March
2001

Bike Week 2001 seeks sponsors

• Bike Week 2001 is moving ahead with meetings twice a month under the coordination of Jonathan Humfrey. Sponsors are being solicited to support Bike Week. In return, depending on the level of contributions, they will have their names and products promoted to bicyclists and other community members on our T-shirts, posters, newspaper ads, and other publications.
• Bike Expo. Kicking off Bike Week is the Santa Barbara Bike Expo 2001 on Saturday, May 19. It will include VeloPro Stunt Riders, music, a PTA bike safety fair, free bike check-ups, and numerous booths. A booth with electricity costs $100.
• Bike to School Day. We're hoping that this event will have participation at more schools this year on Tuesday, May 22. Certainly, the "safe routes to school" program and traffic congestion near our schools has increased awareness of alternatives. There's a possibility that the schools may buy our T-shirts this year for their students.
• Bike to Work Day. This flagship event has attracted over a thousand participants each year since 1997. Note the new day of the week this year, it's been moved to Wednesday, May 23. Last year, Vandenberg AFB joined us by staging its first Bike to Work Day event, and they will repeat it this year. (Sorry, it is closed to the public.) A list of local site coordinators will be established soon, so you can contact them to help at a site near you.
• Chain Link Sponsors. Last year, individuals, businesses, and organizations were invited to become "Chain Link Sponsors" for $100 contribution to Bike Week. The successful—and tax-deductible—program will be repeated this year.
• Other Bike Week events. We're looking for other things to flesh out the entire Bike Week May 19-27. If you're having a ride or bike event, let us know so we can jointly promote it. Other ideas are certainly welcome.
• For information on any of the above, contact Jonathan Humfrey by phone at 962-9812 or email at jh@ccoastproductions.com.

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Web site attracts 4000 visitors a year

• For a year period, a counter on our web site has been incrementing each time a person browsed our home page. Over 54 weeks since February 20, 2000, we have had 4022 visitors to our site, so it says. That 74 a week, on the average, is very good for a regional, special interest site.
• The above graph shows weekly totals. The large increase occurred as Bike Week 2000 approached and took place. The rest of the time, the numbers have been fairly consistent, possibly because bicycling is a year-round activity in our area. We'll be watching to see how much it increases as May 2001 approaches.
• Recent renovations by "webster" Ralph Fertig consist of cleaning up the Pro Bike/Pro Walk conference site. After the September 1998 conference, Fertig was so tired from the effort that he cut the Pro Bike part of the our site by three-quarters and just let the rest stay. The recent housework reconnected dead links and spruced up the 11 bike rides with some new photos, graphics, text, and styling.
• Possibly the best use of the site is its internal search engine. You can search for a given topic, say "Carpinteria bikelanes" for example, and find the history of them. A report of the five most popular queries each week goes to Fertig, who reports that "map" is the most requested word. Try it!

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Earth Day April 22

• The Bicycle Coalition will once again have a presence at Earth Day. This year it will take place at the County Courthouse's Sunken Garden. Our Board member Pierre Delong has agreed once again to coordinate our activities. This means bicycle mechanics to perform bike check-ups and Coalition members to staff our booth. Essentially, we're promoting safer and better bicycling. And Earth Day participants are very sympathetic to our message.
• If you can help Delong in any way, please email him at travellingpierre@earthlink.net or phone him at 683-0034.

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New “safe routes” bill

• The current "Safe Routes to School" program is an overwhelming success. In the first round of two, California cities and counties submitted $130 million in applications for $20 million in available funds. The original bill would have provided ongoing funding, however it was compromised at the last minute with a two-year limit.
• In response to the demand, California Senator Nell Soto introduced Senate Bill 10 (SB10) to make the program permanent. If passed and signed by the Governor, it will provide $20 million every year on projects that make it safer for kids to walk and bike to school. As the SB10 progresses, we'll let you know how you can help.

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Velodrome progress



Mike Hecker, center, and Chuck Anderson, left, solicit support for the velodrome at the Mothballs Criterium. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• The Santa Barbara Velodrome Movement is gathering momentum. Director Mike Hecker was joined by Chuck Anderson (Mountain Bike Trail Volunteers) at Echelon's Mothballs Criterium races on February 4th. They had an information booth where they signed up supporters and passed out info packets on the proposed South Coast velodrome.
• Jim Hopperstad at Santa Barbara Bikesmiths has offered to pay fees for filing of nonprofit status. That status, states Hecker, is needed to attract funding. A free SB Velodrome email list was created. It already has 74 subscribers. To subscribe, send an email (blank subject and message) to:
• SBVELO-subscribe@topica.com
• There are meetings every two weeks, but their dates change. Check with Hecker or subscribe to the email list. While some Bicycle Coalition members have questioned the value of bicycle racing, others have cited personal experience of its success. See Carol Freeman's views below.

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UK velodrome

• Carol Freeman, a visiting bicycle advocate from England, offers her views on the recent construction of a velodrome cycling track near her home:
• "In the UK the creation of the Manchester Velodrome has had a good impact on raising the status of cycling, and reaching an important group (mainly teenagers) who might otherwise think of cycling as an unglamorous option.
• People come to biking from a number of different routes—a velodrome will increase the uptake of cycling generally, provide lots of good news coverage, and increase the number of people keen on supporting further cycling infrastructure."

