Cheerio

Philly loses one of its biggest biking advocates.

by Brian Howard

Michael T. Regan

Andy Dyson in 2007

At the end of August, Philadelphia will lose a rock.

U.K. native Andy Dyson, the executive director of Neighborhood Bike Works who's spent the last 27 years here, will be moving to Louisville, Ky. (his wife, Moira O'Keeffe, is taking her shiny new Annenberg Ph.D. and beginning a teaching gig at Bellarmine University). I rang up Dyson, who through NBW has been empowering youth through cycling since 1996, for a few parting thoughts and ended up on the phone for 45 minutes.

"I'm stunned by the fact that I'm leaving," he said. "No one should ever leave. On a very deep level, human beings are not supposed to leave. We're supposed to stay in the same place with the tribe we grew up with. Obviously our lives are not like that now. ... I'm going on to wonderful things, and I'm very excited about it. But there's something viscerally wrong about it."

Not surprisingly, Dyson's feelings about Philadelphia are complicated. He's been here since 1983 and lived through some of the city's worst moments. But he's always recognized the gritty, can-do spirit. "We're in a society where they really gave it a shot by creating this nation. They set in progress, in an imperfect way, the Democracy which we really do enjoy. It's not perfect, but I'm still very proud to have lived here where that happened, where people are trying to make things better all the time."

Dyson laments that "we're still in a country where corporate interests and money rule more than the people. [NBW]'s mission is not to combat that, but I think that if people are riding bikes, they're doing something which is protecting the environment and being gentle to their fellow citizens, and I think it's a perfect thing for Philadelphia because we've got a city that's got wide streets and is a place where people's ideas of what's possible have been stretched. That's what Philadelphia means to me."

Most of what he'll miss about Philly has two wheels and a chain — Via, Bilenky, BCGP — but he's also sad to say goodbye to CP (though he loves the Louisville LEO), as well as NBW's kids and their parents. "I'll remember fondly being surrounded by people with high ideals. The kids in NBW all talk about big dreams for themselves."

Speaking of which, Dyson will take over as executive director of Bicycling for Louisville, "which is like the Bicycle Coalition here, or rather, like the Bicycle Coalition here was 25 years ago. Although it's got big dreams." NBW's board of directors is still in the process of choosing Dyson's replacement. "I'm hoping there'll be someone who's better than me, because there's many things I could have been better at," admits the humble 50-year-old.

As to whether he'll start up an NBW-type program in Louisville, "I didn't want to push for that. I didn't want them to think I was a one-trick pony. But people have suggested to me, and if they want it, we'll make it happen."

(bhoward@citypaper.net)