November
2005

Coalition brings Cole to speak locally



Rick Cole, Ventura City Manager.

• On November 9th, our Bicycle Coalition, COAST and The Sustainability Project will bring Ventura City Manager Rick Cole to speak in Santa Barbara. At the September Walk/Bike California conference that many Bicycle Coalition members participated in, Cole was the only speaker who addressed the participants and received a standing ovation for his insight and inspiration.
• In these times when gas and housing prices are through the roof, Cole will talk about issues that will determine the future of our South Coast communities. Called "one of Southern California's most visionary planning thinkers" by the Los Angeles Times, Cole puts local issues facing Central Coast communities in the context of global forces reshaping people's lives around the world.
• Right now Americans constitute 6% of our planet's population, but we consume 22% of the fossil fuels. By 2015, though, China will surpass us as the globe's largest gas guzzler. The choices we make in our communities today will determine our standard of living and quality of life when gas hits seven bucks a gallon.
• Cole is the former Mayor of Pasadena and Southern California Director of the Local Government Commission. His talk will be free.
• Saving "Paradise" on the Central Coast
  November 9, 7:00-9:00 PM
  David Gebhard Meeting Room
  630 Garden Street (south side)
  Santa Barbara

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Kids go mountain biking



Kids and parents sign up and grab nourishment before the "Take a Kid Mountain Biking" event at Ellwood. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• Thanks to efforts from the Santa Barbara Mountain Bike Trail Volunteers, a large group of young bikers took to the Ellwood Open Space last October 1st with enthusiasm. This is the second year of their "Take a Kid Mountain Biking" event, sponsored by the International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA) in partnership with local organizations. There were more than 80 similar events around the US this October, including nine others in California.
• About 60 participants turned out this year for fun riding and nature stops at the monarch butterfly trees and geological formations. Everybody was energized by the exciting family event, and they are looking forward to more in the future.

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Measure D tax

• Is 101 In Motion going to be the tail that wags the Measure D dog? That remains to be seen.
• The 101 In Motion process that identified projects and programs to reduce motorist congestion on Highway 101 was unanimously approved by the SBCAG Board on October 20th. Bicycling was not part of the long list of measures identified to reduce traffic congestion. We could, however, play a role in some components of the package of solutions—like bikes accommodated on commuter trains, and as part of an "individualized marketing" program that tells people how to take advantage of alternatives to driving alone.
• The package was estimated to cost $600 million in 2005 dollars—$400 million for widening Highway 101 from Santa Barbara to the Ventura County line; $80 million for commuter rail; and $120 million for a long list of projects that almost entirely speed up cars and trucks.
• The main contention is between rail and highway widening. Some SBCAG members said implement rail first, others said widening had to be first; some said everything had to be included, others said it's a menu from which to later select.
• How it might be funded is the looming and unanswered question. In order for Measure D renewal to be approved by voters, the SBCAG consultant says that it must contain specific provisions for alternative transportation, congestion relief, roadway maintenance, and safety measures—or it will fail. So, is the choice between 101 In Motion or what people want in Measure D?

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Fertig represents us at GoCalifornia workshop
by Ralph Fertig



Caltrans Director Will Kempton speaks to workshop participants. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• On October 19th, I attended one of eight regional workshops that dealt with a new "mobility initiative" being proposed by the state's Business, Transportation and Housing Agency. Because my invitation called me "a prominent transportation leader in California," I had to go. There were about 70 participants from six counties between Santa Cruz and Ventura.
• Caltrans Director Will Kempton gave a presentation that described the GoCalifornia initiative. Nearly all of it concerned moving cars and trucks on highways. After that, we moved to three individual break-out sessions where comments, at least in my session, addressed issues of multi-modal travel (like bike-to-bus trips), safety, infill housing, and alternatives like walking and biking. We were much more concerned with moving people than motor vehicles.
• I suggested a greater emphasis on "individualized marketing," citing the experience in South Perth, Australia. There, program workers visited individual households, analyzed their trips, and suggested non-driving alternatives like bus, bike and foot. It was a great success because it reduced car travel by 17%, while increased bicycling by 61%, walking trips by 35%, and bus use by 17%. The program cost 1/30 what new roadways would have cost, and was expanded to the adjacent city of Perth.
• Afterwards, I talked to Kempton. I told him that our county is 14th highest in the US for bike commuting. He knew about our upcoming Measure D renewal, and he asked whether we were asking for a dedicated percentage for bicycling. I was astounded, and said that it's under consideration. He's an active runner, so appreciates the benefits of exercise.
• Our workshop input will be rolled into GoCalifornia, so we'll be watching to see if we've made a difference.