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Atascadero path work

• Construction on Goleta sewer lines adjacent to the Atascadero Creek Bikepath is done, the detour removed, and the path repaved. Just wonderful! Except that a leak was detected, so the contractors have to return. This means closure of the path for another three weeks, probably in March. Sigh.

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Bacara bike lanes



Drought-tolerant landscaping enhances a pleasant ride on the new Bacara bike lanes. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• During their planning process, the luxurious Bacara Resort just west of Ellwood agreed with County Planning to install bike lanes on the new entry road off Hollister Avenue. A year ago it appeared that the space was too narrow, but now the road is finished, and fine bike lanes are indeed there.
• The lanes are not there because Resort visitors will be arriving by bicycle, but because the road is part of the Coastal Trail. Right now, the trail ends at the western end of the Bacara property, but it will hopefully continue to Gaviota in the future. Additionally, Bacara plans to offer mountain biking to its visitors in the future. We'll wait in the spa for the news.

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Mineta heads US DOT

• Norman Mineta was nominated and confirmed as the new Secretary of Transportation. Mineta, a key player in development and passage of the ISTEA legislation in 1991, will replace Rodney Slater as secretary.
• Mineta is the only Democrat in the President's cabinet. He is a former congressman and, as a Japanese-American, was placed in an internment camp during World War II. For 21 years, he represented Silicon Valley in the House, and served on the Public Works and Transportation Committee during development of the federal ISTEA transportation bill. It was ISTEA, and its successor TEA21, that opened the doors to funding alternative transportation projects.
• Since 1995, Mineta has been at Lockheed Martin where he managed electronic toll collection systems. Mineta has a strong working relationship with Representative James Oberstar, Congress' leading proponent of bicycling and ranking member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Overall, we couldn't be more pleased.

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MTD finishes bike racks



Passengers with and without bikes await buses at the MTD's Downtown Santa Barbara Transit Center. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• The Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District (MTD) has completed furnishing all of its 40-foot buses (Nova and Gillig buses) with bike racks. The funding for the 35 new racks came from the Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District (APCD). We are grateful to both of these agencies for supporting cleaner air, multi-modal transport, and increased transit and bicycling use.
• These 35 new racks are being added to 19 existing ones that were likewise funded by the APCD and put into operation in May 1996. If you have questions about using the bike racks, ask a driver, or check out this MTD web page: www.sbmtd.gov/sbmtd/bike.html.
• Finally, we can now expect bike racks on all long-distance buses in the County's South Coast. Not included in the program are the cute electric shuttles, the electric buses that serve Santa Barbara's Downtown commuter lots, and all 19 of the MTD's 30-foot Villager buses that serve shorter routes. Those Villager buses will be phased out over the next two years, an MTD representative told us.

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Donation from GVCC

• The local Goleta Valley Cycling Club has donated $600 to the Bicycle Coalition. We are extremely grateful for this indication of support for us, and find the donation especially meaningful because we know that their Club members worked hard to raise the money.
• They designated $100 for Bike to Work events, and the rest for our other worthy programs. Learn about the Club at their site: www.goletabike.org.

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Cycling to UCSB
by Ralph Fertig



Don Lubach with his 2-year old daughter Jane. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• "When you get to bicycling, it's like you check every box," explained Don Lubach in describing the benefits of bicycling. You get exercise, you help the environment, you have fun, you often get where you're going faster than by any other means, and you meet really great people. "It's a keeper."
• Growing up in Orange County, Don discovered the wild freedom of biking by riding with friends along the Los Angeles River. "You would never know where you would pop up," he recalls with sparkling eyes, "it was exciting." That early experience led him to turn to cycling when he started high school in Long Beach. It was a six-mile ride each way, so he got a better Schwinn bike for his daily commute. Not many kids rode bikes, but it didn't matter to Don, he just did it.
• Today, Don has a wife, a daughter, a cat, and a PhD in education. He commutes daily from his home near the Atascadero Bikepath in Goleta to his counseling job at the University of California, Santa Barbara. "The four-mile ride takes me maybe 12 minutes, but driving takes 17," he observed. "I bike every day unless it's raining hard. Then I hitch a ride with a neighbor."
• Don became a full-time bike commuter after a UCSB Bike to Work event. "I went for the free muffin," he confesses. "At the time, I was biking maybe two days a week. Willi Hart at the Bike Shop had a form that bicyclists were filling out and I saw that most of them were biking every day. So I thought if they could do it, so could I." And he did.
• In 1996, Don joined the Bicycle Coalition and has continued to be an enthusiastic supporter ever since, telling the world about the benefits of bicycling. Tell us again, Don.

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Echelon web site

• Echelon Santa Barbara president Bryan Krouse reports that, after months of work, their web site is up! Check out the nice job that Harry Singh did: www.echelonsantabarbara.org.
• "This is just the start," says Krouse, who welcomes contributions to make it even better.

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Trek/VW team

• We're pleased that the Trek Volkswagen Mountain Bike Racing Team selected Santa Barbara County for training. Sharp-eyed Kevin Brown spotted their big truck "with banners flying" at the Meadowlark Motel in Santa Ynez. The 6-member team arrived on February 19 for two weeks of local training.
• Trek and Volkswagen joined forces five years ago to sponsor the team that's aspiring for 2001 wins in NORBA and World Championships.
• Team manager Chad Moore first learned about our area by contacting Traffic Solutions' CD Coffey, who put him in touch with Bicycle Coalition's Ralph Fertig, who in turn emailed advice, contacts, and suggestions. Our area is gaining a reputation as a great bicycling area.