Started in 1956 by the League of  American Bicyclists as part of National Bike Month, Bike to Work encourages people to commute on their bikes to [...]]]> Title: Bike to Work day
Description: National Bike to Work day
Date: 2012-5-18

Can’t make the Tour and can’t call in?
Switch the 4 wheels for 2 or 3!

Started in 1956 by the League of  American Bicyclists as part of National Bike Month, Bike to Work encourages people to commute on their bikes to realize all the benefits that cyclo-commuting has to offer.  Less congestion, and reduced stress are just two positive results of commuting by bike.

A 2009 study of nearly 2,400 adults found that those who biked to work were fitter, leaner, less likely to be obese, and had better triglyceride levels, blood pressure, and insulin levels than those who didn’t actively commute to work. Gordon-Larsen, P., et al., 2009

So?

Although when the sun sets this 18th, Bike to Work week will officially end, keep a good thing going by continuing to ride your bike!  Not only will you get some miles in,  you’ll avoid  some of the nastier side effects of sedentary commuting as we outlined earlier.  The National Bike Challenge is still going strong all the way through August, so keep on pedaling and record those miles!

Here [...]]]> The evening of 5/16/2012 marked the 10th annual Ride of Silence (RoS) around the world.
Angelique Martinez, 16, of Oxnard organized a RoS in memory of her brother Anthony, 6, who was struck and killed by a pickup truck last Thanksgiving, was selected by the Ride of Silence board of directors as this years’ “champion and hero”.

Here in Orange County, it marked the 6th for Irvine organized by BCI, and a 1st for San Clemente organized by Sally Guon.

Intrigued as to how to form and organize a RoS,
your reporter contacted Sally to find out.

Perhaps her story will awaken desire and inspire others to do the same
for their cities.

Here are 2 pics of the San Clemente RoS with riders northbound on PCH
taken by OCBCs’ own, Pete Van Nuys:

Now in her own words,  the background, the process she went through to make it happen and a message for all that really want to make a difference:
“You can make it happen”.

“My husband and I moved to San Clemente 3 years ago from Plano, Tx. We were friends with Larry Schwartz, whose memory we honored in the first RIDE OF SILENCE originating in Dallas, Texas. Our friend, Chris Phelan, organized the event and over 1,000 people were there to ride silently around White Rock Lake (9.3 miles).

My husband and I are avid cyclists and have ridden many miles in several states. There is always a concern each time we ride that motor vehicles will look for us, respect that we have a right to be on the road too, and that we will be safe in our journey. I shudder each time I learn of someone being killed or injured by a motorist and think it could be me out there?

I wanted to make a difference. I am passionate about bicycle safety for both the rider and the motorist.

I reached out to Chris Phelan and he said these simple words to me, “You can make it happen”. Chris encouraged me to look through the RIDE OF SILENCE  for suggestions on flyers and video I would be able to use. When I researched the website I was impressed by how large the movement had become in 10 years time and how much aide was available to help me organize an event in my home town.

I was very surprised that in all of Orange County there was only one event and that was in Irvine. This seemed an opportunity to me in far south Orange County just because of the volume of cyclists I see in this area. I had 1000 flyers printed and posted flyers all over bicycle shops, coffee shops, bagel shops, dentists’ offices, physicians’ offices, basically anywhere I knew cyclist could be found.

I communicated on social media and face to face. I was met with an enthusiastic response and remember all of the stories that were told to me of people who know someone killed or injured while riding their bike. Pete Van Nuys was very inspirational to me here in San Clemente. He is such a bicycle advocate and is wants to get bicycle education out there, especially to our young people learning to ride. Pete met with me and was very helpful to give me suggestions on getting the word out in a bigger way publicly. Pete also suggested a bicycle safety course 101 to me whereby I can be a certified instructor and help educate at the local schools. I’ll be honest, I was not aware this existed. I assured Pete that I will follow through with this course and help educate our young people.

So, in these simple words to those wondering if you can do it. I say
“YOU CAN MAKE IT HAPPEN”!

The first ‘RIDE OF SILENCE’ in the San Clemente area started at the North Beach commuter parking lot and headed west, northwest along the PCH through Capo Beach and along Harbor Drive.

