August
1999

North SB County bikeway projects near completion



Morning fog breaks into sunshine as cyclists pedal south on the wide shoulders of Highway 1, a splendid scenic ride. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• Five significant projects that effect bicyclist safety and convenience in the northern part of Santa Barbara County are either finished or nearly so. They have all taken years to complete and are indicative of the dedication of many individuals, but especially of our County's Alternative Transportation Coordinator Wilson Hubbell. Hubbell has conceived of bike-friendly projects, attended countless meetings, scrutinized sheaths of drawings, installed appropriate signs, and monitored the actual construction process.
• All five of the current projects are within the unincorporated part of our county. Two of them are state highways, under the jurisdiction of Caltrans, but the other three are the County's responsibility. If you have the chance, take a spin on them and see for yourselves how much better it now is to bicycle upon those roads. The five projects are the following:
• Orcutt Road, between Mooncrest Lane and Foster Road in the Orcutt area. This "missing link" segment lies between others where bikelanes already existed. The roadway was widened in order to add four-foot bikelanes.
• Highway 246, between the towns of Buellton and Solvang. This beautiful stretch of highway between the two cities is lined with magnificent deodar cedars. A popular bicycle route, it had narrow shoulders and fast traffic on the two lanes. Sorry, the traffic hasn't slowed, but the new paved shoulders are now eight feet wide. That's enough to accommodate cyclists riding side by side which, by the way, is legal on the shoulder because it is not considered part of the roadway itself.
• Highway 1, between Lompoc and Highway 101 near Gaviota. This scenic California highway unfortunately hosts high-speed commuter traffic. The shifting and disappearing shoulders presented a terrifying prospect to cyclists. Now nearly finished, it has wide, newly paved shoulders and bridges. Several left-turn lanes at important intersections allow motorists to keep in their lanes and avoid veering onto the shoulder.
• Refugio Road, between Highway 246 and Samantha Drive, near Santa Ynez. The road was widened and Class II bikelanes have been added. Previously, there was no shoulder at all.
• Dan Henry Bikeway, between Los Olivos and Ballard. This memorial bikeway consists of Grand Avenue and Alamo Pintado Road. Previously, there was little or no shoulder on this popular road. Now, we have a continuation of the bikelanes that existed on the southern section of Alamo Pintado, all the way into Los Olivos. Thanks, Dan!
• Overall, these five projects not only help relieve motorized congestion in our area by making transportation bicycling more appealing, but they also promote fitness among local cyclists. Finally, they boost the local economy by enticing out-of-town road cyclists to visit and enjoy our splendid portion of California.

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Anza Trail is chosen as Millennium Trail



Signs designating the Anza Trail will soon be placed along the Atascadero Creek Bikepath.

• As part of the Year 2000 celebration, the US Department of Transportation has designated 16 "National Millennium Trails" across the country. We're fortunate to have one, the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail extending the length of Santa Barbara County. The good news was brought to our July Coalition meeting by Vie Obern, a tireless local trail advocate who has promoted Millennium designation for the Anza Trail.
• In announcing the trail selection, US Department of Transportation secretary Rodney Slater commented, "Transportation is about more than asphalt, concrete and steel, it's about people. The National Millennium Trails connect our nation's landscape, heritage and culture, and demonstrate our national commitment to improving the quality of life for all Americans."
• While no money comes with the designation, the publicity raises awareness and increases the probability of funding trail sections within our county and elsewhere. The Trail commemorates the route followed by Anza in 1775-76 when he led soldiers and their families from Culiacan, México to settle in what is now San Francisco.
• Our own South Coast Atascadero Creek Bikepath follows the Anza route, and Wilson Hubbell announced that plaques identifying the trail will soon be posted where the expedition members camped in Goleta. Watch for them.

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Sweat success

• If you need to do something that requires creativity, try exercise beforehand. British researchers found that people who did aerobic exercise like bicycling for 25 minutes performed significantly better on a creative-thinking test than people who watched a "neutral" video instead.
• — Men's Fitness May 1998

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The revolution will not be motorized

• The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition has designed a small bike sticker with the above phrase. It's promoting Bike Summer, a month of bike activities that include rides, activist workshops, art installations, bicycle polo, bike rodeos, and mountain biking. And don't miss the bike ballet.
• If you participate in anything there, watch for events that we can use locally. Details at 415-431-2453 x9, or www.bikesummer.org.

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Millennium Ride on the Great Divide



Santa Barbara Middle School students pause at Ovando, Montana, on their self-contained, loaded tour.

