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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
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:14:28
Marley Blonsky
Yeah, we have a, It's kind of an ethos that all bodies are good bodies, all bikes are good bikes, and all riders should be celebrated. And there's there's kind of an asterisk on the all bikes or good bikes. And it's like, as long as it's a safe bike for you to ride, it's a good bike. Yeah, yeah.
00:00:15:00 - 00:00:33:21
John Simmerman
Hey, everyone, welcome to the Active Tennis Channel. My name is John Zimmerman, and that is Marley Blonsky from All Bodies on Bikes. And we're going to be talking about this encouraging, nonprofit. It's just over a year old or so. So let's get right to it with Marley.
00:00:33:23 - 00:00:38:03
John Simmerman
Worthy. Blonsky, thank you so much for joining me on the Active Tones podcast.
00:00:38:05 - 00:00:40:08
Marley Blonsky
Thanks for having me. This is exciting.
00:00:40:10 - 00:00:49:19
John Simmerman
Marley. I love to, give my guests just this opportunity to do a real quick 32nd introduction to, you know, for the audience. Who the heck is Marley?
00:00:49:22 - 00:01:16:09
Marley Blonsky
Sure. So Marley Blonsky, I use she her pronouns. I live in Bentonville, Arkansas, and I call myself a fat cyclist. I use the word fat as just a neutral descriptor of my body. But that's relevant because I am the co-founder and executive director of All Bodies on Bikes, which is a nonprofit working to, make the industry, the cycling industry more inclusive to people of all sizes and ability levels.
00:01:16:12 - 00:01:37:23
Marley Blonsky
I love all kinds of bike riding. Since moving to Bentonville, I've gotten more into mountain bike riding, but gravel, riding my cargo bike and just exploring by bike are some of my favorite things to do. I lived in Seattle for 20 years before moving to Bentonville, and so I've got a long history with bike advocacy and advocating for active transportation.
00:01:37:25 - 00:01:45:27
Marley Blonsky
And I'm still continuing to do that here in Bentonville. So that's a real quick summary of who I am. But there's lots more good stuff in there, too.
00:01:45:29 - 00:02:04:07
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah. That's fantastic. And, this is our first time meeting. This is so exciting for me. I it's funny because, for those of us who are constantly producing content and getting it out, into social media, it's like, you know, you, you get approached by people who say, oh, hey, I'm following your stuff and edit it.
00:02:04:09 - 00:02:16:22
John Simmerman
And then likewise for those of us who are also consuming it too, because I'm like, always keeping my my pulse on my fingers on the pulse of what's going on. I feel like I know you because I've been following you for years.
00:02:16:24 - 00:02:26:06
Marley Blonsky
It's funny, I meet people like that and they'll ask me about something, some random personal detail, and I'm like, how does they know that? Oh yeah, I shared it on the internet because I don't have boundaries.
00:02:26:09 - 00:02:52:03
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah. So, and again, just a few visuals here. Yeah. You have been out there really sharing your message and sharing your story. And it's it's interesting that you mentioned that you don't have boundaries. You do share quite a bit, out on social media. And I'm going to pull up your Instagram here too. And so, so folks can, you know, follow along.
00:02:52:06 - 00:03:09:12
John Simmerman
That's part of the interesting part of your, your journey to do is that that's, it's it's very intentional. You are doing this because you want to normalize, riding a bike. Yeah.
00:03:09:14 - 00:03:10:08
Marley Blonsky
And I want to know.
00:03:10:12 - 00:03:11:26
John Simmerman
Getting more people riding bikes.
00:03:11:26 - 00:03:34:04
Marley Blonsky
Yeah, exactly. You know, normalize regular old 30. And now I'm a 38 year old woman riding a bike, and I don't look like what you would assume a cyclist looks like. I'm definitely. I'm full or figured I've got curves. And, yeah, just normalize living life by bicycle. And it's it's worked. It's funny, because I didn't set out to be a content creator.
00:03:34:06 - 00:03:50:22
Marley Blonsky
I wanted to. I was just sharing details of my life. And then people started asking me questions, and then brands started approaching and saying, hey, would you be willing to promote this? And I was like, oh, I can make a living doing this. This is wild. And then it's evolved into a career essentially.
00:03:50:24 - 00:04:16:11
John Simmerman
Wow, that is so freaking cool. And what's also freaking cool is that you were profiled in the recent book, lived a Ride by Peter Flax, and, and so you had a small little, folks, if you haven't seen that episode, you gotta go back and watch the Peter Flax episode. After you're done with this one. He profiles a whole bunch of people, even some, you know, past guests on the podcast here.
00:04:16:14 - 00:04:21:03
John Simmerman
What was that like to be get the call from Peter and say, hey, hey, Marley, we'd love to have you. You know.
00:04:21:06 - 00:04:43:26
Marley Blonsky
It was wild. You know, I, I follow cycling journalism for a long time. And so I always had known who Peter Flax was from his, days in the publishing world, and I. I didn't realize what an honor it was until I saw the book. And I realized the folks that I was in company with, I was like, Holy cow, my profile is in there next to some of the greats.
00:04:43:28 - 00:04:46:18
Marley Blonsky
So it really was an honor, but it was a surprise to.
00:04:46:20 - 00:05:04:26
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah, take us back. Take us back. I would love to hear kind of that origin story of of, you know, what was that moment or was it a series of moments that that really brought you to where you're at here today?
