Farewell Message from Matt Glenn, SABR's Past Board President

In 2018 I had heard of Seacoast Area Bicycle Riders but I wasn’t really sure it was the right group for me. That may seem odd now as I end a six-year term on the Board of Directors, with three as president, but I have never considered myself to be a very serious cyclist. Sure, I bike to work and for errands as often as I can. I’ve pulled my kids to daycare by trailer and taught them to ride at a young age. But I rarely top ten miles in a day, my road bike is an ancient 12-speed, and most mountain bike trails scare me. A metal clip around my right pant leg is the extent of my cycling “kit.”

Then a new buffered bike lane on my daily commute in Portsmouth became a major controversy. Soon I was writing letters and speaking up at City Council meetings against their removal. In Fall 2018 I attended SABR’s “Pedalpalooza” event at the Lafayette playground with my 3-year-old son and had a chat with Anne Rugg (a past SABR president) while helping him decorate his bike. I heard from Anne about SABR efforts around safer routes, education, and building community. By looking around I could see that SABR was for all kinds of bike riders, not just the “fitness crowd,” and that the mission to make the Seacoast better for bikes was easy to support. I began teaming up primarily on advocacy efforts to save that lane, and two years later, joined the volunteer board. 

Soon I was showing up at more city and state hearings to advocate for safe biking and walking infrastructure across the region. We have been fortunate to see several wins over the last few years, probably none bigger than the 2024 opening of the first eight miles of the NH Seacoast Greenway. The Greenway (or “rail trail”) was a decades-long effort by SABR and many others– and one of our next goals is to continue and connect it to more neighborhoods. Other wins, like signage, updated bike and pedestrian plans, or a few hundred feet of new bike lane as part of a sewer project, have resulted from countless meetings and organizing. 

More memorable (and far more fun) than all those meetings are the community events and the people. I have loved leading slow and family-friendly bike rides to view public art, big trees, and our Bicycle Benefits businesses. We’ve provided valet bike parking at community events, hosted Coffee Outside gatherings, dressed up for holiday parades, partnered with the city of Portsmouth on the Mayor’s Bike Ride, and put on movie screenings. We’ve also organized Bike Rodeos at Kittery and Portsmouth elementary schools to teach kids (and parents) safe riding skills. 

SABR’s biggest new project in my time was the launch of our Seacoast Pedal It Forward (SPIF) program in April 2024. SPIF volunteers take in donated bikes, refurbish them, and then give them to people in need of transportation. We found a welcoming partner and home at Port City Makerspace, a vibrant local nonprofit, and began working there two afternoons a week. Partnering with dozens of local agencies, we estimate over 750 working bikes have been distributed to date! Our dedicated SPIF volunteers have become a key part of SABR, and we know each bike given out (along with lights, a lock, and helmet) has the ability to improve and change a life.

As I leave the SABR board, I plan to keep riding to work, to keep repairing bikes when I can, and to remain very much involved in the biking and advocacy community. This past Spring the Portsmouth City Council established a Bicycle and Pedestrian Blue Ribbon Committee, a long-time goal of SABR. This diverse group meets monthly with city staff and also in working groups to address multimodal connectivity, complete streets, and community outreach. I’m vice-chair of this new group, and am excited to work toward creating a real bike network, improving pedestrian safety, and perhaps even some new projects like organizing “bike buses” at local schools. Please reach out to us at info@seacoastbikes.org with your ideas and to volunteer in some capacity — we’re stronger when we ride (or walk) together! 

– Matt Glenn

Seacoast Area Bicycle Riders is a nonprofit, volunteer organization with the mission of making the Seacoast better for biking. We've been a unified voice for all kinds of bike riders in the Seacoast of New Hampshire and southern Maine since 1992. seacoastbikes.org