September
2007

Goleta officials pledge safer Old Town



Eva Inbar, left, places flowers at the place where Martin Solis Luna was run over by a truck in Old Town Goleta. Photo by Robert Bernstein.

• On August 8th, 26-year old bicyclist Martin Solis Luna was run over and killed by a right-turning truck in Old Town Goleta. This is the second bicyclist fatality on this stretch of roadway within six years—Antonio Guerca was likewise hit and killed while biking to work on Hollister Avenue in September, 2001.
• Raising awareness of this new senseless tragedy—plus earlier pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities in Old Town—was the intent of a bicycle memorial ride organized by Bicycle Coalition member Eva Inbar on August 19th. The ride went from Saint Raphael's Church along Hollister to the site of Martin's death at Kellogg Avenue where flowers were added to arrangements, votive candles and other tributes already there.
• Then the ride continued to the Goleta City Hall, where Councilmembers Roger Aceves and Michael Bennett met with the riders. Bennett noted that GOTAC (Goleta Old Town Advisory Council) workshops were held as far back as 1995, long before Goleta became a city in 2002. They generated a workable vision of a revitalized Old Town area where pedestrians and bicyclists would have calmer and safer conditions—like bikelanes, wider sidewalks, safer crosswalks, and off-street parking.
• Both Aceves and Bennett promised to work to get community improvements back on track. According to former Bicycle Coalition president Robert Bernstein who bicycled with the group, they pledged to work on immediate short-term remedies as well as longer-range plans. It's certainly time to revive that vision of a safer, better Goleta.

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Wet Willy Sez
by Wilson Hubbell

• Dear Wet Willy: This is a question that comes to mind every time I ride the Obern Trail—what should I say to politely alert pedestrians that a bicycle is approaching from the rear? Is there some sort of universally recognized announcement, like "four!" is in golf? Sometimes I'll say "On your left", but the pedestrian response to that seems totally unpredictable. — Hoarse Bikie
• Dear Hoarse Bikie: Pedestrians are likely to be encountered whenever you ride on our local trails and bikepaths, and they will react in different ways to bikies speaking to them from behind. Some may get out of the way, but others may just stop where they are and turn around to see who is talking.
• While there is no universally recognized announcement for cyclists approaching pedestrians, there is the universally recognized sound of the bicycle bell. You may not like the idea of having a bell on your $5000+ titanium superbike, but bells are friendly, polite, non-threateningóand very effective. Pedestrians immediately recognize the sound and know what it means. They seem to have a Pavlovian response to a bell and immediately step aside. Trust me on this—bells work!
• If you ride on bikepaths, trails or anyplace else where pedestrians or horses can be expected, make your life easier by putting a bell on your bike. Wet Willy rides on the Obern Trail and Maria Ignacio Bikepath almost every day and always rides with a bell. My favorite is the Incredibell because it is small, unobtrusive, easily accessible, plenty loud enough and cheap (like $9.00 or so).

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Triathlons flourish in Santa Barbara county



Budding athletes take off on the cycling leg of the Santa Barbara Kid's Triathlon. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• Athletes are diversifying as more swim-bike-run triathlons are taking place in Santa Barbara county. The first race this year was UCSB's Kendra Chiota Payne Memorial Triathlon (April 15), followed by the Tri-For-Fun Triathlon in Santa Maria (April 28), and then the Santa Barbara Kids Triathlon (July 28).
• New this year was the Lompoc Sprint Triathlon that took place August 11 and attracted 155 competitors. The venerable and sold-out Santa Barbara Triathlon, a local competition since 1982, again took place on East Beach August 25-26. And to close out the season, the Tenth Annual Carpinteria Triathlon will be held on September 30.
• The bike legs range from 3 miles for the kids to 34 miles in the Santa Barbara Triathlon. Half the time, the swim is in the ocean, but for the kids and land-locked Santa Maria and Lompoc, they used local pools. Pool water lacks the buoyancy of salt water, but it's just as wet.
• For those cyclists who sink in the water and whose knees can no longer take the pounding pavement, many of the events have competitions where you can go for the cycling leg and team up with others who do the rest. Even if you don't race, go for inspiration and cheer the competitors as they pass by. For details on upcoming races, go to our web site www.sbbike.org.

