July
2003

1350 students celebrate biking to school



Kids at Kellogg School wearing Bike Week shirts. Photo by Stefanie Muench.

• This year's Bike to School Day at 13 South Coast schools was a great success with over 1350 students bicycling on May 20th. That's more than double the 2002 participation in schools and kids!
• Bike to School Day was a cooperative venture among the PTA Safety Committee, the Bicycle Coalition, COAST's Safe Routes to School program, and many individual teachers, school administrators, and parents.
• Each of the 13 schools had one or more individuals coordinating events at their school. Arriving students were greeted and led to an expanded bike parking area. They were then rewarded with our Bike Week T-shirts, blinking LED lights, pencils, reflective stars, and other goodies that individual Bike to School coordinators solicited. The 500 shirts given away were made possible because of a grant to the Bicycle Coalition for purchasing Bike Week shirts from the Wendy P. McCaw Foundation.
• Hope Elementary School topped everybody with the most bicycling students—265 of them! Kellogg Elementary was second with 222 bicycling. What went especially well? Here are some things:

• Additional bike safety instruction at four schools
• The T-shirts and LED lights were very popular
• Perfect sunny weather
• Driving parents who stopped a few blocks away
• Having the police increase area patrols
• Having principals and teachers bike
• TV and newspaper coverage
• School marching band playing as students arrive.
• What ideas were suggested to help increase bicycling for both Bike to School events and overall?
• Promote the event earlier
• Have T-shirts for all students
• Encourage more parents to ride with their children
• More give-aways for kids
• Have several events during the whole year
• Expand the program to North County schools.
• A community benefit from having students bike to school was the noticeable decline in motorists around the schools. Some parents bicycled with their children, or neighbors' children, giving everybody exercise and time for sharing. It's win-win all around.

Chris King Trail Daze is a huge success
by Jonathan Maus



Trail Daze volunteers listen to instructions before a day of trail work. Photo by Jonathan Maus.

• Over 100 volunteers showed up for a full day of trail maintenance, food, fun and prizes at the semi-annual Chris King Trail Daze event held Saturday, May 17th. The event, organized by the Santa Barbara Mountain Bike Trail Volunteers (SBMTV) and King Cycle Group is held twice a year and is one of the largest trail maintenance events in the country. While most of the volunteers were cyclists, the event was open to anyone who cares about Santa Barbara's trails.
• The full day of festivities began with a free breakfast at Manning Park in Montecito. After a safety and logistical briefing, the volunteers were split up into smaller work groups of 10-12 people. These groups each tackled a specific section of trail that had been pre-walked and mapped out by SBMTV member John Berberet.
• Instead of concentrating one just one trail, this year's event focused on several trails. Sam Masson, SBMTV Events Director said. "Tackling more than one trail is unprecedented and harder to plan, but we felt there are sections of different trails that demanded immediate attention. And from the reports I'm getting, a lot of great work has been accomplished."
• After the hard work of clearing overgrown brush, removing boulders and improving trail beds, the volunteers were treated to free beer and a BBQ feast of seasoned chicken, marinated vegetables, bread and bean salad.
• After dinner the highly anticipated free prize raffle—which featured prizes donated by King Cycle Group, other bicycle firms, and many local businesses—left no one empty-handed.
• For information on upcoming trail maintenance events visit the SBMTV website at www.sbmtv.org

June meeting topics

• Our June 3rd Bicycle Coalition meeting ran two hours and included these topics:

• Eva Inbar reported on the very successful Bike to School Day and showed photos from various schools.
• There will be a bicycling & law enforcement workshop this fall, and Santa Barbara is being considered by NHTSA to host it.
• Ralph Fertig described two Bicycle Coalition proposals to Goleta Valley Cycling Club for community projects.
• The Nominating Committee reported that they are still working on officer and board nominations.
• Wilson Hubbell described the possible loss of bicyclist access to San Antonio Creek Road; we will write a letter to oppose the loss.
• Ralph Fertig enlisted people to do Santa Barbara City bicyclist counts in June.
• Dave Beamer proposed that we endorse a Sierra Club sustainability resolution for Congress, and we agreed.
• Drew Hunter & Dru van Hengel will visit Portland's Community Cycling Center in June & July in consideration of having one here.
• Mike Hecker reported obtaining the City's permission for a criterium race on June 28 as part of Semana Nautica.
• Ralph Fertig talked about his trip to Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo to look at their winning rack design.