00:05:04:28 - 00:05:21:01
Marley Blonsky
Yeah, it was a series of moments. So I think the first big one was I got divorced and I was living in West Seattle, which is pretty car centric. You you need a car, you don't have to have a car. But life is a lot easier with a car. And when I got divorced, I moved to a denser part of Seattle.
00:05:21:01 - 00:05:42:07
Marley Blonsky
I moved to Capitol Hill, which is you don't want to have a car there. And so that was really what got me back on to a bike as an adult. This was 2013, 2014. And so that was a huge moment. And then I started commuting by bike. My work had a fairly strong cycling culture. We had showers, we had protected parking.
00:05:42:09 - 00:06:04:09
Marley Blonsky
And so it made it really easy to commute by bike. And so started doing that. And unfortunately, there was a woman right around my age who was, hit and killed by a car. And that was kind of a catalyst for me to get into bike advocacy. And that's where I learned a lot of the skills that I use now with all bodies on bikes.
00:06:04:12 - 00:06:26:24
Marley Blonsky
I would say kind of another pivotal moment was when this film came out. So this film, we filmed it in 2020 with Shimano, and it came out in 2021. And the response to that was like a rocket ship, you know, started getting asked to go on podcast and give talks and give presentations. And I had this moment of, I could do this for a living.
00:06:26:27 - 00:06:50:08
Marley Blonsky
You know, I was working in corporate America and, was not always happy necessarily. It was it was fine. But I think, like a lot of us, we dream about what life could be like. And, Yeah, after this film came out, I took a leap and and now a full time sponsored athlete slash influencer and now working as executive director of all bodies on bikes.
00:06:50:11 - 00:07:21:21
John Simmerman
Yeah, it is a fascinating story. And what's really, really interesting too, you mentioned earlier that that you don't have any filters. You do kind of share your joys and your and your downtimes and stuff like that. I think a recent post to you, you talked a little bit about, you know, your journey in terms of even like mental health and to be able to get to a good point, take this opportunity to share a little bit with that, because I think more people need to hear that.
00:07:21:24 - 00:07:39:09
Marley Blonsky
Yeah. So I have always struggled with my mental health. I thought it was depression and anxiety and I was medicated for that. And this past winter I was just really, really struggling, you know, just down in like the kind of the depths of despair. And I was not liking where I was living and realized I need to get some help.
00:07:39:16 - 00:08:05:28
Marley Blonsky
And so I finally got a good psychiatrist here. And, I actually got a bipolar diagnosis, so I, I'm officially bipolar two. I'm not ashamed of it. It answers a lot of questions and makes a lot of sense for, some of the impulsive decisions I've made in my life and some of the more depressive phases. But now that I have that diagnosis, I'm on medication and it's like a whole new chapter of my life.
00:08:05:28 - 00:08:33:16
Marley Blonsky
You know, I no longer dread getting out of bed every day. I no no longer have these peaks and valleys and, it's just it's it's been quite the journey to get here. But I think, you know, I think depression has been destigmatize and I think anxiety has been destigmatize. But some of the more serious mental health conditions we still don't talk about very often, you know, unless something tragic happens, you know, like Robin Williams kills himself or whatever it might be.
00:08:33:16 - 00:08:48:26
Marley Blonsky
And, that's when we start talking about bipolar. But there's a lot of us living with this every day and living very full, very productive, live, very fulfilling lives. And I think it's it's good to share that and to destigmatize it.
00:08:48:28 - 00:09:16:04
John Simmerman
Yeah. Yeah, I totally agree. I worked for a very short period of time in the neurosciences, and, I work for Eli Lilly. And so I was a pharmaceutical rep in the Denver area, you know, calling on psychiatrists and folks. And one of the disease states that that I worked with was in bipolar disorder. And so, people would be astounded at how high the rates are of popular disorder.
00:09:16:06 - 00:09:41:26
John Simmerman
And everybody I mean, it's natural that everybody has peaks and valleys. And in terms of emotions. But, once you you do realize, wait, this is this is more significant than just the normal ups and downs, then it's it's amazing how empowering it is. Once you get that dialed in and you're like, okay, it doesn't have to be this massive swing from a into a manic phase where you're just like, I'm all powerful, and that's exactly.
00:09:41:26 - 00:09:52:10
Marley Blonsky
I'm on top of the world. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah. Although I will say some of I don't think I'd be where I'm at today if I didn't have some of those, those wild mania phases.
00:09:52:10 - 00:09:53:19
John Simmerman
And absolutely.
00:09:53:21 - 00:10:09:05
Marley Blonsky
You know, I even think about all bodies on bikes as an org. So we we made this film and then, as we were preparing to get it out to the world and we were doing press releases, I kind of had this vision one day on a ride, and I was definitely in a manic phase, like illusions of grandeur.
00:10:09:05 - 00:10:36:29
Marley Blonsky
And I realized this could be a world wide movement. Yeah. And it was. I don't know if you want to call it visionary or delusional or what it is. But it's it's turned into a worldwide movement. And so I'm grateful for those manic moments because they, they have led to incredible creativity, some incredible fun, but also some very risky behavior that we don't necessarily need to, repeat again in our lives.
00:10:36:29 - 00:10:40:22
Marley Blonsky
Like, one of my best examples, if you want to hear about it real quickly.
00:10:40:22 - 00:10:42:00
John Simmerman
Sure. Yeah, absolutely. Go for.
00:10:42:00 - 00:11:02:03
Marley Blonsky
It. I booked a trip to Greece. There was a fire sale on flights, and so I flew roundtrip to Greece for, like, $500, but I hadn't planned anything. I rented a car and just ended up driving around the country. By myself, which was incredible. But also, like, in hindsight, now I'm kind of like, wow, that wasn't the wisest decision to make.