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Boysel path changes

• The City of Santa Barbara's Dru van Hengel reports that design for the Jake Boysel Pathway is changing from what was reported in July Quick Release. While it will still connect to La Colina Road on the north, and follow the existing sidewalk south, it will now be located south of Cieneguitas Creek, and end at the new bridge into Saint Vincent's housing project instead of continuing west to Old Mill Road. What will also be new is a traffic signal at Calle Real and Old Mill Road. Just how that will effect all the Calle Real bicyclists remains to be determined.

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Safe Routes to School

• The percentage of US students who walk and/or bicycle to school declined from approximately 50% in 1969 to only 15% today. At the same time, obesity rates have increased dramatically among children of all ages. Today, more than a third of our children and adolescents are overweight or obese.
• In addition to helping kids engage in active lifestyles, biking and walking programs also help relieve traffic congestion caused by parents driving their children to school each day. It's estimated that a quarter of morning rush-hour congestion is caused by kids being driven to school. Worse, the cars swarming around schools endanger those fit enough to walk and bike.
• There is a new national Safe Routes website to help people take action in their communities, www.saferoutespartnership.org.
• In the South Coast of our county, there is an active group of parents, teachers, administrators, government staff, policemen, and representatives from our Bicycle Coalition working to raise awareness and improve safety for kids walking and biking around schools. The coordinator is Eva Inbar, contact her at eva_inbar@cox.net or 964-0472 to learn about programs and upcoming events like Walk to School and Bike to School Days.

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Seeking safe access to Cold Spring School



Cold Spring School is right next to busy Sycamore Canyon Road. There is little space for anybody on the roadway shoulder. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• Parents of students at Cold Spring School in Montecito have been concerned about traffic congestion and speeds near the school. The school has no sidewalks and the adjacent roads—Sycamore Canyon Road and Cold Springs Road—are major thoroughfares.
• Although there will be an opportunity this fall to apply for the final round of federal Safe Routes to School grants for Cold Spring Elementary or Montecito Union Schools, or both, a group of parents have organized their own actions.
• They sent out requests to all neighbors along the roadways to trim back their shrubs and trees to create a continuous path so the children can get to school without walking on the shoulder-less roads. To date, reports organizer Tracey Willfong Singh, residents have been responding positively to the request. They already held a path clearing day with help from nearby Westmont College students.
• What about kids on bicycles? The new paths do not exclude them, so it's thought that those bicycling can use the same ways of travel, but with added caution.
• School is starting, so we're all watching to see what will happen, and hoping that federal funding, not only in Montecito, but throughout our county, will further help keep our school children safe from traffic.

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Your savings account

• "Think of [cycling] training like a savings account with compounding interest. The difference is that with your body, when you stop investing, you also start automatic withdrawal."
• — Neal Henderson, Outside, June 2007

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September 20-22 Street Skills class

• Consider participating in—or encouraging others to partake of—our September 20th and 22nd CycleSmart two-day course. It targets those who have thought of using a bike for just getting around town or for fitness, but don't feel comfortable on the road with motor vehicles.
• You'll learn how to bicycle confidently and safely on the road. In addition to basic bike maintenance tips, you'll learn about bicycle selection and will ride on roads with registered League Cycling Instructors (LCIs).
• Anyone 16 years of age or older is welcome to participate. Teens 14 years or older can attend with an older chaperone. Both sessions are at the Bikestation Santa Barbara, 1219 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara.
• Online details and registration are at www.sbbike.org/CycleSmart/apply.html. Direct any questions to CycleSmart@sbbike.org. The cost is $30. Some scholarships, however, are available—ask about them. A helmet and bicycle are required for the Saturday class, and bicycles need to be in working order beforehand.

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Stay smart by cycling

• New research has reportedly confirmed the relationship between exercise and brain health in humans. Arthur Kramer, PhD at the University of Illinois notes that three key areas of our brains associated with mental sharpness benefit significantly when people stay fit.
• His MRI scans of volunteers over 55 years old have demonstrated that gray and white matter in our brains differed in degree of shrinkage depending on the person's level of fitness—the greater fitness, the less shrinkage. That shrinkage positively correlates with declining problem-solving and other cognitive abilities.
• While the study didn't discern the subjects means of staying fit, cycling definitely contributes to cardiovascular health. Add some weight-bearing exercise to that, and we'll be smart for a much longer time.

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Bici Centro learns from BikeBike
by Ralph Fertig



BikeBike participants from all over North America gathered to trade experiences about their community bicycle programs. Photos by Ed France.

