Join us on the first Tuesday of each month for our general meeting: Tuesday, August 2nd Santa Barbara Bank & Trust Community Room 1021 Anacapa Street Santa Barbara, California 12:00 noon August 2nd meeting www.sbbike.org August 2005 Our CycleSmart program How to reach us Join the Coalition Online email list We’re a countywide advocacy and resource organization that promotes bicycling for safe transportation and recreation. [email protected]
www.sbbike.org August 2005 Serving Santa Barbara County We’re a countywide advocacy and resource organization that promotes bicycling for safe transportation and recreation. How to reach us Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition PO Box 92047 Santa Barbara CA 93190-2047 phone 962-1479 email [email protected]web www.sbbike.org August 2nd meeting Join us on the first Tuesday of each month for our general meeting: Tuesday, August 2nd Santa Barbara Bank & Trust Community Room 1021 Anacapa Street Santa Barbara, California 12:00 noon Online email list We sponsor an online email forum where you can post and read messages that pertain to regional bicycling issues. It’s easy and free. To subscribe to our general forum, just send an email message to: [email protected]Leave the subject line and body of the message blank. That’s all! Join the Coalition You can help improve bicycling safety and condi- tions in Santa Barbara County by joining others in our own regional Bicycle Coalition advocacy group. Together we will continue to make a real difference. See page 6 for details. Our CycleSmart program The Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition’s CycleSmart bicyclist education program offers bicycling skills classes for school children and adults. Look for details of upcoming classes inside Quick Release, or contact our Co-coordinators Dru van Hengel and Erika Lindemann by email [email protected]. Team Bike Challenge is great success! Bicycle Coalition member and CycleSmart logo artist Jim Cody and his wife biked to the Goleta Amtrak station on July 9th, locked their bikes to the rack, and took the train to San Diego for the weekend. Upon re- turning, they found both bikes stolen. So now they drive instead of bike. If the Bicycle Coalition’s suggestions are followed by Caltrans this fall, such disheartening losses will be much less likely. Right now, there are bike racks at the station, but no bike lockers. So when Caltrans’ Division of Rail sought suggestions for improvements last February, we said “Install bike lockers at the station.” A huge potential group of bike locker users al- ready exists at nearby UCSB: the 15,000 stu- dents, staff and faculty who bicycle onto campus each day. A recent survey of University people Currently, there are bike racks at the Goleta Amtrak station, but no secure bike lockers. Yet. Coalition wants lockers at Goleta train station showed that those who bike commute are most likely to choose bicycles for other trips. Being assured of convenient and secure bike parking at the Goleta station will result in greater bicycle and rail usage. Today’s bike lockers have plastic or perforated metal panels so security personnel can view the contents, and locking sys- tems that allow users with cell phones and credit cards to access available lockers on site—a passnumber is automatically given to them to open a specific bike locker door. This fall, Caltrans will be putting together a proposal for station improvements, hopefully one that will include bike lockers. They have $700,000 to spend and lockers would only be a small portion of that. The Bicycle Coalition will be following the progress. “We kicked their ass,” exulted Amy Orozco, team captain of Coastal View News Cruisers after beating 110+ other teams in the Team Bike Chal- lenge. She was justified because her team got 402 points, way above second place team EDC (Environmental Defense Center) with 322 points, and third place Team Ding Bell (Bicycle Coalition team) with 318. They won a wine tour and ca- tered lunch in the Santa Ynez Valley. Traffic Solutions, the Challenge organizer, re- ported that 476 bicyclists rode 6990 trips, or an average of 15 per bicyclist. They’re thrilled with the success, and are already planning a bigger and better Challenge in 2006. An email survey will be sent out shortly asking participants for their suggestions. Has it made people bicycle more? Yes! Orozco says, “We’re still riding.” Rider Nancy Tolivar said, “I did increase my bike trips and am continuing to do so.” It didn’t stop there because her 13-year old son, not an avid biker, became interested and joined a team. Tolivar reports, “He biked more that month than he had in a year. It’s been easier to get him to ride than it used to be.” Bicycle Coalition board member Jim Marshall persuaded his brother Jon Marshall, an infre- quent rider, to join his team. It was a real success because Jon rode all days but two. Even more, his girl friend started riding as well, and they rode with her daughter to school. Overall, our congratulations go to Traffic Solu- tions and to all 476 participants. We’re looking forward to a greater event in 2006. Captain Amy Orozco, right, with her Coastal View News team that beat everybody else. Photo by Kent Epperson.
