September
2003

Coalition calls for “The Obern Trail”



Vie and George Obern rode their tandem to the 2001 Goleta Lemon Festival. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• Everybody on the County's South Coast knows and loves what doesn't have a name, but is commonly called the "Atascadero Creek Bikepath." Few of us, however, know its history. We hope to correct that by applying an appropriate name to the path in honor of two individuals—and Bicycle Coalition members—who worked tirelessly to bring it into existence: George & Vie Obern.
• On August 20, the Bicycle Coalition sent letters to Susan Rose, Supervisor of the Third District where the path runs, and to Ruth Schuyler, Chair of the Santa Barbara County Riding and Hiking Advisory Committee, asking them to name it "The Obern Trail."
• We wrote, "Today this trail is a significant benefit to the community and stands as a monument to all those who struggled to see its completion, particularly George and Vie. We request that the County take those steps necessary to name the trail The Obern Trail and place appropriate signage to designate it accordingly."
• We couldn't think of a nicer honor for two outstanding people.

Coalition at the crossroads: what's next?

• The Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition has been improving conditions for people who bicycle within our County for nearly 14 years. We are now faced with new opportunities that we can seize and move ahead with...or not. Three possibilities have come into focus in the past few months:
• Santa Barbara Bikestation programs
• A Community Cycling Center modeled after Portland's successful program
• A bicycling education program.
• All three are challenges, but reflect community needs and opportunities that the Bicycle Coalition alone or along with other individuals or groups should seriously consider. For details about the Bikestation, come to our next two meetings when we'll hear more and be able to offer suggestions. Come to our October meeting to hear Joshua Patlak's impressions about the CCC in Portland. As for bicyclist education, if the Bicycle Coalition fails to do anything soon, others are waiting to take it over.

Santa Barbara City receives Bicycle-Friendly honor



Mayor Marty Blum receives the Bicycle-Friendly Community award from Andy Clarke. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• On August 12, Santa Barbara's Mayor Marty Blum and the City Council received an award for being one of the eight most "bicycle-friendly" cities in the US. The award, consisting of a certificate and large sign, were presented by the League of American Bicyclists' Andy Clarke, their Director of State and Local Advocacy.
• The awards have four tiers called platinum, gold, silver and bronze. We share the silver category with five other cities, while two—Palo Alto and Corvallis—are ahead of us at the gold level. Nobody attained the platinum level, so we all have room to improve bicycling and move up the scale.
• Mayor Blum met with Andy Clarke the following morning before he flew back home. Clarke found the meeting beneficial and commented, "We discussed some ideas for getting her colleagues in the US Conference of Mayors and National League of Cities interested in bicycling issues, and that was quite productive."
• Dru van Hengle, the City's mobility coordinator said that they hadn't yet decided where to put the sign. Contact her if you have ideas.

Handling intersections
Word from the President, by Wilson Hubbell

• All too often cyclists locate themselves in the wrong place when encountering a stop light at an intersection. Here are some things to remember:
• Don't unnecessarily block right turning traffic. This typically happens when a cyclist traveling through an intersection stops for a red light in the middle of a right-turn-lane, thus blocking right turning traffic. When you come to a red light at an intersection and you are continuing straight ahead, place yourself in the through lane and not in the right-turn-lane while you wait for the green light. Also be aware that some local governments have mistakenly striped bikelanes for through bike traffic in right-turn-only lanes. If you encounter these please feel free to contact your local elected officials and direct their attention to them.
• Watch out for the "flat tire triangle". There can be triangular shaped spaces of asphalt at the corners of intersections where right turning traffic and through traffic will not brush away the debris that accumulates on the roadway. You can usually see these spaces as you cross an intersection and it is best to avoid them if you can. Broken glass and other tire hazards tend to lurk in these spaces.
• You don't need to get out in the middle of an intersection in order to turn left. When traffic gets heavy and you want to turn left, just pass through the intersection and wait on the other side (but not in the right turn lane). When the light changes to green for cross traffic, you ride along with it.
• Wear a rearview mirror. Knowing what is going on behind you can be critical at intersections, particularly where motorists have the option of turning or continuing straight ahead from the lane closest to the curb. A rear view mirror can help you spot turn signals and other "intention movements" without having to turn your head away from the action in the intersection.
• Enjoy the ride!

CCC report at October Coalition meeting

• League Certified Instructor Joshua Patlak, Board member Dru van Hengel's husband, recently visited the Community Cycling Center in Portland, Oregon, as part of a whirlwind tour of the area that included soccer tournaments and visits with his sister and youngest nephew, Orion.
• He found the center to be vast in scope. Not only is this a place to recycle bicycles, but also a venue where relationships are born, recycled art created, and job skills honed. A high level of local enthusiasm for the center became evident only minutes after the visit began. The place was hopping! Executive Director Daniel Boehm graciously hosted a tour which impressed Joshua. He commented, "the operation is huge."
• Joshua will present his findings at the October evening Coalition meeting.