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New federal transportation act “SAFETEA-LU”

• A new transportation act with the clumsy acronym SAFETEA-LU was signed into law by the president on August 10th at a Caterpillar manufacturing plant, emphasizing the new road construction and American jobs that will come from the $286.5 billion act.
• Bicycling wasn't mentioned at the signing, but the good news is that we also won big. SAFETEA-LU will steer about $4 billion into federal funding of bike paths and bike-related programs over the next five years. Bicycle advocate Representative Earl Blumenauer has called the bill "the best bicycle bill in history." The major bicycling components found in the thousand-page document are:
• Safe Routes to School, $612 million. This was described in last month's Quick Release.
• Recreational Trails Program, $370 million. At least 30% must be spent on non-motorized trails.
• Highway Safety Improvement Program, $5.0 billion. Bicycling and pedestrian safety projects will probably win about 1% of the dollars. It can include traffic calming measures and cyclist-safe rumble strips.
• Highway Safety Program, $1.06 billion. This funds education and enforcement programs, including bicycling programs.
• Scenic Byways, $175 million. Bicyclist and pedestrian projects will probably comprise 2-3% of the total.
• Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Grants, $2.3 million. This will continue funding for the national information clearinghouse.
• Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Program, $100 million. This is split four ways for selected communities, including Marin County in California, to assess the impact of a nonmotorized infrastructure.
• Alternative Transportation in Parks and Public Lands, $96 million. This specifically includes nonmotorized modes of travel.
• Transportation Enhancements, $3.5 billion. This has been the major funding source for bicycling projects that, from the beginning of the program in 1991, have been obtaining the largest share among a large group of eligible categories.
• Transportation Planning. There are new requirements for our SBCAG and other regional planning agencies to include representatives of bicyclists and pedestrians in their periodic transportation planning.
• SAFETEA-LU is a complex act that will be with us until 2009. We will be pleased to work with local jurisdictions as they pursue funding from these programs to help us all.

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New electric bike shop



Scott Shaw in front of his bikes and new shop in Santa Barbara. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• On October 1, a new bike shop opened in Santa Barbara, offering its own line of electric-assisted bicycles. It's the result of creative thinking by owners Scott and Susanna Shaw who spent much of last year in Asia arranging business deals with manufacturers. They chose to partner only with companies that have legitimate labor practices, ensure worker safety, and provide good employee compensation. All bicycle design, development and final assembly are done locally.
• The business—Santa Barbara Electric Bicycle Company—has a line of bikes and scooters named after different local places, like the "Riviera," a foldable commuter bike. There are commuters, cruisers, and off-road machines.
• The bikes can run on electric batteries, pedaling only, or a combination of both. That makes them useful for places like UCSB where electric power can be used to get to the University on streets, but turned off to legally navigate campus bikepaths.
• With gas around $3 a gallon, people are looking for ways to save money, but some are unsure about their ability to pedal everywhere—so the Shaws are offering a timely alternative. Visit them at 630 Anacapa Street, or online at www.sbebc.com.

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Willie’s coming back

• At our Board of Directors meeting on September 5th, we discussed Bike Week 2006 and with enthusiasm hoped to bring Willie Weir back for our third annual Bike Week Celebration. So our president Ralph Fertig talked to Willie and indeed, he agreed to return to Santa Barbara. This will follow his three-month bicycle tour with wife Kat through Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, so we anticipate an exciting, not-to-be-missed evening.

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CycleSmart bicyclist education news

• Street Skills class
• Tired of high gas prices? Ride a bike instead! Feeling vulnerable on the road? Then it's time to take our Street Skills for Cyclists class!
• The Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition and Cottage Health System invite you to a Street Skills for Cyclists class.
• Find out why crashes occur and how to avoid them.
• Learn how to increase your safety by controlling the traffic around you.
• Learn your rights and responsibilities on the road.
• Learn techniques to make yourself more visible and predictable to drivers.
• Learn how to affordably outfit a bicycle for commuting.
• Who: Anyone 16 years of age or older. No bicycle is needed for this seminar.
• When: Thursday, November 3rd, 5:00-9:00 PM. A light box dinner will be provided.
• Where: Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, Conference Room G. Use the Castillo Street entrance and follow signs to the seminar.
• Cost: $30
• To register, fill out the form at www.sbbike.org/docs/Application.pdf. Mail your registration form to arrive by October 30th. Or if after the 30th, phone Nancy Mulholland to see if there is still room for you—phone 563-9073 or email her at CycleSmart@sbbike.org.
• LCI assistance
• The CycleSmart committee is researching a possible purchase of a laptop computer and projector for our Cycling Instructors to use. The purchase is possible because of generous donations from the Goleta Valley Cycling Club and an individual member of our Bicycle Coalition. The committee is beginning to separately start a library of bicycle education material.

