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www.sbbike.org Serving Santa Barbara County

August 2009

Programs and events forge our future

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 info@sbbike.org web www.sbbike.org

August 4th meeting Join us for our general meeting: Tuesday, August 4th, Santa Barbara Bank & Trust Conference Room 1021 Anacapa Street Santa Barbara Meeting 12:00 noon

Our Street Skills for Cyclists classes are offered throughout the year. Here Sarah Grant, right, talks to participants about road situations.

The Santa Barbara Kid’s Triathlon followed a week class introducing young people to safe and healthy swimming, biking and running.

Christine Bourgeois helps students practice emergency turns at a Bike Adventure class, sponsored by SB Parks and Recreation.

BMX summer classes were held eight times at Elings Park, led by Chantel Blanchet. The individual classes attract up to 35 students.

Online email list We sponsor a free online email forum where you can post and read messages about regional bicycling issues. To subscribe, send an email to: sbbike-subscribe@lists.riseup.net

Leave the subject and body blank.

Join our Coalition You can help improve bicycling safety and conditions in Santa Barbara County by joining others in our bicycling advocacy group. See page 6.

CycleSmart program The Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition’s CycleSmart bicyclist education program offers bicycling skills classes. Details at www.sbbike.org/ CycleSmart/ apply.html, or email coordinators at CycleSmart@ sbbike.org.

Bici Centro program Bici Centro of Santa Barbara is our community bicycle program, helping people who bicycle. Look at www.sbbike. org/bici/BiciCentro.html, or phone 617-3255.

Alexa.com provides website traffic information There are so many website information-gathering resources available, it’s hard to keep track. One of the more interesting ones is www.alexa.com that provides worldwide visitor statistics for websites.

You go to Alexa, type in your website address, and up pops information about the rank in traffic and how many other sites direct users to your site.

For older and popular sites, it also tells you when it went online, whether visitors come from the US or overseas, and how long they spend on the site.

Here are recent Alexa data for a handful of sites: Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition. 65 other sites link to us. Ranked at 1.7 millionth in traffic. 100% visitors are from the US. Online since 1997.

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Quick Release is published monthly by the Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition, PO Box 92047, Santa Barbara, CA 93190. Subscribe for $25 per year. Issue # 214.

The year 2009 has seen a 16% jump in the number of people bicycling in Santa Barbara. And throughout our county we’ve witnessed a large increase in the number of tours, classes, workshops, and general bicycling activities.

Especially exciting is the increase of youth activities available to young people, and the number of bike tours offered to those choosing to vacation in our county.

While it’s thought that the rise in utility biking may be due to the recession and the cost of gas, the surge of all the healthy activities for everybody suggests that the changes are not fleeting, they are here to stay—and with our help—will increase.

Bici Centro. 8 other sites linked to us. We’re ranked at 2.4 millionth in traffic.

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Traffic Solutions. 33 other sites linking to it. It’s ranked at 1.9 millionth in traffic. 100% visitors are from the US. Online since 2001. g Santa Barbara Car Free. 42 other sites linked to it.

It’s ranked at 2.7 millionth in traffic. 65% visitors are from the US. Online since 2000. g COAST. 11 sites linked to it. It’s ranked at 21.5 millionth in traffic. g California Bicycle Coalition. 103 other sites linked to it. It’s ranked at 4.0 millionth in traffic.

54% visitors are from the US. Online since 1999. g Adventure Cycling. 459 sites linked to it. It’s ranked at 0.2 millionth in traffic. 71% visitors are from the US. Online since 1999. g League of American Bicyclists. 1083 sites linked to it. It’s ranked at 0.3 millionth in traffic. 87% visitors are from the US. Online since 1996. g

