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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 - 00:00:33:16
Coach Sam Balto
Depending on how you feel like. Just start small, just start with a couple families, get that cadence and that timing, and then open it up to the school community to join and participate. I mean, I think one thing I say a lot to bike bus leaders is it is not your job to solve all of society's ills. So there is a lot, you know, there's a lot of there can be a lot of barriers to starting a bike bus or to making sure everybody can participate.
00:00:33:16 - 00:00:54:26
Coach Sam Balto
But no form of transportation is fully inclusive that, you know, make sure every single person is a, you know, provided a car so that they can get to school. No school bus, you know, in most of the country goes and picks up every single kid. You know, this is just a choice. It's an option that people can partake in.
00:00:54:26 - 00:01:16:09
Coach Sam Balto
And over time, as you build that capital, I always say bike bus is grounded in equity and inclusion, but we live in reality. And so start with what you have, with who you have. And over time you'll build more, you know, social capital so you can work to remove more barriers so that more people can participate.
00:01:16:15 - 00:01:44:02
John Simmerman
Hey everyone, and welcome to the Active Towns Channel. My name is John Simmerman and that is the venerable coach Sam Balto from Bike Bus World. And we are going to be talking about bike bus world, the whole bike bus movements and getting some updates from Sam on what's happening in bike bus. But before we do that, I want to just say, if you're enjoying this content here on the Active Towns Channel, please consider supporting my efforts by becoming an Active Towns Ambassador.
00:01:44:02 - 00:02:02:02
John Simmerman
He's super easy to do here on YouTube. Just click on the join button right down below or navigate over to active. Click on the support tab at the top of the page, and there's several different options, including becoming a Patreon supporter. Patrons do get early and ad free access to all my video content. Okay, let's get right to it with Sam.
00:02:02:02 - 00:02:07:00
John Simmerman
Balto.
00:02:07:02 - 00:02:12:28
John Simmerman
Coach, thank you so much for joining me on the Active Towns podcast. Once again.
00:02:13:01 - 00:02:15:16
Coach Sam Balto
Yes, thank you for having me. It's been a minute.
00:02:15:18 - 00:02:41:19
John Simmerman
It has been a minute. Yeah. In fact, I was trying to to remember when the last time it was that I had you on or at least originally had you on. And if we pop on over here visually. Sam, we first chatted about the bike bus four years ago. Pinch me. I mean, that's wild.
00:02:41:21 - 00:02:54:07
Coach Sam Balto
I know you were like the first one on it because it was the summer after we started our bike bus. And yeah, I remember how excited and nervous I was for our meeting.
00:02:54:09 - 00:03:38:09
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah. So yeah. So for our online. And then you followed that up a year later by showing up in Austin for some events that were happening and an award that you were receiving, and we went out and filmed some on bike interviews. So, folks, you can all include the links in the show notes to this episode for all of those past videos, but you and I have not recorded anything together in a while, even though we've been together at various events, including in Ghent and Belgium, where we were on a panel that I pulled together at the Velocity Conference that was back in 2024, 2025.
00:03:38:10 - 00:04:00:21
John Simmerman
Last year, we didn't really connect in person at all. I was on the Brompton and the Amtrak tour, and I was zipping around all over last summer. Although you did show up in Austin, I think, to do a bike bus workshop. Is that correct in 2025?
00:04:00:24 - 00:04:05:22
Coach Sam Balto
Man, I've been all over the place. Yes. I wasn't Austin in 2025. Yeah.
00:04:05:24 - 00:04:08:18
John Simmerman
Yes. Boom. You and I didn't connect in person though.
00:04:08:18 - 00:04:09:18
Coach Sam Balto
It was crazy.
00:04:09:20 - 00:04:10:15
Coach Sam Balto
At that time.
00:04:10:16 - 00:04:11:14
Coach Sam Balto
It was an early.
00:04:11:14 - 00:04:31:10
John Simmerman
Morning and I was going to go up there and the weather looked iffy and I was like, I would love to film this, but it's too crazy. And it was way up north from where I was living in the downtown area, so it didn't happen. Long story short, this preamble, you and I just saw each other at the Strong Towns and National Gathering in Fayetteville.
00:04:31:12 - 00:04:58:22
John Simmerman
You had the opportunity to saunter on up to Bentonville to do a little bike bus workshop and, and and rally there again, questionable whether that day to which tends to happen. But you you're used to that. You live in Portland and good stuff. So we we have seen each other, but this is the first time in a long time that we've been able to get something on video.
00:04:58:25 - 00:05:08:22
John Simmerman
Sam, I do like to give my guests the opportunity to introduce themselves. So for the audience, who the heck is Koch Sound? Balto.
00:05:08:25 - 00:05:46:08
Coach Sam Balto
Yeah, that's a great question. I'm a father. Husband. I'm an educator. I'm a physical education teacher for over ten years in Washington DC, Boston and Portland. I got really passionate in Boston doing walking school busses, saw amazing benefits of that for my students in the community. We moved to Portland after having our first son continue doing walking school busses, and then during the pandemic, I switched schools and I saw a video of a BC bus bike bus in Barcelona and I was like, we have to do this at my school.
00:05:46:08 - 00:06:14:24
Coach Sam Balto
And so we did our first bike bus for Earth Day, the spring of 2022. It was a smashing success. 75 kids participated. Kids were demanding that we keep doing it. So we've been doing it every Wednesday since rain or shine. And because of the excitement and the momentum, I was able to take a sabbatical from teaching to start bike, bus world and national nonprofits and support people starting bike busses and to help build the movement.
00:06:14:24 - 00:06:41:09
Coach Sam Balto
And now that's my full time job. And so I'm not teaching P anymore. I do volunteer at recess to stay connected. I still lead the bike bus to that school, but I get to travel around the country and around the world promoting bike busses, meeting with leaders, and just sort of telling the amazing story of this movement and the impact that's having on children and communities.
00:06:41:09 - 00:06:45:15
Coach Sam Balto
And it's been a wild ride. It's been really incredible.
00:06:45:21 - 00:06:57:28
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah. And I popped on over to the website Bike Busker World. Can you recall the exact date that you guys launched the nonprofit and.
00:06:57:28 - 00:06:58:12
Coach Sam Balto
Got this?
00:06:58:16 - 00:07:06:07
Coach Sam Balto
And I always get like the years spin around, but I think it was fall of 2024.
00:07:06:09 - 00:07:07:08
John Simmerman
Okay, okay.
00:07:07:10 - 00:07:09:02
Coach Sam Balto
Fall of 2023.
