At the Bicycle Leadership Conference in Monterey, California, Bikes Belong President Tim Blumenthal was awarded the 2012 BRAINy Award for Individual Advocacy. Nominees and winners are decided by the Bicycle Product Suppliers Association in conjunction with industry publication Bicycle Retailer and Industry News 

Blumenthal has led Bikes Belong since September 2004. The Bikes Belong Coalition and Bikes Belong Foundation together stand as the world's largest non-profit bicycling advocacy organization, with a combined annual budget of more than $6 million.

Blumenthal previously served 11 years as the executive director of the International Mountain Bicycling Association. Under his leadership, IMBA grew from a single staffer and $60,000 annual budget into the world’s largest mountain bike advocacy group with 24 employees and a budget of $2.1 million.

Blumenthal began his cycling work as a journalist, serving as an editor for VeloNews from 1980–84. He later became the managing editor of Mountain Bike Magazine and the racing editor of Bicycling Magazine. He was a top editor/writer at Rodale Press for a decade.

Blumenthal has been a TV commentator for more than 35 ESPN and OLN/Versus mountain bike programs. He has served as the scriptwriter and consultant for the U.S. network TV cycling coverage of the last seven Summer Olympic Games. He was elected to the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in 2001.

He is an executive board member of the Safe Routes to School National Partnership and an executive board member of the America Bikes Coalition.