Coalition asks for safety on Foothill For nearly a decade, paved shoulders we have been pursuing where residents on safer conditions for foot and bicycle can bicyclists on Foothill safely use our public Road (Highway 192) right of way.” west of Mission Can“Bicyclists usyon in Santa Barbara’s ing an unimpeded unincorporated county. paved shoulder Caltrans has identiwill not slow traffied that section of fic-lane motorists, Foothill as prone to who otherwise might crashes and in need of endanger others as better drainage to prethey attempt to pass. vent flooding. So they However, if cars and funded a project that is trucks are allowed to now nearly finished. park there, bicyclists This view of Foothill Road looks west at the new As the project nears shoulder covering a large storm drain. Paving may have to swerve completion, a discusinto traffic, endangerand striping are yet to come. sion of parking along ing everybody.” the roadway by local residents has heated “Additionally, prohibiting parking there up. In anticipation of the county Superviwill offer a place for motorists to pull over sors taking up the issue at their July 7th for emergency vehicles, an especially vital meeting, we sent them a letter saying: concern in light of our three recent wildfires.”

“Bicyclist safety is a great concern along Supervisor Salud Carbajal, whose district that busy stretch of Foothill Road. We have includes that section of Foothill, struck an been working since 2001 with Caltrans and appeal for safety. He said that the safety of the Mission Canyon Association to obtain our community at large has to come before the convenience of a handful of residents.

The supervisors unanimously passed the Public Works staff recommendation to prohibit parking on the south side of the road, and to meet with Caltrans, the Mission Canyon Association, fire officials, and the residents to resolve north side issues.

Recently, the California Highway Patrol has come out in favor of not only prohibiting parking on both shoulders, but to make them official Caltrans bikelanes. It would remove the “No parking” sign clutter, and also make it easier for highway patrol officers to determine whether vehicles were illegally parked or not. Stay tuned, it’s not over yet, but looking promising.

Commuter Challenge reduces road traffic For the second year, SBCAG’s Traffic Solutions has successfully induced many people to forego driving alone to work and other places, and use alternatives instead. Their Commuter Challenge pitted 341 teams of five against one another for 61 days in May and June. Each day a participant used an alternative—like carpool, bike, foot, bus, vanpool, or something else—they scored another point. They entered their miles and mode each day online. Incentives were not only glory for the best teams, but prizes like iPhones, gift certificates, and cash.

The result was that 58,457 trips were not drive-alone, but something more sustainable. The pie chart shows that car pooling was the most popular, but bicycling came in second with a healthy 26% of all trips.

Traffic Solutions’ director Kent Epperson reports (modestly) that he logged alternative trips on each of the 61 days, joining 129 others who did the same. Avoiding the temptation to drive, he notes, “takes resourcefulness, commitment and persistence.” A number of employers competed against others in their size category. Those winners are Pay Junction, Community Environmental Council, Natural History Museum, Yardi Systems and Santa Barbara City.

July Coalition meeting topics Our July 7th monthly Bicycle Coalition meeting was held at Rusty’s Pizza in Santa Barbara, with 6 participants talking about these topics: g Ralph Fertig described the Momentum magazine discount available to members. g The Bike Week (or Bike Month) 2010 possibili-

Contention over the parking along Foothill Road was discussed, with the Coalition monitoring the developing situation.

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Ed France reported on the success of Bici Centro’s summer youth mountain bike and street skills classes to date.

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The County’s Planning Commission was unable to agree over the Santa Ynez Valley Plan, including a Santa Ynez River Trail “Action item.” There’s more to come.

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ties were discussed. A second meeting organized by Kent Epperson will be held July 13th.

Possibilities for an ongoing Santa Barbara Bowl valet bike parking program were considered.

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Quick Release ~ August 2009 ~ Page 2

Ed France announced that “Spanish only” open shop hours will be held each Tuesday.

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Synthetic sea by bike

Anna Cummins and Marcus Eriksen with one of their bicycles before their presentation.

A couple came through Santa Barbara on June 15th for a stop and “Synthetic Sea” presentation during their 2000-mile “JUNKride” from Vancouver to Tiajuana. It’s called JUNKride because they are raising awareness about throw-away plastic pollution that is rapidly spreading across the Pacific Ocean and imperiling all sea life.