August meeting topics

• Our August 5th Bicycle Coalition meeting was another successful occasion. It included these topics:
• The County has hired Matt Dobberteen as the new Alternative Transportation Manager.
• John Asuncion from SBCAG requested our ideas for bikeway projects for a State Transportation Improvement Project list.
• Mike Hecker announced that his new 5-event Nitecross mountain bike race series will start in Goleta on August 5th.
• Ralph Fertig will attend the Walk/Bike California conference in Oakland this October; others should attend if possible.
• Our Member Appreciation BBQ is set for August 10. Ralph Fertig and Erika Lindemann are coordinating, Mike Hecker is reminding members by phone.
• Programs for the upcoming Santa Barbara Bikestation will be considered at our September and October meetings.
• The Coalition voted to write letters to Representatives Capps and Gallegly about the possible loss of bikeway funds through Transportation Enhancements.
• We'll have a booth and maybe bike parking at the Goleta Lemon Festival this October (Christine Le Bon from the Festival sent us delicious lemon bars as a treat).
• Increasing interest in safe biking classes raises the question of who, if anybody, will coordinate the program. Should the Coalition assume responsibility?
• Ideas for a Bike Week kick-off event were discussed. Ralph Fertig wants to bring touring cyclist Willie Weir to Santa Barbara for the event.

Ellwood-Devereux EIRs to start



Proposed UCSB faculty housing includes a bike path connecting Phelps Road with Ellwood area. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• The process of writing three Environmental Impact Reports (EIRs) about proposed construction and physical changes to the Ellwood Devereux Open Space is about to begin. A public meeting on August 13, held to solicit comments about what to include in the EIRs, was attended by 100 people who voiced concerns.
• Three different entities are proposing housing within the large undeveloped coastal space: the University of California Santa Barbara, the City of Goleta, and Santa Barbara County. UCSB proposes 207-to-236 units of faculty housing south of Canon Green condominiums (shown above), and 84-to-151 units of student housing along Storke Road. Goleta is proposing 78 residences built by Comstock Homes along Hollister Avenue. And the County is proposing 32 homes and 22 apartment units on part of Ocean Meadows Golf Course. Altogether, these would occupy about 80 acres out of the Open Space total of 665 acres.
• Of concern to bicyclists are paths for commuting and recreation. Professor Harry Nelson pointed out that a third of faculty living in West campus housing now bike to UCSB, and those who will reside in the new North Campus Faculty Housing will also bike if conditions are as favorable. More than one person asked for improvements on the unsafe bicycling conditions on Slough Road east of Devereux Slough because of narrow lanes, rough roadway, and speeding motorists.
• Comments about what the three EIRs—scheduled for release for review in January 2004—should consider will be accepted until September 4th. They can be submitted online at this location: www.ellwood-devereux.org/feedback.asp.
• On a separate preparation schedule is the Open Space Plan, a draft of which will be released for public review in late October.

Santa Barbara's new “town bikes”



Erika Lindemann, center, teaches City employees how to safely bike around town. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• Santa Barbara City employees will now have an easier time getting around downtown Santa Barbara, thanks to a new purchase of a fleet of 10 town bicycles, which are available in bike lockers throughout the city. The bikes can be checked out by any City employee who needs to take a work-related trip that is within bicycling distance. The bikes were purchased to encourage use of alternative transportation while at work, thereby avoiding unnecessary use of the City's fleet of motor vehicles. The bicycles encourage the use of alternative transportation for the commute to and from work, since employees who took the bus, walked or carpooled to work can have access to a bicycle for lunch or other approved trips.
• Dru van Hengel, the City's Mobility Coordinator, chose a fleet of Breezer Bicycles because the bikes are designed with everyday transportation in mind. They are all equipped with bike racks, kickstands, baskets and a generator light that stores enough energy to stay illuminated even when the bicycles are stopped at a traffic light. Fenders and chain guards keep dirt and water away from work clothes and the bikes come in a variety of sizes for added safety and comfort.
• In cooperation with Traffic Solutions, two-hour basic street skills classes are being offered to all interested employees to ensure that users of the bicycles will know how to ride safely and effectively on the streets of downtown Santa Barbara and beyond. Class attendees will not only gain invaluable street skills but will also be given a free helmet for attending! For more information, please contact Dru van Hengel at 564-5544 or dvanhengel@ci.santa-barbara.ca.us.
• Interested in having a Street Skills Class taught at your workplace? Contact Erika Lindemann of Traffic Solutions, 961-8919 or elindemann@sbcag.org.

Joe Breeze speaks out

• "Those Santa Barbarans have got it figured out!"
  