• Nine kids from Santa Barbara Middle School are riding their bikes 2800 miles along the Continental Divide to celebrate the millennium. The young students, aged 13-16, are traveling on bicycles with trailers 1400 miles from Canada to Colorado this year, then another 1400 miles Colorado to Mexico in the year 2000. They are following the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route mapped by Adventure Cycling.
• The trip planning was done by Jim and Robin Brady at Educational Safaris, an organization that operates out of Lompoc, California. The Bradys have organized socio-environmental journeys for youth since 1982. For this trip, the bicycle participants are carrying all their supplies with them in panniers and bike trailers. A support vehicle is meeting them every hundred miles or so to replenish food and essential items.
• The trip is being documented on the web, with lots of journal notes and photographs, including the photo reproduced above; direct your browser to www.katie.net/trip.

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Duvendeck is champion

• Adam Duvendeck, a Goleta high-school student, won the kilo cycling event in Indianapolis. He will represent the US in the Junior World Championships in Athens.

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Safe Routes to School bill

• The state Assembly Bill 1475 cleared the Senate Transportation Committee by an 8-3 vote on July 6th. According to Chris Morfas of the California Bicycle Coalition, the committee chair agreed to vote for the bill after it was amended to include a clause that terminates the legislation in 2003, which is also the end of TEA-21 funds that will support it.
• AB1475 would annually allocate about $20 million from federal transportation safety dollars to community-friendly projects such as new sidewalks, bike lanes, walking trails, and traffic calming near schools.
• The next stop for AB1475 is the Senate Appropriations Committee, then the Senate and Governor. You can help by sending a support letter to:
• Senator Jack O'Connell
  State Capitol Building, Room 5035
  Sacramento, CA 95814
• Find details on AB1475 at the Safe Routes site, www.baypeds.org/saferoutes.html.

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Bike to Work 2000

• Believe it or not, we've started working on events for Bike to Work Day and other components of Bike Week 2000. Our first meeting, which took place on July 13, considered the Coalition's contract with Jonathan Humfrey, who has agreed to coordinate events for a third year. We also discussed how to improve participation next year, and how to structure Bike Week.
• Ideas and participation are very welcome. This is an opportunity to make a real difference in our area for bicycling. For the rest of 1999, there will be meetings on the second Tuesday of the month at the SB City Public Works conference room, 630 Garden Street, noon to 1:00. The next meeting is August 10th. If you want to receive email updates, contact Dru van Hengel at dvanhengel@ci.santa-barbara.ca.us.

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New members

• We welcome our new Bicycle Coalition members and express our gratitude for their support of better bicycling in our community:
• Grant House
• King Cycle Group
• Allen Leydecker

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Our Coalition and community share Sandra Wintermoss’s generosity
by Dru van Hengel

• Kim Winter Moss was a high school acquaintance of Sandra Williams, a poet and self-described hippie who would later craft a name of her own: Wintermoss. I knew there had to be a story behind the name, but I couldn't have imagined the rest of the stories behind the person.
• Sandra grew up in Los Angeles, spent some time in a small town in Pennsylvania, going to high school and Eastern Baptist College, and returned to California. Her heart summoned her to Santa Barbara in 1967. She turned this journey into a book that she is hoping to publish. As it turns out, Sandra's secretarial skills reflect a greater passion to write everything from poetry to scripts. She has been writing her whole life and is an avid scrabble player.
• Sandra has been involved with the Bicycle Coalition for quite a while now. She has been promoting and working at Echelon Santa Barbara bike races for twelve years. Lucky for us, Sandra met Ralph Fertig who introduced her to the Bicycle Coalition and the work of its members. An avid note-taker in college, Sandra is a natural secretary and articulate woman who likes the job she holds for the Coalition now and feels comfortable when she's "doing something useful." Other groups in her home community of Isla Vista, including the IV Food Co-op, IV Youth Projects and the IV Clinic, have benefited from her generosity as a volunteer.
• Sandra describes the Coalition's biggest challenge as getting people out of cars and onto bikes. Feeling that it's a tough nut to crack in California, she thinks that the uncaring behavior of people on our streets can be attributed to a gross incivility in society that causes people to drive as if they don't care about anything around them. I asked Sandra what the greatest accomplishment of the Coalition has been to date. She was quick to mention events that the Coalition has hosted, such as last year's Pro Bike/Pro Walk conference and the annual Bike to Work Day. However, she finished by describing the cooperation between the Coalition and the City of Santa Barbara, which has shaped significant changes in the City's response to bicycles in general. Her hope is that the Coalition's relationship with the County will continue to mature as well.
• Currently Sandra is devoting her time and energy to writing and developing her scripts and books for publication. In the past she has worked as a bookkeeper and graphics person. Growing up in the restaurant business, Sandra describes Mexican cuisine as "yummy." The year she massaged César Chavez's feet at Refugio Park, Chicanas taught her to cook. She owned La Gordita restaurant in Goleta and is looking into opening a restaurant again. I can't wait.
• She and I subscribe to the same nutritional philosophy: a high carbohydrate diet is not healthy. In the last couple of years, Sandra has orchestrated an amazing recovery from slow onset diabetes without medication. A switch to a high protein/high fat diet mitigated her symptoms within two days. With her health regained, and a strong devotion to God, Sandra has been able to open her heart and see the gift that life is. Her work and her spirit reflect her belief that you "are likely to be the person you are for the rest of your life, so you might as well be happy."
• Sandra has a fantastic laugh. Her favorite book is The Road Less Traveled, and as a child, she enjoyed The Secret Garden. She has two kids who recently moved out on their own. Although she likes having them close by, she also plans to take advantage of their move and "get her counter culture life" back. She claims to be amused by everything, and believes that "life is funny if you let it be."

