Adventure Cycling Association reports that in FY08 its membership and sales programs enjoyed the largest leaps in activity experienced in a decade.
“We havent had this type of growth in new members since the early 1990’s,” said Julie Huck, membership director. “It’s very exciting to have so many more Americans inspired to travel by bicycle. This is why Adventure Cycling exists. Whether its because of last years gas price increases, overall issues with the economy, or health and environmental concerns, more and more day-to-day cyclists are realizing that bicycle travel is a fairly simple next step.”
In FY08 Adventure Cycling saw a 10.5% increase in inquiries (people requesting information about the organization) and a 12.2% jump in new memberships. Total memberships grew nearly 5%, peaking at 44,500 members at the end of September.
Adventure Cycling is a popular provider of bicycle travel gear as well as the distributor of its own, renowned bicycle maps. For FY08, it saw a 5% increase in overall sales while its map sales jumped nearly 10%.
Altogether, Adventure Cycling has mapped 38,158 miles of routes, a distance equivalent to one-and-a-half trips around the world. The network is so large that it is perhaps the largest “un-official” bicycle route network in the world.
