Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin : Board of Directors

Chick Veenstra, Chair

Chick was appointed in August of 2004 to fill the vacancy left by Nicole Touchet. Chick's interests in cycling span a wide range. Chick has competed at a national level on the track for most of his life. His daughter, Erin Mirabella, competed at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, and Chick organized a highly successful fundraising ride in support of Erin's Olympic bid.

Chick is one of the leaders of the KR Bike Club (Racine and Kenosha), where he has been instrumental in teaching riding skills and etiquette to members as well as in the club's organization. He is a League Cycling Instructor, a bicycle fitter and race coach, and a regular commuter to his management job at Big Bucks Lumber in Racine.

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Chris Kegel, Chair Elect

Chris is owner of the Wheel & Sprocket with stores in greater Milwaukee, Oshkosh and Appleton. Wheel & Sprocket is very involved in the cycling community, sponsoring over twenty rides, several teams, and many bike events. Chris serves on several boards including Bikes Belong, National Bike Dealer Association, International Mountain Bike Association, League of American Bicyclists, Wisconsin State Trails Council, Mequon Bikeways Committee, Ozaukee Bike Trail Council, Fall Color Mountain Bike Committee, Miller Lite Ride for the Arts, and the Juvenile Diabetes Death Valley Advisory Committee. In addition to taking bicycle trips to Montreal, Canada, with his son, Chris commutes two or three days per week twenty-five miles each way from Mequon to Hales Corners. He has served on the Bike Fed board since 1997.

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Dick Withers, Secretary

Dick has commuted by bike for more than 20 years. He currently rides four miles each way to his job as the lead legislative fiscal analyst for the Legislative Reference Bureau of the City of Milwaukee. He knows that biking is good for his health and the environment but, basically, he just loves the feeling of the ride. He shares that love by leading Wednesday bike rides from Milwaukee City Hall.

Dick joined the Bike Fed board in 2009, contributing insights from his years in bicycling and his long career in law and public health policy. He has three bikes: an old Raleigh hybrid, a Specialized Sirrus, and a Specialized Globe Elite for his commute. He has ridden the Menominee River Century more than a dozen times and has the t-shirts to prove it.

David Fine, Treasurer

David's interest in biking goes back several years. In the past few years, he has commuted nearly every day by bike. He also rides his bike to events around Milwaukee, and takes at least one 500-mile bike trip every summer.

David feels very strongly about having the Bike Fed help with the Bicycle Friendly Community programs as a way to help communities in Wisconsin improve biking.

David recently served in the Peace Corps in South Africa, where he remained very active in biking. His biggest biking accomplishment was setting up what he believes to be the first municipal bicycle coordinator position in South Africa in the City of Polokwane. Other efforts included selling bikes to South Africans at a reduced cost, helping them reduce their daily transportation expenses. He also was able to get 14 bikes donated to Peace Corps volunteers, who then passed them on to local residents after completing their service. Contact David

Brian Anderson

Brian D. Anderson is a former USCF bicycle racer, a 5-time Chequamegon Fat Tire finisher (single speed and gears), a now-former puller of fully-loaded burleys, a former bicycle tourist and a 10-year bike commuter. He's a strong believer in cycling advocacy, having been struck by, among other things, a car, coolers, firecrackers, and soda bottles while minding his own business on the bike.

Brian was also a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kenya where he used his mountain bike to carry jerry cans containing his daily water supplies. He now lives in Madison with his wife, Cynthie, and two children.

He is a shareholder with the law firm Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek SC in Madison, Wis., where he practices real estate, finance and corporate law. He also represents clients involved in green building and development and is a frequent speaker on the subject, having published and presented at numerous national and state conferences.

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Dr. Scott Arbit

Scott is an orthodontist from the Milwaukee area and is a strong advocate for bicycling to promote personal health throughout an individual's lifetime. He is an experienced fundraiser and an avid bicycle rider and bicycle collector; he owns in excess of 70 bicycles but has lost count. Scott has served on the Bike Fed board since 2000, and he currently serves on the nominating and fundraising committees.

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Aaron Crandall

Aaron is a lifelong resident of Wisconsin. He grew up in Janesville and moved to Madison in 2003. He currently works for the University of Wisconsin-Madison in research administration. Since moving to Madison, Aaron has gone from rarely cycling to completely going "car free" and has not owned a motor vehicle since fall of 2007.

As a commuter and everyday cyclist, he has an interest in maintaining and improving the rights of cyclists to share the road and seeing improved infrastructure for cyclists all around Wisconsin. One of his many goals would be to see improved routes between cities, especially major cities, to make alternative commuting easier, and in some cases, even possible. "Get out there and get cycling!"

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Ric Damm

Like most children, Ric rode a bike. Fortunately, he never grew up. At least he never gave up his passion for the bicycle. Damm is a Certified Coach of USA Cycling and an advocate both for the sport of cycling and the bicycle as a sustainable mode of transportation.

He is a member of the International Mountain Bicycling Association, the Wisconsin Off Road Bicycling Association, the League of American Bicyclists and the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin. He serves as coordinator for the Ripon College Velorution Project, a ground-breaking program that provides free bicycles to incoming Ripon students who do not bring cars to campus.

