February
2006

Tax opportunity window shuts in April



How do you want your sales tax money spent? Photos by Ralph Fertig.

• We're rushing towards a deadline mid-April—the end of public input on the content of Measure D renewal language. Measure D is the current half-cent general sales tax that benefits transportation within our county.
• After the Association of Governments (SBCAG) Board meeting in December, when many criticized the proposed half-plus-quarter-cent tax, it seemed dead. Then at the SBCAG Executive Committee meeting on January 6th in Buellton, the results of a new survey of county voters showed that 73% would vote for the half-cent, and 60% for the quarter-cent add-on tax. That brought them to believe that the whole three-quarter-cent tax might work after all if it's just modified to satisfy voters.
• At the general SBCAG Board meeting on January 19th, Measure D consultant Larry Tramutola recommended public input into the planning process. Interest groups, the cities, and public in general had to be listened to. The plan, he explained, needs revision, balance, and integrity in terms of community desires. Craft it, he advised, so that the half-cent part addresses all transportation needs, and the quarter-cent part gives extra funding to speed things up.
• At the end of the SBCAG meeting, director Jim Kemp, Larry Tramutola, and the SBCAG staff were given the task of obtaining community input in February and March, and incorporating those ideas into a new tax structure. These upcoming meetings are vital places to make our voices heard! We urge you to attend and tell everybody how you want your elected officials to spend your tax dollars.
• At our January 26th Board meeting, it was agreed that some major tax elements to ask for are:
• Complete Streets Policy. Our transportation tax should benefit all users. Read about the Complete Streets program at www.completestreets.org.
• Dedicated Safe Routes to School Program. Reduce school-related congestion and improve safety and access to schools with a set-aside each year. Marin County has a very successful program. Look at www.saferoutestoschools.org.
• Dedicated Bicyclist/Pedestrian Program. We should dedicate an amount each year for improvements. Over 72% of county voters want more sidewalks and bike facilities.
• Road Maintenance. We all want better road conditions for motorists, buses, and bicyclists.
• Bus and Rail Service Policy. All new large bus and commuter rail service should provide accommodation for bicycles.
• The tax meetings haven't yet been scheduled, so watch for them. They will be before city councils, the county supervisors, business groups, PTAs, and community groups. Attend and speak out!

---

County, Carpinteria and UCSB get bicyclist funding



This bridge on the popular Obern Trail will get replacement planks for longer life and smoother cycling. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• Bicycling projects within Santa Barbara County have recently been funded. The County Supervisors voted on January 10th to award Coastal Resources Enhancement Fund (CREF) money to two bike projects in Goleta and Carpinteria. Separately, Caltran's Bicycle Transportation Account funding went to UCSB for needed bike racks.
• Obern Trail Bridge Decking, $19,000. This will provide new 4-inch thick recycled-plastic bridge decking on the Obern Trail bridge west of Puente Drive near Hidden Oaks Golf Course.
• Carpinteria Old Town Trail, $24,500. This will pay for planning documents for a multipurpose trail that will connect Linden Avenue businesses with Carpinteria State Beach.
• UCSB Commuter Bike Parking Expansion Project, $54,450. This will fund 500 new bike racks for the University campus.

---

Santa Maria to buy open space

• On January 17th, the Santa Maria City Council approved purchase of Las Flores Ranch, a parcel of 1778 acres. The land is an abandoned oil field currently owned by Chevron, and has deed restrictions prohibiting residential development.
• The tract of land is east of Highway 101 and south of Clark Road. It is not adjacent to the City of Santa Maria, and is located across the freeway from the Orcutt area. About 20% of the land will be used as a North County landfill, and the rest will be open space and active recreation.
• Mountain bike trails, a BMX track and bikelane access from residential areas will hopefully all be part of the recreational plans. It will take years to design, fund, and construct anything, but the possibilities are totally open at this time.

---

Bike maps are back!

• Out of print for a few months, we're thankful to Traffic Solutions for printing a batch of the very popular maps. They are currently working on an updated version for release this summer, so until then, this 2000 edition will serve us nicely. If you don't have a map, email for one from jhart@sbcag.org.

---

Cycling teams train in Santa Ynez Valley

• Two cycling teams are training in the Solvang area prior to the Tour of California. The Discovery Team arrived in mid-January and received their new Trek bicycles. The Discovery camp was reportedly like a stage race, with riders on the road every day, performing specific tasks—and then eating, resting and recovering. Major riders are Tom Danielson, Viatcheslav Ekimov, Paolo Savoldelli, and George Hincapie.
• Coming to train in California for the first time, the Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) Team or 30 riders will arrive before the Tour of California. The team includes Bobby Julich, Christian Vande Velde, and David Zabriskie.