00:11:02:03 - 00:11:08:00
Marley Blonsky
Maybe I should have planned some things out or told somebody where I was going. Yeah.
00:11:08:03 - 00:11:28:29
John Simmerman
It's interesting too, because there is that that kind of balance that goes with that. And some of our most amazing artists and, and folks that have been in the creative world, you know, I'm thinking of painters and, and other artists of, that, you know, suffered from this. And they had those manic moments. And and you're absolutely right.
00:11:28:29 - 00:11:55:22
John Simmerman
Some, you know, when we can channel it in a way that is productive and not destructive, it's amazing what can be done. So congratulations on getting that balance in. And the final question. Yeah. And exactly it's a process. And and as a follow up to what you just said too about not liking where you were currently, I hope your, your your situation there in, in northwest Arkansas is better.
00:11:55:22 - 00:11:57:14
John Simmerman
And you're happy being there.
00:11:57:17 - 00:12:18:03
Marley Blonsky
Yeah. Yeah, definitely. This place is magical. I actually have two friends visiting me right now. As a matter of fact, it's Kaylee who were watching on the screen right now. Kaylee is visiting me and one of our chapter leaders and we just got out for a ride this morning. And sometimes I just have to be reminded that I live in an incredible place where I have single track, literally out my front door.
00:12:18:03 - 00:12:35:29
Marley Blonsky
And you don't have to lock your bikes. You don't have to lock your doors. It's a really magical place that doesn't exist anywhere else. But, you know, when it's winter and it's ten degrees outside and you can't ride, it's easy to get down into the, the doldrums a little bit, and. Oh, I don't have that many friends here.
00:12:35:29 - 00:12:42:17
Marley Blonsky
And, but moving in your 30s is hard, and I think I just have to give myself grace on that. Takes time to build community.
00:12:42:19 - 00:13:03:27
John Simmerman
Yeah, well, next time it gets into that, here's my tip for living. Having lived in Boulder, Colorado, before, I'm originally from southern California, and so I don't really like the deep, dark grip of cold, cold weather. I've had an opportunity to live in cold weather before I did my graduate work at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
00:13:03:29 - 00:13:23:27
John Simmerman
I did, some work, in Chicago. So I'm used to that bitter, bitter cold. But what I did, the the tip was in Boulder, when we I look at the, the weather forecast, it's like it's going to be really, really cold for a really, really long time. I'd be like, you know what? I need to schedule a road trip.
00:13:24:00 - 00:13:34:06
John Simmerman
There we go. Go visit family and friends down in San Diego. So here's my tip for you, because you're not that far away from Austin. Come visit us down in Austin in the winter time, because that's.
00:13:34:06 - 00:13:34:21
Marley Blonsky
A great idea.
00:13:34:21 - 00:13:57:07
John Simmerman
It's pretty, pretty amazing down here. Get you some sun. And we're building out the Dutch inspired, high comfort all ages and abilities cycling network here in Austin. And we've actually hosted quite a few folks, city officials from the northwest Arkansas area, including Bentonville, because they want to learn from Austin and that build out of our bike network.
00:13:57:07 - 00:13:59:05
John Simmerman
So I think you'd really, really dig it.
00:13:59:07 - 00:14:07:03
Marley Blonsky
Oh that's awesome. Yeah, I didn't realize I've I've been to Austin twice, but I haven't spent much time exploring by bike. And I would really love to.
00:14:07:06 - 00:14:33:19
John Simmerman
Yeah. Yeah. It's it's it's really, really rich and exciting to see that. And it truly is Dutch inspired. They in the city had been working with, the Dutch cycling embassy over the over, over a decade now. And it's, I think, going to be a very, very good North American example of how to build a cycle network that truly encourages everyone, all, all, all, all ages, all abilities, all body types.
00:14:33:19 - 00:14:39:00
John Simmerman
It gives that ability to to really be able to live one's life and not be car dependent.
00:14:39:02 - 00:14:40:04
Marley Blonsky
That's so cool.
00:14:40:06 - 00:14:52:29
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah, it's good stuff. Okay, so let's go back to all bodies on bikes. And so we've got a few things that are happening here. This is like an event. So is that kind of what's going on is you guys are doing a lot of fun events.
00:14:53:02 - 00:15:11:20
Marley Blonsky
Yes. So we kind of have two arms to all bodies on bikes. We have like the advocacy education arm. And then we have the social rides, social inclusive rides. And what we're seeing right here is an example of that social ride. So we'll be at Unbound Gravel next week if you're familiar with that. And which big gravel race that happens in Kansas.
00:15:11:22 - 00:15:38:03
Marley Blonsky
And an element of these big events is they do what are called shakeout rides for people who, you know, before you, before the big event, you know, you want to warm your legs up, make sure your bike got put back together correctly if you traveled with it, and just a chance to meet other people. And so, we've hosted one for the last four years at Unbound Gravel, and this year we're doing a sensory friendly one, which should be really fun, very nice, a little bit lower intensity.
00:15:38:03 - 00:15:46:28
Marley Blonsky
We won't have any megaphones out there and just asking people to be respectful of folks with some neuro divergences. So, we've never done anything like this before, and I think it'll be really fun.
00:15:47:02 - 00:15:51:13
John Simmerman
That's what you meant when you said sensory, you know, sensitive to that. That's fantastic. Yeah.
