by riders for riders a history of innovation - Specialized

EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT
90 | 91
PROFILE
Ariadne Delon Scott
Director of Advocacy and Environment
AFTER DISCOVERING CYCLING as a way to quietly flee the neighborhood near her
childhood home and head to the wilds of Forest Lodge Park, Specialized’s Director of Advocacy
and Environment Ariadne Delon Scott has had a lifelong love affair with two wheels and nature.
Back in 1980, she rode an early Critical Mass in the movement’s home city of San Francisco, then
later she pedaled an 80-pound Flying Pigeon through the darkened streets of Havana with hundreds
of other riders. These days she can often be seen riding through the strawberry fields south of
San Jose on her way to the office. “As a kid, bikes were such an easy and accessible form of freedom
for me,” says Ariadne. “I get satisfaction every day by working to help people of all ages discover
and enjoy the freedom of riding in a safe and accessible way.”
A baby boomer and seven-year veteran of the company, Ariadne, who can be found at the Palo Alto
farmer’s market near her home nearly every weekend, spends her days at Specialized working to
get more people on bikes more often. “In a given week I do everything from tallying miles for our
Specialized Commute Club—where members are rewarded for riding to work or carpooling—to
reading grant applications for Bikes Belong Coalition to booking dates for the IMBA Trail Care Crew
to helping to develop our floormats made from recycled tires,” she says. “Last week I even arranged
a bike for Senator John Kerry (D-MA) to ride when he
was on a visit to Marin County.” Ariadne’s influence “We need to think and plan and act
even ranges to input on specific products like our now for the personal and societal
extensive line of Designs for Women bikes and
changes that we’ll face in 50 years.
equipment, and our new Globe and Globe City lines.
The bicycle can go a long way to
More than anything, though, Ariadne is the voice of making the world better.”
reason and the architect for the future of our company.
“The bicycle is a powerful tonic. It improves the health
of individuals—body, mind and soul—communities and the whole planet.” To prepare for the future,
she reads books like Seven Wonders: Everyday Things for a Healthier Planet, by John Ryan, Research
Director at Northwest Environment Watch in Seattle; serves on the board of Bikes Belong (where
lobbying efforts at the National Bike Summit helped secure 4.5 billion in federal transportation
transportation money for cycling infrastructure); thinks of new ways to promote cooperation between
cyclists and motorists; and dreams of advanced products. “What if we could make a bike that was
created from 100 percent recycled materials?” says Ariadne.
The former Bicycle Program Manager for Stanford University, she is more than bullish on the potential
for cycling as transportation, especially in times when gas prices are increasing without end. “If we
can get more people to ride their bike instead of driving their car—especially for the 90 percent of
their trips that are less than two miles—we can have a major effect on society’s biggest ills, including
pollution, congestion, obesity and a lack of general well-being.” A former resident of car-free Zermatt,
Switzerland, Ariadne is hopeful. “If they can make cycling and healthy living a reality there, we can do
it here and everywhere.”
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