Today we’d like to introduce you to Andy Lambert.
Hi Andy, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
Thanks for the opportunity! I do work that makes it easier for more people to choose the bicycle for transportation, and I love it.
My love for bikes started when I was around 5 years old. I had a hand-me-down BMX bike and lived on a street that dead-ended into a large, open field where I and my friends made forts, dirt jumps and a racetrack for bikes. I loved the sense of freedom that the bike gave me and how riding bikes with friends brought us closer together. Bikes opened the doors to new friendships and allowed me to explore parts of my neighborhood and city more easily.
When I went to the U of M in the late ’90s, my bike was the most convenient way to get to my classes on all three campuses. The U had (and still has) excellent bicycle infrastructure and they support its use through programming and pilots that encourage everyone one campus to try commuting by bicycle.
After my college days, bikes played two important roles in my life: it was both a preferred transportation option and a way to get to know new people through social rides and other events. In the early 00’s the fixed gear bike craze was blowing up in Minneapolis and I got into alley cat races and building inexpensive bikes from used parts. My second job out of college was with Peace Coffee, a local coffee roaster, where for two years I was a bicycle courier delivering roasted coffee to customers throughout Minneapolis and St. Paul pulling a very heavy trailer behind my bike. It was this job that opened my eyes to the importance of how we design our streets and how that design influences user behavior.
During the five years following the bicycle courier job, I learned how to be a sales manager and eventually joined a start-up business in south Minneapolis called Bike Fixtation managing sales, marketing, and customer service. We designed and manufactured public-use bicycle repair equipment such as repair stands with tools attached and heavy duty outdoor manual bicycle pumps. The idea was that if people had free access to the basic tools to keep their bikes in good working order, more people would ride! These solutions are now some of the most widely used public-use bicycle repair equipment in the world.
In 2016 the company was acquired by the Saris Cycling Group and I became the Global Sales Manager. Five years later, Saris decided to close down their Minneapolis operations, so I was let go. After determining that my non-compete was unenforceable, I decided to chase a wild idea: become an independent consultant and offer to write a business plan for an industry leading, UK-based cycling infrastructure design powerhouse to set up manufacturing operations in the US. Since I had just spent 8 years actively learning how to build and run a bicycle infrastructure business, I reached out to a company that I had long admired as a creative innovator and social infrastructure builder, Cyclehoop Ltd. of London.
Cyclehoop designs award-winning bicycle storage and mobility infrastructure solutions. The products are designed by cyclists to encourage everyday people to make the switch and experience the health, social and environmental benefits of riding a bike. I proposed the business plan idea to Cyclehoop’s Managing Director, Barry Jackson in May of 2021. Barry saw the potential too, so we agreed on a 6-month contract for me to write the business plan. I started writing the plan in July, it got board approval in December, and we incorporated Cyclehoop US LLC on February 24, 2022. On May 1, 2022, I became the CEO of Cyclehoop in North America and own a minority share of the business. This wild idea was becoming a reality.
I reached out to Barry in the first place because Cyclehoop not only designs and manufacturers amazing infrastructure solutions for the street, they nurture and grow social infrastructure through organizing social bike rides (aka bike parties, slow rolls, ride outs). The social bonds that are created at these free, inclusive, good vibe-oriented events are the kinds of social connections that lead to happier, healthier, and safer communities. These social rides also turn people into active transportation advocates which grows the broader movement for mobility justice.
The importance of advocacy and taking a stand for social and political issues was instilled in me early on. I was about 10 years old when my Mom took me to a Take Back the Night rally on a warm summer night in Rochester, MN in the late 80s. Fast forward to the summer of 2020 in Minneapolis and my fire for civic engagement was re-lit. I got heavily involved in community organizing at the hyper local level that summer and decided to spread some of that fire to bicycle advocacy and mobility justice. I joined the board of directors of the Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota (aka BikeMN) in June of 2020 and have served as the Board Chair since July 2022.
