The Bowling Green Daily News featured a front-page story today about the business of biking. Bike BG board member Jennifer Tougas told members of the Barren River Area Development District how bicycling is good for economic development.
Here is a link to the original article. The text of the article is below.
The business of biking
Official urges BRADD to take advantage of the millions of dollars spent each year by bicyclists
By ROBYN L. MINOR, The Daily News, rminor@bgdailynews.com/783-3249
Tuesday, April 27, 2010 11:43 AM CDT
With an estimated 57 million bicycle owners nationwide, the opportunity exists for economic development in area communities by engaging bicyclists, according to Jennifer Tougas.
Tougas, an avid bicyclist and director of Parking Services at Western Kentucky University, spoke Monday to the Barren River Area Development District about how members can take advantage of some of the millions of dollars spent each year by bicyclists.
Tougas cited as an example a tandem bike rally in Bowling Green two years ago that drew 240 people from all over the world.
“The rally was for three days, but many of those people stayed four or five days,” Tougas said.
With its rolling hills and relatively quiet roads, aside from the busy Interstate 65, the region has the infrastructure needed to attract bicyclists, she said.
“You don’t need a bike trail,” Tougas said.
Matt Westbrook, a Western Kentucky University student, rides to his downtown job and on campus, in part to avoid parking hassles. But Westbrook says he also enjoys the ride.
Tougas said 41 percent of bicyclists ride for exercise, while 37 percent ride for recreation, making that group ripe for tourism opportunities.
Area communities also may be able to take advantage of the biking opportunities that exist at Mammoth Cave National Park and, in the future, that could include a world-class mountain bike trail.
Tougas said volunteers are in the process of designing a trail, then will begin trying to raise money to build it.
Investing in such opportunities, even if it’s just a little time spent in promoting a community, can pay off.
“It’s a multibillion dollar industry when you are talking about what people spend to gear up before they go out,” Tougas said.
Good touring bikes cost upward of $1,000, and that’s just the beginning – bicyclists also require clothing and gear for their sport. If they are coming to a community from somewhere else, that could mean spending the night in an area motel or eating in area restaurants.
Tougas told area leaders about local resources to help promote communities to bicycling groups. They include Helen Siewers with the Kentucky Bicycle and Bikeway Commission at helen.siewers@wku.edu; susan.ammons@insightbb.com for the Bowling Green League of Bicyclists; or Sara Shipley Hiles at saraship@gmail.com for Bicycle Friendly Community.
Also speaking to the BRADD board was Nick Noble, one of the partners of Park Mammoth Resort.
Noble reported to the board on the resort’s successful Sabre Defence Blue Ridge Mountain 3-Gun Championship over the weekend.
In addition to awarding $250,000 in prize money to competitors from around the country and the world, one of its fun events Saturday evening raised $27,000 for charity.
“And now the facility is the new home of this particular event for forever,” Noble said.
BRADD Executive Director Rodney Kirtley went to the event Sunday.
“When I was on my way up there, I stopped at the Dollar Store in Park City,” Kirtley said. “The person asked me where I was from and what I was doing.”
When Kirtley told him where he was going and that he was a local, the clerk proclaimed how many people from around the country had stopped in the store on their way to the weekend event in Edmonson County.
Kirtley said just as the Dollar Store there benefited from the event, much of the region has the potential for benefit for large scale events that the resort’s 100-plus rooms can’t handle.
“Get with Nick and let’s spread these guests out,” he said.
Noble said the resort had a 57-person waiting list for its rooms over the weekend. It’s expected that many more people will need rooms in the region for July’s Pan American Shotgun Championship.
— For more information about Park Mammoth Resort, go to www.parkmammothresort.us.
Sara Shipley Hiles is a member of Bicycle Bowling Green. She thinks every day is better with a bike ride. 
