By Larry Lagarde

This is the 3rd in a 3 part series describing how a catastrophe turned me into a cycling advocate and led Tennessee cyclists to ground truth the Mississippi River Trail.

Trail Suggestions Bring The MRT Calling
Prior to Katrina, I had begun blogging about places to go bicycling and had also established ties with other blogging cyclists. Issues related to the storm kept me from blogging for 3 weeks, leaving cyclists like fellow blogger Kiril Kundurazieff (CyclingDude.com) wondering if I had died in the storm. I contacted him and set the record straight.

Kiril had been writing about the Katrina debacle and urging people to help. In reply, the executive director of the Mississippi River Trail, Inc. (Terry Eastin) wrote Kiril, asking that he post on CyclingDude.com her request for suggestions regarding how the MRT could help New Orleans by developing new local bike trails. A day later, I submitted several trail suggestions. Within another 24 hours, Terry had contacted me.

The board of directors of the Mississippi River Trail, Inc. was meeting in Memphis in a matter of weeks. At Terry's request, I attended the board meeting which was being held downtown at the offices of the Memphis Chamber of Commerce. I was the only one that rode a bike there. I didn't know anyone.

Terry asked that I speak up if I had something to say. I sat, listened and then chimed in on the topics of the website and of trail mapping. Terry liked my suggestions. She asked that I prepare a proposal that would include 3 ways that I could help the MRT. I suggested local advocacy work in Memphis as well as helping with the website and trail mapping.

Terry tapped me to serve as the local MRT coordinator for Memphis. She asked that I lead a ground truthing campaign that would inspire local cyclists to rediscover the MRT and submit their own input regarding improving the route of the trail in Tennessee.

I started from scratch. I rode portions of the MRT. I created a project time line, shot trail photos, took trail notes, made contact with local cycling advocates and civic leaders, researched online mapping, attended city planning and cycling group meetings, wrote press releases, letters to the editor and started a Yahoo Group for the MRT. I created a list of potential project supporters, worked up a time line for route selection, created an agenda for the ground truthing public meeting, roughed out 2 potential trail alignments, scheduled the meeting, announced the meeting to the press, personally contacted all the local high profile cycling advocates and even created a survey form for ground truthers. Meanwhile, I managed a household, made 2 more maternity related emergency trips to the hospital and welcomed into the world my beautiful daughter, Grace.

Three weeks after Grace was born, the initial public meeting for the ground truthing was held. From cycling shop owners to casual cyclists, the room was packed. There were a series of speakers including Terry Eastin and myself. The meeting attendees agreed to help ground truth the trail.

I parceled out sections of the MRT to different volunteers. Each was responsible for riding and commenting upon their section of the MRT. Ground truthers began riding the trail and reports were being submitted. Then FEMA stepped in.

FEMA About Face & Return To New Orleans
Like many other hurricane evacuees that were unable to return home, FEMA had been assisting us with the rental payments for our apartment. With rent in Memphis costing over 3 times more than the note I was still paying on my damaged New Orleans area home, we needed that assistance and were counting on it lasting until the end of the school year. Unfortunately, the bureaucrats at FEMA reneged on their assurances and prematurely cut off aid with little warning.

Without an alternative, we returned to New Orleans and moved in with family. I continued my cycling advocacy via RideTHISbike.com; however, in the best interest of the ground truthing project, I stepped down from my role with the MRT. My concerns were that I would be too consumed with restarting our lives in New Orleans to devote adequate time to the project.

Though a variety of Memphis area cyclists had pledged to help with the ground truthing, no one stepped in to take my place to lead the effort. Terry Eastin took over the project and I notified ground truthers to submit their reports directly to her. I did return to Memphis to ride a section of the MRT with a group of Memphis cyclists and and continued to correspond with some of the ground truthers in an unofficial capacity.

Though busy with rebuilding in New Orleans, I agreed to become a board member on a fledgling non-profit known as the Friends of the Lafitte Corridor (FOLC). An abandoned strip of land running 3 miles through the city from the French Quarter, the Lafitte Corridor had been on the minds of city planners for years. Before Katrina, the corridor was slated to become a bike trail and a bond issue had even passed to begin funding the project. Naturally, Katrina changed everything.

With the City of New Orleans on life support and desperate to rebuild, residents in neighborhoods along the Lafitte Corridor were concerned that the city administration would sell off portions of the corridor to private developers. Not only would such a development destroy a historic transportation link (the corridor follows a shipping canal dug centuries ago by the Spanish as well as a formerly vital rail link to the city), it would also squash efforts to link and revitalize flood ravaged neighborhoods.

At the beginning of the year, I accepted to serve as the vice president of the Friends of the Lafitte Corridor. In the interim, we've made great strides and have even been recognized by the Rails To Trails Conservancy as one of the most important rail trail projects in the nation. FOLC has become the charity cause for RidingTheSpine (a trio of international touring cyclists) and has received grants from a variety of non-profit associations.

