On the road to 2014: Manfred Neun handing over Velo-city to Adelaide - Photo (c) ECF

It is my pleasure to speak to our growing community of ECF members, partners, supporters and colleagues and to wish you an enjoyable festive season and the best of prospects for the New Year. And of course to say thank you for your extraordinary efforts to bring the benefits of cycling to everyone. Even cycling advocates are entitled to some rest and reflection, so I hope you have some time in coming weeks to recharge your energy.

I too am using this opportunity for my own reflections on the year past and to look ahead to what the New Year will bring.

Whether I look backwards or forwards I know that there are two areas that excite me, that motivate me, that make me want to shout ‘cycling’ to anyone who will listen.

The first thing that motivates me is big ideas, big concepts.

I know cycling can make a huge difference to the global challenges faced by society. It is the perfect solution delivered in a simple and accessible technology. Over the past years our movement has established the role of cycling in preventing climate change, in designing city infrastructure, in health and mobility.

In 2013 I feel one of our biggest messages really came of age. With the publication of ECF’s analysis of the European Cycling Economy we took the impact of cycling to the highest level. And meanwhile all across the world advocates and city planners are talking bikenomics as a driving force for change in their cities. I made the case for cycling economics to become part of mainstream international advocacy as recently as Velo-city 2011, I am delighted to see how quickly and effectively it is being used to make the case for cycling in every policy.

It is my expectation that the work we started on human rights and cycling in Vancouver 2012 and carried forward into 2013 will take the same trajectory as cycling economics. Active Mobility as a human right will be a subject that influences the United Nations as it seeks new development goals and I believe we will come back to this many times in 2014 and beyond, especially when we tackle global cycling issues at Velo-city Global Adelaide.

So there are many important subjects to challenge and excite us in 2014. However my other reflection for this year end is also clear.

Great cycling content makes an impact when it are supported by great people, this community of which we are part, this ECF family of cycling supporters and advocates.

We have gone from strength to strength throughout the year and every time we meet I feel the energy, the passion, the enthusiasm with which you work and that empowers our ECF team to do more. Ten new members at our AGM in May, a packed room of business leaders for our Advocacy Summit at Eurobike, invigorating professional workshop events for our academic and city networks are just examples of the high level of activity we have maintained in 2013.

And of course top of the tree in 2013 was the biggest ever Velo-city in Vienna with global thinkers, EC Commissioner, Mayors and political leaders working with us all to take cycling forward. And as we end 2013 we can now look forward to three new cities that will unite us in cycling. Adelaide, Nantes and Taipei all have unique qualities that will make each Velo-city a special milestone for cycling. I hope you get out your diaries in the New Year and make your plans to attend because these are so much more than conferences, they are the think tanks and debating chambers where we will create the future of cycling.

So once again thank you from all of us at ECF. Thank you for your energy, your ideas, your support and your friendship which I look forward to sharing again in 2014. Together we are stronger.

- Manfred Neun