00:15:51:16 - 00:16:08:13
Marley Blonsky
Yeah, yeah. One of our chapter leaders had the idea and I said, that is a great idea, especially at these big events. It can be so overwhelming. And the expectation to talk to everybody and make new friends on all these rides. And so we're just going to set the expectation that you're not expected to talk to anybody. You're welcome to be quiet.
00:16:08:13 - 00:16:15:23
Marley Blonsky
We're we're not going to have fleet flashing blinking lights. No megaphones. And it should just be a really welcoming, quiet atmosphere.
00:16:15:26 - 00:16:34:13
John Simmerman
Yeah, I love it, I love it. So I want to pull this up because this is really cool. So this is, you know, talking a little bit about your chapters and explain how chapters work within the nonprofit and, and what this is all about. And, yeah, take it away. This is really cool.
00:16:34:15 - 00:16:52:16
Marley Blonsky
Yeah. So we have 13 chapters across the United States. And they're the ones actually doing the on the ground social right leading. And I guess they do other events as well. But basically, we ask our chapters to do at least four events per year. Those can be rides. They can be clinics down here in Northwest Arkansas.
00:16:52:16 - 00:17:14:19
Marley Blonsky
Our chapter did I have recycled bike part, art making night? When it was in the middle of winter where we still wanted to gather and have community, but didn't necessarily want to be riding bikes. But yeah, these chapters host inclusive rides, typically less than ten miles. Sometimes it's longer than ten miles because people we know that people in bigger bodies, myself included, like to challenge ourselves.
00:17:14:21 - 00:17:23:23
Marley Blonsky
But we just try to be really clear about what you're getting yourself into, what pace we're going to go at, who's who the ride is intended for, and it's a lot of fun.
00:17:23:25 - 00:17:34:20
John Simmerman
Wow. That's fantastic. And and here's, here's the, you know, talking about, you know, community support to expand more on what you mean by this.
00:17:34:23 - 00:18:02:27
Marley Blonsky
Yeah. So, this is specific. So we just celebrated our first official birthday as a 501 C3. If you've ever built a nonprofit, you know that it can take a while before you're actually ready to file for the tax exemption and all of that. And so we filed last April and we celebrated our first year, and this was a post that we put up to celebrate it put the support from the bike industry and the outdoor community has been so overwhelmingly positive, both in financial support.
00:18:03:00 - 00:18:24:09
Marley Blonsky
So we get have we get grants from RTI, people for bikes, New Belgium Brewing. Shimano just gave us a grant. Smartwool has given us some money. So just to do our operations and to do, programing the support has been incredible. And then just people coming out of the woodwork, because I think a lot of folks can identify with our messaging.
00:18:24:09 - 00:18:33:21
Marley Blonsky
We've all wanted to feel included and haven't for one reason or another. So to break down those barriers, people are people are generally very, very supportive of it.
00:18:33:23 - 00:19:00:00
John Simmerman
Yeah, I love it, I love it. The other thing that I love too, is that this whole cycle of like trying to create a broader tent and trying to, you know, make it a, an inclusive environment, it gives you I think it sets you up for like, you know, I see in the photo here, we've got, a person on an adaptive cycle.
00:19:00:05 - 00:19:15:21
John Simmerman
We, we see in, in the imagery here, even in this particular image here, plenty of people of color that are there. It seems like the movement is like a magnet to inclusivity with a capital I.
00:19:15:24 - 00:19:33:10
Marley Blonsky
We're really trying. I mean, I think part of the way that we've done this is through partnerships. So all of these women are actually part of the black Girls Do Bike chapter in Denver. And, when we were setting up these chapters, partnerships were super important because there already are a lot of inclusive cycling groups out there.
00:19:33:10 - 00:19:56:21
Marley Blonsky
You know, black girls do bikes and femmes and thems, and there's lots of stuff, and we don't want to step on toes. But we wanted to, expand the table a little bit and make sure that folks felt welcome in our events and that we could partner together. The adaptive cycling is especially important. A lot of our community lives with disability is or is a pair a cyclist or, you know, might have an autoimmune disorder.
00:19:56:21 - 00:20:17:29
Marley Blonsky
And so making sure that we specifically call out our rides are open to all types of bikes, adaptive bikes, electric bikes, tricycles because turns out not all rides are open to that. Which is just wild to me. Like, yes, it takes extra work. And yes, you do have to make sure that the routes you're going on are appropriate, but we should be doing that anyway.
00:20:18:01 - 00:20:47:02
John Simmerman
Right? Yeah, it's it kind of is a is something that I talk about a lot too at the Active Towns channel is when we're starting to transform our built environment into truly safe and inviting, environments that are open to all ages and abilities. You start to see that, you know, you start to attract people of, again, all ages, all abilities, all body types.
00:20:47:04 - 00:21:10:11
John Simmerman
All different types of machines, you know, adaptive cycles, you know, tricycles and quads and people who are just delighted to feel like, oh my gosh, there's a safe way for me to get around. I don't have to feel like the only way I can get from A to B, to do something, anything is to, you know, hot hail a cab or, and ride share or drive oneself or try to take transit.
00:21:10:11 - 00:21:12:21
John Simmerman
It's like there's mobility choice.
00:21:12:21 - 00:21:36:25
Marley Blonsky
I think that's 100% certain. Yeah, yeah. You know, talking about age, I this was a little bit of an unexpected surprise for me was our appeal to the older demographic. We just did a bike camping trip in Kansas City, and we had 42 people come. And I believe the median age was over 40. It was predominantly women, and I think 20% of the people on the trip had never been camping before.
