The Center for Cycling Education

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Allan Dunlop

Allan Dunlop - Director of The Center for Cycling Education

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Allan Dunlop is the Director of The Center for Cycling Education, and has worked in cycling advocacy, events, and education for over 23 years.

Allan is the first person in North America to be certified to train cycling instructors in both Canada and the United States, as a Master Instructor with the League of American Bicyclists’ Smart Cycling program, and a National Examiner with Cycling Canada’s CAN-BIKE program.

He has had the role of lead instructor and instructor trainer with many cycling education programs in both the United States and Canada.

Allan has been responsible for the development and improvement of a wide range of public education materials, student education programs, and instructor development programs. He has trained more than 8500 students of all ages and has trained and mentored many instructors.

Previous careers:

  • Connaught Laboratories (now Sanofi) (52-acre campus in Toronto, ON)
    • This was the company that worked with Banting & Best to mass-produce insulin, and with Jonas Salk to manufacture the polio vaccine, among many other innovations. It was North America’s largest producer of vaccines for humans.
      • Health & Safety Specialist (H & S Department)
      • Disaster Response & Recovery Planner (Legal Department)
      • Environmental Manager (Facilities Management Department)
      • Quality Assurance Auditor (Vaccine Filling & Packaging Department)

Defensive Cycling program & online traffic skills courses

In the spring of 2010, he developed the Defensive Cycling curriculum for the traffic citation dismissal program in Austin, Texas. This was an initiative of the Austin Cycling Association (now BikeAustin) and the Austin Municipal Court.

In the fall of 2012, the first interactive, online traffic skills course for cyclists was released. In April 2013, the online course was accepted by the Austin Municipal Court for fulfilling the requirements of the Defensive Cycling program. A North America-wide version of the online course was released in December 2014, and separate courses were created for the USA and Canada in February 2015.

Previous cycling education positions

In addition to his current training capacities, he was the Lead Instructor and Instructor Trainer (2003 – 2004) and Instructor (2002) with Bike to Work Victoria’s (now Capital Bike’s) adult Traffic Skills Course. As well, he was Lead Instructor and Instructor Trainer for the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia’s Bike Smarts school program in Greater Victoria, British Columbia (2002 – 2009).

City-wide cycling event coordination

His many roles in cycling advocacy and public education include coordinating numerous city-wide cycling events. Allan was Co-Coordinator of Bike to Work Week (now Go By Bike Week) 2002 (Victoria, BC, Canada), and Coordinator of Bike Week (2000), Bike Month (2001) and the Commuter Challenge (2000 and 2001) in Nanaimo, BC, Canada.

Cycling advocacy roles

Positions held include Director with the Greater Victoria Cycling Coalition (now Capital Bike), Vice-Chair of the City of Victoria’s Cycling Advisory Committee (now the Active Transportation Advisory Committee), and President of the British Columbia Cycling Coalition (BCCC). He was a member of the group that worked to bring the Pro Bike/Pro Walk Conference (now Walk/Bike/Places) to Victoria, BC in 2004.

Education background

Allan’s post-secondary education involves the Bachelor of Science program in Biology (University of Victoria – Victoria, BC / University of Guelph – Guelph, ON) and the Associate of Arts program in Business (Camosun College – Victoria, BC).

A family history with bikes

He has been a cyclist since 1969 when he was five, and his Dad built him his first bike. After his first fall, the gravel road he learned on gave him an incentive to stay upright.

His grandfather and two great-uncles each owned bike shops in Wales, and his father was a bike mechanic for a time in Wales and the United States just after World War II.

Instructing credentials

Other related work

  • Collaborator on North American edition of ‘Cyclecraft‘ (John Franklin, author – see below)
  • Transportation Demand Management Coordinator, University of Victoria 2005/2006 (Victoria, BC, Canada)
  • Co-Coordinator, Bike to Work Week (now Go By Bike Week) 2002 (Victoria, BC, Canada)
  • Coordinator, Bike Month and Commuter Challenge 2001 (Nanaimo, BC, Canada – Nanaimo came in 4th in this countrywide competition)
  • Represented the ‘Go Green’ organization at Union of British Columbia Municipalities trade show 2001 (Vancouver, BC, Canada)
  • Bike Route Planner — worked with Urban Systems and Department of Parks Planning and Development, City of Nanaimo to establish bike routes throughout the city (2001 – Nanaimo, BC, Canada)
  • Coordinator, Bike Week and Commuter Challenge 2000 (Nanaimo, BC, Canada)

Cycling advocacy affiliations

cyclecraft-john-franklin cyclecraft-acknowledgements