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Best Outdoor ActivistLaurie Chipman
Let's Go KC Laurie Chipman will be damned if her bike isn't allowed where cars are free to travel. Don't tell this Brookside cyclist that the bank drive-through is reserved for customers on four wheels or that crossing the Missouri River should be a privilege of the motor class. In her efforts to create equality and increase safety for cyclists and pedestrians, Chipman has the endurance of a Tour de France champion. If there's a memorial ride for a fallen cyclist, she's probably one of the folks who organized it. If there's a city meeting or a state hearing related to roads, she's sitting through the excruciating boredom, waiting for her turn to testify. And you'd think she had a laptop attached to her handlebars, the way she keeps the cycling, running and walking community informed about the latest news in the nonmotorized world. Adding to her impact, Chipman started a new organization this year called Let's Go KC; she uses the group to coordinate thousands of neighborhood, athletic and environmental clubs to form a better front for a greener transit system. For a town where cycling is still license to get your block knocked off by irrational motorheads, Chipman is more valuable than Lance Armstrong's Trek Madone.
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