Transcript
www.sbbike.org August 2005
Serving Santa BarbaraCountyWe’re a countywide advocacyand resource organizationthat promotes bicycling forsafe transportation andrecreation.
How to reach usSanta Barbara BicycleCoalitionPO Box 92047Santa Barbara CA 93190-2047
August 2nd meetingJoin us on the first Tuesday ofeach month for our generalmeeting:Tuesday, August 2ndSanta Barbara Bank & TrustCommunity Room1021 Anacapa StreetSanta Barbara, California12:00 noon
Online email listWe sponsor an online emailforum where you can post andread messages that pertain toregional bicycling issues. It’seasy and free. To subscribe toour general forum, just sendan email message to:[email protected]
Leave the subject line andbody of the message blank.That’s all!
Join the CoalitionYou can help improvebicycling safety and condi-tions in Santa Barbara Countyby joining others in our ownregional Bicycle Coalitionadvocacy group. Together wewill continue to make a realdifference. See page 6 fordetails.
Our CycleSmart programThe Santa Barbara BicycleCoalition’s CycleSmart bicyclisteducation program offersbicycling skills classes forschool children and adults.Look for details of upcomingclasses inside Quick Release,or contact our Co-coordinatorsDru van Hengel and ErikaLindemann by [email protected].
Team Bike Challenge is great success!
Bicycle Coalition memberand CycleSmart logo artistJim Cody and his wifebiked to the Goleta Amtrakstation on July 9th, lockedtheir bikes to the rack, andtook the train to San Diegofor the weekend. Upon re-turning, they found bothbikes stolen. So now theydrive instead of bike.
If the Bicycle Coalition’ssuggestions are followedby Caltrans this fall, suchdisheartening losses will bemuch less likely. Right now, there are bike racksat the station, but no bike lockers. So whenCaltrans’ Division of Rail sought suggestions forimprovements last February, we said “Install bikelockers at the station.”
A huge potential group of bike locker users al-ready exists at nearby UCSB: the 15,000 stu-dents, staff and faculty who bicycle onto campuseach day. A recent survey of University people
Currently, there are bike racks at the GoletaAmtrak station, but no secure bike lockers. Yet.
Coalition wants lockers at Goleta train stationshowed that those whobike commute are mostlikely to choose bicycles forother trips. Being assuredof convenient and securebike parking at the Goletastation will result in greaterbicycle and rail usage.
Today’s bike lockershave plastic or perforatedmetal panels so securitypersonnel can view thecontents, and locking sys-tems that allow users withcell phones and credit cards
to access available lockers on site—a passnumberis automatically given to them to open a specificbike locker door.
This fall, Caltrans will be putting together aproposal for station improvements, hopefully onethat will include bike lockers. They have$700,000 to spend and lockers would only be asmall portion of that. The Bicycle Coalition will befollowing the progress.
“We kicked their ass,” exulted Amy Orozco,team captain of Coastal View News Cruisers afterbeating 110+ other teams in the Team Bike Chal-lenge. She was justified because her team got402 points, way above second place team EDC(Environmental Defense Center) with 322 points,and third place Team Ding Bell (Bicycle Coalitionteam) with 318. They won a wine tour and ca-tered lunch in the Santa Ynez Valley.
Traffic Solutions, the Challenge organizer, re-ported that 476 bicyclists rode 6990 trips, or anaverage of 15 per bicyclist. They’re thrilled withthe success, and are already planning a biggerand better Challenge in 2006. An email surveywill be sent out shortly asking participants fortheir suggestions.
Has it made people bicycle more? Yes! Orozcosays, “We’re still riding.”
Rider Nancy Tolivar said, “I did increase mybike trips and am continuing to do so.” It didn’tstop there because her 13-year old son, not anavid biker, became interested and joined a team.Tolivar reports, “He biked more that month thanhe had in a year. It’s been easier to get him toride than it used to be.”
Bicycle Coalition board member Jim Marshallpersuaded his brother Jon Marshall, an infre-quent rider, to join his team. It was a real successbecause Jon rode all days but two. Even more, hisgirl friend started riding as well, and they rodewith her daughter to school.
Overall, our congratulations go to Traffic Solu-tions and to all 476 participants. We’re lookingforward to a greater event in 2006.
Captain Amy Orozco, right, with her Coastal View Newsteam that beat everybody else. Photo by Kent Epperson.