Sally Guon collecting names/emails/memorials from participants	Sally Guon talking to Fred Swegles with OCRegister as participants arrive	Mike Guon details the bike route for the RIDE OF SILENCE
Sally Guon, organizer, reading a tribute for the RIDE OF SILENCE	Cyclist making their way through Capo Beach/Doheny State Beach	Cyclist riding through Dana Point Harbor towards Kayak Beach

(photographs by Julie Springer-Anderson, San Juan Capistrano)

Our turnaround was at Kayak Beach and back again along PCH. There were fewer than 20 people in total and included people from San Clemente, Dana Point and San Juan Capistrano.

For a first event this size was quite manageable in terms of getting cyclist thru the traffic lights in one cycle. As we gathered together, I registered the riders with name, e-mail address and asked for the names of persons they were riding in memory of or those who have been injured. I gave each participant a reflective ROS sticker for their car or bicycle while my husband reviewed the course route we would be taking. I read the ROS poem and led the silent ride while my husband stayed in the back of our group. Safety was our number one concern and we did stay inside the barricades where permissible. Traffic was light on our outbound but increased as we returned home.

Motorists were very respectful and we encountered only one motorist trying to make a right hand turn in the middle of our group as we proceeded through our green light. My husband reached out and put his hand on her car to get her attention and beacon her to stop for us (also on her right).

We look forward to this being the foundation of many years to come. I personally wear a bicycle kit from TEAM CARD  which is very colorful and states the three foot law all over it. Somehow I feel I’m educating motorists while wearing it.

Most importantly we want to bring worldwide attention to motorists sharing the road with cyclists, especially as the number of cyclists increase; so should motorist alertness to us on the roadways.”

Thank you Sally, and Thanks to All Riders and Participants in the Inaugural Ride of Silence in San Clemente.

National Bike to School Day is coordinated by the National Center for Safe Routes to School.   Details and contact info for California are here.

A  planning resource is hosted by the same group at a different site which is here.

To use our [...]]]> Title: Bike to School day
Description: Bike to School day
Date: 2012-05-09

National Bike to School Day is coordinated by the National Center for Safe Routes to School.   Details and contact info for California are here.

A  planning resource is hosted by the same group at a different site which is here.

To use our bikeways in planning a route to school, please see the OCTA’s Bikeways Map.

updated 4/20/12 w/new link-sprocket

KTU+A is working with the City of Huntington Beach on a Bicycle [...]]]> The city of Huntington Beach, KTU+A (a San Diego planning and landscape architecture firm), and Complete Streets silver medalist Fehr+Peers (specializes in providing transportation planning and traffic engineering services), and the OCBC urge you to complete the Huntington Beach Bike Plan Survey.

KTU+A is working with the City of Huntington Beach on a Bicycle Master Plan and wants to know your opinion through their data gathering process before announcing community workshops – yay! Your feedback and input will directly affect your future cycling opportunities.

Now is the time to get involved; let your voice be heard!
Thanks  for your support.

After a full week end of bike related fun, let’s keep the momentum growing!

This month features Ride to School Day, Ride to Work Day, the 1st mountain bike race and expo at Aliso Woods, Bike the Game, Ride to work week, Ride of [...]]]>

After a full week end of bike related fun, let’s keep the momentum growing!

This month features Ride to School Day, Ride to Work Day, the 1st mountain bike race and expo at Aliso Woods, Bike the Game, Ride to work week, Ride of Silence, 3 stages of the Tour of California, the OC Tri, the Dana Point Gran Prix, and the opening of Anaheim’s Bicycle Share Trial Program by Bike Nation.

Locally riders can register with the OCTA to track their miles, and win prizes.
PLEDGE TO RIDE, GET A $25 DISCOUNT COUPON AND YOU COULD WIN PRIZES!

And don’t forget to register in the National Bike Challenge: at their website,  because this Challenge runs all the way into August giving you and the rest of OC a chance to shine in the National spotlight.

More to come…

The weather by the beach was overcast and cool.  Perfect riding weather!

The riders coming into Seal Beach

Meeting the riders of the Protest Pedal at the County Line, we moved south and took a short break for lunch.

Lunch [...]]]> Seal Beach 4/21

Thanks OC for showing you care!

The weather by the beach was overcast and cool.  Perfect riding weather!

The riders coming into Seal Beach

Meeting the riders of the Protest Pedal at the County Line, we moved south and took a short break for lunch.