Save this date: Aug 10th

• Everybody had such a good time at our Membership Appreciation Barbeque last summer that we're going to hold another one this August. Mark the date of Sunday, August 10 on your calendar. We've reserved the same space at Goleta County Beach Park, starting at 1:00. Hope to see all you members there. We'll have lots of bike parking just waiting for you.

AIDS Riders pedal through SB County



AIDS cyclists stop for strawberries and ice cream at a Santa Barbara community rest area. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• Over two days, June 12-13, a dedicated group of 1300 cyclists pedaled through Santa Barbara County. They were participating in the 585-mile, San Francisco to Los Angeles AIDS/LifeCycle charity ride.
• When the riders entered Casmalia, they found a steak barbeque set up by the Casmalia Mothers' Club. It was a fundraiser for field trips for the school kids. Club member Julie Ramirez says, "We've been doing this for three years and I always love it when the cyclists come through. They're so polite and generous. I had a ten-year-old cousin who died of AIDS after a blood transfusion, so this is my issue, too." The cyclists could dine and read letters written by students, like this one by a second grader: "Thank you for working hard to help people that are sick or sad and tank you for coming to our sckool and for traveling around the word to help people from anywhere."
• Coming down Harris Grade into Lompoc, a man and his two boys passed out freshly picked strawberries, and his youngest asked all cyclists to autograph his shirt.
• That evening, while camped at Lompoc's River Park, cyclists joined a couple in celebrating their wedding. Sarah Buxton and Roberto Quintana met during an AIDS Ride in 2000, and fell in love during last year's AIDS/LifeCycle ride. Father Mariano Tomaszewski, the priest who conducted the ceremony, told his audiance: "Marriage could be compared to riding a bicycle. Sometimes the weather is not the greatest. Sometimes you are riding uphill. Sometimes you are riding downhill."
• Finally, in Santa Barbara, cyclists were treated by locals who set up their own stop with strawberries, ice cream, snacks, and a place to write their personal messages.
• Want to follow the ride in detail? Check out the ride site at http://webcast.aidslifecycle .org.

Bike Week winners

• We held several contests during and after Bike Week to add to the fun and encourage greater awareness of the benefits of bicycling. Here are the results as compiled by Erika Lindemann with the help of Internet web site software written by Gary Wissman.
• BIKE TO WORK CHALLENGE. This three-week contest counted the number of days that employees bicycled to work. There were five prize categories, one for a government agency, and four for corporations of various sizes. The bicycle commute days were divided by the total possible days for all workers for each employer. Congratulations to these employers who won a lunch catered by Santa Barbara Chicken Ranch:
• Dial Page (mini company)
• Softshare (small company)
• ExpertCity (medium company)
• Raytheon (large company)
• Air Pollution Control District (government)
• In addition, those employees who biked five days or more were eligible to win a $100 gift certificate from any local bike shop. Out of 83 eligible participants, the lucky winner was:
• Everett Hauser (works at UCSB)
• BIKE CLUB CHALLENGE. This is getting repetitious. Year after year, the same club has the most members at Bike to Work Day. This year, a wine and cheese party at Curtis Winery goes to bike commuters in:
• Goleta Valley Cycling Club
• ELECTRIC BIKE CONTEST. This year, an electric bike from the Electric Transportation Company (in Montecito) was given to the employer with the most "infrequent" bike commuters at Bike to Work Day events. The idea is to keep the bike at work for employees to use. And the winner was:
• City of Lompoc

Andy Singer

Coalition endorses sustainability

• Long time Bicycle Coalition member Dave Beamer is working with the Sierra Club to obtain support for a proposed resolution in Congress. At our June meeting, we considered and endorsed this resolution that he offered:
• "Resolved that we suport a House-Senate concurrent resolution: Expressing the sense of the Congress that it should explore the feasibility of the Nation moving toward a sustainable economy."
• Obviously, it's a weak statement, but it could be a start toward more responsible living.