---

Feb 24-25th: the Tour of California comes to us

• The Tour of California that's coming through Santa Barbara county on February 24th-25th promises to be a world-class cycling event. The race will feature 16 international cycling teams including Discovery, T-Mobile, Phonak, Gerolsteiner, Healthnet, Davitamon Lotto, CSC, TIAA-CREF, KB Home Mexican National Team, and others.
• The local organizing committee coordinator Barney Berglund attended our January 3rd meeting to describe the scope of this major event passing through our area. We are grateful to him for one of his five local booths to spread the word about the joys of bicycling around our County. We'll be sharing the booth with Santa Barbara Car Free. Look for us at the health and fitness festival grounds among other booths on both the 24th and 25th. Come and enjoy the following at the festival:
• Health and fitness tests.
• Fun activities inside the Kid's Zone.
• Performances by BMX stunt riders and local entertainers.
• Bicycle safety information and bargains on gear in the Cycling Center.
• Race info and merchandise in the Central Pavilion.
• A finish line Big Screen to watch live action of the day's race.
• And let's not forget the food!
• We will need volunteers to staff our booth for both days. As this goes to press, the booth hours haven't been set, but if you can help either day, phone Ralph Fertig at 962-1479.
• The Tour itself needs volunteers to help manage things. It's being coordinated by Steve Boelter. If you want to hear more about volunteering, phone him at 565-5776, email him at steveb@capitalsb.com, or look at the volunteer form at www.sbbike.org/docs/Tour.doc.
• For more information about the Tour itself, go to: www.tourofcalifornia.com.

---

Tour of California routes

• Stage 5, February 24th, 105 miles
• Starts San Luis Obispo at 10:00 AM
  Enters Santa Barbara County
  southbound Highway 1
  L Clark Road
  R Dominion Road
  L Palmer Road
  R Foxen Canyon Road
  L Highway 154
  R Hollister Avenue
  L Modoc Road
  R Los Positas Road
  L Cliff Drive
  R Shoreline Drive
  Ends at Santa Barbara's West Beach
  arrives 2:00-2:40 PM
• Stage 6, February 25th, 90 miles
• Starts Santa Barbara at 10:00 AM
  Santa Barbara's West Beach
  eastbound Cabrillo Boulevard
  L Hot Springs Road
  R East Valley Road
  R Toro Canyon Road
  L Foothill Road
  L Casitas Pass Road
  L Highway 150
  Leaves Santa Barbara County

---

Aftermath of a troubling loss



Friends of Kendra Payne laughed and cried at the memorial service as they recalled times spent with the charismatic UCSB student. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• An outpouring of messages, condolences, tears, anger, alarm, and celebration of a sadly-lost life have come to us as a result of the death of UCSB triathlete Kendra Payne on January 11th. Most who have visited the site where an asphalt truck ran over her fault the truck driver for failing to wait for her on the narrow section of roadway.
• Questions immediately arose—what can we do to prevent further losses? What will the Highway Patrol report say? Should the California Vehicle Code be changed?
• There are no clear answers. We are still awaiting the CHP report that may lead to legal action involving the driver, the truck company, the Forest Service, or others.
• Changes to the Vehicle Code have been suggested, but several experts in California bicycle law feel that upholding the existing code should be sufficient—if we insist that the police and courts apply it.

---

CycleSmart bicyclist education news

• Bicycling Skills for Women class attracts 24 students We couldn't be more pleased with the response from our first offering of a "Bicycling Skills for Women" class. Twenty-four women participated and five others are waiting to join a future class. The Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition, in conjunction with SBCAG Traffic Solutions, offered a two-day Bicycle Street Skills course designed for women on Saturday, January 21st and January 28th.
• Participants learned the basics of driving a bicycle confidently, in a supportive and fun environment. This class attracted a wide gambit of bicyclists, from women who hadn't been on their bikes for years, to those who wanted to be able to ride more confidently with their partners, and to others who had begun to ride regularly for fitness and commuting, but lacked confidence while on the road.
• There was also an enthusiastic response to learning basic bike maintenance, such as changing a flat tire and performing other simple on-road repairs. Many thanks to our instructor Erika Lindemann and other dedicated League Cycling Instructors who helped make this class possible: Nancy Mulholland, Dru van Hengel, Hildy Hoffman and Doris Phinney. Thanks also to Kali Cowgill of Open Air Bicycles, who assisted with the bike maintenance component of the class.
• Stay tuned for our next course offering in March. If you have a specific group of students you'd like the CycleSmart committee to design a class for, email us at cyclesmart@sbbike.org or call Erika Lindemann at 961-8919.