Lunch stop

After lunch, two riders dropped out of the peloton and into the support wagon.  Maybe it was my description of the dangers lying ahead or they were just due for a breather after braving the Wilds of Wilmington riding from Santa Monica that morning.  In any event, we would regroup soon enough in San Clemente.  Making it through Sunset Beach we rode down PCH into Huntington at a brisk pace.  Riding in the door zone is never fun so the pace slowed as the point man kept a sharp eye among the traffic on the left and the people and cars on the right.  We were still moving faster than taking the bikepath through town. After quick break on the north side of Newport, I gained the sense of traffic, and opted for the “tourist route” around the worst part of PCH in Corona del Mar (CdM) by rolling by the homes and yacht clubs on the bay. Freed from the confines of  CdM, the peloton picked up speed as we neared the southern reaches of Newport.
Waiting for a red light to change, an SUV went through the intersection at full speed.  Distracted Driver aboard?  Southward into Crystal Cove and Morro we were really moving and dodging the substantial overgrowth into the bike  lane.  For Laguna Beach we pressed for forward even though there is no bike lane, tons of distractions, and everything that makes Laguna Beach a popular place to avoid (especially after 8 if you are a cyclist).  Running the gauntlet through town, we were stopped by a red light and Moe called for a calorie break.  Onto the side street calories were inhaled, a quick picture or two, and we resumed the ride towards South Laguna and points beyond.

Break in Laguna Beach

Entering Dana Point, we took the “postcard route” and descended Cove to Harbor with its inviting restrooms.  After a quick bio break, we rode through the campground and onto the protected path out of town.  Our previous pace put us ahead of schedule so we throttled back a little and pulled into the old Metrolink station, home to Urban Bicycle Outfitters, and .3 miles from the Protest Pedlers’ hotel. Bob had his bike looked at, as Moe and I reviewed maps and direction for the next leg to San Diego. Bob returned with his bike and then it was just he and Moe to finish the short uphill grind to their over-night.
At San Clemente:

Your faithful reporter looked at the hill and begged off as he was cooked from the blistering pace set by Moe and Bob and needed a little more time to recover before riding off into the sunset.

On their way to San Diego! (after an overnight of course)

]]> http://ocbike.org/2012/04/protest-pedal-postscript/feed/ 0 http://ocbike.org/2012/04/ocbc-thanks-ciclavia/ http://ocbike.org/2012/04/ocbc-thanks-ciclavia/#comments Sat, 21 Apr 2012 02:16:25 +0000 Sprocket http://ocbike.org/?p=2295 Many thanks to the organizers of CicLAvia for allowing the Orange County Bicycle Coalition to participate in a wonderful day.  Let’s do it again, but next time in “our” house!  Now if only there were a way to connect the 2 counties in a cross-county “County La Via?” hmmmm maybe someday; the sooner the better, [...]]]> Many thanks to the organizers of CicLAvia for allowing the Orange County Bicycle Coalition to participate in a wonderful day.  Let’s do it again, but next time in “our” house!  Now if only there were a way to connect the 2 counties in a cross-county “County La Via?” hmmmm maybe someday; the sooner the better, yes?

The OCBC would also like to thank and recognize the Sponsors and Volunteers that make events like this possible.  Thank you ALL very much!

Specifically, we would like to thank Garo’s Produce for donating a bottomless bin of oranges to feed and hydrate the masses for almost 4 hours!  They were appreciated very much, and tasty too!  Thanks to Roger Martin from the South Bay Wheelmen who moved the oranges from Garo’s over to Woori Market in Little Tokyo whose management kindly kept them overnight and delivered them to our intersection at lunchtime.

Thank You, or perhaps どうもありがとう, or Domo arigato!

Thank you to  The Home Depot (in Tustin and LA) and ACE Beverage for supplying water, and liquid refreshments, especially the end of day ones (wink, wink, nudge, – say no more)!

According to OCBC’s Jim Freibert, “As far as we know, our adopted intersection was the only one giving away any food or water”.

Thanks to our Sponsors this was possible, thank you again very much.

But we didn’t hand out just food and water!
Thanks to:
Knott’s Berry Farm, the OC Tourism Council, the  CA Visitors Welcome Center in Buena Park, MEDIEVAL TIMES, and PIRATES  for their donations of tickets and posters of attractions in the OC.

Thanks to Katie for all the balloons (orange of course), which brought some nice color to the cityscape and helped frame our adopted intersection.

Thanks goes to our staff; Pete, for wearing two hats, as our Executive Director, and helping out everywhere; 

Brian and Jonathan from Jax Bicycle Centers with countless bicycle repairs.

The other board member, Vince Buck brought his Daughter Michelle, and her fiancee Brett – all shown in stopping traffic on East 4th Place and East Third Street – while motorized vehicles had the green light on South Alameda.

