that do impact real lives and and can be transformative to people. And also, you know, I think we are we are a lonely people. You know, the data on loneliness in the United States, it's it's profound. And a lot of times people feel like they're on an island.
00:39:42:03 - 00:40:05:24
Becky Furuta
You know, I talked to a lot of single moms. We're like, man, this is hard, and it is hard. And I think it's good to be honest about that. A lot of people raising kids, you know, with autism, I mean, you see so many different representations of what it's like to have a child with a developmental disability. And some of them are super negative and some are.
00:40:05:26 - 00:40:24:12
Becky Furuta
Inspiring to the point of unrealistic, I think. I mean, the honest truth is, raising kids are hard. And if your kids come with some additional challenges, it's harder still. And those challenges are going to look different and you're going to have to navigate them differently. But but I think being honest and real about all those things, I mean, that's the thing I'm not influencing in any one area I wouldn't like.
00:40:24:13 - 00:40:27:13
Becky Furuta
I have running content, I have cycling content, I have kid content.
00:40:27:18 - 00:40:31:18
John Simmerman
I'm just content. There's my dog Aspen.
00:40:31:20 - 00:40:49:04
Becky Furuta
You know, I'm just living my life honestly and authentically. And I do get a lot of pushback. And it always surprises me what ends up being controversial. Like a couple of years ago, I posted something about, you know, people wearing pajamas on an airplane. And it was it was not meant to be like serious social commentary, but it like, blew up.
00:40:49:06 - 00:40:49:25
Becky Furuta
Right.
00:40:49:25 - 00:40:53:02
John Simmerman
And then something. Yeah.
00:40:53:09 - 00:41:18:18
Becky Furuta
And I mean, it was something it was something crazy, like the number of views that got in comments. And I think it was just wild. And it's like, I never know what people will cling on to. Some stuff makes sense, some some doesn't, I think. But I will say the great thing about being I'm 48. The great thing about being 48, it's a great age to be, is that I am less concerned with what other people think.
00:41:18:19 - 00:41:44:15
Becky Furuta
I just live my life authentically. I'm not afraid to make political statements, and my politics are actually like, I'm a centrist. I'm like the most politically boring person in the room because I have no extreme views on anything. It's all like moderate. That's why nobody asked me about my politics, because it's just not interesting. But yeah, I mean, I'm not afraid to make statements and I'm not afraid to call things out when I see when I see inequality, I'm not afraid to say, well, that's that's just not okay.
00:41:44:16 - 00:42:13:21
Becky Furuta
You know, I mean, we can all decide what kind of society we want to live in. And I think post-Covid society has become less kind, more insular. I think the politics of the United States have become hostile towards certain groups. And I say that specifically as a parent of a child with a disability, I think people with disabilities have been in many ways, unfortunately targeted under this administration and really struggle.
00:42:13:21 - 00:42:34:04
Becky Furuta
And I think that we as a society have opportunities to, you know, do better. And that's and that was really the post on the 4th of July. You know, we America's not I've been all over the world and there are a lot of places where I come home and I'm like, Thank God I was born in the United States.
00:42:34:06 - 00:42:51:28
Becky Furuta
Like I was so lucky to be born a US citizen. And then I go to other countries and I'm like, but man, they're getting this right, right. Like, maybe we need to take a page for that. And the truth is that the US, like I said, we get a lot of things right. We we have a lot of room for improvement.
00:42:51:29 - 00:43:05:13
Becky Furuta
But that's a process that we all get to undertake together. And I think having some of that discourse and discussion is important. And I think just being authentic in those conversations matters.
00:43:05:14 - 00:43:27:03
John Simmerman
Yeah. One of the other things that I love about your posts is that I get to learn all sorts of new things. So this post here, I got to learn all about the hummingbird and how the hummingbird flies. Now, Becky, you have to fess up here. You snap a photo of this. Did you already know all this about the hummingbird or do you do you have to do some?