00:07:09:03 - 00:07:09:26
Coach Sam Balto
Yeah, yeah.
00:07:09:27 - 00:07:12:25
John Simmerman
So you and I had talked.
00:07:12:27 - 00:07:14:09
Coach Sam Balto
In 2023.
00:07:14:10 - 00:07:15:01
Coach Sam Balto
Yeah.
00:07:15:02 - 00:07:26:03
John Simmerman
2023. You and I had talked good four years ago. The first time we got together in 2023, in the summer, or I think it was the summer, maybe.
00:07:26:04 - 00:07:26:14
Coach Sam Balto
It was.
00:07:26:14 - 00:07:27:18
Coach Sam Balto
2022.
00:07:27:24 - 00:07:28:04
Coach Sam Balto
Yeah.
00:07:28:06 - 00:07:28:20
John Simmerman
Well 20.
00:07:28:20 - 00:07:30:01
Coach Sam Balto
2220.
00:07:30:02 - 00:07:56:16
John Simmerman
Yeah. The first time was 2022. Second time was 2023 ish. ET cetera. When you were in Austin and this was in the works, you were thinking, oh, this is going to happen. You pulled together, you've got an advisory group, you've got some co-founders that are part about this. In fact, if we go to the About Us, you can see this talk a little bit about the inspiration.
00:07:56:19 - 00:08:01:08
John Simmerman
You've got your co-founders over here, you got Jessica, you got Luke, and you've got Andrew.
00:08:01:10 - 00:08:04:03
Coach Sam Balto
Yeah, a lot of them have been on your show as well.
00:08:04:04 - 00:08:05:08
Coach Sam Balto
Yeah, exactly.
00:08:05:12 - 00:08:08:27
John Simmerman
Luke and Jessica have been on the show before.
00:08:09:00 - 00:08:11:20
John Simmerman
Talk a little bit about that original.
00:08:11:20 - 00:08:32:04
John Simmerman
Vision of okay, bike bus is taking off globally. We need to do this. We need to to launch Bike Bus World. What was that vision about? What were when you guys were like the four of you were like bouncing around ideas and going, this is what we need to do and this is why we need to do it.
00:08:32:06 - 00:08:32:27
John Simmerman
What was that?
00:08:33:01 - 00:08:34:20
Coach Sam Balto
Yeah, absolutely. I mean.
00:08:34:22 - 00:09:03:24
Coach Sam Balto
I think we're all sort of experiencing how our inboxes were just getting filled with requests for people to, you know, wanting to learn more to start their own bike busses. And so, you know, and just we're all, like, connecting more and more with different bike bus leaders. And I always say that, you know, we all feel like we're salmon swimming upstream, but there's salmon to the left and to the right of us.
00:09:03:24 - 00:09:28:15
Coach Sam Balto
And when we know that there's other salmon fighting the current together, we can go farther. And it just really felt like there needed to be a place for us to connect, to share resources. So we're not constantly duplicating everything. And so, yeah, we I brought a pretty all star cast of individuals and we, you know, created Bike Bus world.
00:09:28:15 - 00:09:54:02
Coach Sam Balto
And it's the first year I was still teaching. And I quickly realized I something had to give because teaching and doing bike bus world was not going to be a sustainable, you know, life choice. So I was able to take a sabbatical from teaching the following school year and launch Bike Post World as a nonprofit.
00:09:54:04 - 00:10:01:14
John Simmerman
Take us through the life of being an executive director of Bike Bus World. Sam, what?
00:10:01:21 - 00:10:05:18
John Simmerman
What? What the heck are you doing? How do you fill your days?
00:10:05:20 - 00:10:28:04
Coach Sam Balto
Oh, man, I'm trying to. You know, I definitely am always reminding myself I'm living the dream. You know, the fact that, you know, from being a PE teacher to being able to do this full time, sort of. I'm looking around my office and it's a little messy, but it makes sense to me. And I just get to talk to people from all around the world.
00:10:28:06 - 00:10:59:01
Coach Sam Balto
I'll have like, meetings, you know, 1 to 1 coaching somebody from Kansas, somebody from Calgary, you know, Canada, and then all the way over to like, India. Someone who saw my video in India and wants to start a bike bus, you know, so I sort of like my brain sometimes is jumping all around the world. You know, geography wise, you know, supporting new people, starting, you know, working on creating resources, fundraising.
00:10:59:03 - 00:11:04:22
Coach Sam Balto
I do fortunate I get to do a lot of traveling. So.
00:11:04:25 - 00:11:27:19
Coach Sam Balto
I'm trying to think I went to over ten different bike busses last year around the country and around the world, doing one in London and Portugal, social media content, just a lot of different things, but it's exciting. We're looking to hire our first part time employee just because things are growing. Things are going really well. There's a ton of excitement.
00:11:27:19 - 00:11:57:15
Coach Sam Balto
And, you know, I heard this new motto. Somebody said to me that if it's important to you, make it easy for them. And Fight Bus is really important to, you know, I think for myself, but also for the kids and the communities that have started it and that get to experience it. And so we really want to work on making it easier, as easy as possible for someone to see a video, get inspired and to start in their community.
00:11:57:17 - 00:11:58:06
Coach Sam Balto
Yeah, yeah.
00:11:58:07 - 00:12:32:16
John Simmerman
Now, I pulled up your website once again and clicked on the the resources tab here, and we see that you've got three subcategories under resources startup, Bike Bus and FAQ and a Child Friendly Planning. Now you just mentioned the one on one coaching as a nonprofit. How does that work? Are you are you charging for one on one coaching, or is that something that you're able to provide free of charge based on donations and the generous contributions through philanthropy?
00:12:32:19 - 00:12:34:12
John Simmerman
How does that really work?
00:12:34:14 - 00:13:04:27
Coach Sam Balto
Yeah, we offer it free. Some people say that we should charge, but, you know, it's free for now. It's actually I took it off our page for the summer just because things are a little bit quieter. But we do have a virtual training now that's on our website with Rebecca, who's a bike bus leader in Chicago. When I was there, we had an event and she went through her presentation and it was really thorough and really a great resource.
00:13:04:27 - 00:13:29:15
Coach Sam Balto
So we were able to provide some free webinars for people for starting bike busses. I think one thing that was really fun for that was there were some parents of like three year olds that were in these webinars, which I think is one of the coolest things, how, you know, parents of kids who aren't even elementary school age are excited to start this.