Thanks to Tony and Isabel for passing out water, and several hundred FREE plush toys, mostly bears from Plushland, and Marlene for your help as an Intersection Angel too! 

Wes Parsel from the OCTA was the first to arrive, and did double duty like most of our volunteers!

Finally, last but not least, two Orange Co (FVSD) teachers, cycling friends Dan, and Jane, with her husband Freddie, and Nick, and Lupi who came to help too!

Some of our “Intersection Angels”  wore Angels of Anaheim baseball caps, while others wore orange & blue caps from Rabobank, (whose team we’ll being seeing next month at the Tour d California) along with Orange T-shirts, and bright orange safety vests.

Thank you all, it was a real learning experience that can be applied to our own CiclOCia!

Garo’s Produce
1362 Lawrence St
Los Angeles, California 90021
Tel: (213) 236-0840

Ace Beverage Co.
401 S. Anderson St.
Los Angeles, CA 90033 (Map)
p. 323-264-6000

Here’s an update to the analysis and [...]]]> In our previous post about Transportation Policy, Sprocket presented a table to illustrate the potential drastic reduction in funds due to an apparent trend in decreasing miles driven by 16-34 year olds as brought forth by a report issued by the U.S. PIRG Education Fund & Frontier Group.

Here’s an update to the analysis and what it means to you, me, and anyone who uses funding from taxes collected from the sale of gasoline and diesel fuels.

The net takeaway: Buy a mountain bike now – bumpy roads lie ahead.

Background: The Federal gasoline tax currently stands at 18.4 cents per gallon and is not indexed to inflation. What that means is that the tax has remained at a constant 18.4 cents over time while its value has decreased due to an increased supply of money in “the system” which dilutes what those cents can buy today.

As an illustration: Let’s say a piece of bubblegum sells for 1 penny, and having 2 pennies, you walk away with 2 pieces of bubblegum – yum!
Time goes by (maybe a year or two), and you again wish for a piece of bubblegum. You approach the counter with 2 pennies and 2 pieces of bubblegum, and are stunned by the revelation that 1 piece of bubblegum now sells for 2 pennies. What happened?
Obviously your penny will now buy half of what it used to, and the term used to explain that phenomena is improperly called inflation.

Inflation is something your tires need when they are flat. As you fill them with air, notice how they expand and seat snugly against the constraint of the rim. What happens when the tire is over inflated beyond its design? If you’re laughing, you already know, but suffice it to say that the tire (or tube if you use those) will overcome the restraint of the rim, usually with a very loud “bang!” and the tire is rapidly deflated. If you’re riding your bike and this happens, the tire could actually roll off the rim, usually leaving the rider with stories of legend if they manage to control the blowout and are able to come to a safe stop.
So that’s inflation in a nutshell, and yes, you could say that over inflation leads to a depression as in the tire is now depressed on de-floor.

In reality, what took 1 penny to buy but now costs 2 is properly referred to as purchasing power (or loss thereof). If you bought 1 piece of gum for a penny in the past, and still can receive that now, your penny’s purchasing power has remained constant over time. If you now receive 2 pieces of bubblegum, your purchasing power has increased or doubled. So obviously, if it takes 2 pennies to receive 1 piece of bubblegum, your purchasing power has decreased by half.

Last raised in 1993, the purchasing power of the gas tax (and the money in your wallet or account), has decreased by 33% which means instead of buying 18.4 pieces of bubblegum in 1993, you now receive 12.3. If you want to buy 18.4 pieces of gum but only have 12.3 pennies, you must get a loan for the full amount needed and thus you need an intermediary to supply the loan. The intermediary might be a friend, your dad, or even a banker, who might accept your bike as collateral for the amount they will loan you and for this service, will charge interest in addition to any additional charges for loan origination, insurance, etc. You can see that things become complicated quickly and it is better left to another post as to where (and how) the bank gets the money for its loans.
Bottom line; by going into debt, more money is created thus diluting the purchasing power of the existing money supply.

By the way, there is also a federal tax on diesel fuel which stands at 24.4 cents per gallon.
Thankfully we will limit our discussion to gasoline only in this post.

State Gasoline Tax

In July 2009 the average state gasoline tax was 28.6 cents per gallon in addition to the 18.4 federal tax for an average tax of 47 cents per gallon. California of course is different and its tax for gasoline is 46.1 cents per gallon, however the tax is less for diesel which stands at 44.6 cents per gallon.

So What?
Intuitively a decline in miles driven results in less fuel being bought, less taxes collected, thus less funds for transportation issues; of which if we (as a nation) rely on to build and maintain our national, regional, and local transportation infrastructure.

