Who are you?
My name is Rudi Riet. I am a native of Salt Lake City, Utah, though I’ve now lived outside of said state for longer than I was there. I spent a decade in Connecticut, and since 2003 I’ve called the District of Columbia my home.
What are your interests?
I’ve spent the majority of my working life involved in information technology. I’ve had an affinity for technology even since I first took an “Introduction to Computers” course at Radio Shack back in the early 1980s, when the TRS-80 was the computer of choice. Since then, I’ve had a wide assortment of computers, from an Apple II+, to various Macintoshes, Windows PCs, and Linux machines. I also helped develop my alma mater‘s first website redesign back in 1995, having self-taught HTML and web graphics techniques.
My IT career has run the gamut from web design, to touchscreen kiosk interface design and support, OS and software support, identity and access management, network and computer security, and social media outreach and advising.
I am also deeply interested and committed to alternative transportation infrastructure and implementation, especially for micro-mobility solutions. This stems from my love of the bicycle, which was my original ticket to freedom as a child. I was one of the first junior mountain bike racers in Salt Lake City during the late 1980s, and am now a year-round commuter, vehicular, recreational, and competitive cyclist.
City living has also awakened an appreciation for walking as transportation. While recovering from recent leg injury, I walked for many of my commutes, sometimes with crutches or a cane. This provided a lot of insight into pedestrian infrastructure design, both good and bad, as well as policies that help minimize negative interactions between pedestrians and road users.
Living in an area where there are often road space and infrastructure conflicts between car drivers, people on bicycles, scooter riders, and pedestrians, I’ve found myself studying and advising on ways to help smooth tensions between these groups, as well as ways to design smart, long-term, multi-modal solutions for the needs of the cycling and pedestrian communities of greater Washington DC.
What else should we know?
I am an enthusiastic alpine skier, and have been since the age of 9 when a friend dared me to race him down a ski run at Park City Mountain Resort in Utah. My determination to learn the sport – and learn it well – found me making quick progress with the sport, eventually racing for an elite ski academy at the national level, as well as during my college years. As a person who learns best by deconstructing a final result, I was able to advance my technical ski development through reading books on ski technique and obsessing over photos of elite skiers. I now give back to the sport as an alpine racing coach for a small team in Pennsylvania.
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