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Our online forum

• The Bicycle Coalition sponsors an online email forum where subscribers can post and read messages that pertain to local bicycling issues. We have recently switched hosting to cyclery.com, an online bicycle-related service that includes over 200 electronic mailing lists, 44 of which are in California. It's easy and free to be part of our group by subscribing. Just send an email message to:
• majordomo@cyclery.com
• The subject line can have anything, but in the body of the message, put these two lines:
• subscribe sbbike end

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Notes from the July 7, 1999 Bicycle Coalition meeting
by Sandra Wintermoss

• In attendance: Robert Bernstein, Ralph Fertig, Wilson Hubbell, Dru van Hengel, Charles Coffey, Ann Lawler, Gary Wissman, Mindy Norris, Bob Swinney, Shoba Kalwani, Vie Obern, Alan Bergquist, Craig Jurkoic, and Sandra Wintermoss.
• Coffey: Traffic Solutions will have a County Fair booth in Santa Maria. He will distribute Coalition materials. Robert: Coalition had a Board meeting, discussing this:
• — Robert will write a letter to the Supervisors asking 20% of Measure D funds for alternative transportation.
• — Our video went over budget; the Board approved $1250 to offset the cost.
• — In general, people feel we're doing good work.
• — We have Planning and Bike-to-Work/Week Committees; we need to think about more committees.
• — How can we improve relations with local bike shops?
• — Bicycle Advisory Committees can give an official voice to cycling, but they can dilute our message.
• Vie: the Anza Trail was selected as a Millennium Project. This will help with TEA-21 funding.
• Robert: Fairview Avenue overcrossing is a problem. It seems that it's too late to consider a Class I bikepath, and it would mean giving up bikelanes on both sides. Serious right-of-way issues will arise. Many bicyclists would oppose that. Jeff Knowles wants to consider a path cantilevered off the bridge at a later date.
• — Coffey: Why can't we have a meeting on this?
• — Robert: Everyone I've asked has refused to call one.
• Robert: There is still a chance of a non-interchange crossing of 101; however, most locations have 101 and Calle Real too close.
• Ralph: "Take a Vacation from Your Car" received $30,000 from the APCD and $90,000 from Federal FTIP to get tourists to walk, bus & bike.
• Gary: I am meeting with David Cowan tomorrow to sign off on cover art for our bike safety video. It's being shown on Channel 18.
• Robert: People can phone into Jerry Cornfield's show to comment on local conditions.
• Dru: SB City's Transportation and Circulation Committee needs members. Some Bicycle Coalition members have applied.
• Ralph: Safe Routes to School bill was approved in the Assembly; now it's going to the Senate Transportation Committee.
• Dru: Bike Week 2000 will be from May 13-19, 2000. Bike to Work on the 16th.
• Ralph: I'm improving our Web site. The "Take a Vacation for Your Car" people want tourist information. I want a youth cycling area, and some more on bike commuting. I will email our list asking about priorities.
• Robert: We need to reach bike buyers.
• — Sandra: consider hang tags on the bikes.
• — Gary: I move that we spend money to create the tags if local shops want them.
• — Motion was passed unanimously.
• Craig: I'm giving away my collection of Federal Bicycling & Walking Studies.