Every year the purchasing power of our currency is slowly eroded causing the cost of anything, including transportation projects to increase. If the increase in costs were matched by the taxes collected there would be no problem. With an increase in costs and a decrease in taxes collected, a gap is created between what is desired and what is available to buy it with. Much like the desire to have 18.4 pieces of gum but only having 12.3 cents to pay for it. The question now becomes: “Where will the money to fill the gap come from?”.

Will the money be borrowed, or will something be sold to raise the difference needed? Should we (as a nation) auction the Grand Canyon, or a another national treasure to the highest bidder?

In this country. a rough average estimate for a paved bike path is $1 million per mile.
The dollars used to build these things come from transportation projects. Are you with me now?

What’s the number?
We don’t have a single number because the study didn’t provide the crucial ingredient; the number of “capita” in their “per capita” figures, thus we provide an updated range of possible numbers. It turns out our previous hypothetical, while correctly pointing to the escalating problem of a funding gap, was way shy of the possible population of drivers used in the study. Also, we updated the table to provide clarity into Federal and State funding gaps. Here is the big picture:

The blue arrow is pointing to the data area expanded in the table below. Since the number of drivers and miles driven in California covered by the report are not known (by us), we used the national average state tax rate of 28.6 cents per gallon to derive:

From the report it’s clear that just a 2400 mile reduction per capita made a huge difference in available funds (taxes) when multiplied by the number of capitas! While the report covered the 8 years from 2001 to 2009, the fact that they chose to study the 16-34 year olds is meaningful for 2 reasons:

• 16-34 aged drivers are the most mobile, we would expect to see a decrease
  in miles driven by drivers 50+ over 8 years
• habits formed in this age range are likely to become ingrained into their
  future lifestyle and their offspring’s

Obviously if there were more than 30 million drivers in the age range of 16 to 34 during the period of the study the red ink would be dripping from your monitor onto the floor. While there may have been more, the point has been made, and we aren’t auditors!

Well Then What’s the Point?
What the study dances around, and we present clearly, is that for the 8 years from 2001 to 2009 there’s been a funding gap and now we have an approximate scale to the size of the gap.
The gap has been filled somehow, but at what future cost?

The point is that initial future funding for transportation infrastructure will not only be sharply curtailed, but whatever percentage previously devoted to cycling improvement will come under direct attack or diverted to fill other funding gaps.

That $5 million you thought would build a connecting spur to an existing trail for a commuter link to the bike station at the Metrolink or Amtrak station might vanish into paying interest on loans made, or bonds issued to cover the previous year’s gap.

A showdown is coming between the auto-centric, “Business As Usual” (BAU) crowd who haven’t known anything but constant growth for the last 30 years, and people who see that model as unsustainable and seek out sustainable alternatives such as more class1 and 2 cycle trails, only to find that the funds that were supposed to be available have been diverted into a privatized venture or some other adventure to prop up the decaying status quo.

What About Tomorrow?
Since we only have a greasy rag to clean our shiney Phil Wood hub, the future is not real clear, but we’ll give it a shot anyway.
While we used a generous 25 miles per gallon (mpg) in calculating tax / funding loss in our 1st hypothetical, that is unrealistic going forward, so we will raise it to 30mpg as acknowledgement to the increasing gain in milage by newer vehicles. Obviously if the average mpg is higher even less gas will be used, creating a bleaker picture for funding. Since we provided a redicoulous range number for drivers 16-34 in our previous table, we’ll stick with it, and while gas taxes will probably rise in the near future, and forever, for comparison’s sake we’ll leave them as is.
With all other things remaining equal, we change the model thusly:

• Increase average mile / gallon from 25 to 30
• The base year becomes 2009
• Roll the 2001-2009 trendline forward to 2016

Presenting Tomorrow
One of our possible futures look like this:

This is a rough (ok, very rough) outlook towards the future in which we are
sounding the alarm now in order to better prepare to create a better sustainable future that we can be proud to leave to our children.

Current trends of driving less while cycling more places an increasing demand for additional cycling infrastructure that might not even exist in some places.  How will it be funded?  More to come later.

We in Orange County have been fortunate to have had forward looking leaders and advocates leading us to where we are today.

We ride in the shadows of those that have made it possible to enjoy where we live and ride today.

It is up to each of us to create the best of all possible futures to carry forward for those that follow us tomorrow.

Probably the best reward would be to have a grand-kid look up and say, “Thanks”.
-Sprocket