Bike group honors those who help the sport

The 2012 Lake Tahoe Bicycle Achievement and Service Awards are given out by the Lake Tahoe Bicycle Coalition each year to an individual, business, organization and agency who have demonstrated their advancement of bicycling in the Lake Tahoe area.

This year’s achievement award recipients are:

Tom Wendell, Individual Category. Wendell is well known in the South Tahoe bicycle community as a committed and longstanding bicycle advocate. In the 1980s, he helped co-found and became president of one of the first bicycle organizations – the Tahoe Regional Advocates for Cycling (TRAC). Under his leadership, TRAC first championed the idea of the city of South Lake Tahoe becoming designated as a Bicycle-Friendly Community by the national bike advocacy organization, League of American Bicyclists.

Design Workshop, Business Category. Design Workshop is a leading community design and planning company that has and continues to be a key contributor to many of the regional community plans and bike path designs. They often help graphically and strategy layout visions of future projects to help stakeholders and public visualize the future of their community.

Barton Health, Organization Category. Barton Health’s family of doctors, nurses and supportive staff, including, Barton Center for Orthopedics, have taken a leadership role in providing bicycle education for the public.

Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park, Agency Category. Over the past several years, the Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park has been collaborating with Tahoe Rim Trail Association, and the recently revitalized Tahoe Area Mountain Bike Association for the building of new and maintenance of old single track trails throughout the Spooner Lake Park – the site of one of America’s Top Ten Mountain Bike Trails — the Flume Trail.

2012 Lake Tahoe Bicycle Service Award Recipient: Rudy Pakes, South Tahoe resident.