00:21:36:27 - 00:22:00:25
Marley Blonsky
And so I think we've created a really safe space for folks to try new things. And, it was only ten miles each way. And so for some folks, that felt like a really hard day, and for other folks it felt like, oh, this is just a warmup. This is a normal Saturday afternoon ride. But it just makes it safe for people to show up as they are and to try something that might be a little bit scary.
00:22:00:27 - 00:22:14:19
John Simmerman
Yeah. One of my very good friends and, frequent guest here on the active sales channel is actually, Ryan Van Duzer, who is a content creator and does a lot on, bike packing.
00:22:14:21 - 00:22:15:00
Marley Blonsky
Yes.
00:22:15:00 - 00:22:26:10
John Simmerman
And yeah. What what an incredible opportunity. Because you just mentioned that is, you know, first time camping in a long time. There's so much joy in getting out into nature and and experiencing that.
00:22:26:12 - 00:22:45:09
Marley Blonsky
And I think so many of the stories we hear, and I'm not trying to diss on Ryan at all. He's absolutely incredible. And I got to meet him at Ragbrai last year, and I think he's inspired a lot of people to take up bike packing. But I think a lot of the stories we hear are of these epic trips, you know, going through Kyrgyzstan or cycling from Canada, Mexico.
00:22:45:14 - 00:22:59:24
Marley Blonsky
And it's like, those are incredible and deserve their their due time in the spotlight. But sometimes that ten mile trip to the local farm where they let us camp in their field is just as life changing of an event for those people.
00:22:59:26 - 00:23:20:03
John Simmerman
Absolutely. I'm really glad you mentioned that too, because, you know, I think that that's one of the things that we can do as a movement to try to get more people on bikes or bodies on bikes is to create those opportunities. And and Ryan will be the first to to tell you the end to tell me and he has in the past.
00:23:20:03 - 00:23:46:22
John Simmerman
Is that what makes his day so much is when he hears back from somebody and and they say, dude, I was watching your stuff. And I'm like, I think I can do this. And and they get out and do it. And in fact, some of his videos from Ragbrai, are just that, you know, he ends up, you know, meeting people who are just like, the only reason I'm here at Ragbrai is because I've been watching your videos and I'm like, I need to get off the couch.
00:23:46:29 - 00:24:09:17
John Simmerman
My mental health is down, my physical health is down. I'm inspired to at least get off the couch and try something. And I think that that's the whole point. And it's one of the subthemes that I do for Active towns. And the content that I'm creating is, yes, I want to encourage more city officials and more community members to understand that we can make more inclusive.
00:24:09:17 - 00:24:21:00
John Simmerman
We can make more inviting environments within our cities and access to nature, open to more people. It shouldn't just be the fit and fearless people that.
00:24:21:00 - 00:24:22:04
Marley Blonsky
Are out there.
00:24:22:06 - 00:24:52:24
John Simmerman
And, and then the other support is encouraging more people to get off the couch, to get out there to to put that smile on and do it. And you don't and you don't have to do what Marley is doing right here, which is wearing Lycra just right. Just get out and, you know, maybe starting walking and then in your neighborhood and maybe with friends and getting moving and then, you know, get on a bike, you know, get some friends, find out if there's a chapter exactly start.
00:24:52:24 - 00:24:54:05
John Simmerman
Or maybe you start a chapter.
00:24:54:12 - 00:25:16:12
Marley Blonsky
Yeah. Yeah, 100%. Yeah. It's it's it's so interesting because all bodies on bikes tries to operate from a weight neutral place. And but we know that moving our bodies is good for everybody, regardless of what size you are. And regardless of if you're trying to change your body or lose weight, like I don't. I don't care why you're moving your body, that's your business.
00:25:16:15 - 00:25:35:09
Marley Blonsky
But you should move it in some way, in a way that is joyful to you. And so if that's biking, we want to help with that, but just figure out what it is. Maybe it's dancing. Maybe it's yoga, maybe it's walking your dog. But human bodies were meant to move. And so however we can help facilitate that, we are on board for it.
00:25:35:12 - 00:25:48:00
John Simmerman
I love that you emphasize that too, that it's it really is kind of a weight neutral thing. It's it really is all bodies on bikes. It's sort of like my term all ages and abilities. It's actually bodies on bikes.
00:25:48:00 - 00:25:48:16
Marley Blonsky
Bodies.
00:25:48:16 - 00:26:15:16
John Simmerman
Yeah. It brings me back around to a recent, interview I had in season seven, with, Anna Zimmer, who, has a vision impairment and cannot drive. And so she's a non driver because of health reasons. And so her body is such that, you know, she can ride a bike. And that's one of her main ways of getting around in her community because of her body's limitation, her visual limitations.
00:26:15:16 - 00:26:19:05
John Simmerman
She's not able to drive. She's one of those all bodies on bikes.
00:26:19:07 - 00:26:35:09
Marley Blonsky
100%. Yeah. We have a, it's kind of an ethos that all bodies are good bodies, all bikes are good bikes, and all rides should be celebrated. And there's there's kind of an asterisk on that. All bikes are good bikes. And it's like, as long as it's a safe bike for you to ride, it's a good bike. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:26:35:09 - 00:26:52:05
John Simmerman
I'm, I'm agnostic. When people say, you know, what's your position on, on, you know, this bike or that bike or e-bikes or whatever. I'm like, yeah. Are people getting out and and riding? Does it put a smile on their face? I mean, exactly how about yeah, that's what I care about. So in there pop on over to your website here.