00:43:27:10 - 00:43:44:16
Becky Furuta
You know, I did Google so I my kids make fun of me. I've become kind of like the old bird lady. I feel like it's a sign of old age again. Like I'm old now because I bird watching. To me, in my 20s, I was like, that's not a hobby. Like, what is that? And now I, I had these swallows that nested on my patio.
00:43:44:16 - 00:43:58:25
Becky Furuta
And so I was watching the whole cycle of life with the swallows. And I got really into it, like I did, like a deep dive. I'm like, what are these things going to hatch? And like, I learned about the mom, like hiding them until they can learn to fly. And I have, like kind of a maternal instinct about these swallows.
00:43:58:25 - 00:44:23:19
Becky Furuta
I had one that left the nest, like, prematurely. And so he couldn't fly. And I was afraid, like a cat or something would get him. So I'm like, making him a man made nest. And I mean, it's kind of nuts, but I, I do like, now I'm like, into birds, like I'm oddly into birds. And when I'm on a run, if I see a really cool bird, I will actually stop and photograph the bird and then do like the Google image upload and learn all about the bird.
00:44:23:19 - 00:44:34:03
Becky Furuta
And this is why a lot of people have stopped running with me because like, oh, there's a finch. And they're like, this is not like, we just need to get the workout done.
00:44:34:10 - 00:44:36:16
John Simmerman
Hang on. Oh my gosh, right.
00:44:36:20 - 00:44:46:03
Becky Furuta
I'm like the crazy bird lady. I didn't see it coming. I wouldn't have predicted it, but I own it. So yeah, if you want bird content, you can follow me too. There's. Yeah.
00:44:46:08 - 00:45:08:00
John Simmerman
Yeah. I wanted to to lean into one of your other posts that you did about, you know, being a single parent, being a primary caregiver of, you know, two children. Again, here's here's a beautiful photo of the two of them. Let me zoom out on this so we can get both in screen here. There we go. We're zoomed in too much.
00:45:08:00 - 00:45:30:28
John Simmerman
There we go. Got them both in there. And the reason why I want to do this is because Melissa and I have had this conversation about caregiving and caregiving trips, and in the context they, Chris and Melissa Brundtland, live in Delft in the Netherlands. Did you get a chance to meet them in at velocity? They were prominently there.
00:45:31:01 - 00:45:37:18
Becky Furuta
I, I the name's familiar, but you meet like a hundred thousand people. I mean, it's crazy. Yeah.
00:45:37:19 - 00:46:30:01
John Simmerman
Yeah yeah, yeah. They, they just recently written a book about women changing cities and really highlighting some of the amazing mayors around the globe that are helping to transform cities in the built environment, like Maryhill, go in Paris. But Melissa and I have had multiple times these conversations about how women are often trip chaining, all these caregiving trips that they're doing, and we talk about it in the context of putting that in the reality of, oh, and if they are not privileged enough or live in a place where they're able to trip chain all of this with their SUV, you know, how are they being able to do this?
00:46:30:02 - 00:47:13:01
John Simmerman
Do they have a comprehensive transit network that allows those those care trips to be happening? And so we really talk about the empowering nature of having a comprehensive cycle network and the advent of the go bike to be able to really handle a lot of these care trips. I know that wasn't the entire context of your post here, but I felt like, you know, that single parent challenge that you have and all of the different things that need to take place, that's what I love about your posts, is that I get to like, really see things from another perspective.
00:47:13:04 - 00:47:40:15
John Simmerman
Talk a little bit about what inspired you to talk a little bit about that, and then in the context of what you just experienced with velocity, whether you see some, you know, lines that can be drawn in terms of. Yeah. And if we have an environment that is more conducive to all ages and abilities, maybe some of these care trips can be done walking, biking, using transit, and yes, also by car two.