00:13:29:18 - 00:13:57:01
Coach Sam Balto
You know, you're on the child friendly planning side of our website. It's not as built out as I'd like it to be yet, but I think, you know, you come for the joy of the bike bus and maybe you'll stay and start one, but then also maybe get a little lesson in the positive impacts of physical activity of, you know, different like planning features that make it easier to start bike busses or walking school busses in your community.
00:13:57:02 - 00:14:12:06
Coach Sam Balto
And I think just being able to share more resources that, you know, make it possible so that more kids can have independence and autonomy and be able to do this even on non bike bus days.
00:14:12:08 - 00:14:12:27
Coach Sam Balto
Beautiful.
00:14:12:27 - 00:14:44:08
John Simmerman
That's the perfect transition that I wanted us to go in here, because there's an entire movement that's out there, led by luminaries like Tim Gill, the author of the book Urban Playground. They're in London. He's he's based out of Walthamstow Forest. They're in London. And talking about how we have just really seen over the last generations or so, just a decrease in childhood independence, the ability to be able to get around their communities.
00:14:44:08 - 00:15:06:03
John Simmerman
And so it's essential that we relook at how we're building our communities, how we're building our cities. It should be safe and inviting for all ages and all abilities to be able to get to meaningful destinations, including school, including playgrounds, including museums and parks and recreation facilities.
00:15:06:03 - 00:15:08:20
John Simmerman
And your friend's house. You know.
00:15:08:21 - 00:15:09:24
Coach Sam Balto
It's it.
00:15:09:24 - 00:15:10:01
John Simmerman
Should.
00:15:10:01 - 00:15:41:09
John Simmerman
Not be a situation where a child has to get loaded up into an SUV and carted around by the parents to be able to get to meaningful destinations. So child friendly planning is a very, very natural extension of what you know, the bike bus is, and masses and all of these other movements that are taking place that are trying to real estate reestablish the fact that, you know, streets are for people and streets are for.
00:15:41:09 - 00:15:41:24
John Simmerman
Kids.
00:15:41:24 - 00:16:02:24
John Simmerman
And we should be able to have our youngsters be able to get around as well as our Ulster's. You know, I'm 61 years old. I can start to see the, you know, in the horizon here that, you know, as you get older and older and older and maybe driving is no longer an option, being able to be able to walk and bike to meaningful destinations is huge.
00:16:02:24 - 00:16:03:25
John Simmerman
So this is great.
00:16:03:26 - 00:16:06:12
Coach Sam Balto
I'm delighted to see something.
00:16:06:14 - 00:16:28:16
Coach Sam Balto
I talk a lot about and I credit you is when we met in Austin, you took me on a bike trip, a bike ride around the city, and I remember there was this newish protected bike lane network and it connected a couple schools, and it's this really nice cycle track. And we we went and checked out the bike racks and there wasn't a ton of bikes on them.
00:16:28:19 - 00:16:54:18
Coach Sam Balto
And you said something about hardware and software, you know, the, the, the protected bike lanes. That's the hardware. That's the physical infrastructure. But you also need the software, you know, the social capital, the social infrastructure. And if you think about it, you know, for the past 40 plus years, we've been training parents that to be a good parent, you need to remove all uncomfortable situations from your children.
00:16:54:18 - 00:17:24:00
Coach Sam Balto
And so even if they put in a new protected bike lane, but it's two blocks from your house. How does your kid bike from the house to the protected bike lane, and then the rest of the way to school. And so bike bus comes in perfectly. Is that social infrastructure? No, that's social norm, the practice where the kids can help build their confidence, but also the parents can build their confidence and their kids because we don't want.
00:17:24:01 - 00:17:50:26
Coach Sam Balto
I always joke with my students, I'm like, look, guys and girls, you know, you don't want your parents driving you to your first dates. So like, you got to start somewhere. You got to start building that independence. And so you start working backwards and being able to walk and bike a couple blocks to school, you know, starts with a couple of blocks and half a mile, then a mile, you know, you got to start building that independence.
00:17:50:26 - 00:18:12:15
Coach Sam Balto
And it's hard for parents to know how to give it to them, to give your kids independence, especially in society. And so Bike Busses is, you know, really great tool that has, you know, you hear these amazing stories of how, you know, the kids start in the back with their parents, then they move to the front where the speaker is.
00:18:12:20 - 00:18:28:09
Coach Sam Balto
Then the parents like, you know what, I don't need to be doing this anymore. And so they'll just, you know, make sure their kid makes it to the start and then just goes back home. And then pretty soon the kids just biking to school with their friends that they've made with the bike bus on non bike bus days.
00:18:28:13 - 00:18:29:10
Coach Sam Balto
Yeah yeah.
00:18:29:12 - 00:18:59:15
John Simmerman
Yeah. No. Absolutely. And and you're absolutely right folks who tune in to this, this this channel frequently know that I talk about hardware and software a lot. It dates back to my time in public health and trying to engineer situations, built environments that support healthy, active living. But you have to follow up the built environment with the engagement activities and the policies that that encourage people to be able to live that healthy, active lifestyle.
00:18:59:18 - 00:19:25:09
John Simmerman
And just for fun, I'm going to press play on our video where we were. We were looking at some of the environments. And so this takes us back a good three years ago to this wonderful area here in Austin. This is the Zilker Elementary School area. All of these little flex posts there, those have all been since replaced by permanent infrastructure.
00:19:25:09 - 00:19:27:03
Coach Sam Balto
So that's amazing.
00:19:27:06 - 00:19:57:03
John Simmerman
Bulb outs have been done. And you can see right there that there's no there's no ramp. There's no Ada ramp. So there we needed to have those sidewalks improved and enhanced. And so that all did happen since, you know, you last visited that neighborhood, at least, you know, with me. And and that's, I think, a good positive message to talk about that whole concept of temporary to enter materials, to permanent materials.
00:19:57:03 - 00:20:28:01
John Simmerman
Sometimes we just need to get something out there lighter, quicker, cheaper for traffic calming and to adjust things. And then you don't just leave it there. You don't just leave the interim materials in them permanently. You've got to follow that up with authentic infrastructure. Maybe you even have that opportunity to install a rain garden, do some D paving, tighten turns up, make it really, truly safer and more inviting for everybody, all ages and all abilities.
00:20:28:01 - 00:20:28:27
Coach Sam Balto
It's good stuff.
00:20:29:00 - 00:20:57:10
Coach Sam Balto
I always, I always say children are looking for perfection. They're looking to be seen. And you know, the lighter, quicker, cheaper is a great way to show kids that they're seeing that, you know, the city cares, that they want to make sure that they can get to school in multiple different ways. And, you know, and you sort of need that balance of you need the demand, but you also need the hardened infrastructure.