        — Joe Breeze
        — SimpliCity Cycle Company
        www.breezerbikes.com

Safe Routes to School

• On August 12, over 20 individuals and organizations interested in fostering safer travel by bike and foot to schools met. Bicycle Coalition board members Dru van Hengel, Ralph Fertig, and Wilson Hubbell participated in the meeting organized by Jessica Scheeter from COAST, the Coalition for Sustainable Transportation.
• The South Coast's Safe Routes to School program was started when the Bicycle Coalition was awarded funding from the California Department of Health Services in October 2000. Subsequent stakeholder workshops identified areas of concerns and existing barriers. The money helped selected schools with bicycle rodeos, incentive programs, helmet distribution and Bike to School days. Last summer, COAST became the umbrella organization for the program.
• Futureactions include mobility surveys of student travel, "bike trains" where kids are led by an adult to school, expanded Bike to School Days, on-site bike safety training, integration of travel by bike and foot into everyday school curricula, mapping safe routes around schools, parent education about health benefits of exercise, and expansion of the program into Carpinteria and the North County.

Survey shows 27% Americans bicycle

• A large national survey showed that 27% adults bicycled at least once a month during the 2002 summer. The survey showed that males bicycle more (34%), as did those 16-24 years old (39%), and Hispanics (29%).
• An estimated 91 million bicycling trips were made last summer. The average leg of a trip was 3.9 miles long. While much is made of the US Census data on trips to work where only 0.4% are done nationally by bicycle, it turns out that very few bicycle trips are to work or school. Here's why people bicycle:
• 26% Recreation
  24% Health or exercise
  14% Heading home
  14% Personal errands
  10% Visit friend or relative
  5% Commute to work or school
  2% Bicycle ride
  5% Other trip reason.
• When asked how satisfied they were, 47% reported need for improvements. Mostly they wanted more bicycle trails, paths, lanes, racks, traffic signals, lighting or crosswalks. The survey was conducted by the Gallup Organization by phoning 9,616 people.

Andy Singer

Coalition asks for restoration of “Enhancements”

• Since it was established in 1991, the Transportation Enhancements program has helped fund 36 projects within Santa Barbara county. It has funded projects for bikeways, pedestrian sidewalks, bike/ped bridges, wetlands restoration, roadway landscaping, historical site restoration, and trails. Without the Federal funding, very popular projects that benefit bicyclists more than anybody else may have never been planned or completed.
• The Bicycle Coalition sent letters to our Representatives Lois Capps and Elton Gallegly asking them to restore the Transportation Enhancements program to the 2004 budget. In July, the House Appropriations Committee deleted the $620 million Transportation Enhancements from the $33.8 billion transportation bill. However, the full House and the Senate have yet to vote on the bill.
• We wrote, "The Enhancements program has been cited as one of the most successful national transportation programs because it supports thousands of smaller, popular projects in communities throughout our nation. Please help restore Transportation Enhancements to the 2004 appropriations bill. Our county, our state, and our country will all be better off."
• We'll be closely watching what happens in Congress this fall, and supporting our interests as it's necessary.

World’s first bicycle?



This is a scale model constructed from Japanese drawings dated 1732.

• Japanese engineers and archaeologists have reconstructed what appears to have been the world's first bicycle—in 1732 Japan! That's 130 years before European bicycles.
• A former bicycle company technical advisor worked with a professor of industrial archeology to analyze preserved drawings from lord Kuheiji Hiraishi (1696-1771). They recreated what was described as a "newly-developed, boat-style ground vehicle."
• The vehicle has a wooden body, a single front wheel and two rear wheels. The pedals are connected to a disk that resembles a flywheel with an iron rod similar to a crankshaft.
• The pedal structure is identical to that of bicycles. They were apparently built and used in the Edo (Tokyo) area, however the idea did not spread through Japan because most of the rural roads at the time were too rough. Riders could reportedly pedal along at 8 MPH.

Granada Garage Bikestation discussion

• Come to our next two Bicycle Coalition meetings to discuss what services you foresee as desirable and feasible for Santa Barbara's upcoming Bikestation located in the Granada Garage parking structure.
• Georgia Case from the Bikestation Coalition in Long Beach will attend both meetings to describe what other Bikestations have, and what might succeed here. Envision self-serve bike lockers, memberships, electric vehicle rentals, bike rentals, bike repair, and equipment sales. Or anything else that bicyclists might want there, or even at satellite locations. It's in our interest to have a successful venture there whether we're involved or not.
• If you cannot make either meeting, email your ideas to info@sbbike.org.