Quick Release • August 2005 • Page 2
“Complete streets”The terms “complete streets” or “routineaccommodation” are recent phrases thatrefer to streets that invite all users. This issomething that was suggested by CaltransDeputy Directive DD-64 back in 2001, butnot specified explicitly. It’s something thatwe are asking to be part of Measure Dsales tax reauthorization.
A new web site www.completestreets.orgexplains what it means: our streets oughtto be for everyone, whether young or old,motorist or bicyclist, walker or wheelchairuser, bus rider or shopkeeper. But toomany of our streets are designed only forspeeding cars. They’re unsafe for peopleon foot or bike or wheelchair—and un-pleasant for everybody. On the web site,notice the reprint of an article from Plan-ning magazine that favorably featuresSanta Barbara’s Downtown.
Bike historyconference in Davis
If you’re interested in bicycling history,consider attending the 16th InternationalCycle History Conference this September 7-10, at the University of California, Davis.This is the first time since 1996 that theannual conference will be held in the US,so take advantage of this opportunity.
Attendees will get use of a free bicycle,courtesy the UCD Bike Barn. Following theclosing session, there will be a bike tour ofDavis. Planned sessions will include these:• Men and Machines on the Canadian
Prairie, 1880s-1890s.• American Collapse and French Expansion,
National Differences in Cycling.• Annie Cohen Kopchovsky: International
Global Cyclist 1894.• The Providence, Rhode Island Bicycle
Club.• Comparison of a Bicycle Ride across
America on Ordinary Bicycles, 2004 and1884.
• Patents for Women’s Cycling Skirts andCycle Design.
• The Global Reach of Cycling in a Histori-cal Perspective—Third World Issues.
• The California Associated Cycling Clubsand Secession from LAW in 1897.
• The Bicycle Delivers—History of BicycleUse by the US Postal Service.
• Racing Cyclists and the Birth of Aviation.• Women Bicycle Tourists.
The conference fee is $125. Reservationsand more info from David Takemoto-Weerts at 530-752-2453 [email protected].
Bike business moves here from Netherlandsby Ralph Fertig
“There are two nut cases coming down onbicycles,” the Yosemite ranger radioedahead as young Baron Corpuz and abuddy headedinto YosemiteValley. They hadbiked in the rainfor days fromSan Jose, andnow this steeproad was slickand narrow.Worse, Baron’sbrakes failed, buthe and his friendthankfully man-aged to survivethe ride.
Today, Baronis married toCecile Corpuz, acharming Dutchwoman whom hemet at San Jose State University. Afteryears involved in various bicycle-relatedbusinesses in the Netherlands, they decidedto move to a place that is warmer, drier,and has a vibrant bicycle culture. Theychose Santa Barbara.
For years they’ve run RenaissanceCycles, a web-based business that sellsclassic European bicycle parts to avid cy-clists around the world. That business willcontinue, but now they are adding some-
thing new: Bici Sports, a Santa Barbarashop that will sell bicycles assembled herefrom select components, along with a cafeand probably other bicycle projects that
come along and at-tract their interest.
As Cecile ex-plains, they hope tobring Europeanbike culture to ourarea. She recentlyimpressed an His-panic woman whenshe was picking uplunch for the familyat a local deli, herdaughter seated be-hind her and ashopping basket at-tached to thehandlebars. Justsetting by examplecan go a long wayto show others
what it’s possible to do.They love Santa Barbara as a place to
raise their family of three children aged 4 to13. “We like it because it’s a close-knitcommunity.” That, plus the active bicyclingmay make it unique in America.
Bici Sports is not open for customers yet,but will be in September. However, stop byto meet Baron and Cecile, see what they arecreating at 615 East Gutierrez Street, andwelcome them to our area.
At our monthly Bicycle Coalition meetingon August 2nd, we will be joined by GreggHart who will describe possibilities for re-newal of Measure D. You’ll be hearing a lotabout Measure D as the replacement tax iscrafted over the upcoming months, andprobably put on the November 2006 ballot.
Measure D is an existing half-cent gen-eral sales tax within Santa Barbara County.Some of the money has gone to major high-way projects, but most is given to thecounty and city governments to spend ontransportation projects. That money—onequarter of what they spend on transporta-tion—is often leveraged as a local contribu-tion that’s required to attract federal andstate funding. How much is used for walk-ing, bus, and bicycling projects variesgreatly from one jurisdiction to another.