00:47:40:16 - 00:47:57:28
Becky Furuta
Yeah. I mean, I think one of the nice things that I've seen is that we're talking more about the mental load that women face, whether or not they're single parents, you know, and I definitely experience that in my marriage to I, you know, I kept track of all the doctor's appointments. I knew the names of all the teachers I went to, all the parent teacher conferences.
00:47:57:28 - 00:48:23:14
Becky Furuta
I had to go through all the IEP processes, which parents who have kids with disabilities can relate to how daunting that can be, you know, and I was tackling all of that and it is a huge it's a job on top of a job. And I think we're finally starting to acknowledge that more. And I think we're finally starting to acknowledge that, you know, in households where maybe the chores are 5050, the mental load might not be.
00:48:23:15 - 00:48:41:24
Becky Furuta
And that was certainly true of my marriage. And I, you know, for the sake of context, my ex and I are very, very good friends. We live a mile apart. We talk every day. You know, we meet for coffee every Sunday, right? He's a great guy. And for years, you know, he made it possible for me to travel the world and do this thing I love.
00:48:41:25 - 00:49:03:21
Becky Furuta
So. And one of the things I will say about having kids with special needs is that, you know, even in divorce, the relationship is different, he and I, it did take in a lot of ways, two of us to get certainly Henry, to where he is now. And we have a mutual appreciation of one another that stems from the sacrifices that both of us have made to to make that possible.
00:49:03:21 - 00:49:25:13
Becky Furuta
So it really does connect you to that person in a really different and kind of miraculous way. I think, you know, for us, it has allowed us again to be the very best of friends. But he would even tell you that I still to this day carry 100% of that mental load. And, you know, it is it is daunting and it does wear you down.
00:49:25:13 - 00:49:44:04
Becky Furuta
And to be honest with you, it's why I own my own business. If I worked for anyone else, it wouldn't be possible. I could not do all of the caretaking tasks that I have to do for both children and work a full time job and provide. So yeah, I mean, you know, I've, I've structured my life in such a way that that's possible.
00:49:44:04 - 00:50:07:04
Becky Furuta
And my kids have great outcomes and very bright futures. And I'm so proud of of who they are and what they've done. But it is challenging. And one of the things that my son, again, working for this developmental disability organization learned, he he didn't realize that there were adults like him living in host homes. And it came as a shock to him the first time that he recognized that this was a thing.
00:50:07:04 - 00:50:25:01
Becky Furuta
And he came home and he was like, am I going to live in a host home someday? And I was like, well, no, you know, you he has the adaptive skills that would enable him to live in his own apartment with some supports and be fine, but one not everyone does. And two, yeah, the transportation factor becomes a limitation for a lot of families.
00:50:25:01 - 00:50:54:13
Becky Furuta
And so they choose these host home settings because the transportation is built into the care plan. And again, if you are caring for your children or child until the day you die, right? If you have to financially provide for for those kids and financially plan for the rest of their adult life, you're probably working and to work and get them to all the appointments and manage all the giver visits and, you know, fill out all the paperwork.
00:50:54:14 - 00:51:18:13
Becky Furuta
I mean, I have on the my son has works over the summer and immediately the minute he starts working, his Social Security benefits get suspended because he's earning income. And so then I have to go spend four hours at the Social Security Administration arguing with them and showing them that, no, this is a temporary job, and he's just doing it over the summer, and he's owed a student employment exemption that he should have.
00:51:18:15 - 00:51:41:07
Becky Furuta
But, you know, regular people can't spend four hours every third Monday at the Social Security Administration. Right. And and so it does become a challenge for families. And ultimately that's why we see a lot of families, you know, who are moving toward these caregiving models, where the child is placed out of the home or the adult is placed out of the home.
00:51:41:07 - 00:52:04:02
Becky Furuta
And that's one of the things that I think really terrified people. Again, not to get political, but, you know, we saw that memo come down from the DOJ questioning whether or not home and community based services were an intrinsic right for people with disabilities. And that's that's a frightening consideration to think that people like Henry would be forced into institutional settings.