---

Increase in bicycling media coverage slowing

• Over the past 14 years, Bicycle Coalition president Ralph Fertig has clipped newspaper articles and photos that mention or show bicycling in any way. Then, each January, he has counted those where bicycling is a significant part of the published item.
• The resulting analysis shows a dramatic increase in bicycling appearances for the first eight years, and a lesser increase over the recent six years. It currently represents more than one mention or photo of bicycling each day—there were 405 of them during 2005.
• Out of that 405 total, 46 were letters to the editor or op/ed pieces submitted by individuals. (They are grouped together in the graph, and collectively called "Letters.") We're pleased to see that 18 of those 46 bicycling letters were written by members of the Bicycle Coalition. The most prolific contributor was Ralph Fertig with seven published. Next were Eva Inbar and Diane Soini with three each. Erika Lindemann had two published; and one from these individuals made it into print: Don Lubach, Robert Bernstein, and Curtis Ridling. Your concern for better bicycling conditions makes our lives better. Thank you.

---

How to live longer

• Researchers involved with the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging found that while the capacity for aerobic exercise declines steadily with age, an active lifestyle can slow the process. Seniors who exercise regularly feel years younger and have a better chance of leading longer, independent lives than their sedentary peers.
• Just released, the 20-year study reports on 800 healthy women and men. Dr. Jerome Fleg said, "By participating in a training program, you can raise your aerobic capacity 15%-25%, which in our study would be equivalent to being 10-20 years younger."

---

Freeland includes cycling in lifestyle
by Ralph Fertig



Kenneth at the Sea Center with one of his commuting bikes, here a Schwinn Heavy Duti bike with dual top tubes and stainless fenders. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• Kenneth and Jill Freeland are people of action. On a Friday five years ago they decided to escape Los Angeles with their lives and move up the coast to Santa Barbara. The following Wednesday they bought a house in their new home town. They sought a place to pursue an active lifestyle, raise a family, and enhance their quality of life.
• Los Angeles loss has been our gain. Kenneth is now operations manager for the Ty Warner Sea Center located on Stearns Wharf. He is an avid long-distance cyclist and trail runner. His wife Jill works for the nonprofit Easter Seals organization. They have two children in local schools.
• Kenneth first came to our attention when he phoned us in late December seeking ideas about encouraging fellow workers to bike to work at the Sea Center or its parent organization, the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. He had already arranged to have the Museum give a $50 reward each month to an employee who walks, bikes or buses to work. I put him in touch with Traffic Solutions' Erika Lindemann who can offer employees the information they need to choose sustainable transportation over single-occupancy automobiles. If Cottage Hospital can sponsor a Street Skills class for cyclists, perhaps the Museum—dedicated to the understanding of our endangered natural world—can as well.
• With graduate degrees in anthropology and law, and a few years of legal work behind him, Kenneth is aware of the need to balance our lives and our world. Biking to work treads lightly on our planet's threatened ecosystem, and Kenneth is working hard to help us all share the responsibility.

---

SLO bike commuter contest winners

• Our neighbor Bicycle Coalition to the north in San Luis Obispo recently held a "Why Bike to Work?" contest for people to tell why they commute to work (or school) by bicycle. Their contest brought in 21 entries, 5 winners and 16 others, all of which are posted on their web site at: http://slobikelane.org/essaywinners.htm.
• The contest is essentially the same that we conducted in 2000 and 2002, with results from our enthusiastic Santa Barbara area bicyclists. If you need inspiration beyond what SLO offers, read our 40 entries as well at: www.sbbike.org/commute/commute.html.

---

Brummer is lauded

• Tim Brummer, owner of Lightning Cycle Dynamics in Lompoc, was cited by columnist John Schubert in a recent issue of Adventure Cycling magazine. It describes innovations introduced at the Interbike trade show last September:
• "Recumbent genius Tim Brummer has made the world's lightest racing crankset, by a hefty four-ounce margin, by integrating each crankarm with its half of the spindle. The two spindle halves join inside the bottom bracket."