Marcus Eriksen and Anna Cummins bought their second-hand bikes on Craigslist, outfitted them for touring and set off with no support vehicles. All their props and material for presentations to schools and groups came along for the ride in their panniers. Eleven days after leaving Santa Barbara, they celebrated their ride’s end with margueritas in Tiajuana.

Eriksen had previously sailed from Long Beach to Hawaii on a raft made from 15,000 plastic bottles, sampling sea life all the way, and discovering a vast vortex twice the size of the US filled with plastic junk. Their message is avoid using any plastics, and properly recycle of all those you must use.

Bike count data This is a follow-up to last month’s Quick Release report that our 2009 bicyclist counts showed a 16% increase in Santa Barbara.

Other data collected included helmet use and sidewalk biking. Compared to four prior years, there was only a 1% decrease in helmet use to 25% overall, and a 1% increase on sidewalk riding to 18% overall. Neither change is a significant amount.

The most helmet use was 68% at the Meigs/Cliff intersection; the least was 3% at Milpas/Gutierrez. The most sidewalk riding was 50% at San Andres/Micheltorena; the least was 2% at Garden/Canon Perdido.

Bike parking a hit at Santa Barbara Bowl The Santa Barbara Bowl is becoming more environmentally responsible in three ways. They are using goats to clear the chaparral on their hillside. They are recycling nearly all trash, and composting food scraps. And perhaps best, they’re working with us on a bicycle valet service.

It started on July 10th and 12th, with a team of volunteers from our Bicycle Coalition, Bici Centro, and the Goleta Valley Cycling Club. The Bowl management Valet volunteers accept and tag bicycles for safe keeping during cleared a fenced-off area for Santa Barbara Bowl concerts, shown here on July 12th. secure bike parking, they supplied 2-part tickets to stick on the bikes and the bike corral, hopefully realized that they hand to the bikers, installed flood lights, and too might choose responsible transportaattached a plank ramp for rolling the bikes tion next time. up stairs to the new parking area.

In the past, some people would bike to The bike racks were supplied by Bob the Bowl and lock their steeds all over the McFarland from the GVCC. We’re hoping to place, often creating hazards to others. negotiate a seasonal contract with the Bowl The Bowl’s chief of security John Thayer, a people, and our Board of Directors gave Ed former Santa Barbara police officer and avid France direction in securing an agreement. cyclist himself, was very pleased to see the It’s anticipated that the Bowl will supply new service. new bike racks, and pay for our service.

According to volunteer Robert Rainwater, On both evenings, the 4500-seat Bowl all the valet folk had a blast. He expects that was sold out. About 40 people biked there the program will become a staple Bowl serto beat the traffic jams, and they were device, along with their other environmental lighted to find the service. Perhaps best, the efforts. (Go goats!) If you want to volunteer others who walked by the bike valet table for future concerts, contact Ed France at (offering info about us and Bici Centro) and 252-9064 or edfrance@gmail.com.

August 2009 Youth Bicycle Programs in Santa Barbara Program

Location

Ages

Start Date

Cost

Time

Mountain Bike Camp BMX Summer Camp

Elings Park Elings Park

7-15 5-12

8/3, 8/10 8/3, 8/10

$130 $180

9:00-12:00 9:00-3:00

Bici Centro adds Spanish-only night For two years now, Bici Centro of Santa Barbara has provided “open shop” hours for all people to come, learn, and work on their bikes. Starting in July they added a “Spanish only” evening when those only speaking Spanish are welcome. This means that there are now three open shop times: Wednesdays 4:00-7:00 PM, Spanish only Thursdays 4:00-7:00 PM g Saturdays 1:00-7:00 PM

In addition, there is another 8-week adult “Learn Your Bike” class starting August 10th.

You can sign up for all eight evenings, or just one that you might be interested in (if space is available that evening): Mondays 7:00–9:00 PM

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You can send your questions or register for the class by email at info@bicicentro.org.