00:52:04:02 - 00:52:43:03
Becky Furuta
And by the way, we don't have enough institutional settings to house all the Henry's that are out there in the world. I mean, you know, it's it's yeah, it's frustrating because, again, the greatest thing that we can do, both socially and politically, is to empower people to live independent lives. Right? It is better for us all when Henry is out working a job and has an education and is able to be employed and do something meaningful and pay taxes and get to and from his job independently, that's actually better for all of us.
00:52:43:06 - 00:53:11:14
Becky Furuta
It's better for him and his, better for you and me and every other taxpayer. And empowering that requires having transportation. We have to have mobility solutions that span the spectrum of disabilities. So one of the reasons I actually volunteer with an organization called I Can Shine, which teaches kids with autism down syndrome to ride bikes, because only about 10% of kids on the severe end of the autism spectrum, or with down syndrome, will ever learn to ride a bike independently.
00:53:11:20 - 00:53:26:07
Becky Furuta
But again, this is the easiest way for that population of folks to access independent transportation. It is the best way for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to be fully independent.
00:53:26:13 - 00:54:01:10
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah. And with the advent of some very creative adaptive cycles as well, because if it's a situation where they, they can't ride a traditional two wheel bike, maybe a trike is the option. And again, that reframes who we think of when we hear the word cyclist. It's like, no, we're just talking about a person who is on a bike or trike, etc. and it should again, I use this term all the time reinforcing it should be all ages and all abilities.
00:54:01:13 - 00:54:24:27
John Simmerman
Being able to feel empowered to be able to get out there. Now I get the opportunity. I have the opportunity and the privilege to travel all around the world, profiling cities that and communities that are aspiring to be more Boulder esque, aspiring to be active towns, creating a culture of activity and human flourishing. It's it's a very special place.
00:54:24:27 - 00:54:48:12
John Simmerman
I remember the very first time I saw the Flatirons. I was coming over the hill, you know, via superior there on highway 36, descending on, on the Boulder Valley and saw the the Flatirons in the backdrop there. And this was in the, the mid 1990s. And I'm like, this is going to be my home. This is where I'm going to live.
00:54:48:12 - 00:55:25:00
John Simmerman
And I ended up living there for a decade. And then as I mentioned, you know, I go back there all the time now I spend, you know, a month at a time, a couple times each summer, you know, back in Boulder, I do consider, you know, sort of my home area. Talk a little bit about that context of living in a place that where there there it is, this culture of activity that really supports it's almost like a scaffolding and a backstop of encouraging all levels of physical activity from a lead level to just getting started.
00:55:25:00 - 00:56:00:06
John Simmerman
And I mentioned to you that, you know, I ran Boulder, Boulder this year for the first time in a couple of decades, got injured a mile and a half in. Oops. But but what's great about that race? And as soon as I injured myself, I turned, you know, I grabbed my iPhone and just filmed the rest of the time as I walked the way, pontificating about how special Boulder is and the race is, because it's just about a community celebration of physical activity and living a healthy, active lifestyle.
00:56:00:08 - 00:56:20:26
John Simmerman
To close this out for our conversation here today, talk a little bit about living in that type of environment and how we can create more boulders in terms of of of a place that exudes and supports, you know, and promotes a culture of activity elsewhere.
00:56:20:28 - 00:56:42:18
Becky Furuta
Yeah, I mean, definitely. You know, Boulder, when it comes to promoting activity, is unique. But I will say that I think one of the great things, one of the things that I love about our current sponsors at Team Novo Nordisk, Novo Nordisk as a company is such an active company, right. And so they sponsor all these events and these activities.
00:56:42:18 - 00:57:06:28
Becky Furuta
They send their employees to bike rides and running events and different things. And there's a there's a culture in that company that prioritizes exercise and activity. And so I think even if you're not lucky enough to be in a space like Boulder, there are opportunities, you know, to to create that even in a more kind of smaller fashion.