---

UCSB’s TAB favors campus bicycling



Current TAB chair Mark Frickel (center) leads a discussion about the committee's vision for the year 2005-2006 at their January 18th meeting. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• The University of California Santa Barbara's Transportation Alternatives Board (TAB) is an advisory committee to the Chancellor. The Board, established in April 2004, considers projects and ideas that support alternative transportation on campus and in the larger community.
• At their November 1st meeting last fall, the TAB considered Chair Bruce Tiffney's report on 2004-2005 academic year activities. Among the report recommendations are:
• Set up a central bicycle planning process.
• Consider concerns over the proposed removal of the Pardall bike tunnel.
• Send a TAB representative to AS BIKES student committee meetings.
• Work with campus planners to avoid bike circulation problems during construction.
• Bicycle Coalition president Ralph Fertig started attending TAB meetings last fall when he introduced our organization and described our ongoing involvement with campus issues. He found a ready recognition of bicycling as not merely the major means of transportation on campus, but also one that TAB members clearly support.
• To learn more about the TAB, you can read minutes of past meetings at: http://committee.tps.ucsb.edu/tab_meetings.htm. If you wish to be on the TAB email list, ask Dolly Smith to add you to it, just email her at: dolly.smith@park.ucsb.edu.

---

January Coalition meeting topics

• Our January 3rd evening Bicycle Coalition meeting attracted 16 people to Madam Wu's restaurant. We discussed these topics:
• Ralph Fertig described Caltrans' promising interest in placing bike lockers at the Goleta Amtrak station.
• We all discussed the expiring Measure D and the rejection of the proposed two-component tax at the December SBCAG meeting. It is unknown what the SBCAG Executive Committee will do January 6th.
• Barney Berglund, head of the local organizing committee, talked about the Tour of California and how we might be involved at one of the booths.
• Distribution of the 288 flashing LED lights for low-income workers is progressing well, according to Dru van Hengel.
• The possibility of a future front-light bicycle program was considered.
• Erika Lindemann described our Bicycling Skills for Women class that will take place in late January. Already there are several women signed up.
• Our possible involvement in the Women's FitFest in February was considered. An email will be sent to our list to gauge interest in staffing a booth.
• The repercussions from the death of a horse in Montecito, and press coverage, were considered. It was decided to not fuel emotional overreactions at this time.
• Ralph Fertig described Bike Week activities so far. Ideas for additional events were discussed, suggestions for more were invited.

---

Trail Volunteers improve local relationships



SBMTV workers repaired sections of the upper Romero Canyon Trail on January 21. Photo by Chris Orr.

• Over the past decade, the Santa Barbara Mountain Bike Trail Volunteers (SBMTV) have put a large amount of effort into our trail community. There is increased trail use and with it, an increase in irresponsible users of all types. The local press has emphasized the few reckless mountain bikers who don't use bells, don't slow at corners, race down trails, don't slow for others, do no trail maintenance, and disregard the trail community.
• A core of dedicated SBMTV members balance the damage those reckless riders do by creating an MTB group that is more educated, responsible, and aware of issues. The SBMTV is working with the Trails Alliance on shared goals of safety, enjoyment, trail access, and environmental protection.
• SBMTV volunteers have done trail maintenance, passed out over 2000 bells for bikers, posted trailhead etiquette signs, given "Ride Responsibly" cards to shops, held "downhiller" meetings to discuss behavior, hosted IMBA trail management workshops, attended conferences on sustainable trails, helped build new trails at Elings Park, participated in the Front County Trails Working Group and the Trails Alliance, hosted two "Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day" events; and much more.
• Visit their site www.sbmtv.org and consider supporting their efforts for better trails.

---

We thank our active members

• Please thank and support the following Bicycle Coalition business members:
• Bici Sport & Company, Santa Barbara
• Bicycle Bob's, Santa Barbara & Goleta
• Big Gear Bike Gear, Santa Barbara
• Commuter Bicycles, Santa Barbara
• Jeffrey Stoutenborough, Architect, Santa Barbara
• Nett & Champion Insurance Services, Santa Barbara
• We welcome new Bicycle Coalition members Kenneth Freeland, Stephanie Stark and John Berberet. We additionally thank those who renewed their memberships: Dru van Hengel, Dan Henry, Alan Bergquist, Steve Mack, Robert Rainwater, Sam Hartline, Ralph Fertig, Bob Cooper, Judy Keim, Dick Kling, Steve Morris, Jean Thomson and David Ramsthaller.

---