00:20:57:10 - 00:21:19:10
Coach Sam Balto
And if you have the hard infrastructure but not the demand, if those things are out of whack and something, you know, it's hard to communicate all the time because people just see bike bus and they're like, oh, it's so fun and joyful. And then you're also like, this is a massive Band-Aid to all of these societal, you know, pieces that are missing.
00:21:19:12 - 00:21:40:14
Coach Sam Balto
Like, we shouldn't have to do all of this so that kids and families feel safe letting their kids ride bikes to school. There's a need for the physical infrastructure, and that physical infrastructure also then helps build momentum for those bike busses. So it's really important that, you know, municipalities don't just see bike busses and be like, okay, our job is done.
00:21:40:15 - 00:21:59:21
Coach Sam Balto
It's like, no, no, no, no, no. Like check out the bike racks on non bike bus days. Why why are those numbers lower. You know the numbers are definitely going to be higher than when before there was ever a bike bus. But the numbers on non bike busses are going to be lower. Yeah. And part of that has to do with the physical infrastructure.
00:21:59:21 - 00:22:06:14
Coach Sam Balto
Bike bus creates the safety bubble around the kids. But physical infrastructure can do that as well.
00:22:06:16 - 00:22:09:04
John Simmerman
I love it I love it. Now you just mentioned Portugal.
00:22:09:06 - 00:22:10:19
John Simmerman
You were just in Portugal.
00:22:10:21 - 00:22:12:09
Coach Sam Balto
Boom. Yeah. Oh man.
00:22:12:14 - 00:22:14:10
Coach Sam Balto
We had a blast.
00:22:14:13 - 00:22:43:00
John Simmerman
So you and I referenced earlier that you were there in Northwest Arkansas at the same time I was there, you were there, and I was there for I was there for two conferences. I was there for the Congress for New Urbanism. And then the following week I was there for For Strong Towns National Gathering. You were there for to present at the Strong Towns and National gathering, but also to, to, to to do the host the the gathering there in Bentonville.
00:22:43:00 - 00:22:46:28
John Simmerman
We mentioned that earlier. But then, you know, what was it a couple of weeks.
00:22:46:28 - 00:22:48:02
John Simmerman
Later, you turning around.
00:22:48:02 - 00:22:51:08
John Simmerman
And jumping on a plane and going to to Lisbon.
00:22:51:08 - 00:22:52:10
John Simmerman
Talk a little bit about.
00:22:52:10 - 00:22:59:24
John Simmerman
This summit. This is not the first time this summit has happened, and this tends to be truly international in nature.
00:22:59:26 - 00:23:27:04
Coach Sam Balto
Yeah, absolutely. So this is the fourth year we've had the bike bus summit. It's beyond grassroots and it's a and how it's put together, you know, different countries, different cities, you know, volunteer to lead it. It was first in Barcelona, then in Frankfurt, Germany, then it was in Worcester, UK. And then this past year was in Lisbon. And next year is going to be in Portland, Oregon.
00:23:27:04 - 00:23:53:25
Coach Sam Balto
And it's been amazing. I mean, it's a fourth year, and I think the way I describe it is love. Just the love that we all have for each other and the appreciation we have. And, you know, that shared experience of what we've all got are going through not just as bike bus leaders, but as parents as, you know, just people in similar stages of our lives.
00:23:53:25 - 00:24:24:00
Coach Sam Balto
And it was it was a really wonderful experience. There was it was the biggest one we've had. It was beyond well put together by the organizers in Lisbon. So, yeah, it's a I'm still feeling like, you know, the good energy and our WhatsApp groups are still buzzing from the connections we've made. So it gives us a lot of energy to make it through the year for the following one.
00:24:24:02 - 00:24:26:08
John Simmerman
And I guess it it bears.
00:24:26:08 - 00:24:47:16
John Simmerman
Repeating. Again, part of the context in the history of this is that this movement has been going on for a while, as you mentioned, you first became aware of it through, you know, the BC bus in Barcelona, you know, and and you're.
00:24:47:16 - 00:24:47:21
Coach Sam Balto
Like.
00:24:47:21 - 00:25:00:13
John Simmerman
Wow, okay, this is cool. Luke. And the folks there in San Francisco, they've they've been working on doing this. So it's not a completely new thing. It's been it's been happening off and on.
00:25:00:15 - 00:25:01:02
John Simmerman
Tell a little.
00:25:01:03 - 00:25:09:22
John Simmerman
Bit about your personal journey though, because your school, the Alameda Elementary Alameda Elementary.
00:25:09:24 - 00:25:10:28
Coach Sam Balto
Right. Yeah.
00:25:11:00 - 00:25:31:01
John Simmerman
And your bike bus was the one though, that really caught the attention of the mass media and then launched the firestorm that is the bike bus movement as we know it in recent times.
00:25:31:03 - 00:25:36:06
Coach Sam Balto
For sure. You've got you've got to be pinching yourself, dude. You got to be like, what? What the heck? Yeah.
00:25:36:08 - 00:25:47:00
Coach Sam Balto
Yeah, yeah. Let's sort of go through this timeline. I think first is, you know, I don't spend a lot of time and energy trying to figure out who was the first ever bike bus because.
00:25:47:01 - 00:25:47:19
Coach Sam Balto
They've been out there.
00:25:47:26 - 00:26:10:03
Coach Sam Balto
Was called bike trains, you know, and I just say, nobody invented children riding bikes to school. There's something about the, you know, the name bike bus versus bike train coming out of the pandemic. Just a lot of those factors. The music playing, I think is a big part of it. Social media is a big part of it.
00:26:10:06 - 00:26:29:19
Coach Sam Balto
I've been doing walking school busses before and I love walking school busses. And if you would, you know, I used to joke that when I die on my tombstone it would say Coach Balto walking school bus guy. It was. I just thought walking school busses were the best. And then I saw the BC bus video and I was like, oh, I have to do this at my school.
00:26:29:20 - 00:26:57:19
Coach Sam Balto
And Luke did in San Francisco. And I was just, you know, seeing it and it was getting more inspired. And I think once I did the first one, you know, I already had a presence in the social media world on the good old days of urbanist Twitter and, you know, a space with, like, you know, Tim Gill and child friendly cities and, you know, just creating more active spaces for kids and traffic playgrounds and a whole bunch of stuff.