00:57:07:04 - 00:57:29:27
Becky Furuta
I own a business and kind of like what you were talking about. We prioritize activity at the business. So my employees are paid an hour lunch every single day, but if they would like to use some portion of that for recreation, we give them an hour and a half paid. And by some version of recreation, we live next to an area that's really well known for climbing and whitewater rafting.
00:57:29:27 - 00:57:49:24
Becky Furuta
So they can certainly go do that, but they just want to take a walk. That's fine. If they want to go ride their bike, that's fine if they want to go for a run. But we we pay that time in part because people need a break from their work day and in part because it keeps people healthy. It reduces absenteeism, it improves, you know, the overall fitness of my staff and and it improves morale.
00:57:49:24 - 00:58:21:27
Becky Furuta
And it's it's an easy, inexpensive perk. Boulder has is also unique in the fact that there are so many free recreational opportunities. Right. Like you're not paying to go on to public land. You don't have to pay to park. Most of these places are very accessible, and there's bikeways and pedestrian walkways everywhere. One one thing that. So the team is headquartered in the US and Atlanta, and every time I go to the South, I'm surprised by how few sidewalks there are.
00:58:21:28 - 00:58:39:27
Becky Furuta
Or I'll go to like Houston, Texas, and you'll see, like the Starbucks across the street. But then when you put it into Google Maps, it's like a three hour walk because you know, there's no sidewalk to get there and you can access it. You're like, I'm going to have to take the car. And and Colorado really is not like that.
00:58:39:27 - 00:59:02:14
Becky Furuta
We have sidewalks everywhere. We have multi-use paths, I mean, everywhere. And so that that does make it easier, right? Like if the infrastructure exists, people will utilize it. People will get out there. I mean, you know, we talked about Boulder Creek Path, you on a Saturday that that's jamming. I mean, you know, there's people out walking running, you know, kids on scooters, families, people walking dogs.
00:59:02:15 - 00:59:31:24
Becky Furuta
I mean if the infrastructure exists, it will be utilized. We just have to build it and position it. And I'm lucky that that boulder has prioritized it and that, you know, it is so well designed. You know, I think it it rivals like, you know, again, the sponsor Novo Nordisk are headquartered in Denmark. And I think in a lot of ways what we have in Boulder County rivals what you see in places like Denmark, in Copenhagen, which is my favorite city anywhere in the world.
00:59:31:26 - 01:00:01:25
Becky Furuta
But but we're lucky to have a lot of that same infrastructure and to be able to ride very safely here. I mean, I can genuinely tell you that in all my years, you know, I trained on these roads every day for well over a decade. And the number of scary incidents, close calls, rude drivers that I encountered, I could count them on one hand because there is an attitude here that is very friendly towards cyclists and pedestrians.
01:00:01:25 - 01:00:11:13
Becky Furuta
People expect to see bikes and people on the road and so they they just adjust for it automatically. It's just a very different mindset than what you find in much of the US.
01:00:11:19 - 01:00:36:15
John Simmerman
Yeah. Yeah. It's I like to say that the infrastructure again, the hardware, the hardware activity assets, that's that's the anti that's the baseline. Because if you don't have that then you can't have the rest you know. So it has to be it has to be built. It has to be authentic. It has to be again safe and welcoming and if possible beautiful.
01:00:36:15 - 01:01:03:14
John Simmerman
But then you also need the software activity assets, the programing like what you're talking about. And you're you're as an employer, you are a great example of creating policies that help backstop a physical activity lifestyle by saying that, you know, yeah, if you are going to go out and do something active, yeah, you get an extra half hour as part of that, you know, that thing.
01:01:03:14 - 01:01:34:16
John Simmerman
So those are the incentives that take place. That's the programing that I talk about when I talk about having the software activity, assets that bring to life and activate the built environment and make it possible, make it, you know, really something amazing. Becky, to close us out, any final thoughts that you'd like to leave the audience with here on the Active Towns Channel about your experience there at velocity, being a parent anything?