A new challenge for this tax is that itnow requires a two-thirds vote to pass,while originally, it needed a simple major-
Learn about Measure D on August 2ndity. Other counties in California that recentlyvoted to extend existing transportation taxeshave passed them, while new ones failed.
Bicycle Coalition president Ralph Fertigsuggests that a new measure might include:• Safe routes to school to improve safety for
kids walking and biking to school.• Dedicated funding within each jurisdiction
for bicycling projects.• A bike trail along the railroad between
Ellwood and Carpinteria.• Completion of existing bicycle plans within
each jurisdiction.• A “complete streets” clause for all work.The Santa Barbara News-Press has, in a re-cent editorial, said that “If commuter rail,improved bus service and other mass transitalternatives aren’t the centerpiece of thenew tax measure, South Coast residentsshouldn’t sign off on it.”
At this point, all options are open. Attendour noon meeting August 2nd to learn more.
Baron and Cecile Corpuz are shown here with theirdaughter Lizzy, ready for another local bike trip.
LCI Training course inSan Luis Obispo
A League CyclingInstructor’s (LCI) certifica-tion course will be held Au-gust 12-14th in San LuisObispo. Trainers for thiscourse will be Jim Baross(San Diego) and Christopher Quint (LongBeach).
A noteworthy participant this time isBruce Mackey, the former Nevada Bicycleand Pedestrian Safety Officer who has justmoved to Hanford, California. He hasworked not only with police officers onsafety measures, but also teachers, trainingthem to teach kids bicycling and pedestrian
CycleSmart bicyclist education newssafety.
Unfortunately, the classregistration deadline haspassed, but we’ll keep youinformed of future opportu-nities.
Street Skills classNo classes are scheduled for
August, but stay tuned for more comingthis fall. Future Street Skills classes will beopen to all those 16 years of age and older.Optional follow up on-bike, on-road ses-sions will be offered at no charge to thosewho have completed previous Street Skillsclasses.
On July 16th, we were fortunate to have ameeting with Craig Annear, an advisor forthe Bikes for the World program. He wasvisiting his sister who is a professor atUCSB, and she contacted us thinking thatwe might all benefit from getting together.
Annear described their program thatgathers unused bikes and ships containersof them to organizations in countries wherethey are needed. In the US, they coordinatewith scout or church and other communitygroups to bring bikes to central locations. A$10 donation is requested for each bike tohelp pay the shipping. They then bringthem to central Washington DC area wherethey are loaded into containers. It costsabout $4000 to ship a container that holds400-450 bicycles.
If there are high-end, multi-gear bikes,they are sometimes sold locally to help payfor shipping the others. No repairs aremade to the bikes, they are sent “as is.”
Finding a program at the other end is achallenge. Because of high trucking costs toinland areas, seaport cities are stronglypreferred. The local program staff deal withgovernment duties and regulations. Pro-grams that do not undermine existing bikebusinesses are chosen. Typically, the firstcontainer is paid for by Bikes for theWorld, and any subsequent ones are paidfor by the overseas group.
So, can we create a similar programhere? Possibly. Former Bicycle Coalitionpresident Robert Bernstein felt that itwould be better to use donated bikes to re-vive our old “earn-a-bike” program for lo-cal kids, and maybe send extra bikes to theBoston-based Bikes Not Bombs group for
them to ship abroad from the port of Oak-land. If enough Bicycle Coalition and otherpeople were interested, we could copy otherprograms here, but finding a place to storebikes would likely be difficult.
Current president Ralph Fertig agreed,saying “I would favor a program that gavepriority to local recycling of bicycles beforesending them away. We’re not Third World,but there are many local kids and adultswho would use bikes if they had them. The$4000 per 400 bikes could help a local pro-gram instead.”
Still, an overseas program might work,Fertig thought. “For a program to succeedhere, I think that it would need a simple ar-rangement where bikes are collected,packed and shipped within a short time. Ifit is drawn out, we would better devote ourenergy to local issues.”
We’re open to ideas. To learn more aboutother programs, go to: www.p4p.org,www.bikesnotbombs.org, andwww.bikesfortheworld.org.
Bikes for the World meeting report
Bicycle podcastingby Don Lubach
Podcasting is a method of publishing filesvia the Internet, allowing users to sub-scribe to a feed and receive new files auto-matically.