00:26:57:19 - 00:27:25:09
Coach Sam Balto
And when I did the bike bus and just the excitement on my kids, you know, faces and just how it resonated with them so much, I was like, we just need to keep doing this. And knowing myself, I, you know, I'm pretty social media savvy and Bike Bus is very visually appealing. You know, videos of happy children riding bikes to school really resonates.
00:27:25:09 - 00:27:53:10
Coach Sam Balto
And I think there's just a lot of factors about my specific bike bus that gives us this sort of, you know, what, what it has become. You know, we ride downhill. So that gives us a certain speed. It's me, Coach Balto. Like, this is what I do, you know, I'm a physical education teacher. I know how to get kids excited and, you know, moving around, you know, movement and just being outdoors.
00:27:53:13 - 00:28:16:26
Coach Sam Balto
And the social media piece like this video, Benson Boone. And our first one was Justin Timberlake. It's, you know, I know how to reach the good sides of social media and to bring awareness to topics, you know, leaning off of pop culture and other sort of trends that are going on. And we've had some Boone join our bike bus.
00:28:16:26 - 00:28:41:07
Coach Sam Balto
We had Zara Larsson, a European pop star. We had Justin Timberlake, we just did a ride in June with Alex Warren. So it's been, you know, and all of when we have these celebrity rides, it's what I call like jumps, the algorithm. You know, people who have never seen bike bust or thought about it before but love Justin Timberlake and follow him.
00:28:41:08 - 00:29:04:18
Coach Sam Balto
They now get my video with Justin Timberlake. And there's this PE teacher in East Hartford, Connecticut. Leah, amazing educator, you know, been doing it for a bunch of years. Teacher. And I think she might have been like a little losing her, you know, excitement. And then she saw the bike bus with Justin Timberlake. And she is obsessed now with Bike bus.
00:29:04:18 - 00:29:28:04
Coach Sam Balto
So she started one at her school, worked really hard to get a ton of her students bikes so that they could ride. And now she's going and helping other schools in the Hartford area start bike busses. And I think that's, you know, the general cadence of how this happens. You know, you have something that sparks your interest. You find bike bus world, you're able to connect.
00:29:28:06 - 00:29:39:13
Coach Sam Balto
You see there's a network with resources, and then you just want more kids and more communities to be able to experience it. So you're going to do what you can to help remove those barriers.
00:29:39:20 - 00:29:40:22
Coach Sam Balto
Yeah. Yeah.
00:29:40:24 - 00:29:53:10
John Simmerman
Well you mentioned it there. You you referenced the fact that bike bus is very visually oriented and apologies to are listening only audience. You're missing.
00:29:53:10 - 00:29:54:15
Coach Sam Balto
A lot of really cool.
00:29:54:15 - 00:30:01:27
John Simmerman
Videos that's playing off to the side of us as we're talking about this. And that's part of the secret sauce.
00:30:01:27 - 00:30:02:15
Coach Sam Balto
The whole.
00:30:02:15 - 00:30:30:15
John Simmerman
Reason why this exploded is because of that concept of social media and the visual orientation and the production of short form video that you were pushing out to TikTok, that you were pushing out on other social media platforms. Did you have to teach yourself how to do this in terms of like, all of a sudden become a video production professional?
00:30:30:18 - 00:31:07:12
Coach Sam Balto
No, I just I mean, I'm watching this video. I'm like, I could have done this better, you know, of course you can always do things better. But I think, you know, you lean into the good sides of ADHD. You just keep putting up shots. You know, you just keep you know, it doesn't it doesn't cost anything. Besides, you know, the time that I'm usually already scrolling anyways to create this content and eventually you sort of figure out what resonates with people and what kind of content you like making.
00:31:07:14 - 00:31:26:10
Coach Sam Balto
And you just keep doing that, you know? So this is Alex Warren. He's a best New artist, Grammy nominated. He joined our bike bus, and we wrote him to the Moda Center, where his show was that night, which was the first time. And I do this thing called Bike and Tell when I get to interview the artist.
00:31:26:10 - 00:31:46:27
Coach Sam Balto
So this is the third time I've done that, and that's been a really fun to do. Yeah, I mean, I think you just sort of lean into what makes it fun and just trying to tell stories and personalize yourself and the character, you know, you know, the kids and just, you know, the joy and excitement of the bike bus.
00:31:47:00 - 00:31:48:02
Coach Sam Balto
I love it, I love it.
00:31:48:02 - 00:31:55:12
John Simmerman
Bike and tell you're you're you're taking a page from my active Towns channel with my on bike interviews. Good job man.
00:31:55:14 - 00:31:56:19
Coach Sam Balto
Yeah, exactly.
00:31:56:20 - 00:32:18:24
Coach Sam Balto
I know, you know. And I'm sure like when you started, you know, you go back to your old stuff, like, I'll go back to my old bike bus videos and it's like, you know, one, the rides are so disorganized. You know, there's like, kids are passing me on the left and all this stuff. And I think it's just like any skill, you start somewhere and then you improve over time.
00:32:18:25 - 00:32:39:18
Coach Sam Balto
And creating content is the same thing. You just start making videos that you feel will resonate. You know that you want to make you know that I think have meaning and intention, and you'll find that side of the internet that also appreciates it. Bike busses by far the most joyful side of the internet.
00:32:39:19 - 00:32:40:15
Coach Sam Balto
Yeah, yeah.
00:32:40:22 - 00:33:01:06
John Simmerman
And this will take us back all the way to 2022, when we had our first discussion and we were talking about, you know, the fact that you caught a tiger by the tail with the TikTok and the videos, what was the video that first really exploded that brought the attention?
00:33:01:08 - 00:33:19:12
Coach Sam Balto
Yeah, I mean, I think the first one was our first bike bust video. It was a mom on the side of the road, and her son was on rollerblades. And as I passed by, Mike, come on, let's go, let's go. And then he joins in. And that video I posted on X and it did very well for or Twitter.
00:33:19:14 - 00:33:43:26
Coach Sam Balto
It did very well. And I was like, okay, there's like something visual about this. And then TikTok was new for me. So I kind of was trying different stuff. But just even on that app, it was really picking up where, you know, I like would check the notifications, put the phone down five minutes later, open up the app again, and my notifications would be full.
00:33:43:28 - 00:34:11:28
Coach Sam Balto
Yeah. The going viral thing is like it's own experience of the adrenaline rush, and I don't necessarily think it's something everybody should experience. It's it's a big roller coaster, but the one that like, really took things off was this mom. The following fall after we talked, it was just things had a ton of momentum. The amount of kids riding had gone up to like 130.