UCSB path closure draws objections



This existing bikepath detour will be closed for three weeks for construction. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• For three weeks ending on 9/11, UCSB will close part of the Coast Route through campus. A detour is planned, but it requires walking your bicycle for three minutes over 1100 feet of wide campus sidewalk.
• The closure is for bikepath reconfiguration as part of the Engineering Science Building project. The university says that bicyclists who don't walk their bikes are subject to fines.
• One UCSB worker complained, "If the University takes away the bikepath I use every day for commuting...the university should set up an alternative route. Campus is empty these days, I can't imagine bicyclists on the so called 'sidewalk' being more dangerous than the usual team of skateboarders."
• Another commuter added, "I don't see any reason why part of the very wide walkway in the detour area could not be designated as an alternative bike path. It seems to me that UCSB, of all places, should be encouraging people to bike to campus. Certainly this cannot be achieved by prohibiting the riding of bikes through campus, which this 'detour' basically does."
• Keep in mind that campus planners initially wanted to close the path for the entire period of construction for the Engineering Science building. They have thankfully reduced closure to the minimum. Nevertheless, it seems that some way to accommodate both bicyclists and pedestrians on the sidewalk is possible.

101 IP update

• Presentations were given, the public spoke, and the Association of Governments (SBCAG) board members expressed their views about reducing highway congestion. However, after three hours, no agreement was reached on whether or not to proceed with the Highway 101 Implementation Plan (101 IP). So action will be delayed for at least a month.
• The 101 IP is important to bicyclists because without the $1.5 million long-range study, Highway 101 will be widened between Santa Barbara and the Ventura County line without consideration of alternatives that may be more cost-effective in moving people and goods. With the 101 IP, we'll have a seat at the table when people discuss transportation; otherwise, we'll be sitting in the parking lot.
• Bicycle Coalition VP Ralph Fertig spoke in favor of the 101 IP at the August 21 SBCAG Board meeting. He said, "While nobody believes that more bicycling will solve traffic congestion along sections of Highway 101 and nearby streets, we do know that there's no magic bullet—no single action—that will. We also know that we need an effort toward consensus involving all community members to come up with an acceptable long-range plan of measures. Otherwise, opposition to one project or another from different groups will result in years of delay—or ultimate defeat of that project."
• In late September, SBCAG Board will again consider funding the IP process.

Nitecross races



Racers prepare for an upcoming race in the Nitecross series in Goleta. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• For five consecutive evenings, a new series of races started on August 5. Saddled with a ridiculously long name, the "Santa Barbara Summer Nitecross Mountain Bike Twilight Dirt Criterium Series" nonetheless is doing fine.
• Race manager Mike Hecker says, "We are happy that this first year of Nitecross has been as successful as it has. As with anything that is new it takes time to attract the masses. The important thing is that we are getting people out to have a good time and turning people on to the sport side of bicycling. We even are getting kids out for the free kid's races!"
• Thanks Mike!

Active members

• Please thank and support the following businesses that are Bicycle Coalition members:
• King Cycle Group Shasta Lake
• MarBorg Industries, Santa Barbara
• Nett & Champion Insurance, Santa Barbara
• Rincon Cycles, Carpinteria
• Tri Paradise Sports, Santa Barbara
• Lightning Cycle Dynamics, Lompoc
• We welcome new member Darren Hardy in Santa Barbara, and we're very grateful to the following who renewed their memberships: Mark Mittermiller, Hildy Hoffmann, Mark McClure, and Ron Williams.

Bike safety course misses Santa Barbara

• We tried to bring a "Community Bicycle Safety for Law Enforcement" course to Santa Barbara, but lost out to Davis, California. The course, sponsored by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), will be given in three US locations this fall.
• Ralph Fertig, Coalition VP, talked to the course coordinator Peter Flucke of WE BIKE in Wisconsin. Flucke, a former bicycle policeman, said that we will be considered for follow-up courses if the first ones meet expectations. The two ultimate goals of the course are:
• Decrease the number of deaths and injuries resulting from bicycle/motor vehicles crashes
• Increase the number of people choosing to bicycle for recreation and transportation.
• NHTSA is working to meet these goals by improving the bicycle safety knowledge of police officers, promoting increased bicycle safety activities in police departments and enabling select police officers to serve as community bicycle safety coordinators. The courses will be limited to about 10 participants.
• For information about participating, phone Flucke at 920-497-3196 or email him at webike@aol.com.

Echelon Junior team at Nationals in Texas



Spencer Hartfield, foreground, races on the Memorial Herman Alkek Velodrome. Photo by Miles Hartfield.

• The Echelon Santa Barbara's Junior Team, coached by Rory O'Reilly, scored at Junior National Championships in Texas in July. Spencer Hartfield took 3rd place for the men's 15-16 year old 500m time trial and 15km points race. Other Echelon team members in Texas were Cody O'Reilly, Mark Gustafson, Aaron Dickman, and Colter Cederlof.