May
1992

Coalition booth at Earth Day attracts hoards of cyclists

• The Bicycle Coalition's first public venture meet with great success on Sunday, April 26th during the Earth Day "main event" celebration in Alameda Park in Santa Barbara.
• Hundreds of visitors passed by, talked to us, took literature, checked out our bicycle exhibit, availed themselves to our free bicycle inspections, and in general expressed enthusiasm for improving the county's bicycling conditions.
• Special gratitude goes to the heroic efforts of our two bicycle mechanics who were kept busy almost nonstop from 10:00 until closing at 5:00: Mike Rogers from Open Air Bicycles in Isla Vista, and Scott Jaffke, "The Bike Doctor" from Goleta. At times they were both checking out bikes on their repair stands while 4 or 5 other cyclists were waiting in line with their steeds for the free service.
• Several bicycle shops in town loaned bicycles to us for display for the day. We are very grateful for the support of the following:
• Open Air Bicycles, Isla Vista
• Bike 'N Hike, Montecito
• Bicycle Bob's, Santa Barbara
• Coastline Cycles, Goleta.
• In addition, Art Ludwig loaned his Jan VanderTuin transport bicycle that carries a 175 pound load on its low-slung cargo platform between the wheels. Art uses it to deliver his Oasis biocompatible cleaning products.
• The entire Earth Day venture was supported by Cici Menchen who initiated letters to local shops, Troy Harris who gathered a cross section of publications for display, Richard Fortune who helped with North County information, Benjamin Sawyer who provided Earth Day committee liaison, and Les Drake who worked with the bicycle shops to arrange loans. Trisha Davis worked tirelessly through the entire project and supplied large quantities of informative material, handouts on the tables and bulletins on the board.
• Besides the two bicycle mechanics, three others devoted the day at the booth talking to bicyclists: Trisha Davis, Ralph Fertig, and Dale Pearson. I know that all three of us thoroughly enjoyed it.
• All Earth Day visitors seemed very enthused with our presence, and appreciated the public service that we were providing. Lots of people, I noticed, helped themselves to our handout literature. Overall, it was, it was very rewarding. And at the end we were talking about how to improve things for next year.

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May 19th: fill our streets with bicyclists

• May has been declared National Bicycle Month, and within it, May 19th is Bike to Work Day. It's a day to get all our friends to bicycle to work. If each bicycle commuter in the county got a bicycling friend to bicycle just that one day, we would make a big difference. Just picture all those happy healthy non-polluting people!
• At our May 6th meeting, we'll be discussing ways that we might get more people out of their cars and onto bicycles. With the warm weather and long daylight hours that we have now, it's a delight to be outdoors.

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Local bicyclists protest Caltrans' action

• The strip of US 101 along La Conchita between Santa Barbara and Ventura is now a potentially lethal site that has alarmed local bicyclists.
• Early this year, Caltrans moved the Oceanside guard rail onto the shoulder several feet because of wave erosion of the roadbed. Since there wasn't enough room for parking vehicles and safe operation of bicycles, they posted NO PARKING signs. Shortly thereafter, according to Dan Love, President of the Oxnard/Ventura Bicycle Club, they relented to pressures from the California Coastal Commission and removed the signs. The Coastal Commission's concern, it seems, is not bicyclist safety, but beach access. The La Conchita residents feared that beach-bound people, denied parking along the highway, would invade their community, so they spurred the Commission to take action against Caltrans.
• Currently, the painted bicycle lane is about four feet wide situated between the vehicle parking and the right-hand lane of US 101. If only small cars park there, they park close to the guard rail, and they open their car doors very carefully, it's fairly safe. But that's not the general case.
• Trucks, RVs, and cars of all sizes park just at the edge of, or in many cases, within the bike lane. This forces bicyclists to contend with 70 MPH traffic on the freeway lanes. It's only a matter of time before somebody is killed because of this exceptionally dangerous situation.
• Dan Love was bicycling there recently with two other Club members when a man in a parked car opened his door ahead of the oncoming cyclists. The guy looked back, saw the approaching bicycles, and what did he do—close the door? Nope. He reached inside his car and pulled out a five-foot surfboard, totally blocking the bicycle lane and sticking onto the 101 traffic lane. Thankfully, there was enough time to stop. Next time, there may not be.
• At the moment, Pat Larson (642-7602) is the key contact for the growing protest. At our next Coalition meeting, we hope to have more details about how we can help. Stay tuned and cycle that stretch with care.

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Bicycling scores big on TV this month

• Bicycling magazine teamed up with ESPN cable network for the first of six bicycling television programs on April 22nd. It was a 30-minute show about the 168-mile Paris-Roubaix ride that was won by Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle. The 37-year old Frenchman crossed the finish line in 6 hours, 26 minutes.
• The next show in the series will be May 31 at 9:00 (confirm the actual day and time), and will feature the Mountain Bike World Cup.
• In addition, ESPN and CBS will have coverage of the 1992 Tour du Pont. Each day from May 7-17, the Tour will be televised. ESPN will show footage from each day's stage of the race, except on May 10 and 17 when CBS will have special broadcasts. Check your TV schedule for times, and get that VCR going.
• We don't have much coverage of bicycling on TV, so don't miss what there is.

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News-Press letter complains about bicycling conditions in Santa Barbara

• The following letter appeared in the April 23rd issue of the Santa Barbara News-Press:
• An ideal bike place, except for the roads
  by A. Russell Coleman, Santa Barbara
• In all the world there is no better climate for bicycling than coastal California. In all of California there is no area better suited for bicycle ways than the Goleta-Santa Barbara-Carpinteria communities.
• Distances to shopping, schools, work places, etc., are such that a considerable percentage of all travel could be done by bicycle—if only there were safe bicycle ways. Recent construction on Carrillo Street and at the intersections of Highway 101 and La Cumbre/Hope have totally ignored the needs of bicyclists. The latter is more amazing because the bicycle route to UCSB feeds to and from adjacent Modoc Road. Getting to Modoc from my area (San Roque) is now more perilous than ever.
• Going downtown is equally dangerous, and when I get there (say to the News-Press or Paseo Nuevo) I know of no facility where I can park and lock my bicycle. Of course, there is a continuing flood of rhetoric about clean air and reducing use of automobiles. Among those making righteous statements are the very people responsible for planning and effecting road construction and traffic flow.
• Apparently, more construction is being considered at the Modoc/La Cumbre overpass. Wouldn't this be a good opportunity to begin providing for bicycles, which are bound to use the overpass whether or not bicycle lanes are included.