• Is it a revolution? — it sure feels like one.
• Sprouting out of garages and vacant inner city storefronts, community bicycle programs are popping up throughout Canada, the United States, and a sprinkling of other countries. Fed by energetic young people weaned on critical mass rides and determined to fight for a better world amid global environmental ills, their aim is simply to give more people bicycle mobility.
• Ed France is one of the leaders behind the emerging Santa Barbara Bici Centro program that has been coordinating with La Casa de la Raza to offer monthly bike help and encouragement to anybody who ventures by. Each workshop that they have held since opening shop in March has attracted up to 30 bike people of all ages, interests and ethnic backgrounds.
• Ed recently went to Pittsburgh to learn from several hundred others at the sixth national BikeBike 2007 gathering on August 10-12. The BikeBike events started in New Orleans back in 2003 when the "Plan B Coop" invited 50 or so people from across the country to visit. They traded ideas and brainstormed about their recycled bike projects. Since then, word has gotten out, more community bike programs have arisen, and the gatherings just grew.
• In Pittsburgh, sponsor "Free Ride" organized what is an increasingly-structured conference serving both small startup bicycle cooperatives, as well as larger recycled bike organizations that are well established. BikeBike provided a forum for cross-pollination—see their website www.bikebike.org for more.
• Of particular interest to Bici Centro were questions about finding a long-term space, deciding what programs to offer (like earn-a-bike, bike-ride, woman-only, adult, or kids classes), considering nonprofit affiliation, managing volunteers, and assuring legal protection and insurance coverage.
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  Ed France, off his bicycle for a change. Photo by Ralph Fertig.
• The sessions gave Ed lots of thoughts and material to bring back home. Perhaps best were all the contacts and sources of information from existing programs. A new website www.bikecollectives.org is a mission of the Bike Collective Network. They list 98 community bike organizations in the US, Canada, Ghana and Guatemala; there are ten throughout California, including Bici Centro.
• For Ed, his journey from a Palos Verdes home through environmental studies at UCSB (where he was car free) has led him to his present job as development coordinator for the Citizens Planning Association. Where his work with Bici Centro will lead is totally open. To learn more about this local surge of activity, go to www.bicicentro.org.

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We thank our active members

• Please thank and support the following Bicycle Coalition business members:
• Bicycle Bob's, Santa Barbara
• Nett & Champion Insurance Services, Santa Barbara
• The Bike Barn, Santa Maria
• CafÈ de Velo, Santa Barbara
• Open Air Bicycles, Santa Barbara
• Pedal Power Bicycles, Santa Maria
• Santa Barbara Electric Bicycle Company, Santa Barbara
• Chris King Precision Components, Portland OR
• Run Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara
• In addition, we welcome new members Rita Lomio and Steve Johnson. We further thank those who renewed their memberships: Paolo Gardinali, Matt Wilhelm, Dennis Thompson, and Scott & Stacia Young.

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Birding by Bicycle



Wendy and Malkolm Boothroyd scanning for avian wildlife on the Oregon Coast. Photo by Ken Madsen.

• This coming September 27, a new bike adventure is coming to Santa Barbara area. We're all invited to join Ken, Wendy and their 15-year old son Malkolm Boothroyd on a bike-birding ride.
• The Boothroyds are passing through on a year-long, 10,000-mile bicycle tour to survey birds and raise awareness about declining bird populations. Part of preserving the world that we share with our avian fellow travelers is the Boothroyd's intent to travel by low-impact means: by bicycle, on foot, by boat.
• Look at the Boothroyds website at www.birdyear.com. The Thursday ride does not yet have a time because of uncertainties of the Boothroyd's biking schedule. It will be led by local bicyclist and birder Jared Dawson, email him atjdawson@silcom.com to learn the latest update.

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Trek’s progressive advocacy

• At Trek Bicycle Corporation's dealer confab in mid-August, the company announced a new campaign. It's a $1.6 million commitment to bicycling advocacy over three years. Trek will donate $10 to the International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA) for every full-suspension bike sold, and $1 to the League of American Bicyclists' Bicycle-Friendly Community program for each helmet sold.
• For the League, it means their program will hire additional staff to help communities with their applications and programs. And IMBA will significantly boost their trail construction program.
• Trek World attendees also had use of 1000 Lime Coasting bicycles to pedal to the conference dinner party, and bike around Madison as city streets were closed to motor vehicles that evening.