Marty Blum lauds bikes at Mayors Conference

• Mayor Marty Blum, representing the City of Santa Barbara at the US Conference of Mayors in Denver, introduced a visionary resolution about bicycling. The resolution, shown below, was well received and adopted by the mayors.
• "Mayors all over the country are supportive of healthy communities. It was not hard to get the support," remarked Mayor Blum.
• Our thanks to Mayor Blum for raising everybody's awareness of sustainable and healthy transportation by bicycle, not only in Santa Barbara, but throughout our country.
• Bicycle Friendly Communities
• WHEREAS, an estimated 61 percent of U.S. adults are either overweight or obese, and 13 percent of children and adolescents are overweight, due in large part to a lack of regular physical activity; and
• WHEREAS, half of all trips in urban areas are three miles or less and more than one quarter are less than one mile in length; and
• WHEREAS, short motor vehicle trips are the most environmentally damaging and contribute most to global climate change; and
• WHEREAS, bicycling is a clean, efficient, healthy, economical, and accessible means of recreation and transportation with a wide variety of associated benefits to individuals and society at large; and
• WHEREAS, bicycling also has the potential to play a significant transportation role in U.S. cities and to reduce the number and impact of motor vehicle trips; and
• WHEREAS, many mayors are already pursuing policies and programs to improve conditions for bicycling,
• NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors calls on cities and communities to promote increased, safe bicycle use for transportation and recreation and to adopt the goals laid out in the National Strategies to Advance Bicycle Safety, adopted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Federal Highway Administration, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in June 2000; and
• BE IT FUTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors will work with the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports and national bicycle user groups to develop a more detailed action plan for cities and communities to follow to become more bicycle-friendly and that this action plan be presented at the First International Symposium on Bicycle Friendly Communities in March 2004; and
• BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors supports the continued broad eligibility of Federal funds for bicycle programs and projects.

Motorized scooters—ban the things?

• In just the last year, two kinds of motorized scooters have appeared on local bike lanes, trails and streets: electric ones and gas-powered ones. They are better than automobiles, they take up less space, they require fewer resources to manufacture, but are they an overall good idea? Certainly we would like to see riders do something to improve their fitness like walking, jogging or cycling instead.
• Cities and states around the US are banning, limiting, or considering restricting some or all motorized scooters. New Jersey bans all of them. So do Allentown PA and New Bedford MA. The Honolulu Council voted to ban gas-powered ones, and the Mayor is considering signing it. The gas-powered ones are very noisy and pollute, while the electric ones are quiet and clean. Wilson Hubbell described them in February Quick Release. Isn't it time for our elected officials to take some action?

Safe Routes to School

• An exceptional—and free—booklet is now available to help us help students bicycle and walk to school. It's Safe Routes to School, a publication of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that is based on experiences from various programs, but especially from Marin County's pilot Safe Routes program. It covers encouraging students to bike and walk, educating teachers and parents about safety, designing streets and environments around schools, and enforcing motorist traffic laws.
• This very informative 92-page booklet is an excellent guide for advocates, parents, teachers, administrators, planners, and students. It's available online (it's a 5.1 megabyte PDF file) here.

Coalition tries to keep County road open


The road now in public use curves to the right, the new property entry is on the left. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• In mid-May, Bicycle Coalition member Corey Anderson alerted us to the possible closure of a section of San Antonio Creek Road next to Tucker's Grove County Park to public use due to adjacent residential development. The road section had been abandoned by the County years ago, although an easement was reserved for emergency access.
• For years, people have used that segment for walking, bicycling, and horseback access to the Park, Cathedral Oaks Road, and other destinations from the residential area above the Park. Anderson regularly bikes to and from his job on the road. It's much safer and easier than the alternative.
• Currently, there are posts at the bottom that, in an emergency, can be broken through. At the top, there is a barrier and "Road Closed" sign that you can easily bypass. The land was apparently given to the owner of an adjacent empty lot, and he now wants to build there and use the road as a driveway. The fear is that it will be closed to non-emergency public use.
• At our June Bicycle Coalition meeting, we discussed the situation and voted to write to Supervisor Susan Rose. Our letter appealed to her, "We ask you to do anything possible to retain the current public non-motorized access to the road. Perhaps it can be incorporated into the Santa Barbara County trail system?"
• An appeal to the building permit has been made by nearby property owners, so there is still an opportunity to preserve this popular public way of travel. We certainly hope so.

Los Carneros project stopped

• The road widening and bridge project for Los Carneros Road in Goleta (described in May Quick Release) was halted by the City Council due to concerns about bicyclist safety and constrained finances.