01:01:34:19 - 01:01:35:08
John Simmerman
Final thoughts?
01:01:35:09 - 01:01:58:20
Becky Furuta
Well, you know, I think if I were going to encompass all of it, it all does kind of come full circle in this idea that the bike has truly this really unique ability to change lives. It can change our environmental context, it can change individual contexts. You know, for me, it allowed me to see the world. I mean, I had on the room of my bedroom as a kid.
01:01:58:20 - 01:02:15:15
Becky Furuta
I had cut out all these pictures from travel magazines and posted them all over. My room, was wallpapered with them, and I never imagined that I would see all of those places. And I've gotten to see them, and I've gotten to see most of them from the seat of a bicycle. It has literally given me the entire world.
01:02:15:15 - 01:02:36:14
Becky Furuta
It's given my son the ability to get an education and get a job. You know, my daughter taught with Mike Friedman. You might have met my he used to ride for Garmin. Slipstream is an Olympian. He has an organization now that teaches young kids to ride and ride competently and confidently and safely. And she was a coach with him, and that was one of her first jobs.
01:02:36:14 - 01:02:57:07
Becky Furuta
So, you know, it's open doors for myself and for my family in really amazing ways right now. Team Novo Nordisk, if you if you happen to check them out, we've got a young man who's an ambassador named Tom Kelsall, who has an intellectual disability and lives with type one diabetes and is doing some amazing things on the bike as part of Team Novo Nordisk.
01:02:57:07 - 01:03:19:07
Becky Furuta
So you know it. It has the the ability to be transformative. You know, it's not just transportation. It's it's really the gateway to opportunity in so many ways. And I think that we just have to to maximize that potential as much as we can.
01:03:19:09 - 01:03:22:16
John Simmerman
So get out there and move, folks. Yeah.
01:03:22:19 - 01:03:23:24
Becky Furuta
Get out.
01:03:23:26 - 01:03:24:26
John Simmerman
Yeah, exactly.
01:03:24:27 - 01:03:32:21
Becky Furuta
I hope people are listening to this while they're running and writing. Like, I listen to all my podcasts and I'm out running. So I hope people are out there running while they're listening to you.
01:03:32:21 - 01:03:37:01
John Simmerman
And I. Yeah. For those of you here on YouTube, okay, this is your inspiration.
01:03:37:01 - 01:03:43:04
John Simmerman
Get out there and get some activity. And Becky, thank you so much for joining me on the Active Towns podcast.
01:03:43:07 - 01:03:44:06
Becky Furuta
Yeah. Thank you.
01:03:44:07 - 01:03:58:14
John Simmerman
Hey everyone. I hope you enjoyed this episode with Becky Fruita. And if you did, please give it a thumbs up. Leave a comment down below and share it with a friend. And if you haven't done so already, I'd be honored to have you subscribe to the channel. Just click on that subscription button down below and ring that notifications bell.
01:03:58:15 - 01:04:17:18
John Simmerman
And again, if you're enjoying this content here on the Active Towns channel, please consider supporting my efforts by becoming an active Townsend Ambassador. Hey, super easy to do. Just click on the join button right here in YouTube or navigate over to Active Towns. Click on the support tab at the top of the page, and there's several different options, including becoming a Patreon supporter.
01:04:17:22 - 01:04:41:07
John Simmerman
Patrons do get early and ad free access to all of this video content, but you can also leave a donation to my nonprofit advocates for Healthy Communities. Every little bit helps and is very much appreciated, and this is a great opportunity to say mahalo. Thank you very much to all my Active Towns ambassadors supporting my channel financially. Hey, I simply could not do this without your support.
01:04:41:08 - 01:04:53:13
John Simmerman
Thank you all so very much. And again, thank you for tuning in today. I really do appreciate it. And until next time, this is John signing off by wishing you much activity, health and happiness. Cheers and aloha.