00:34:12:00 - 00:34:39:18
Coach Sam Balto
And this one mom made a video after one of our bike busses and it was of us approaching and it was put some she put some text at the bottom. It was really like heartfelt and really kind. And I remember I'm doing the dishes and I checked TikTok and the video is 200,000 views and I'm like, oh my God, that's a ton of views like you just posted at like an hour or two before.
00:34:39:19 - 00:35:05:18
Coach Sam Balto
And then I go to bed, and then the next morning I wake up, my wife's downstairs getting the kids ready. I checked TikTok, the video is 2 million views and I'm like, Holy shit! Holy shit. And I was like, what's wrong? I'm like, that video is over 2 million views. And that day at work, I got emails from NBC Nightly News, The Kelly Clarkson Show, Access Hollywood, Washington Post.
00:35:05:19 - 00:35:20:10
Coach Sam Balto
It was like the whole, you know, viral media gambit for the next 4 or 5 months. And I think that was really like the first thing that just took it up to the next level.
00:35:20:13 - 00:35:23:08
Coach Sam Balto
Yeah, yeah. So now that.
00:35:23:09 - 00:35:51:25
John Simmerman
That initial push in the initial excitement is, is kind of calmed down a fair amount. What's it like now? I mean, when we click on in the news and we see some of the stuff that you're posting out, you know, more recently, what's this like now? What's the what's the Zeit geist of where we're at with this? Are people still just now discovering it and going.
00:35:51:26 - 00:35:54:21
Coach Sam Balto
Oh my God. That's the best thing in the world.
00:35:54:24 - 00:36:17:21
Coach Sam Balto
Yeah, yeah. I mean, people don't know what they don't know. And you just can't, you know, you'd be like, oh my God, I've been doing this for four years. Our videos get hundreds of millions of views, but like, you could tell someone something for decades and then something totally random has to happen for it to snap, for them to put those pieces and understand what's going on.
00:36:17:21 - 00:36:42:26
Coach Sam Balto
But, you know, there's just a lot of people who still don't know about bike bus. And that's what I think been so cool is we've now doubled for the third, for the fourth straight year of doing bike busses. So every year we're doubling the total amount of bike bus routes. So we're at over 700 bike bus routes globally, globally.
00:36:42:26 - 00:36:49:20
John Simmerman
Now let me get let me get over that map. Let me get over that map. Boom. Here we go. We've got the map right there.
00:36:49:22 - 00:36:50:10
Coach Sam Balto
Yep.
00:36:50:12 - 00:37:14:27
Coach Sam Balto
And it's been amazing to see, just like all the different corners of the country, you know, you'd be like oh, bike post, that's an urban thing. No. Like it's rural. It's a bourbon. It's urban. It's it's what I would say is we are resilient. Human beings are resilient. We're problem solvers. If there's something we want to figure out how to do, we're going to find a way to do it.
00:37:14:27 - 00:37:32:25
Coach Sam Balto
And so bike bus is an idea and communities find a way to make it their own. And I think that's been so cool. And, you know, be like, oh, what are you doing? It snows. It's well, do you have school? Like, do you want to ride in the snow? If you don't want to ride on the snow, don't ride in the snow, you know.
00:37:32:26 - 00:37:50:27
Coach Sam Balto
What are you doing? It rains. Well if you you know, it's like if you're going to commit to writing in the rain, other kids are going to show up. If you don't want to write in the rain, cancel it like there's I'm not your boss. You don't have to kiss the rain. You don't need to ask me for permission.
00:37:51:00 - 00:38:17:04
Coach Sam Balto
I'm just here to, like, sort of give you some best practices and help you problem solve. Maybe there's a tricky street on the route that you want to do, and you want to know the best approach, but you get to make the rules. And the goal is consistency. And that means that's definitely not daily. You know, it could be weekly, it could be monthly, could be seasonally, but you want to do it more than once a year.
00:38:17:06 - 00:38:18:13
Coach Sam Balto
Right, right.
00:38:18:16 - 00:38:44:26
John Simmerman
Yeah. And again I'm going to do the same thing that I did with Traffic Gardens, where we looked at the map of where there were known traffic gardens out there on the West Coast. Here. I'm going to focus on the West Coast because that's where I'm from originally. Is California okay, Nevada, New Mexico, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota.
00:38:44:28 - 00:39:08:12
John Simmerman
Where's your bike busses? If you have a bike bus, you can fill out the form right here on the the website. Again, that website is bike bus dot and and get your bike bus recognized. If you actually do have a bike bus operating in New Mexico, in Nevada in. Is that why doesn't have one two. Yeah Wyoming doesn't have one.
00:39:08:12 - 00:39:09:22
John Simmerman
Come on Wyoming you.
00:39:09:22 - 00:39:10:10
Coach Sam Balto
Got you got.
00:39:10:10 - 00:39:14:19
John Simmerman
To get with the system here.
00:39:14:21 - 00:39:39:27
John Simmerman
Again resources. You have resources available to you here on the Bike Bus World website. So again the resources how to start a bike bus. It walks you through how to start it. You've got a video right there. And again you can if you're really, really stuck or you just need to bounce some ideas off of of Coach Balto.
00:39:39:28 - 00:39:51:07
John Simmerman
You can do that. Any other tips or ideas or you know, what does it really take? You know, without going into the FAQs?
00:39:51:09 - 00:40:16:12
Coach Sam Balto
You know, I think the best way to describe it is I was there's this two friends, Noel and Monique. They live in Miami Springs, Florida, and they rode bikes with their two daughters who were friends to school. And they do, you know, pretty regularly. And then they saw a video, one of my bike bus videos, and they're like, oh, we want to do this.
00:40:16:12 - 00:40:37:19
Coach Sam Balto
So they made a flier. They, you know, picked a spot. There's a rec center that's kind of like two blocks in the opposite direction, but it's not, you know, super far away. It felt like they could consistently meet at the parking lot there. And every Friday they do the bike bus from the rec center parking lot to the school.
00:40:37:19 - 00:41:04:09
Coach Sam Balto
And it's I think it's like a half a mile. Sometimes they get six kids joining, sometimes they get 45 kids joining. That's it. Rinse and repeat. And it's amazing to see that the impact that that's having, they're getting more kids riding every year. They have these amazing stories of the like. It's a wider boundary school. So like kids who live outside of the catchment zone can come.
00:41:04:09 - 00:41:32:20
Coach Sam Balto
And like a mom will drive her kid across, you know, like past the school and drop her daughter off so that she can ride, you know, and it's inspiring other bike busses in their community as well. And so you can make everything complicated. And we sort of say try to keep it as simple as possible. You don't need to ask the principal for permission or the PTA, of course I'm supporting.