We have much work to do but the future is brighter now. Though nothing is set in stone, the prospects for a better and more beautiful New Orleans are very exciting. Without a doubt, it's a privilege to be helping to rebuild New Orleans at such a critical time.

Larry Lagarde
RideTHISbike.com
Ph: 504-324-2492
Urging bicycling for recreation, commuting, health and a better future.

Labels: bicycle-advocacy

By Larry Lagarde

This is the 2nd in a 3 part series describing how a catastrophe turned me into a cycling advocate and led Tennessee cyclists to ground truth the Mississippi River Trail.

Reality, Shock & Despair
By the time I returned to my room, reports were already trickling in about flooding. At first, the reports were unconfirmed but that changed quickly. In shock, we watched images of massive, catastrophic flooding in New Orleans. As the storm winds ebbed, the video worsened. Hundreds if not thousands of New Orleanians were on their rooftops pleading for rescue. Bodies floated in the streets.

It was clear that no one would be going home soon but staying indefinitely in a hotel room wasn't an option either. My grandmother, aunt, a cousin and her 2 daughters drove to Phoenix, AZ. My parents and the families of my brother and a sister drove to Alabama. My wife was having preterm contractions due to the stress of the circumstances so we went to the nearest hospital emergency room.

Relocating On The Fly
The staff at the ER were able to avert a tragedy but they advised against Robin traveling anywhere and suggested bed rest. Two days later, I signed the lease on the first apartment we viewed. We immediately bought furniture and moved in.

Over the next 2 weeks, we settled into our new home. We found schools for the kids & bought them new uniforms. High speed Internet was installed at the apartment so I could run my business. Throughout the entire catastrophe, the websites of my customers remained online. Unfortunately, the same was not true for New Orleans. The Big Easy was gasping for air and commerce had ground to a halt.

With little work to do and my wife needing me close by, feelings of grief, powerlessness and depression began to cloud my days. I became angry with myself. I wanted to be part of the solution, not the problem.

I came to look upon the relocation as a veiled opportunity to start afresh. All my life, I'd told myself I wanted to do something that would improve the lives of others rather than enrich myself. Here was my chance.

I thought about how I could give something back. I had a computer, Internet access, a desire to help others and a love of cycling. Suddenly, it hit me - what better way to help others than to promote the very activity that had brought independence, joy and health to my life - cycling.

Tomorrow: Trail Suggestions Bring The MRT Calling

Labels: bicycle-advocacy

By Larry Lagarde

This is the 1st in a 3 part series describing how a catastrophe turned me into a cycling advocate and led Tennessee cyclists to ground truth the Mississippi River Trail.

Just An Ordinary Guy
Up until Hurricane Katrina, I was a guy minding my own web services business. I'd been hosting, designing and marketing websites since 1996. I had lots of small business clients in the local tourism industry.

Three months before the storm, I started a new website named RideTHISbike.com. The site was a proof of concept of several e marketing strategies that I believed in. At the time, clients were cool to ideas like blogging so I wanted to demonstrate what could be done. I focused on cycling because, other than work or sleep, I did more cycling than anything else.

One month before Katrina, I married a young, blond fireball named Robin. Robin and her 2 sons were still in the process of transitioning from their apartment into my home when Katrina struck.

Storm Warnings
On August 23rd, 2005, my dad telephoned to say that there was a hurricane named Katrina in the Atlantic Ocean. Though it was too early to know for sure what the storm would do, computer models were predicting that the Katrina would enter the Gulf of Mexico, strengthen and make landfall between Lake Charles, LA and Gulf Shores, AL, placing New Orleans straight in the cross hairs.

Dad asked me if he should include a room for my young family in his reservation at the Hollywood Casino in Tunica, MS (the closest hotel he could find). Although I thought it premature, hotels beyond the potential evacuation zone were booking up fast so I said "sure".

By August 28th, Katrina was a category 5 hurricane with winds of 170 mph and was gunning for New Orleans. Around 9am, with storm gusts already caressing the city, I finished boarding up my home, jumped into my Kia Sportage SUV and hit the road. My car was crammed to the ceiling with possessions including Feisty (one of my 3 cats). The other cats were too freaked out to catch so I reluctantly left them behind.

Robin, Mateo (my 5 year old stepson), Feisty the cat and I caravaned in 2 vehicles (Eli, Robin's oldest, had already left town with his dad). For 2 nerve wracking hours, we snaked along at a pace slower than walking. Approximately 15 hours after the start of our exodus, we arrived in Tunica - thoroughly exhausted.

About 7am August 29th, my brother knocked on the door of our hotel room. There was live coverage of Katrina on television. A group huddle was called around the television in my parent's room. Early reports were that Katrina had lost strength and that the city was spared. Ecstatic, my dad announced that we should all prepare to check out; we'd be home by the end of the day.

Tomorrow: Reality, Shock & Despair plus Relocating On The Fly

Labels: bicycle-advocacy