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Hundreds do bike rides



Riders take off from Leadbetter Beach in Santa Barbara on the 60-mile MS Bike Tour & Fest. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• Two major rides in Santa Barbara County took place recently: The Goleta Valley Cycling Club's People Powered Ride on October 9th, and the Multiple Sclerosis Bike Tour & Fest on October 15th. Both rides reported cyclist numbers about the same as in 2004, with 400 at the former, and 1200 at the latter.
• Doris Phinney, Goleta Valley Cycling Club president, noted that not only did the ride start at Firestone Meadows near Los Olivos, but that owners Kate and Brooks Firestone mingled with the riders in the afternoon. And Kate even baked brownies for the hungry riders. We bet they went fast!

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Governor vetoes Maldonado’s bike bill

• Just weeks after holding a press conference with Lance Armstrong to talk about California's dire obesity situation, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed two key pieces of bicycling legislation. Both bills had bipartisan support and would have had negligible impact on the state's budget.
• Senator Abel Maldonado from Santa Maria co-authored SB 523. The bill would have maintained the current level of funding for the state's Bicycle Transportation Account. That funding source has provided grants to jurisdictions for bicycle projects that serve commuters. Without SB 523, funding will now decrease from $7.2 to $5 million a year statewide. The $2.2 million loss is an insignificant amount of Californiaås overall transportation budget. While $5 million is significantly less than demand, it's still above the $360,000 that was the annual funding until our Representative Brooks Firestone managed to have it increased to the current levels.
• The Governor also vetoed AB 748, another bill with bipartisan support, which would have allowed bicyclists and pedestrians to walk and bike for free on our state's roadways, bridges and highways without paying a toll. In times of obesity, our governor should encourage increased activity.

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Scott McGolpin
by Wilson Hubbell



Scott McGolpin and his commuting Trek kept in his Public Works office. Photo by Wilson Hubbell.

• Next time you're out and about on your bicycle, don't be surprised if you encounter one of the South Coast's newer bike commuters: Scott McGolpin, Deputy Public Works Director for Santa Barbara County. He's now riding a couple of times a week (or more) from the Winchester Canyon area to downtown Santa Barbara and back, which is a very respectable bike commute by anybody's standards.
• Scott's typical route in the morning includes Cathedral Oaks Road, San Antonio Road, Calle Real and State Street. Going home he usually travels along Bath Street, Modoc Road, the Obern Trail, the El Colegio Bikepath, Phelps Road and Hollister Avenue.
• Scott began bike commuting as a way to get some mid-week exercise and cut back on gasoline purchases. He found that bicycling did achieve those objectives, but also discovered that he really enjoyed the ride and that bicycling had a positive mental and physical impact on the way he felt upon arriving at work in the morning and returning home in the evening. He also recognized that his bike commute didn't take as long as he originally expected, and not all that much longer than the time it would take to commute by car during rush hour. Now he wishes that he started to ride 20 years ago...
• Scott's duties with the County include the administrative and managerial control of the County's transportation system, including streets, roads, on-street bikelanes and major bikepaths (like the Obern Trail and the Maria Ygnacio Creek Bikepath). Because his commute is long and his route is circuitous, Scott now regularly sees many key segments of the South Coastås bicycling infrastructure "up close and personal." This experience provides him with a perspective of roads, bikelanes and bikepaths that only those who bicycle regularly seem to have.
• Welcome Scott, see you on the bikepath!

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Web site is decade old

• In November 1995, our Bicycle Coalition entered the World Wide Web thanks to an offer of free space by the Internet provider RAIN. Bicycle Coalition members Gary Wissman, Robert Bernstein and Ralph Fertig crafted content and created links. Two years later, when the site had increased to 6 megabytes in size, we bought our own domain sbbike.org and moved the site there, where it has remained since, having grown to its current size of 67 MB of information.

