In each of our monthly newsletters, Trailnet features a member of our community who is working toward Trailnet’s vision of Streets for All. In November 2024, we featured Ryan Hanlon.
Ryan Hanlon is our Trailnet Champion of November! If you haven’t met Ryan before, he is the owner and creative director at Route 3 Films. Route 3 Films has been in business since 2013 and creates content for schools, nonprofits, and small businesses. In his free time, he enjoys tinkering with vintage race cars with his son and father. They are currently restoring a 1980 Jeep CJ5 most of which he plans to use for ice cream runs with his daughter. He loves to mountain bike and climb, camp, and hike with his family and friends.
Ryan is an avid lover of the outdoors and began his volunteering journey with the Ozark Trail Association as a trail crew leader, donor and consultant in 2008. He now serves many groups including the Infrastructure Committee of the Holly Hills Small Business District as chairman and The Friends of Carondelet Park as a board member. He recently created a coalition to spearhead the first and only mountain bike trail in the city of St. Louis which was completed on November 9th in Carondelet Park. The trail will be a hub for practices and racing events for the South City Otters. Ryan believes the trail to be perfect for entry level or intermediate riders and that it is also a great place to walk in the woods for a “city” hike. The trail measures about 1 mile.
Ryan began working with Trailnet when the Holly Hills Infrastructure sub-committee began its work to calm the traffic in their Small Business District. He has been working closely with Trailnet planners Bryce Monser and Erich Hellmer on the project to examine each street, determine its challenges, and seek solutions. “St. Louis is blessed to have Trailnet right here to help us make smart, modern, and safe choices as we work to make our city the best place it can be,” said Ryan. This project is entering its final stages and the team plans to begin implementing their solutions in 2025.
Trailnet’s work is important to Ryan as he has seen, while traveling, what other cities have done to create safe spaces for pedestrians and cyclists, while still helping motorists. His goal in working with Trailnet is “to keep traffic flowing safely and slightly slower in Holly Hills but make sure the pedestrian and the cyclist are safe and welcomed”. Ryan loves St. Louis and its architecture and wants to maintain that. He believes we can come up with creative ideas to maintain that but making our streets safer for everyone. “I believe that Trailnet has not only safety top of mind but creating solutions that flow with the sense of place in the neighborhoods and streets they serve”, said Ryan. We have loved working with Ryan, and are excited to see what the future holds!
Two Lifetime Advocates Making St. Louis Better for People Who Bike, Walk and Roll
Q&A with Bill and Carla Sauerwein, owners of Pedego St. Louis
Conducted by Trailnet Marketing & Communications Coordinator Justin Seaton
Justin: Hi Bill! I understand you and Carla have long histories as bike/walk advocates. Tell me about how you got involved in this world.
Bill: Both Carla and I have been cyclists all of our lives. Carla is a pediatric RN and for years ran the St. Louis SAFE KIDS Coalition. She led education and advocacy to prevent childhood injury, including supplying and promoting bike helmets and car seats. I served as Mayor of the City of Oakland form 1997 – 2001 and with the idea of providing safe streets and walkways for residents, constructed almost all of the sidewalks you see in the city of Oakland and redesigned many of the streets. As Mayor, our city-wide capitol improvements plan was nominated for a state-wide landscape architect design award.
J: How did you first become involved with Trailnet? Tell me about your partnership with us over the years.
B: I suppose my first connection to Trailnet came when I attempted to acquire a small strip of abandoned railroad property within the City of Oakland in order to construct a park. In that process, I met Ted Curtis, then the Director of Trailnet, who introduced me to Trailnet and its mission. Trailnet ended up completing the northern leg of the Grant’s Trail with the property and the City constructed a park around the trail. Our store is adjacent to the park. Thereafter, Carla and I became supporters of Trailnet, participating in Trailnet rides and learning about the many projects undertaken by Trailnet.
More recently, as we met the dedicated staff of Trailnet—Cindy, Corrine, Kevin and others—and witnessed firsthand their hard work and dedication, we knew that Trailnet was an important organization to support. We share its mission…. and over the years we have helped raise funds so that they can continue to make streets and trails safer and available to all.
J: When/How did you open Pedego St. Louis, and how has your business connected you to the St. Louis cycling community?
B: We opened Pedego St. Louis in June, 2019 by rehabilitating an old, run-down building adjacent to Grant’s Trail in Oakland. From our location, we meet and talk to cyclists and trail users every day. We have greatly expanded the cycling community by putting people back on bikes that had for one reason or another gotten away from cycling. We have gently introduced the St Louis cycling community to electric bikes which are now widely used for commuting, leisure riding, trail riding and for the all around enjoyment of bicycling.
J: Speak briefly about the E-Bike that you are contributing to Trailnet’s upcoming raffle (winner to be announced at the 2023 Paving the Way Soiree)
B: The bike we have donated to Trailnet this year is a Pedego Avenue. Since this model was introduced a year ago, it has become the number one selling Pedego Electric bike. The Avenue utilizes a “hybrid style” frame that is familiar to everyone and is a great bike for riding and commuting on streets and paved trails. It is quality-designed, lightweight and balanced. Like all Pedego Electric Bikes, it comes with a 5 year warranty that includes the electrical components. Everyone loves this bike.