Finally, Bici will offer fall “Earn a Bike” classes for young people at South Coast schools that have not yet been selected.

Feel free to stop by to check out the action during an appropriate period, you don’t need a bike problem to just visit.

Quick Release ~ August 2009 ~ Page 3

Google Maps to include bikepaths

Google maps are great if all you want to do is drive. However, for bicyclists, the best routes are often missing. Google, to their credit, is changing that with a cameramounted, human-pedaled tricycle.

To start, they are pedaling around college campuses and adding the pictures to their Streetview service. After that, they will pedal onto off-campus (but paved) trails.

This will allow you to preview a trail in the US, UK and Italy (so far) before riding it.

Besides photos of trails, we’re hoping that the next Google step will be to create bike trip routes from A to B, a special benefit not only for bicycle tourists, but also for all people wanting to know their community better by bike. A senior Google engineer observed, “Much of the world is inaccessible to the car. We want to get access to places people find important.”

Let us know if you see them pedaling around our campuses and trails.

“Online on Wheels” held for Citrix workers Citrix Online is one of our county’s largest employers. The webbased software company has over five hundred workers at two sites in Goleta, many of whom bike commute to work.

Citrix management is keen on keeping their employees happy and healthy while endorsing responsible use of our planet’s resources.

So they invited about 10 Our Bicycle Coalition, Bici Centro, Traffic Solutions, bike shops and services organizations and com- helped make Online on Wheels a successful noontime event for Citrix panies to tell their workers about bicycling. ties are more productive and have lower On June 26th, our Bicycle Coalition health insurance demands than their sedenjoined others at Citrix Online for an “Online tary counterparts. on Wheels” event. It was a success as both It may not be coincidence, but the spondedicated cyclists and just-curious people sor of our Bike Week 2000 was Expertcity, came by. What was impressive was Citrix’s the firm that was acquired by Citrix Systems efforts to promote an active lifestyle among in 2003 and renamed Citrix Online. Many of its employees. They hopefully know that the key Expertcity developers are still there, those who engage in regular physical activicontinuing the supportive business climate.

Upcoming August bike meetings and events Long and hot summer days are here, but the cool mornings and coastal routes are perfect for biking. See separate listing of youth bike classes on page 3. Our website has ongoing updates and more detailed event descriptions at www.sbbike.org/meet/meet.html.

August 4, Bicycle Coalition General Meeting, sponsored by our Bicycle Coalition.

Community Room at the Santa Barbara Bank and Trust building, 1021 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara. 12:00 noon. Phone president Ralph Fertig, 962-1479 or email him at sbralph@cox.net.

August 4, Eastern Goleta Valley Workshop, sponsored by Santa Barbara County. This workshop will consider goals for the future of the unincorporated county between Santa Barbara and Goleta, including transportation and other areas of interest. County Planning Commission Hearing Room, 105 East Anapamu Street, 1st Floor, Santa Barbara, 6:00 PM. August 6, Bike Moves, unsponsored happening. Join Santa Barbara’s First Thursday events with an easygoing ride that obeys traffic laws. Meet at the WheelHouse at 7:30 PM, 528 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara. Read about it at www.sbbikemoves.com.

Quick Release ~ August 2009 ~ Page 4

August 8, Greg LeMond’s Le Tour de Montecito, sponsored by 1in6. This 50-mile ride through and around Montecito will be led

by Greg LeMond. Includes breakfast and photo opportunity with LeMond before the ride. Limited to 100 people. Details at www.1in6.org/montecito_tour_email.pdf.

August 9-14, Morro Bay to Santa Barbara Cycling Tour, sponsored by Santa Barbara Wine Country Cycling Tours. Spend two nights in Morro Bay, two in Santa Ynez, and one in Santa Barbara with guided cycling every day. Gourmet lunches, fine dining, deluxe accommodations, vehicle support, bicycle, helmet, and regional wines included.