As an amateur cyclist, he regularly competes in Wisconsin Off Road Series (WORS) events. Damm has been on the podium many times in his age group and has had several top-10 overall finishes in WORS competition, including a fourth-place overall at Iola Winter Sports Park in May. Damm has also participated in the Chequamegon Fat Tire 40-mile mountain bike race and in 2008, several member of the team he coaches at Ripon College joined him in that event.

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Mary Ebeling

Mary Ebeling joined the Bike Fed board in 2009 while living in Sheboygan, where she managed the county's $25 million Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Program, expanding options for getting around by bike and foot. "I love to share the joy and freedom that comes with being able to bicycle and walk for transportation," she says.

She was a founding member of the Sheboygan County Bicycle and Pedestrian Coalition, where she helped start the ReBike program, which teaches youth how to rehab used bikes and provides them with refurbished bikes for their own use. She was also involved in a campaign called "Get Lit - It's the Law" to distribute safety lights to bicyclists who didn't have any.

In 2010, Ebeling moved to Madison to work for the Department of Transportation to implement rural transit programs.

Bill Hauda

Bill Hauda is the former director of Wisconsin's two major cross-state bicycle tours, GRABAAWR and SAGBRAW. He was a founder of the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin and its first president. A longtime bicycle commuter, competitive triathlete, marathon runner, and recreational cyclist, he is a life member of the League of American Bicyclists.

A journalist by profession, Bill wrote columns on running and bicycling for United Press International and The Capital Times newspaper of Madison. He currently authors a column on fitness and health for Silent Sports magazine. He is a board member and vice president of the Bombay Bicycle Club of Madison, Wisconsin's largest bicycle touring club. Bill is also former board member of the Dane County Bicycle Association, a foundation which funds bicycle education and advocacy projects. Bills current term on the BFW board began in 2003.

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Keith Holt

Keith is the Community and Program Liaison with Johnson Park Health Alliance. Most of Keith's bicycling advocacy experience comes from working for the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation, where he developed and maintained relationships with African-American communities throughout Chicagoland and gained support for Chicagoland Bicycle Federation programs in those areas. Keith also was an integral part of the CBF's partnership with the Chicago Park District and Cook County Forest Preserve and he helped with the opening of the Major Taylor Trail and the grassroots work on behalf of the Calumet-Sag Trail. He is a charter member and advisor of the Major Taylor Cycling Club of Chicago. He sits on the Board of Directors for the Friends of the Forest Preserve of Cook County and the Milwaukee Master Bike Plan Steering Committee. Keith hopes to bring his community organizing and volunteer organizing experience to the Bike Fed Board. His personal vision of "Making Wisconsin a Better Place to Bicycle" lies in designing inclusive campaigns and initiatives for desirable biking opportunities for minorities in Southeastern Wisconsin.

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Joel Patenaude

As the editor of Silent Sports Magazine for the past five years, Joel has served as a promoter and advocate of bicycling and other forms of non-motorized aerobic recreation enjoyed throughout Wisconsin and the upper Midwest. Originally from Mt. Horeb, Joel earned his bachelor's degree in journalism from UW-Madison. Patenaude is a bicycle commuter and occasional back-of-the-pack road and mountain bike racer. He is a frequent rail-trail user, has helped build singletrack mountain bike trail at Hartman Creek State Park and is involved in the formation of a friends group for the pending New London to Seymour rail-trail. He is also a member of the board of directors for the Waupaca Area Triathlon. Patenaude served on the 2007 Special Legislative Committee on State Trails Policy and is currently a member of the Special Legislative Committee for the Enhancement of Non-motorized Recreational Trails.

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Michael Rewey

Michael Rewey is a year-round transportation bicyclist and an expert on bicycle planning and facility design. He grew up in many Wisconsin towns and spent his entire career in the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. As a chief planning engineer, he oversaw transportation improvement programming, roadway and traffic data & analysis, and multi-modal transportation planning. Michael retired in early 2005.

Michael was a member of the Madison Platinum Bike Committee, which developed recommendations to improve bicycling access in Madison. The recommendations were adopted by the Madison Common Council in 2008. He has also served on the Stevens Point Common Council, the Madison Long Range Transportation Planning Commission, the Madison Commission on the Environment and the Madison State Street Design Oversight Committee.

Michael is on the Board of the Mississippi River Trail Commission, a 10-state commission dedicated to creating a bike route along each side of the Mississippi River from the Gulf to its headwaters in Minnesota.

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Dr. David Waters

David is a bicycle enthusiast and advocate who lives in Shorewood, Wis., with his two daughters. David bicycle commutes to his job as a pediatrician at the Sixteenth Street Community Health Center. He is also an avid road biker and rides with The Mighty Muffin Men, the Shorewood bicycle club. David is a Wisconsin native and wants to help promote bicycling locally, nationally and internationally.

Ed Zappen

Ed works as a Wood County Circuit Court Judge, Branch 3, in Wisconsin Rapids. Ed is involved in legal committees including Special Committee on Gender Neutrality and Wisconsin Criminal Jury Instructions Committee, currently serving as its chair since 2003. He acquired his first road bike in June of 2005 and joined the Bicycle Federation. Ed's primary interest in the Bike Fed is the education of both drivers and cyclists in safe and courteous road sharing, as well as the improvement of roads to provide bike lanes, wider shoulders and paths.

Ed states, "I have become passionate about cycling as a form of exercise, transportation and social interaction."

Ed was elected to his first term on the board in 2006.

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