Ask HN: How has volunteering helped you grow?
I’d accidentally ridden into a Critical Mass Cycle protest ride in London around 2010. Ended up setting one up in Bath, that ran for a bit and started attending the local cycle campaigning group. A respect ride held in honour of a young man that was killed in a hit and run however became something bigger than a Friday night protest ride, and I was the main speaker at a large ride held in his honour. It was rather humbling.After that I was asked to be chair of Cycle Bath and over the last 3 years I’ve taught myself about transport, helped the council win millions in funding, and made cycling a key agenda item locally. I’ve learnt a lot about social media, public engagement and how to work with councils.My proudest moment was cycling along a towpath I’d fought hard to have upgraded to a 4 season wheel friendly surface, even having police protection at a meeting, and seeing people in wheelchairs using it. It brought home that much of the cycle advocacy is just about making public space easier for people, particularly kids and people with mobility issues, to get around independently.Recently I created a transport tube map for Bath and this resulted in a national series of workshops teaching people how to make this key campaigning tool for cycle advocacy groups and even some council officers.I’ve begun to apply my IT skills to analyse UK Census 2011 commuter flow data and model modal split flows within the city. This piece of work might go national in the next couple of weeks due to some of the analysis I’ve been able to do. (Cycling and Walking can be hugely under-represented in the stats that councils use for transport planning.)I’m now thinking of running for council in 2019 and hopefully getting the transport brief. It’s considered a bit of a poison chalice but personally I cannot see a better way to help improve the city which has been my home for the last 16 years.If somebody had told me in 2010, that that one cycle ride home would have lead to this, I simply would not have believed them. What I will say is that I almost wish I could get paid to do this full time, but thankfully IT consultancy seems to give me the time to do this for now.[edit] A lot of what I've written on the subject can be found here https://cyclebath.org.uk/author/awjreynolds/