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Triathlons gain in popularity



Just out of the water, Carpinteria Triathlon competitors jog to the starting line of the 40-kilometer cycling leg of the race. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• If local triathlons that took place in August and September are any indication, multi-sport events are attracting an increasing number of participants. The September 30th Carpinteria Triathlon had 702 competitors, while the August 27th Santa Barbara Triathlon had 1516 athletes competing. Both of those numbers are up from 2004.
• Bruce Davis from Hazard's Cyclesport noted that the Carpinteria event had more first-time athletes, perhaps those testing the waters (and roads) before attacking the longer, more competitive Santa Barbara Triathlon.

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October Coalition meeting topics

• Our October 4th noontime Bicycle Coalition meeting attracted 10 people. We discussed these topics:
• Ralph Fertig reported on the Walk/Bike California conference in Ventura. His presentation on car-free tourism described what our Bicycle Coalition and Santa Barbara Car Free are doing for visitors.
• Pat Mickelson from Caltrans reported via email that they have adjusted signal sensitivity at Calle Real and Highway 154, hopefully to detect cyclists. We're awaiting tests by bicyclists who are stuck there.
• Ralph Fertig described a solution to bikelane striping on Calle Real near the SBCAG office; the solution was the consensus of four participants at the Walk/Bike conference.
• Baron Corpuz described his Renaissance Cycles business—it's moving to Santa Barbara from the Netherlands—plus his expansion into new bikes called "Bici Sports." He plans to open to customers early in 2006, although you can stop by to chat (615 Gutierrez Street) when he's there and the industrial door is open.
• Nancy Mulholland described another Street Skills class that we will offer in November. She is seeking a corporate sponsor for this and future classes. Also, our Education Committee will be purchasing a laptop computer and projector.
• We have accepted an invitation to participate in UCSB's Sustainability Day on October 26th. Ralph Fertig and Wilson Hubbell will staff our bike table.
• Scott Shaw described his new electric bicycle business that just opened in Santa Barbara, inviting everybody to stop by.
• Ralph Fertig read the Coalition's letter supporting the County's request for CREF funds for replanking the Obern Trail bridge near Puente.
• Wilson Hubbell will write a story about Scott McGolpin for November Quick Release.

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Ortega bikepath open



Beneath magnificent pines, the new path runs for a block along the Junior High. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• What previously was a closed block of Quarantina Street now has a bikepath between the Santa Barbara Junior High School and Ortega Park. Thanks to the City's Parks and Recreation department for this improvement that is now part of the South Coast's Cross Town Bike Route.

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Contacts now online

• Our web site has a new page "How to contact people" that lists 124 individuals you might wish to phone or email. You'll find our Bicycle Coalition Officers, Board members and Advisors; road and bikeway repair contacts; and our elected officials in Santa Barbara County, California, and the US. Just go to www.sbbike.org/contact.html.

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Mountain unicycling? Youåre kidding!



Unicyclists gather at Cold Springs Trailhead on October 14th for their first ride of the weekend. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• One wheel does not a bicycle make, but it can still get you around with human power. Local unicyclists Eyal Aharoni and Matt Wilhelm worked to create a local off-road group in 2003, and to bring the California Mountain Unicycle Weekend 2005 to Santa Barbara. A series of events took place October 14-16 in Montecito and Summerland. They attracted 70 guys and gals with well-honed balance skills to ride down Cold Springs and San Ysidro Trails, plus ride on ramps, bridges, stairs and a teeter-totter in a trials competition. Interested? Go to the local site www.sbuni.org for inspiration and information. You have nothing to lose but half your wheels.

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We thank our active members

• Please thank and support the following Bicycle Coalition business members:
• Bicycle Bob's, Santa Barbara & Goleta
• Commuter Bicycles, Santa Barbara
• Jeffrey Stoutenborough, Architect, Santa Barbara
• King Cycle Group, Portland, Oregon
• Nett & Champion Insurance Services, Santa Barbara
• Open Air Bicycles, Santa Barbara
• Pedal Power Bicycles, Santa Maria
• We welcome our newest Bicycle Coalition member John Cinatl. We additionally thank those who renewed their memberships: Cecilia Brown, Bill Pollock, Doug Allard, and Bill Frost.

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Open and shut roads



Road closed to everybody. Highway 192 is closed just before its juncture with Highway 150. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• Last spring, heavy rains swept away a Highway 150 bridge that provided cyclists a scenic route between Carpinteria and Ojai. Caltrans immediately jumped to the task of replacing not only the missing span, but also another narrow one just upstream. In mid-October, they finished both and opened the roadway. However, they then closed Highway 192 where in intersects 150 to improve safety at what has been an awkward intersection. So we can now use 150, but have to avoid 192 until that work is finished.