Details at www.winecountrycycling.com.

August 10-October 5, Adult Bicycle Mechanics, sponsored by Bici Centro. This 8-week class entails a different bicycle component each week. Info and register by email at info@bicicentro.org.

August 15-21, Vines to Coast Cycling Package, sponsored by Santa Barbara Wine Country Cycling Tours. Three nights in Solvang, then 2 nights in Santa Barbara with cycling every day. Gourmet lunches, fine dining, deluxe accommodations, vehicle support. Details at www.winecountrycycling.com.

August 17, Board of Directors Meeting, sponsored by our Bicycle Coalition. This meeting will include discussions of our Coalition’s direction and finances. Meeting at Michael Chiacos’ home, 7:00 PM. August 21-23, Santa Barbara Triathlon, sponsored by many organizations. The Saturday Long Course race has a bike leg of 34 miles. The Sunday Co-ed Sprint and separate Women Only Sprint Courses both have a 6-mile bike leg. Details and registration at http://santabarbaratriathlon.com.

August 26, Safe Routes to School Meeting, sponsored by the SR2S Task Force. Various measures that make it safer for kids to walk and bike to South Coast schools will be discussed. Meeting 9:30-11:00 AM at Santa Barbara Bank & Trust, Conference Room, 1021 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara. Direct questions to Eva Inbar, eva_inbar@cox.net.

Bike sales increase in 2008 The National Bicycle Dealers Association reported that 18.5 million bicycles were sold nationally in 2008, up from 18.2 million in both 2007 and 2006. That’s a 2% increase for our $6 billion bicycle industry of bicycles, parts and accessories.

California is—ahem—not #1

Solvang becomes a cycling magnet

The League of American Bicyclists has been evaluating US communities for “bicycle friendliness” for several years, but only in 2008 did they start evaluating states. For each state, they assess 75 questionnaire responses dealing with legislation, policies, programs, infrastructure, education, encouragement, evaluation, planning, and enforcement.

One would think that, since 24 out of the 85 “Bicycle Friendly Communities” (including Santa Barbara) are in our state, California would be stellar. However, it seems state policies and programs are largely separate of all our great local biking efforts and successes.

For 2009, California came in 14th place. We were beat by WA, WI, ME, OR, MN, IA, AZ, NH, DE, NJ, WY, IL and CO in that order.

What’s worse, California was ranked 7th in 2008, meaning that the efforts of other states propelled them ahead of us. You can read about the Bike League’s many programs at www.bikeleague.org.

The city of Solvang, and the Santa Ynez Valley in general, have been marketing themselves for years as providing a European ambiance without a passport. That has been shifting over the past decade to a cycling destination.

More cyclists have come to know the area through thousandperson rides like the Solvang Century. Plus, early season training camps for major cycling teams brought additional attention.

Touring companies took notice, and started offering spring and fall tours in the whole area between San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara, but concentrating on the Solvang area.

The biggest boost, however, has come from the Amgen Tour of California that has held time trials in Solvang since 2007. Each year, more cycling fans jam the hotels and restaurants for miles around—bringing welcome revenue to businesses and the city. In 2008, there were 15,000 fans, and last year it swelled to 25,000.

The Versus TV channel coverage has been broadcast worldwide, and the exposure has been invaluable. Such promotion would have cost many thousands if purchased separately. Each year, not only multitudes of fans, but also hundreds of media representatives bring in major revenue—and their cameras—to the city and valley.

Will the Tour return in 2010? We all want to know, but will have to wait for an answer when AEG announces the Tour route in September. Rumors suggest a mountain top stage finish at Big Bear, and a possible stage in the Sierras. About 40 other cities are competing with Solvang for a Tour stage. Stay tuned.

Why we never forget how to bike It takes a while to learn the skills to properly balance and pedal a bicycle. However, once the motor skills are learned, we apparently engrave them in our brains forever. The expression “it’s like riding a bike” tells us that once learned, some skills persist in our brains.