BikeMN is Minnesota’s statewide biking and walking advocacy and education nonprofit organization. We envision a Minnesota where every person everywhere can easily walk, bike, and roll as ways to move in daily life. One of the organization’s most popular programs is the Adult Learn to Ride program, which has helped thousands of adults in Minnesota learn to ride a bike. We also just celebrated the passing of a monumental piece of transportation legislation that dramatically increases funding for safe routes to school and active transportation programming and infrastructure.
Having a foot in both the cycling infrastructure industry and active transportation advocacy worlds has given me a well-rounded point of view when it comes to understanding transportation ecosystems. The third leg of my professional stool is my work on the Minneapolis Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC). We work with and offer input to Public Works staff on new infrastructure development projects throughout Minneapolis.
I represent Ward 2 (southeast Minneapolis) on the BAC and that experience has helped me understand project cycles for infrastructure planning and development on the municipal level. It truly is incredible how many moving pieces must come together for a new bike lane or curb-protected cycle track to be built in a city. I wholeheartedly applaud city staff everywhere who are working to make active transportation safer and more just in their communities.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I graduated with a degree in Political Science but didn’t know what my career path was and it took a while for me to figure it out. I knew that I wanted to do work that I felt good about, and that represented my values, but I was unsure which values to focus on. During my time at Peace Coffee, I was steeped in the fair trade movement and I learned difference between free and fair trade. We worked directly with farmer-owned cooperatives in Central and South America and that experience showed me that business can be a tool for social justice and that businesses should consider three bottom lines: people, planet, and profit.
My two-year stint as a bike courier showed me the potency of the bicycle as a tool to improve personal, public and environmental health. I left Peace Coffee in 2011 with the intention of doing work that gets more people to use bicycles for transportation. After a brief two year stint in the bicycle distribution industry, I realized that my heart wasn’t into marketing cycling as a lifestyle. The presence (and lack thereof) of safe, convenient, and accessible bicycle infrastructure has a broader impact on encouraging more people to choose bikes for transportation than any bicycle brand marketing strategy ever could. My focus became clear at this point.
From a career standpoint, I feel extremely lucky to have figured out how to intertwine technological innovation and business development with advocacy and education in a topic that I’m so passionate about. Coming to this clarity took time, lived experience, being patient and practicing self-awareness
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I run the North American branch of Cyclehoop, a cycling infrastructure design and manufacturing company. Over the last 18 months, we have established third party manufacturing relationships in the upper Midwest to manufacture the award-winning products that Cyclehoop has become known for.
Based on what I value in a company, I think Cyclehoop stands apart from other companies in our arena because we not only innovate physical infrastructure solutions for active mobility, we also support and nurture the development of social infrastructure. We do this by organizing and sponsoring social bicycle rides (aka bike parties, velo parades, slow rolls). These types of group rides are generally the most inclusive cycling events wherever they exist.
Riding bikes at a casual pace with friends and family while music pumps from huge bike-mounted speakers and bubbles flow through the breeze is our idea of a good time. Social connections are made, people who would otherwise never cross paths meet one another, and community bonds are strengthened. These events end up creating active mobility advocates, which can lead to broader policy change.
Another organization that I’m involved in that’s making cycling safer, easier and more fun is the Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota (BikeMN). This 501(c)3 nonprofit organization is Minnesota’s statewide bicycle advocacy organization and has over a dozen chapters throughout the state. BikeMN’s programming focuses on education and advocacy, and the organization serves as a coalition builder at the state capitol to advance an active transportation legislative agenda.
I’m proud to serve as BikeMN’s board chair and lucky to do meaningful, purpose-driven work with such a passionate and diverse group of people.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Disintegrating my fears of judgment and failure helped put me back in touch with my intuition and self-confidence. This change in mindset has given me the courageto take charge of my life and show my true colors to those around me. One of my favorite sayings is, “if you don’t show your authentic self, those around you won’t know how to love you”. Living in a way that reflects the values within your soul allows you to have deeper, more meaningful relationships. And when it comes down to it, we are the sum of our relationships.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.cyclehoop.us
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cyclehoop/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Cyclehoop
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cyclehoop-ltd/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/cyclehoop
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Cyclehoop8888