00:26:52:05 - 00:27:07:24
John Simmerman
And so this is the All Bodies on Bikes website. And you see that there is an opportunity to learn more. There's a button for, you know, start here. Click on that I believe you have maybe a is there a newsletter or something that people.
00:27:07:24 - 00:27:33:15
Marley Blonsky
Yeah we do. We have a newsletter that goes out once a month. And we try and keep people updated on what's happening with our events. And just interesting things that are happening. We've also got, some resource guides out there. That's one of the biggest things folks ask for was information, you know, especially riding a bike as a bigger person there, there can be some barriers, whether that's weight limits or finding the right clothes or, you know, whatever that might be.
00:27:33:18 - 00:27:40:07
Marley Blonsky
So yeah, I'd encourage folks to take a look at our website for sure. It also has information on our chapters and how to get in touch with them.
00:27:40:07 - 00:28:04:22
John Simmerman
And yeah, so as we're scrolling through, we can see we've got Albuquerque, Boise, Charlotte, Chicago, Denver, Kansas City. Obviously this is alphabetical, Marquette, Marquette. Michigan. Michigan. Okay. Yeah. Very good. I was thinking it was Marquette, Michigan. We got New York City, obviously Northwest Arkansas, Washington, DC and Western Mass folks, if you're not that.
00:28:04:22 - 00:28:23:08
Marley Blonsky
True, Levin, this makes me realize I need to add, I need to add Seattle, and I need to add Richmond, Virginia. Those are our two most our two newest chapters, so love it. Yeah. The other thing, too, is if there's not a chapter near you, we will often do special events whenever I travel anywhere.
00:28:23:13 - 00:28:29:27
Marley Blonsky
And so when I'd like, when I travel places will often have an all bodies on bikes ride. So that's another way to get involved.
00:28:30:00 - 00:28:45:20
John Simmerman
Fantastic. Now people can also engage with you personally, because I know that you, go out and do speaking engagements and you do other types of things. You probably even do some consulting at this point in time.
00:28:45:20 - 00:28:46:20
Marley Blonsky
Exactly. Yeah.
00:28:46:21 - 00:29:01:09
John Simmerman
And so so we have an opportunity to book me to speak, as well as a little bit more about your history. So, yeah. Tell us a little bit more about, the types of things that people are bringing you in to talk about.
00:29:01:11 - 00:29:23:08
Marley Blonsky
Yeah, well, all bodies on bikes, you know, I mentioned we're less than a year old, and so we're working on funding, so I'm not currently making any money as executive director. And so the way that I make my money is through consulting and through speaking. And so, for example, Nike, the National Interscholastic Cycling Association basically bikes for, for kids, in an organized way.
00:29:23:11 - 00:29:42:09
Marley Blonsky
They have their annual conference coming up. And they brought me in to give the keynote. So I'll be talking about inclusion, starting at the high school and middle school level and how it can make a difference. And kind of my story with that. I'm speaking actually this afternoon at the National Bicycle Dealers Association. They have their retailer summit.
00:29:42:17 - 00:29:48:12
Marley Blonsky
And so we'll be talking about how to serve America's largest demographic, pun intended.
00:29:48:15 - 00:29:49:14
John Simmerman
Fantastic.
00:29:49:16 - 00:30:07:05
Marley Blonsky
Yeah. And so, I will often talk about best practices. I, we give size inclusion trainings so you know how to treat it sounds so silly, but how to treat people in bigger bodies with respect, how to, the language, the appropriate language to use, how to get people and bigger bodies onto bikes in a way that feels good.
00:30:07:07 - 00:30:13:09
Marley Blonsky
So yeah, that's still making my money these days. And it's a lot of fun. And I feel really privileged to be doing this work.
00:30:13:11 - 00:30:34:01
John Simmerman
It's funny that you mentioned about that, you know, with the nonprofit with not being in a position yet to to be able to, have a salary. I, I'm the same way. I know exactly where you're coming from. I founded my, nonprofit advocates for Healthy Communities back in 2011. And so that nonprofit, you know, continues to operate today.
00:30:34:01 - 00:31:03:29
John Simmerman
And I do a lot of pro bono work, through my video content for cities and for, areas, through that. And so I do have a fair amount of donations that come in, but never sufficient enough for me to ever make a living at it. And so hence, you know, where I make most of my living is through doing the same thing keynote presentations, talking about creating a culture of activity and then, supplementing that with what little bit of ad revenue comes in from YouTube, and then also my Patreon.
00:31:03:29 - 00:31:06:19
John Simmerman
And so people do support me on Patreon as well.
00:31:06:19 - 00:31:29:06
Marley Blonsky
So yeah, the other way that I make money is through influencer stuff. So we were talking about Instagram earlier. I have a deal coming up soon with a well known, meat stick brand. So typically it's, it's bike stuff. But, you know, occasionally, I actually just signed with an agency to help me kind of increase, my, my revenue on that side.
00:31:29:13 - 00:31:35:15
Marley Blonsky
And they brought in this deal for a well-known meat stick brand, and I'm excited about it. Should be fun to make that content.
00:31:35:18 - 00:32:00:13
John Simmerman
Yeah, it's interesting too, because when I launched the podcast in 2020 and then the YouTube channel in 2021, I kind of made a conscious decision that I was going to, not, not go whole hog into getting like an agency and doing all that kind of stuff and representing a lot of brands. Most of my content is very long, and all of that.
