Asheville On Bikes

Asheville on Bikes cultivates the culture of urban and commuter cycling through advocacy, education, and celebration. We believe that cycling has a direct impact on the health of our community.

A city and region where cycling is a safe, joyful, and equitable option for every resident — from the 8-year-old on their first bike to the 80-year-old commuter — supported by world-class infrastructure and a vibrant community of advocates.

In 2006, Mike Sule returned to Asheville from a Portland bike tour with a simple ambition: grow Asheville's bicycle culture. The organization's founding moment arrived in the 2007 Asheville Holiday Parade, when 25 costumed cyclists rolled through downtown and came home with both "Spirit of the Parade" and "Best Overall" honors — along with $250 in prize money that seeded the advocacy work to come. Around the same time, a red heart-shaped bicycle sticker began appearing on cars, bikes, and storefronts across the city, quietly announcing that something new was taking root.

From that scrappy, joyful beginning, Asheville on Bikes grew into the region's premier cycling advocacy organization. Over nearly two decades, AoB has secured protected bike lanes, championed the Hellbender Regional Greenway, launched the Bicycle Benefits program (now national in scope), and built programs that serve youth, commuters, businesses, and city planners alike. In 2020, the League of American Bicyclists named Asheville on Bikes its Bicycle Advocacy Organization of the Year — recognition of a movement that has always believed celebration and civic action belong together.

Urban and commuter cyclists of all genders, ages 18–60, in Asheville and Buncombe County who ride or want to ride for transportation, and who are environmentally conscious and community-oriented. They are frustrated by unsafe, car-centric roads and seek protected infrastructure, real policy change, and a community of fellow riders who share their values.