A team of neuroscientists from Scotland, Italy, the UK, US, and Netherlands have identified a key nerve cell in the brain that structures electrical signals into a code that is engraved more or less permanently as memory for new motor skills like bicycling.

It’s reassuring to know that we don’t have to re-install those training wheels after a break from cycling.

We thank our active members Please thank and support these Bicycle Coalition business members: Bicycle Bob’s, Santa Barbara Nett & Champion Insurance Services, Santa Barbara g Pedal Power Bicycles, Santa Maria g Chris King Precision Components, Portland, Oregon g Hazard’s Cyclesport, Santa Barbara g Dr J’s Bicycle Shop, Solvang g Big Bang PR, www.bigbangpr.net, Santa Barbara g Santa Barbara Pedicabs, Santa Barbara g Santa Barbara Bike Repair, Santa Barbara g WheelHouse, Santa Barbara g Santa Barbara Bikes To-Go, Santa Barbara We welcome our new member: Marc Nelson. Plus we greatly appreciate those who renewed their memberships: Karen Gumtow, Bob Swinney, David Madajian, Lane Anderson, Robert Young, and Don Bullick. g g

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Quick Release ~ August 2009 ~ Page 5

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Make payable to Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition. Mail to Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition, PO Box 92047,

Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition President, Ralph Fertig, 962-1479 sb-ralph@cox.net Vice President, Wilson Hubbell, 683-1240 wilsonhubbell@aol.com Secretary, Mark McClure, 967-5031 mcclure606@yahoo.com Treasurer, David Bourgeois, 899-3728 daveb@alumni.caltech.edu Director, Judy Keim, 687-2912 jkpedpad@aol.com Director, Don Lubach, 722-2349 dlubach@mac.com Director, Ed France, 617-3255 edfrance@bicicentro.org Director, Michael Chiacos, 284-4179 mchiacos@cecmail.org

Director, Erika Lindemann, 569-1544 eglindemann@gmail.com Advisor, Dru van Hengel, 564-5544 dvanhengel@SantaBarbaraCA.gov Advisor, Matt Dobberteen, 568-3000 matt@cosbpw.net Advisor, Lori La Riva, 961-8919 llariva@sbcag.org

Road repair contacts

Caltrans www.dot.ca.gov/maintform.html Carpinteria Charlie Ebeling, 684-5405 x402 cebeling@ci.carpinteria.ca.us Goleta Bill Millar, 968-6848 bmillar@cityofgoleta.org

Lompoc Larry Bean, 736-1261 l_bean@ci.lompoc.ca.us Santa Barbara City Dru van Hengel, 564-5544 dvanhengel@SantaBarbaraCA.gov Santa Barbara County Matt Dobberteen, 568-3576 matt@cosbpw.net Santa Maria David Whitehead, 925-0951 x227 dwhitehead@ci.santa-maria.ca.us Solvang Brad Vigro, 688-5575 bradv@cityofsolvang.com UCSB Dennis Whelan, 893-7009 dennis.whelan@planning.ucsb.edu

Shop discounts Bicycle Coalition members benefit from discounts at local shops.

It’s another reason to join. To get your discount, take your copy of Quick Release to the shop and show them your address label or cut out the label box and take it. Discount details are online at www.sbbike.org/SBBC/who.html.

Bicycle Bob’s 250 Storke Road #A, Goleta 15 Hitchcock Way, Santa Barbara Bicycle Connection 223 W. Ocean Avenue, Lompoc Hazard’s Cyclesport 110 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara Lighthouse Bicycles phone 688-6385 Main Street Cycles 311 East Main Street, Santa Maria Open Air Bicycles 224 Chapala Street, Santa Barbara Pedal Power Bicycles 1740 Broadway, Santa Maria True Flight Cycle Works 416 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara VeloPro Cyclery 633 State Street, Santa Barbara 5887 Hollister Avenue, Goleta