The podcasting revolution has blowninto the technical world like a pelaton ofcyclists. You can now fill your hard drivewith NPR programming, recklessly pro-duced music shows, and every flavor oftalk show. It is much like TiVo only muchbetter for those of us who don’t subscribeto cable television.
Cycling and transportation enthusiastsare in luck. Like-minded comrades are outthere creating audio content that is musicto our ears. I don’t ever expect to flip onthe television to see a weekly show on thebenefits of additional bike paths, but I cannow flip open my laptop, or fire up my iPodto hear a weekly show produced by theDavis, California bike coalition that is asnearly as exciting as one of our ownCoalition’s meetings. I can listen to theselike-minded folks whenever I want and,thanks to my MP3 player, wherever I want.
Here’s a quick overview of three bicycle-related podcasts I enjoy:• Bike Talk Radio is a near identical
recreation of a SB Bike Coalition meeting.It is broadcast from UC Davis on KDRTradio and then made available via podcast.
• Bikescape. This is a one-man podcastfrom a creative guy who “podcasts” fromlocations around the SF Bay area. He evenrecords shows while he rides his bike! Ienjoyed his reports on Bike Summer inLos Angeles.
• Bicycle Mark’s Audio communiquZ. ThisPodcast has one connection to cycling—the guy who records it uses a bicycle fortransportation. But I love the spirit of this25-year-old Portuguese American activistwho is living in and podcasting from agreat bicycle city—Amsterdam.
If you enjoyed following the Tour deFrance, the Discovery Team podcast three-minute commentaries before and after eachstage. Exciting!
If the idea of downloading audio files forlater listening sounds technically dauntingto you, I suggest that you download thefree iTunes music software onto yourMacintosh or PC and click the podcast but-ton—as with all things, Apple has jumpedin early and made this social movementmuch easier to access.
Once you subscribe to a couple of pod-casts, you’ll understand the power of thisnew medium. Pretty soon, I hope we hearour own members as they create and de-liver podcasts about Santa Barbara cycling.
Quick Release • August 2005 • Page 3
Craig Annear and his sister Sandy Thompsondescribe the Bikes for the World program.
Quick Release • August 2005 • Page 4
For Santa BarbaraCounty Bike Maps,info on ridesharingand van pools, justcall: 963-SAVE.
FREEBIKEMAP!
National BicycleGreenway Ride in SB
The National Bicycle Greenway’s FourthAnnual National Mayors’ Ride passedthrough Santa Barbara on July 20th. Tworiders, Stephen Box and Enci, arrivedfrom Los Angeles to receive a proclama-tion from Mayor Marty Blum. The ride ispassing through 52 major US cities, visit-ing all four corners of the country, beforeit ends in San Francisco on July 31st.
The National Bicycle Greenway’s aim isto promote a network of coast-to-coast,multi-use transportation and recreationalbicycle roads and trails. It will providesafe, clean, aesthetic, and enjoyable placesfor people of all ages to ride a bicycle allyear round. You can read more about theNational Bicycle Greenway project at http://nationalbicyclegreenway.com.
Bicycling is favoriteoutdoor activity
The Outdoor Industry Foundation has pub-lished its seventh annual survey of human-powered outdoor activities of Americansaged 16 and older—and bicycling is the fa-vorite. The survey tracked 22 activities dur-ing the year 2004 and determined that outof the 159 million Americans who partici-pated in an outdoor activity, 86 millionchoose bicycling of one kind or another.
The top four outdoor activity groups,with number of 2004 participants, are these:• Bicycling, 86 million• Fishing, 80 million• Camping, 66 million• Trail running, 40 million• Paddlesports, 32 million.Overall, the survey determined that partici-pants represented 85% of all Americans over16; that 56% were male, their median agewas 41, and median income was $56,900.
They divided bicycling into three sub-categories, road bicycling, single-track bik-ing (under 5 feet wide), and dirt roadbiking, with the following participation:• Road Bicycling, 79 million• Single-track Biking, 40 million• Dirt Road Biking, 40 million.There obviously are many individuals whoenjoy biking in multiple ways. You can fallasleep reading the entire 276-page study attheir site www.outdoorindustry.org.
Upcoming bikemeetings & events
August 2 , Bicycle Coalition GeneralMeeting. Meeting at noon, first Tuesdayof the month. Community Room at theSanta Barbara Bank and Trust building,1021 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara.Phone president Ralph Fertig, 962-1479 oremail him at [email protected].