00:32:00:13 - 00:32:33:12
John Simmerman
So I've, I've been very conscious about, turning down ad deals and relationships. Just so you know, because of the way that I'm producing this content, I wanted, I wanted it to be, such that it was brand agnostic. And so, that's the reason why I lean so heavily to into the Patreon. So. So, folks, if you're watching this, if you're listening to this, the reason why you don't get a whole bunch of commercials and say, this episode brought to you by, it's because the thank you for your support on Patreon.
00:32:33:12 - 00:33:01:17
John Simmerman
And thank you for watching here on YouTube, because I know you're either a being subjected to ads. Thank you very much for watching through those or fat or clicking through them. Or you paid for YouTube, a membership which allows you to not ever have any ads. And I will give that pitch for Patreon too. For those of you who do support me on Patreon, you get all this content, all these videos ad free and early too, so you get it at least 48 hours earlier for the rest of the world gets it.
00:33:01:22 - 00:33:04:09
John Simmerman
So there's my one and only commercial right there.
00:33:04:11 - 00:33:19:16
Marley Blonsky
That was great, I love it. You're very good at it. I have a Patreon and I have been very it's it's very, very small and I just have not done a good job producing, exclusive content for that. It's there's a lot to keep up with. When you start diving into this world.
00:33:19:18 - 00:33:48:26
John Simmerman
Oh, totally. And just the fact that you're doing what you're doing is working so well in the sense that, as an influencer, influencer, they're on Instagram. And you mentioned Facebook and also you're starting to get on threads as well. You know, that is that's valuable because it really broadcasts out outside of our bubble. And that's our biggest challenge that we have in the bicycle advocacy world, in the active living advocacy world, is that we're in this little insular bubble.
00:33:48:28 - 00:33:56:08
John Simmerman
And so we have to, you know, feature messages like your message, you know, that helps permeate out through the echo chamber.
00:33:56:11 - 00:34:10:05
Marley Blonsky
Yep, yep. And same thing with the size inclusion. You know, it tends to be insular. And I follow the same creators and we all follow each other. And it's this beautiful little community, but how do we get the message outside of that little community?
00:34:10:07 - 00:34:30:07
John Simmerman
And that's why I'm really glad that you mentioned that you were kind of shocked and surprised, delightfully so that, you know, people, you know, older generations were showing up. Yeah, yeah. I think that that's a really important thing to remember in The beauty of Your Name, All Bodies on Bikes is that, no, seriously, we really do mean that.
00:34:30:07 - 00:34:51:26
John Simmerman
And so even though with your keynotes you may be leaning a little bit towards, you know, the inclusion for, for larger sizes, at the same time, that epiphany that you now have that. Oh, by the way, our biggest potential market of people to get on bikes is a huge number of our population, which would ride if it were only safe to do so.
00:34:52:01 - 00:35:17:23
John Simmerman
And that includes many older adults and includes many moms and dads with young children that just aren't riding because they don't feel safe. It's a huge potential market that brands should be like, really hip to is like, okay, if we really create safer, more inclusive, more inviting places, to ride, we could get more people riding not only for recreation and sport, but also for everyday purposes.
00:35:17:25 - 00:35:35:15
Marley Blonsky
Exactly. Yeah. And it's such a a dual edge, sword because we need the safe places. But people also want to feel included and they want to feel that community. And so, both things have to happen, I think. But if you build it, then the people come, and then that's when those communities kind of naturally develop as well.
00:35:35:18 - 00:35:42:01
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah. Mali. What have we not mentioned yet that you'd like to leave the audience with?
00:35:42:03 - 00:35:58:05
Marley Blonsky
I would love to talk about active transportation here in Bentonville for a little bit. Yeah. If you want to do it, let's do it. Yeah. So I mentioned a little bit that I got my start in advocacy in Seattle. You know, unfortunately there was that woman that was killed and that kind of spurred a lot of us into action.
00:35:58:07 - 00:36:31:09
Marley Blonsky
And when I left Seattle two years ago, there was a really good network of actual protected, separated bike lanes, which was really cool. And it was such a surprise to come to Bentonville, which, granted, is a very tiny town and they are just getting started on their active transportation journey. We have two protected bike lanes. They're quite nice, but I was on one the other day at rush hour and I almost got hit four times, four separate times because people are just they're still learning how to interact with these bike lanes.
00:36:31:11 - 00:36:54:16
Marley Blonsky
They're learning, you know, if there's a driveway and the bike, the protected bike lane crosses a driveway, you have to stop behind the bike lane. And so it's been, it's been a good reminder to me that different places are in different, stages of development. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. You know, we really are coming in at the beginning of this.
00:36:54:16 - 00:37:21:01
Marley Blonsky
And so there's opportunity to reimagine what active transportation can look like in a small town. And it's already pretty good. I mean, drivers here are exceptionally courteous when they see you, with that caveat, when they see you, it's also just a I don't know if weird is the right word, but interesting opportunity because of the amount of funding that's available here because of the Walton investment.
00:37:21:03 - 00:37:27:28
Marley Blonsky
So I'm just I'm very curious to see what's going to continue to happen and how it's going to continue to grow out. Yeah.
00:37:28:00 - 00:37:56:09
John Simmerman
And I did pull up the map of, of Bentonville, on here. And of course, my maps already have the bicycle network, layer on there. And you can see in the bright green all over here and in some of the, the dashed lines, what you're really looking at mostly here is the tremendous network of, off road pathways that exist and the mountain biking, you know, Mecca, that Northwest Arkansas has become.
00:37:56:12 - 00:38:21:11
John Simmerman
And, and you're absolutely right. The one of the biggest challenges that Bentonville, northwest Arkansas in general has is now creating an environment through, you know, being able to get from once home to their meaningful destinations, even if that meaningful destination happens to be, you know, this beautiful network of trails that you can ride through.
