news MCBC Welcomes Lynn Liscio to Staff
MCBC is excited to welcome Lynn Liscio to the team! As the Office Administrator, Lynn is responsible for the day to day operations of MCBC and for ensuring the organization operates smoothly. Lynn is an avid bike rider who has traveled all over the world to ride her bike. Prior to joining MCBC, Lynn lived in Italy and led cycling tours around the region. She loves exploring new roads and trails on her bike and can be frequently found riding around Marin County. She is fluent in Italian and French and can share with you the best places to ride in Europe and North America. We asked Lynn to tell us a little more about herself and why she rides!
What kind of bicycle(s) do you ride?
Road: Specialized Ruby Pro
MTB: Specialized Epic
Town/Cruiser: Public C1 (Dutch bike) and a Specialized Crossroads from the 90s.
What do you like best about riding?
Seeing the world at a slower pace, being outdoors and it’s a bit of good exercise too. I get a lot of thinking done while riding. It calms my often-racing mind. When I was leading cycling trips, we used to have two kind of riders – the “destinarians” and the “journeyers”. While I was working, I had to be more of a destinarian, but now I can happily journey without worrying too much about the end point.
What do you like best about the benefits of riding your bike?
I love that you can get places on a bike that are not otherwise accessible by car. We always try to get on a bike when we travel no matter where we are. It not only allows us to meet the locals, it lets us experience a place at a different pace. We’ve biked the streets of Paris at night, adventured along random bike paths to the Atlantic Ocean in the Netherlands, darted around motorini in Rome and Florence and cruised along the Pacific Ocean near San Luis Obispo. I remember the smell of lavender while cycling in Provence in June, the fields of poppies in Tuscany in the spring. The smell of the sea descending a winding road to a beach in Sicily. The spectacular views at the top of the mountain pass in the Dolomites. How amazing gelato tasted after a long ride in all of these places.
What would you have liked someone to tell you when you started?
That it’s not as intimidating as it seems. Even though I’ve been riding bikes all my life, it wasn’t until I applied for a job as a cycling guide that I questioned whether I could complete a 20, 30, 80 mile ride! I learned that your pace is the best pace and there is no need to try and keep up with the fastest (or slowest) rider. I also learned what it felt like to journey by bike.
Where is your favorite place to ride your bike?
My absolute favorite place to ride a bike is in Tuscany. This is where I first started REALLY riding – for a living, but also for fun. I have so many favorite rides there, it’s hard to narrow down to just one. I feel pretty lucky to live in Fairfax these days – we have so many great rides right from our house, so while I miss the rolling hills of the Chianti every day, we have some pretty amazing rides right here too!
What is your favorite ride/route in Marin County?
Anywhere in West Marin.
What part of riding would you most like to improve?
I would love to see more bike friendly roads/paths where we can get from point A to point B without having to dodge car traffic. My husband and I have been talking recently about how great it is that Bolinas-Fairfax road is closed to cars and how nice it’s been riding with so much less traffic. We rode Paradise Loop one Sunday in April, and came across a total of 3 cars! It was an amazing ride!
What is your vision of bicycling in the future?
Having ridden in many bike-friendly European cities, it would be great to have many more connected bike or multi-use paths. Changing our infrastructure to include more dedicated safe bike lanes and bike signals would be my vision for the future. We are experiencing a bike renaissance now that people are home – and it would be great to capitalize on the increasing popularity of biking to change how bikes and cars share space on our streets.