August 2-August 30, Santa Barbara Twi-light Dirt Crits, sponsored by RideSB.com.These five short track mountain bikeweekly races are part of a six-race series.They start at 6:20 PM at Elings Park inSanta Barbara every Tuesday. The raceswill be at least 8 laps of the one-milecourse. You can race in any individualevening event, or do the whole series. De-tails online at www.ridesb.com, and registra-tion at www.active.com.
August 11 , Santa Ynez Valley TimeTrial, sponsored by Dr J's Bicycle Shop.Part of the summer's Santa Ynez ValleyCycling Series, this free 8.5-mile time trialwill be on Figueroa Mountain Road. Meetat the flagpole in Los Olivos at 6:00 PM.For more info, contact Corey Evans [email protected] or at 688-6263.
August 25 , Figueroa Mountain HillClimb, sponsored by Dr J's Bicycle Shop.Part of the summer's Santa Ynez ValleyCycling Series, this free race will be onFigueroa Mountain Road. Meet at the flag-pole in Los Olivos at 4:30 PM, then ride asa group to the start. For more info, contactCorey Evans at [email protected] or at688-6263.
August 27-28, Santa Barbara Triathlon,sponsored by Adventours Outdoor Excur-sions. The Saturday races will have a fieldof 650 competitors in the Long Course(bike leg is 34 miles) and 300 in the SprintCourse (with a 6-mile bike leg). The Co-edand Women Only Sprint Courses will be onSunday. Details at www.adventours-inc.com.
Transportation actgets extensions
The important, 6-year federal transporta-tion act that will replace TEA-21 legislationreceived its 9th and 10th extensions as theHouse-Senate conference committee failedto reach agreement by two July deadlines.
Apparently issues still exist over fund-ing disparities between the Senate andHouse bills. However, convergence is com-ing and it’s expected that the bill will bepassed by Congress before August recess.
New email listserveWe have moved the Bicycle Coalition’s emaillist from Topica.com to Riseup.net becauseof complaints over irritating ads that Topicahas been inserting, and the loss of the listservice for 4 days in mid-July.
After consulting with our Board of Direc-tors and our list manager Robert Bernstein,we decided to switch to Riseup.net that hasno ads. Plus, we expect, better service.
Our 170 current subscribers have beenautomatically moved; the only difference isthat you now send email messages [email protected]. New subscribers wish-ing to join have to send an email to:
[email protected] at least a month, the Topica.com list willcontinue, then we will close the service.Please post only to Riseup.net, do not send toboth. Thank you for your understanding.
Santa Barbara Mayor Marty Blum presents a Cityproclamation to bicyclists Stephen Box and Enci.
Quick Release • August 2005 • Page 5
We thank our activemembers
Please thank and support the following Bi-cycle Coalition business members:
• Bicycle Bob’s, Santa Barbara & Goleta• Commuter Bicycles, Santa Barbara• Jeffrey Stoutenborough, Architect, Santa
Santa Barbara• Open Air Bicycles, Santa Barbara• Pedal Power Bicycles, Santa Maria• Piekert Group Architects, Santa BarbaraWe welcome our newest Bicycle Coalitionmembers Mike Edwards, Diane Soini,Melanie Yanke, Patrick O’Donnell, DianeLauter, and Bruce Davis. We additionallythank those who renewed their member-ships: Carol Kosai, David Madajian, JeanAnderson, Thomas Kren, Stuart Sato,Ellen Wall, Hildy Hoffman, and GlennReinhart.
Hero Richard Lambertto the rescue
Kudos to Bicycle Coalition member RichardLambert who responded to a plea from Do-minique Bergman on July 2nd. She hadwritten about her son’s bike that he won ina raffle at the Boys and Girls Club. How-ever, it needed a tune-up and adjustmentsso it would fit him, but she didn’t have themoney. Her email to our president askingfor help was sent to our list and Lambertvolunteered to do the work for free.
On July 5th, an email from an excitedand grateful Bergman arrived: “[Richard]came by my house this morning andworked on my son’s bike. He tuned it upand adjusted the handle bars at no cost!My son was able to ride his new bike forthe first time and is so excited! I can’tthank you enough!”
by Erika LindemannSteve Shepard knows howto enjoy his bicycle for com-muting, for fitness and formental health. He is cur-rently Corporate Communi-cations Director at YardiSystems and has been com-muting by bike ever sincehe moved to Santa Barbara.“I used to live in Seattle,where we were a one-carfamily and I got used to us-ing alternative transporta-tion because I took the busto work there. When I got to Santa BarbaraI only had a two mile commute, so I startedtaking my bike instead of the car.”