Bike to Work Day sponsors & volunteers



Over 500 bicyclists showed up for food and fun at Downtown Santa Barbara's Bike to Work Day. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• The generous outpouring of help from individuals, corporations and organizations throughout Santa Barbara County has helped us celebrate and promote bicycling to the benefit of our community. We gratefully thank the following:
• Air Pollution Control District, Alacer Corporation, Albertsons, allGoode Organics, American Silk Screen, Ann and Mike Lawler, Anna's Bakery, Bicycle Bob's, Bicycle Connection, Bike Barn of Santa Maria, Blenders In The Grass, Bob and Cindy Sundberg, Bob Cooper, Brian Fahnestock, Brian Halvorson, Browning Ferris Industries, Cafe Delight, Cat Eye, Cathedral Oaks Athletic Club, Central Printing, Chase Restaurant, Chaucer's Books, Chef Karim's Restaurant, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Chris King Precision Components, Chuck Anderson, City of Buellton, City of Carpinteria, City of Goleta, City of Lompoc, City of Santa Barbara, City of Santa Maria, City of Solvang Recreation, Clear Channel Santa Barbara, Coalition for Sustainable Transportation, Coastal View News, Costco Wholesale, Cottage Health System, County of Santa Barbara, Cumulus Broadcasting, Cutting Edge Hair and Body Salon, Cynthia and Jonathan Maguire, Debbie's Delights, Dominic Clark, Dr. J's Bicycle Shop, Drew Hunter, Drusilla van Hengel, Electric Transportation Company, Emilio's Ristaurante, Fairview Farms and Garden, Family Service Agency, Farmer Boy Restaurant, Firestone Walker Brewing Company, First American Title, Four Seasons Resort Santa Barbara, Frances Gilliland, Fred Luna, Gary Atkins, Gary Wissman, Goleta Sports, Goleta Valley Athletic Club, Goleta Valley Cycling Club, Goleta Valley Voice, Guayakí Sustainable Rainforest Products, Hazard's Cyclesport, Hillary Boyce, Hot Spots Cafe, Inertia Designs, Ivan Lorkevic, Jack's Famous Bagels, Jamba Juice, James Wagner, Java Station, Jessica Scheeter, Kernohan's Toys, KEYT News Radio, Kim Lyons, KJEE, Lane Vance, Larry Driggers, Laura Condon, Lompoc Record, Lynn Mathes, Main Street Cycles, Marco Alvarez, Marian Medical Center, Marta Starks, Marybeth Carty, Megan Miley Graphic Design, Metropolitan Theatres Corporation, Mike Hecker, Miriam Maya, Montecito YMCA, New Frontiers, Nielsen's Market, Our Daily Bread, Pedal Power Bicycles, Prudential California-Pascale Bassan, Ralph Fertig, Raytheon Systems, RideSB.com, Santa Barbara Bank and Trust, Santa Barbara Chicken Ranch, Santa Barbara Community College, Santa Barbara Downtown Association, Santa Barbara Independent, Santa Barbara Inn, Santa Barbara Mountain Bike Trail Volunteers, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Santa Barbara News-Press, Santa Barbara Winery, Santa Barbara Zoological Gardens, Santa Maria Times, Santa Ynez Valley News, Soho Restaurant, Solaris Care Network, South Side Coffee Company, Sparkletts Water, Starbucks Coffee, Steve Wagner, Stratford Coffee House, Thanks a Latte, The Cantina, The Daily Grind, The Lompoc Record, Tom Holland, Tom Roberts, Trader Joes, UCSB Associated Students Bike Shop, UCSB Faculty Club, UCSB Trasportation Alternatives Program, Unicycle.com, University of California Santa Barbara, VeloPro Cyclery, Venoco, Vons Market, Water Store, Wendy P. McCaw Foundation, and Wilson Hubbell.

GVCC donates to bicycle community

• At the Goleta Valley Cycling Club's general meeting on June 15, members voted to support the Bicycle Coalition plus the Cities of Santa Barbara and Goleta. To us they donated $500 for our ongoing work. They wrote, "As the only recreational cycling club in our area, we are most appreciative of all the efforts the Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition does on our behalf and other clubs and cyclists in general."
• The Bicycle Coalition had submitted two proposals to the GVCC for possible funding: new bike racks for Santa Barbara High School, and replacement South Coast Bike Route signs that were—for whatever reason—missing.
• The GVCC declined bike racks because they felt that schools should provide adequate racks for their own students. For the Bike Route signs, they agreed to purchase them for the Cities of Santa Barbara and Goleta for a total of $820. This was with one stipulation: that the signs be installed with tamper-proof fasteners to deter theft.
• In the past, the GVCC bought signs to complete the Coastal Bike Route in Carpinteria and helmets for kids who cannot afford them; they have supported the Santa Barbara Mountain Bike Trail Volunteers and the Bicycle Coalition. Our community is fortunate to have such generous bicycling members.