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Bikes on commuter rail
by Ralph Fertig



A UC San Diego graduate student prepares to board a Surfliner coach with his bike after attending a conference at UCSB. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• Talk about commuter rail service between Ventura County and our South Coast is simmering. Proposed funding for it in the 2006 Measure D tax was defeated largely due to North County people who saw no need for it. Whether it might be included in the South Coast expenditure plan for the upcoming Measure D 2008 proposal is still being discussed.
• Today there are an etimated 15,000 commuters on Highway 101 driving from Ventura County homes to jobs in the Santa Barbara area. Three major 101 projects will be under construction over the next 10+ years, significantly slowing freeway traffic until 2020 or so.
• On August 21, the Santa Barbara City Council endorsed a report On-TRAC: A Plan of Transit/Rail Action for Commuters. It includes a description of a demonstration rail project that might be achieved by adjusting Amtrak schedules and adding sidings where trains can pass one another. It all requires cooperation of Union Pacific, owner of the rails. Although UP makes money moving freight, not people, they listen to ideas—like long sidings or double track—that will enhance their freight service as well as help commuter rail.
• The On-TRAC report describes how bus service is needed at both ends to serve rail commuters. Why has bicycling been neglected? Unlike buses, it offers the point-to-point convenience that makes the car so popular.
• If we look at Europe and Japan, a typical way to get to jobs is bike to the train station, park your bike and zip off to the city center by rail. Another approach is to take the train to the city, where your bike is waiting for that final mile or so.
• In the US, a third multi-modal approach is bike-on-rail service. Caltrain in the Bay Area is a good example. Each of the 96 weekday trains accommodates between 16 and 64 roll-on bikes. An increasing problem is that when bike spaces fill up, conductors turn waiting bicyclists away. These commuters typically bike a few miles at one end to reach the Caltrain, then a few at the other to reach their destinations. After being denied access, however, some have returned to driving. Because of their train car restraints, Caltrain is working to increase three kinds of bike parking at their stations:
• Bike racks
• Rental bike lockers
• Bikestations like Santa Barbara's new one.
• It certainly seems that our South Coast can copy the successful Caltrain. Additionally, if a Paris-style bike rental program becomes available with stations at all South Coast rail stops, it will serve those who find bus or walking too inconvenient or slow.
• At this time, it's all a matter of planning and money and cooperation. However, multi-modal commuting that combines bicycling with trains can serve many at what probably is a lower cost than providing car parking or bus service.

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August Coalition meeting topics

• Our August 7th monthly Bicycle Coalition meeting was another evening one at Rusty's Pizza Restaurant. Eighteen people attended to dine and discuss these topics:
• Ralph Fertig described progress of the South Coast committee for developing a Measure D 2008 tax renewal plan.
• The Amgen Tour of California will again return to Solvang and Santa Barbara in 2008. We are considering family-oriented events to hold before the Santa Barbara state start.
• Michael Chiacos from the Community Environmental Council told us about their efforts to reduce the 200 million gallons of fuel consumed in our county annually. A CEC position paper featuring bicycling and other responsible modes of travel will be coming out this fall.
• Nancy Mulholland and Erika Lindemann described our upcoming Street Skills classes.
• Ralph Fertig described successful bike rental programs in Europe, and asked about the feasibility of one in our county's South Coast.
• Ed France and Erika Lindemann talked about the success of Bici Centro's ongoing workshops at Casa de la Raza, and their need for tools, mechanics and volunteers.
• Steve Johnson showed maps and described his condo project next to the UP railroad in Santa Barbara, and asked for our thoughts about alternatives to a bikepath easement.

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Coalition involvement in Measure D 2008



Some members of the Coalition for a Fair Measure D after their July 10 meeting. Photo by Alex Pujo.

• There are three groups of meetings being held to craft a new Measure D tax proposal that will go to Santa Barbara county voters in 2008. Our Bicycle Coalition is actively involved in two.
• The Coalition for a Fair Measure D. Our organization has signed up as one of the supporting groups that endorses the objectives of this coalition. Board members Wilson Hubbell and Ralph Fertig are regular participants.
• The South Coast Policy Development Committee. This formal committee includes elected representatives from four South Coast government jurisdictions, plus regional 13 organizations, including our Bicycle Coalition. Wilson Hubbell is our designated representative.
• The North County Policy Development Committee. This is the parallel North group for which we have no direct representation.
• To date, the formal meetings have mostly consisted of SBCAG staff providing background information. The MTD and public works departments from the three cities and the county have stated their needs. The CFFMD group consists of organizations seeking social equity and transportation opportunities for all. They are writing a platform and developing strategies.

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