Steve now rides nine miles to work, andfrequently bikes at lunch for fitness. He en-joys commuting by bike because it gets hisblood moving in the morning, and helpshim decompress on the way home.
Steve is lucky to have an accommodat-ing workplace with great facilities for bicy-clists and supportive management. YardiSystems, a real estate and accounting soft-ware company, recently moved into a newoffice building in Old Town Goleta. Yardi
Steve Shepard: rides for life with Yardi helpemployees now have bike-friendly amenities such asshowers, lockers and bikeparking outside and insidetheir building, typicallypacked with bicycles.
Yardi Systems is also aspecial place to work be-cause employees are en-couraged to ride bikes towork through promotionsand classes. Employeeshave long enjoyed Bike toWork Day and Bike Weekevents. Gordon Morrell,
Yardi’s Executive VP and COO, hosted apublic 2005 Bike to Work Day site, and twogroups of Yardi employees formed TeamBike Challenge teams. Steve and Gordonalso worked with Traffic Solutions to host abrown bag lunch presentation, open toYardi employees, about safe urban bicy-cling techniques.
It’s been a pleasure working with YardiSystems and advocates like Steve and Gor-don. I spend a lot of time working to en-courage employers to provide amenitiesand support to commuters in ways thatYardi Systems does on its own initiative.
Our July 5th Bicycle Coalition attracted 13people to a new dinner location, Rusty’sPizza across from the beach in Santa Bar-bara. We discussed these topics:
• Ralph Fertig announced that RenaissanceCycles business owners are back in SantaBarbara, this time to stay.
• Gastón Renjel described alternativepossibilities for our upcoming MemberAppreciation BBQ, and passed around asign-up sheet for volunteers to help; wevoted on catered and purchased food.
• The month-long Team Bike Challenge wasdeemed a great success by Erika Lindemann;
July Coalition meeting topicswinners will soon be announced.
• Ralph Fertig reported some further resultsof the annual bicyclist count, and thankedthose who helped with it.
• Three upcoming Semana Nautica bicyclingevents were described.
• Ralph Fertig described an upcoming publicmeeting with Craig Annear from the Bikesfor the World program.
• Our petition for including bicycling in therenewal of Measure D was discussed, alongwith possibilities of obtaining moreinformation about the process of writingthe new measure.
P.O. Box 92047Santa Barbara, CA 93190-2047
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Discounts tomembers
Members of the Santa BarbaraBicycle Coalition are offered dis-counts at local bike shops. It’sanother reason to join our advo-cacy group. To get your dis-count, take your copy of QuickRelease to the shop & showthem your address label thatsays “MEMBER” on it. Or cutout the label box and take it.Discount details are posted onour web site at www.sbbike.org/SBBC/who.html. Please patronizethe following shops:
Bicycle Bob’s250 Storke Road #A, Goleta15 Hitchcock Way, Santa Barbara
Bicycle Connection223 W. Ocean Avenue, Lompoc
Big Gear Bike Gear324 State Street #A, Santa Barbara
Commuter Bicycles, 569-5381Hazard’s Cyclesport
110 Anacapa Street, Santa BarbaraMad Mike's Bikes
1110 E. Clark Avenue #G, Santa MariaOpen Air Bicycles
224 Chapala Street, Santa BarbaraPedal Power Bicycles
1740 Broadway, Santa MariaVeloPro Cyclery
633 State Street, Santa Barbara5887 Hollister Avenue, Goleta
“If you bicycle, you should join the Bicycle Coalition”
Application for MembershipYes! I want to help make bicycling better for all of us in Santa Barbara County.
❏ Individual, 1 year $25 ❏ Student/Senior, 1 year $12 ❏ Household, 1 year $40❏ Individual, 2 years $45 ❏ Student/Senior, 2 years $22 ❏ Household, 2 years $75❏ Business, 1 year $100 ❏ Lifetime $1000 ❏ Other $_____name _________________________________________________________________________________
❏ New membership ❏ Renewal membership Make check out to Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition.Mail to Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition, PO Box 92047, Santa Barbara, CA 93190-2047. We are a 501c3nonprofit organization, so contributions are tax-deductible as allowed by law.