00:41:32:20 - 00:41:55:02
Coach Sam Balto
It is amazing. And that will help a lot in terms of messaging and getting the word out. And if teachers ride, you know by them the Starbucks gift card as appreciation. But you know, it's an idea. It's just riding bikes with your community. We don't ask a principal for permission to carpool. Yeah. You know, this is no different.
00:41:55:03 - 00:41:58:00
Coach Sam Balto
You're just not limited by the size of your car.
00:41:58:02 - 00:42:05:28
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah. Any any guesses as to how many bike bus videos I have produced?
00:42:06:01 - 00:42:10:00
Coach Sam Balto
Oh, man.
00:42:10:02 - 00:42:15:06
Coach Sam Balto
Maybe. I'm sure, like mentioned in some capacity or over ten now.
00:42:15:08 - 00:42:42:10
John Simmerman
Yeah. It's 18 videos where bike busses either been profiled, featured and or prominently mentioned. And that's what I have on my playlist. Here is 18 different videos where Bike Bus has been profiled in some way, shape or form. We've got Megan Ramey right here in the middle, also from four years ago. She's been doing a bike train, also known as Bike Bus there in hood River, Oregon, just up the road from you there.
00:42:42:13 - 00:43:17:03
John Simmerman
But also, you know, Jessica with Montclair Bike Bus and you made helped me make that connection with Jessica so that I could profile what's going on there. And so I've done it. I've done the profile in this type of setting where we're interviewing, you know, the leaders of them. But I've also had the opportunity to get out and, you know, profile, you know, in person and be able to shoot video and profile bike busses as they're happening, which is, you know, your your routes.
00:43:17:03 - 00:43:45:07
John Simmerman
This is the whole reason why Bike Bus took off is because you had the foresight to know, to turn on the camera, produce some content, get that momentum and excitement going. This is one in the Park Hill Bike Bus neighborhood in Denver, Colorado again. And they're just they're all over. I've profiled the the Brown School that Allen runs the bike bus there.
00:43:45:13 - 00:44:11:03
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah. Good. Good stuff. And and you know, parents and leaders, city leaders and school leaders, if you want to pull together a bike bus in your community, don't feel like you have to become a videographer and film it as well. That's just what we've we're doing to try to profile them and all of that. You've got enough on your hands just to be able to get them going.
00:44:11:04 - 00:44:34:08
John Simmerman
And here's the leader of of this particular bike bus. They're in the Park Hill neighborhood. So yeah, don't feel pressure that you have to become a content creator to I mean, it's great if you can snap some photos or have some parents helping out to do that. You have enough on your your plate to just keep, you know, control of the kiddos and the intersections.
00:44:34:08 - 00:44:41:04
John Simmerman
And I know that you and I talked about this in the first episode. Don't do it alone. Get help.
00:44:41:07 - 00:45:09:25
Coach Sam Balto
Oh, yeah. No, I mean, I think you definitely need 1 or 2 other parents that are committed to show up. And, you know, I think that's where you start is trying to find that 1 or 2 other parents and maybe it's just a one time event and, you know, and then you're like, okay, if this is has some momentum with it, be ready to do it more consistently.
00:45:09:27 - 00:45:35:16
Coach Sam Balto
And you can also, you know, depending on how you feel like, just start small. Just start with a couple families, get that cadence and that timing and then open it up to the school community to join and participate. I mean, I think one thing I say a lot to bike bus leaders is it is not your job to solve all of society's ills.
00:45:35:19 - 00:46:01:26
Coach Sam Balto
So there is a lot, you know, there's a lot of there can be a lot of barriers to starting a bike bus or to making sure everybody can participate. But no form of transportation is fully inclusive that, you know, make sure every single person is, you know, provided a car so that they can get to school. No school bus, you know, in most of the country goes and picks up every single kid.
00:46:01:27 - 00:46:28:08
Coach Sam Balto
You know, this is just a choice. It's an option that people can partake in. And over time, as you build that capital, I always say bike bus is grounded in equity and inclusion, but we live in reality. And so start with what you have, with who you have. And over time you'll build more, you know, social capital so you can work to remove more barriers so that more people can participate.
00:46:28:10 - 00:46:48:14
John Simmerman
I love that you mentioned that too, because, you know, again, you're not there to try to solve all the ills that are out there in society. But yeah, if you find yourself in a situation where you're in a community where there's some kiddos that are not able to participate, maybe they don't have the quote unquote the means, the luxury of having a bike.
00:46:48:16 - 00:47:18:13
John Simmerman
Maybe then you start building up the scaffolding to to help people, you know, let's let's figure out how to get bikes to kids and things of that nature so that you can address some of those inequities that do take place here. And we see just the steady stream of kids that are rolling into, you know, the schoolyard here and getting, you know, they're going to fill up all of these spaces and they keep adding more and more bike racks to this particular school.
00:47:18:13 - 00:47:46:19
John Simmerman
And the great long term story of this school is that we're seeing more and more of these kiddos writing every single day of the week, which is fantastic. And and that's, again, what we want to see is that this be the the pointy edge, the tip of the iceberg of getting the momentum for more inclusive, safer, more inviting streets for people and for all ages and abilities.
00:47:46:21 - 00:48:11:17
Coach Sam Balto
Absolutely. I mean, I made a video about how at the start of every school year, five ish families or kids come up to me and say, I learned how to ride my bike so I could ride in the bike bus. And when I made that video, multiple other bike bus leaders said that same thing happens to them. And you think about it, you know, five at my school, five at that school, five at that school.
00:48:11:17 - 00:48:19:28
Coach Sam Balto
And bike busses are doubling every year globally. That's a shit ton of kids who are learning how to ride bikes to ride in the bike bus. Yeah.
00:48:20:01 - 00:48:23:06
John Simmerman
Is that is that a technical term? Is that a technical term?
00:48:23:09 - 00:48:47:27
Coach Sam Balto
Yes, yes, there's a formula for that. There's a formula to calculate how many kids are learning how to ride bikes. Yeah. Yeah. But you know I think growing up I never thought about bikes for transportation. Right. And that was something that was much newer to me and my 20s. 30s. Right. These kids now see that, you know, streets are space for them.
00:48:48:04 - 00:49:13:08
Coach Sam Balto
Yeah. That they're not, you know, left to the outskirts, to the sidewalks that, that they can take up that space and that they, you know, that is for them. And I think the great thing is drivers also see, and it's been research like in Glasgow in Scotland, they did research on drivers or people seeing the bike bus and their perception of it.