Active bicyclist Jim Marshall
by Michael Hecker

• If only more people were as active in our cycling community as Jim Marshall is perhaps there would be a "car lane" on every "bicycle street." After reading this short bit on this great person, I hope that you'll understand what I mean.
• In 1968 Jim and his family moved to Santa Barbara from Milwaukee, Wisconsin to open a small business. Maybe some of you old timers remember Nature's Own Gallery in the El Paseo? Eventually his family opened another store up in Solvang. In 1984 during the peak of the inspirational LA Olympics, and to help him recover from a serious motorcycle accident Jim took up cycling. Not only did riding a bicycle aid in his physical therapy and recovery but Jim credits cycling for helping him quit smoking as well. He said "I rode whenever I needed a cigarette, it worked great."
• Shortlyafter getting a new pair of lungs and a bit in shape he joined the Equipe Bicycle Club (now Echelon) in 1985. Jim thought he was in shape but he recalls "I thought that I was fit from motorcycle racing, but when the group dropped me on the first small climb I decided to get competitive. I rode whenever I could, including regular commuting to our store in El Paseo and occasionally to the Solvang store."
• From'86 to '91 Jim raced USCF Road and Criterium races as a Category 4 and Master. He was smitten with the dreaded racing bug! However his racing years were soon sidelined as in 1992 he was seriously injured in a crash in a Highway 101 construction zone. Caltrans and the contractors had created a danger zone by merging two traffic lanes and the bicycle lane into one lane. Following the accident Caltrans changed their standards as to how bicycle traffic is to be treated in construction zones. (Thanks Jim!)
• Soperhaps Jim was done racing for a while but he didn't let that stop him. Later that year he became a founding member of the Board of Directors of the Cielo Velo Bicycle Club in 1992. Cielo Velo was formed to bring more women and young people into bicycling. Jim served on the Board for 6 years. Part of his Cielo Velo involvement was to organize multi level bicycle rides for to encourage people to feel more comfortable riding on group rides.
• Currently Jim is a member of the Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition and races as an active member of the Santa Barbara Bicycle Club.
• I'll tie this piece up with this great statement. It's certainly something to ponder the next time your asked to volunteer for an activity that involves our shared hobby, resource, and love, bicycling. When asked how he sees the local cycling scene and what he could do to help he said this "Over the years I've volunteered for over 100 bicycle events. Most volunteer efforts were short, painless, and generally lots of fun. I'd like to encourage more people to volunteer when they can. I think that they'll find it to be a rewarding experience than can greatly benefit the bicycling community."
• Jim has decided to toss his hat into the ring to become a member of the Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition's Board of Directors. I second that nomination! What a better candidate to sit on our Board; activist, commuter, racer, past club board member, small business owner, volunteer, and bicyclist.

Help kids: buy a shirt



Here's one of our special edition Bike Week shirts. Photo by Robert Bernstein.

• The Bicycle Coalition has helped purchase 500 Bike Week T-shirts to give to students on Bike to School Day through profits from a special run of shirts that you can buy. These are long-sleeve, organic cotton shirts. They're a cream color and have our great Bike Week art by Megan Miley on the front, and no sponsor names on the back!
• We sold them at Earth Day and Bike to Work Day, and half of them are gone. We currently have the rest of these quality shirts left in a selection of sizes. You can buy one while they last for $12. To own one of these special shirts, or maybe give one as a gift, phone Erika Lindemann at 961-8919.

Active members

• Please thank and support the following businesses that are Bicycle Coalition members:
• King Cycle Group, Shasta Lake
• MarBorg Industries, Santa Barbara
• Nett & Champion Insurance, Santa Barbara
• Rincon Cycles, Carpinteria
• Tri Paradise Sports, Santa Barbara
• We're pleased to welcome new Bicycle Coalition members Galen Edward Miller, Jim Marshall, Amy Frease, and Corey Anderson.
• Plus we're very grateful to the following who renewed their memberships: Lindsay Webster, Robert Goettler, Richard Duane Rosenbaum, Tim & Diane Weisenburger, Carl Beehler, Ken Yamamoto, Bob Swinney, Pierre Delong, David & Christine Bourgeois, Stuart Sato, Ellen Wall, and Mark Sapp.