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The Lone Star State may be a Republican stronghold but BikeTexas proved once again this week that cycling crosses party lines.

On Wednesday morning, a fleet of bicyclists from both sides of the political spectrum departed the National Conference of State Legislatures’ Annual Summit in Louisville for a scenic, eight-mile tour through the Kentucky city.

The 6th Annual Bipartisan Ride — led by both Republican and Democratic legislators from Texas, Kentucky and Minnesota — included 23 senators and representatives from eight states.

“The NCSL ride gives legislators from Texas and around the country a chance to experience the joy of cycling, which is an excellent first step toward achieving our legislative goals,” Robin Stallings, Executive Director of BikeTexas, said in a press release.

Bike Texas inaugurated the ride back in 2005 and they’ve kept the tradition alive by bringing their fleet of bikes to subsequent NCLR Summits. Because the conference moves each year, Texas advocates partner with a local organization in the host city. This year, Bicycling for Louisville made the event bigger than ever, not only planning the route but also rallying more than a dozen expert cyclists to marshal the ride.

Click here to read more about BikeTexas and see photos from the Bipartisan Ride.

The folks at CART were dusting off the chicken suit and making protest signs last week. But city officials heeded their clucking, even before they gathered on a dangerous street corner.

Since the start of 2010, the Coalition for the Advancement of Regional Transportation has been tracking a disturbing disappearance of sidewalks in Louisville, Kentucky. The first notable instance was back in January, when a developer started moving dirt on Bardstown Road, a major city artery, but failed to make accommodations for pedestrians during construction.

Advocates from CART recorded video of residents trying to traverse the area on foot, hugging the fencing as they walked precariously at the edge of the busy street.

“This is not an isolated incident,” CART president, David Morse, wrote on the group’s blog. “Nor is it an accident that Louisville is always ranked very poorly in walking safety. The city is constantly permitting crass sidewalk blockages… [and] the results speak for themselves: In 2009 we were ranked the 7th most dangerous city in Dangerous By Design, a study undertaken by the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership and Transportation for America.” So CART organized a protest, complete with a bright yellow chicken costume, calling attention to the issue on Bardstown Road.

And it worked.

Three days later, the fencing retreated several feet and the sidewalk reappeared.

Now, flash forward to July.

This month, Morse noted that new construction and redevelopment in downtown Louisville was taking sidewalks out of commission — sometimes on both sides of the heavily traversed streets. “Not only are the walkers here incredibly numerous, but they’re also the economic engine that keeps the state afloat,” Morse wrote last week. “The business deals, the bus stops, the remote parking lots, the lunch meetings — all these trips have a walking component. So you would think that we would take special measures to keep walking downtown safe and dignified — it’s just common sense.”

So the group prepared to suit up for a second protest last Friday. But the night before the demonstration City Hall took notice — 18 hours before the protest, officials erected a sidewalk diversion to ensure the safety of pedestrians.

So, on Friday, the bright yellow chicken and his flock of CART advocates had a different message, hoisting signs that said “Thank You!” and, more importantly, “Please, Sir, I Want Some More!”

Read more about CART’s continued campaign of “Sidewalk Defense” on their blog.