00:38:21:13 - 00:38:21:27
Marley Blonsky
Yeah.
00:38:22:05 - 00:38:58:27
John Simmerman
And so that's one of the things that's like phase two. Phase one was really establishing the region as a destination for people to ride bikes recreationally. And phase two is now starting to step in. Okay. How do we make the entire community bike friendly and and really, truly, open and inviting for all ages and abilities? You know, when we get down to, you know, hey, I want to go to Airship Coffee at the pump house and be able to do that safely and confidently because there's, you know, safe infrastructure out there.
00:38:58:29 - 00:39:19:11
Marley Blonsky
Exactly. And we're at such a critical juncture right now. So Bentonville is the home of Walmart corporate. And they just had a return to office mandate. And they're moving I don't know how many thousands of people to Bentonville because of that. But they're also building this huge new campus. So a 350 acre campus, it's going to be absolutely beautiful.
00:39:19:15 - 00:39:41:13
Marley Blonsky
But they know that not every associate can and every employee can drive there every day. That would just be turned into total gridlock. And so they have a commute goal of at least 10% of their, people will commute via active transportation. So I think it's really 10% doesn't sound like that much. But when you have 30,000 employees, that's 3000 employees a day.
00:39:41:13 - 00:40:01:26
Marley Blonsky
That's huge. And if they can actually achieve that, that'll be really, really cool. I wish that they would put that same effort into advocating for safe transport to their stores, for their employees. It's not car centric, and but I believe that is actually on their roadmap because I think it's part of their fairly ambitious climate change, goals.
00:40:01:29 - 00:40:10:07
Marley Blonsky
And I should say, I don't work for Walmart in any way, but I've gotten really interesting insight by living here. So yeah, yeah, some good things happening.
00:40:10:10 - 00:40:53:22
John Simmerman
I'm glad you mentioned that to, because that is one of the things that that employers can really do, with their corporate campuses and with their headquarters is to really try to work with the city to ensure that, you know, those offices, those locations, those retail operations, you know, are, along and or, you know, attached to and, you know, and connected by, high comfort bike network facilities so that, you know, people can, can choose to do that because if they are fortunate enough to live within, you know, walking and or biking distance, it would be nice if it were safe to be able to get to those those.
00:40:53:22 - 00:41:13:21
Marley Blonsky
Workplace 100%. Yeah. And, you know, all the research shows that people who arrive by bike arrive happier, they're healthier, they're more engaged, they're more productive. So it's a win for everybody. And with some forward thinking of, you know, where where can these people park their bikes, you know, is there a place for them to change clothes, to store their equipment?
00:41:13:24 - 00:41:21:02
Marley Blonsky
It's it doesn't take huge, earth shattering changes to, accommodate folks who are arriving by bicycle.
00:41:21:04 - 00:41:42:02
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah. And in fact, if the, if if the destination isn't that tremendously far and it's a truly a safe and inviting, you know, network that they can ride on, they might not even have to change clothes. We might actually be able to ride, you know, in their clothes, you know, that they're, you know, dressed for the destination, not for the ride.
00:41:42:04 - 00:42:12:10
John Simmerman
Which is exactly what most northern European cities are like when you look at the fact that. Yeah, I mean, they're not pushing hard. They have their racing bike, they have their mountain bike, but this is their commute bike. It's relaxed, it's upright, and they're not pushing hard. So, it streamlines it. The other great thing I'm glad you mentioned, you know, what it's like being an employer and encouraging your employees to be able to, have that and some of the benefits of being able to get to their destination by active transportation.
00:42:12:12 - 00:42:42:08
John Simmerman
Same goes for schools. Still, benefits of kids being able to get to school, get a little activity in whether it's walking or biking to school. Same thing that positive reinforcement, of showing up ready to learn. And, you know, their brains are primed for for being able to do that. So the benefits just are so tremendous for us to really focus in on making this environment truly all ages and all abilities, all body.
00:42:42:10 - 00:42:44:22
Marley Blonsky
All bodies, exactly.
00:42:44:24 - 00:42:50:25
John Simmerman
I love it, I love it, Marlee, this has been so much fun. Thank you so much for joining me on the Active Towns podcast.
00:42:50:28 - 00:42:52:15
Marley Blonsky
Thank you so much for having me. This is great.
00:42:52:22 - 00:43:07:02
John Simmerman
Hey, thank you all so much for tuning in. I hope you enjoyed this episode with Marlene. If you did, please give it a thumbs up or 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 in the notifications bell.
00:43:07:09 - 00:43:28:19
John Simmerman
And if you're enjoying this content here on the Active Towns Channel, please consider supporting my efforts. It's easy to do. Just head on over to Active Town Sorg. Click on the support button, and there's several different options out there. As I mentioned in this episode, if you become a Patreon supporter, you do get early and ad free access to all my video content, which is a super cool bonus, I think it.
00:43:28:20 - 00:43:57:01
John Simmerman
Anyways, again, thank you so much for tuning in. I really means so much to me. And until next time, this is John signing off by wishing you little activity, health and happiness. Cheers and again sending a huge thank you out to all my Active Towns Ambassadors supporting the channel on Patreon. Buy me a coffee YouTube. Super! Thanks. As well as making contributions to the nonprofit and purchasing things from the Active Towns store, every little bit adds up and it's much appreciated.
00:43:57:03 - 00:43:58:10
John Simmerman
Thank you all so much!