!–paging_filter–pimg src=”/sites/default/files/newfiles/1113_elizabeth-kiker.jpg” style=”margin: 10px; float: right;” height=”232″ width=”350″The country’s largest bike club is based in Seattle, and now the longstanding nonprofit—founded in 1970—has a new executive director. Elizabeth Kiker (yes, it rhymes with “biker”) took the handlebars of Cascade Bicycle Club (CBC) in early September, filling the clipless cycling shoes of Chuck Ayers, who held the position for the past 16 years. An avid cyclist herself, Kiker comes to CBC from the superheroic-sounding League of American Bicyclists in Washington, D.C., where she helped found the Women Bike program. She joins an esteemed cohort of female leaders in the Seattle bike scene, including Barb Chamberlain of the Bicycle Alliance of Washington, Deb Salls of Bike Works, Holly Houser of Puget Sound Bike Share, Cathy Tuttle of Seattle Neighborhood Greenways and Sam Woods of Seattle Department of Transportation’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Programs. Kiker says she’s excited to work within the biking community to transform the region, and plans to focus on equity in the cycling world—from ensuring that communities all over the Puget Sound area become bikeable (not just the neighborhoods that house the fiercest Lycra-clad warriors) to encouraging a more diverse group of people to saddle up. “The intimidation factor is real. It can be really hard when people are whizzing past you and they all seem to know what they’re doing,” Kiker says. “The important thing is to just get out there.”/p