00:49:13:08 - 00:49:33:01
Coach Sam Balto
And it really removes any negative feelings that you might, you know, you think you're like, oh, drivers are really mad. It's like no, like they actually see and understand that kids are deserving of being able to get places and they're not, you know, there it's the inconvenience is they don't see it that way.
00:49:33:07 - 00:49:46:02
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah. And again, you know, Sam, I'll reinforce street. Street streets are for people. And guess what, folks, I know this is a newsflash for you. Kids are people to true.
00:49:46:04 - 00:49:54:25
Coach Sam Balto
But like drivers, drivers are much calmer. Like when I arrived with my kids. Now in Portland, drivers will just pull over and wait.
00:49:54:26 - 00:50:25:10
John Simmerman
Yes, yes, it has been amazing just how patient the drivers really are. They see whether it's a critical mass that I'm filming or whether it's a bike bus that I'm filming, I have never I have not seen a single, you know, occurrence of a really impatient driver out there. I know they exist, but the vast majority, 99.9% of the drivers that are out there.
00:50:25:10 - 00:50:50:25
John Simmerman
So hopefully this is inspiration to folks who are tuning into this and going, I want to do this. I wanted to pull up this because you had mentioned something that we're starting to see some evidence. We're starting to see the impact of bike busses and masses and getting more people, you know, kind of shifting their mindset of, oh, I can actually write a bike with my kids to school.
00:50:50:25 - 00:51:11:16
John Simmerman
And we're starting to see that impact, the impact of reducing traffic and, and pollution. And so this is an article that was was produced by Inside Climate News. This is good stuff that we're starting to see the momentum rolling here with some evidence rolling in about. Yes this does have an impact a positive impact.
00:51:11:18 - 00:51:29:24
Coach Sam Balto
Yeah I think the best evidence is go and watch some videos of school car lines. Yes. You know where parents are waiting 30 plus minutes in idling cars to pick up, to drop off and pick up their kids and then go watch a bike bus, video. And then you get to make the choice.
00:51:29:25 - 00:51:53:04
John Simmerman
Yeah. Well, you you love to produce hilarious sort of videos of like, people just losing their shit, you know, stuck in these drop off, pick up and drop off lines and all of that. And so that's spot on, that spot on. To wrap this up, we'll go right back to the website here and reinforce with folks final words.
00:51:53:04 - 00:52:03:13
John Simmerman
Sam, what do you need to pass along to folks about getting a bike bus going? Final pearls of wisdom.
00:52:03:15 - 00:52:23:02
Coach Sam Balto
I mean, I would say bike busses are amazing. I love bike busses. Check out the website and there's a ton of ways to create opportunities for joy and physical activity for kids in your community. It doesn't have to be a bike bus. It could be a walking school bus, it could be a kid, a mass ride. It could be a traffic garden.
00:52:23:04 - 00:52:45:07
Coach Sam Balto
It could be school streets. There's so many different ways. Bike bus is just one of those tools. And I know John has a ton of amazing interviews and examples and yeah, give it a try if it works for your community. If not, there's tons of other things you can do to create opportunities for joy for children.
00:52:45:09 - 00:53:09:22
John Simmerman
Yeah, and if it's a situation where you're built environment, the streets, the leading up to a school just isn't conducive to that. Yeah, maybe it's not a bike bus. Maybe it's a critical mass, maybe it's an open streets event. Maybe it's something else that reinforces and reframes in the mind of the public what streets are for, I mean, reinforcing the fact that, yeah, our streets should be for people.
00:53:09:22 - 00:53:31:24
John Simmerman
You should not feel as if that's a no go zone where you can't walk and bike to get to your meaningful destinations. Sam, to truly close us out here in looking forward for the rest of the year here 2026. What's exciting? What's on your agenda for the rest of the year? What has you super, super excited?
00:53:31:26 - 00:53:40:18
Coach Sam Balto
I'm excited to hire somebody. Yeah, I'm excited for the bike summit to be in North America.
00:53:40:21 - 00:53:41:15
John Simmerman
Wins that.
00:53:41:15 - 00:53:43:21
John Simmerman
Going to be.
00:53:43:24 - 00:53:45:19
Coach Sam Balto
March or April?
00:53:45:21 - 00:53:49:18
John Simmerman
April next year it'll be somewhere in North America.
00:53:49:19 - 00:53:50:07
John Simmerman
First time.
00:53:50:10 - 00:53:52:08
Coach Sam Balto
It'll be in Portland. It will be in Portland.
00:53:52:09 - 00:53:54:03
John Simmerman
Or it'll be in Portland. Okay.
00:53:54:04 - 00:54:06:13
Coach Sam Balto
Yeah. And I think I'm just excited to just continue to see the movement grow and to just help more people impact kids in their community.
00:54:06:15 - 00:54:07:03
John Simmerman
I love it.
00:54:07:03 - 00:54:09:25
John Simmerman
I love it, coach Sam, Balto.
00:54:09:26 - 00:54:21:14
John Simmerman
Bike, Bus world. Folks, be sure to head on over to Bike Bus World, the website. And Sam, thank you so much for touching this once again and spreading the joy about Bike Bus.
00:54:21:16 - 00:54:23:15
Coach Sam Balto
Thank you for everything. It's good chatting.
00:54:23:18 - 00:54:40:04
John Simmerman
Hey, thank you all so much for tuning in. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Coach Sam Balto with Bike Bus World 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.
00:54:40:04 - 00:55:03:04
John Simmerman
And if you're enjoying this content here on the Active Towns Channel, again, please consider supporting my efforts by becoming an Active Town's ambassador. Hey, I simply could not produce this content without your financial support, so please consider joining my YouTube membership down below. Just click on that join button. You can also leave a YouTube Super thanks or navigate over to Active Towns.
00:55:03:07 - 00:55:25:25
John Simmerman
Click on the support tab at the top of the page, and there's several different options, including. You can make a donation to my nonprofit advocates for Healthy Communities, or you can join my Patreon. Patrons do get early and ad free access to all of this video content, and this is a wonderful opportunity to say Mahalo, new Lua! Thank you very much to all my active towns ambassadors.
00:55:25:26 - 00:55:41:24
John Simmerman
Again, I simply could not produce this content without your financial support. Thank you also very, very much and thank you for tuning in to this episode. And until next time, this is John signing off by wishing you much activity, health and happiness. Cheers and aloha!