About This Stamp
With the issuance of these stamps, the U.S. Postal Service celebrates bicycling, one of the most popular outdoor activities in the country. Each of the four colorful se-tenant stamps features a different kind of bike and rider: a young child just learning to ride with training wheels, a commuter pedaling to work, a road racer intent on the finish line, and an airborne BMX rider.
Recent surveys indicate that Americans enjoy billions of bike rides a year. Bicycling organizations around the country report increased participation in local biking activities, and nearly half of all Americans say they would like more bicycling resources, such as trails and bike lanes, in their communities.
Bicycling is a low-impact aerobic activity that just about everyone—from young children to retirees — can enjoy. The health benefits are impressive: Riding a bike lowers the risk of obesity, heart disease, and breast cancer while improving muscle tone and strength. Bicycling can also lower stress. Whether riding along a lakeside path or through the bike lanes of a bustling city, bicycling is therapeutic and just plain fun.
Art director Phil Jordan designed the stamps using illustrations by John Mattos. The Bicycling stamps are being issued as Forever® stamps in self-adhesive sheets of 20 (4 designs). Forever stamps are always equal in value to the current First-Class Mail one-ounce rate. At the time of issuance, the Bicycling stamps are being sold at a price of 45 cents each, or $9.00 per sheet.
Stamp Art Director, Stamp Designer
Phil Jordan
Phil Jordan grew up in New Bern, North Carolina, and attended East Carolina University. After Army service in Alaska, he graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a degree in visual communications. He worked in advertising and in design at a trade association before joining Beveridge and Associates, Inc., where he provided art direction for corporate, institutional, and government design projects. A partner in the firm, he left after 18 years to establish his own design firm where he managed projects for USAir, NASA, McGraw-Hill, IBM, and Smithsonian Books, among others. He was Design Director of Air & Space/Smithsonian magazine for 15 years. His work appeared in numerous exhibitions and publications such as Graphis and Communications Arts. A past president of the Art Directors Club of Metropolitan Washington, he was an art director for the U.S. Postal Service from 1991 to 2014. A resident of Falls Church, Virginia, he is a retired glider pilot and a member of the Skyline Soaring Club.