CyclingSavvy class in Orange April 24th and 25th

Register Here

OCBC is proud to announce our first CyclingSavvy course of 2015 on April 24th and 25th in Orange.

CyclingSavvy is a program of American Bicycling Education Association, Inc. (ABEA). The course teaches the principles of Mindful Bicycling:

  • empowerment to act as confident, equal road users;
  • strategies for safe, stress-free integrated cycling;
  • tools to read and problem-solve any traffic situation or road configuration.

The course is offered in three 3-hour components: a bike-handling session, a classroom session and an on-road tour. The classroom and bike-handling sessions may be taken individually, the road tour requires the other two as a pre-requisite.

Sample Lesson

The object of the course is not to turn people into road warriors. Being a confident, competent cyclist has nothing to do with speed or bravado. You don’t need either of those things to have access to the entire transportation grid.

Even most confident cyclists prefer to use quiet routes when feasible. In many cases, it is only an intimidating intersection or short stretch of busy road which hinders a cyclist’s preferred route. This course is designed to show students simple strategies to eliminate such barriers, and ride with ease and confidence in places they might never have thought possible.

The philosophy and intent of our course is best described in this quote by Aimee Mullins:

…all you really need is one person to show you the epiphany of your own power and you’re off. If you can hand somebody the key to their own power… the human spirit is so receptive… if you can do that and open a door for someone at a crucial moment… you are ‘educating’ them in the best sense. You’re teaching them to open doors for themselves. In fact, the exact meaning of the word “educate’ comes from the root word ‘educe.’ It means to bring forth what is within. To bring out potential.

The 3 Part Course
Our course is designed to be taken as individual sessions or as a complete course. Train Your Bike (bike handling) and Truth & Techniques (classroom session) can be taken individually in any order. To sign up for a Tour of Orange, you must have taken or be signed to take the other two classes prior to the tour class. Individual sessions are $30 per session. A package of three sessions (the full course) is $75. A package may be used to take the sessions at any time.

Train Your Bike! (3 hours):

This session is conducted in a parking lot. It consists of a set of progressive drills designed to increase students’ control and comfort handling their bikes in various situations. Drills include:

  • Start/Stop, Power Pedal & Balance Stop
  • Snail Race, Slow-speed Balance
  • Drag-race, Gears & Acceleration
  • Ride Straight, One-handed
  • Shoulder Check
  • Object-avoidance Handling, Weave, Snap
  • Turning: Slow-speed Tight Turns, High-speed cornering, Emergency Snap-turn
  • Emergency Braking

The Truth & Techniques of Traffic Cycling (3 hours):

Through guided discussion with video and animation, this session familiarizes students with bicycle-specific laws, traffic dynamics and problem-solving strategies. Students discover that bicycle drivers are equal road users, with the right and ability to control their space.

Tour of Orange* (3.5 hours):

This session is an experiential tour of the roads in the city of Orange. The course includes some of the most intimidating road features (intersections, interchanges, merges, etc.) a cyclist might find in his/her travels. The students travel as a group, stopping to survey and discuss each exercise location. After observing the feature, discussing the traffic dynamics and the best strategy for safe and easy passage, the students ride through individually and regroup at a nearby location.

* The Tour session is only available with the full course. The other two sessions may be taken á la carte, in any order.

More information
Origins & Principles of CyclingSavvy

Register Here

 


Update!

To ensure that your bike is in perfect operating condition for the class, Jax  will extend a 50% discount on the labor charge for a “basic service” at any Jax Bicycle Center for anyone who signs up for a Cycling Savvy or TS 101 class. The basic service is $69.99. Jax will  provide a coupon to anyone who signs up for one of the classes for 50% off on the labor charge ($35.00). Any parts that are needed for the service will be at the regular price.

Email lci@ocwheelmen.org if you would like a coupon for a tune-up!

OC Tour de Cure 2012

As one of 83 cycling events in 43 states for diabetes, join over 250 riders as the OC Tour de Cure takes place this Saturday 9/29/12 in Aliso Viejo and Laguna Niguel. The fundraiser supports nearly 26 million Americans with diabetes through the American Diabetes Association.TdC 2012

There are 3 road and mountain routes to choose from, or bring both bikes and ride one of each! A bike corral will hold your extra bike while you are out riding.

Choices in distance vary from 6, 20, and 50-ish miles for the road, while mountain riders may choose from 5, 10, and 25 miles.

The start line is located at the LDS parking lot at 28291 Alicia Parkway, while the finish line and and Tour Village is located at the Wood Canyon Elementary School at 23431 Knollwood in Aliso Viejo.

Thank You!

With online registration now closed, the OC Tour de Cure passed its goal of $60,000 and is just shy of $1,400 of its new target of $80,000.

$80,000 target broken!

You may sponsor a rider, or make a direct donation to the event from the website.

Thank You!

Please be aware, and respect others on the trails, paths, and roads.

For additional information please e-mail Heather Erickson, or call 714-662-7940 ext. 7518.

Thanks for your great support!

Bike Blvds in Anaheim?

The City of Anaheim is proposing Bicycle Boulevards on Lemon and Santa Ana Streets and want your feedback at an OPEN HOUSE Saturday, September 22, 2012  from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm at the Pearson Park Amphitheatre Patio 401 Lemon Street, Anaheim, CA 92805.

The proposal includes removing the north bound traffic lane on Lemon St. between North St. and Cypress St. to accommodate bike paths. The rest of Lemon and Santa Ana will have sharrows– where cars and bikes share a single lane.

Anaheim Plan

Anaheim Plan

It isn’t really clear, but it appears that there is a runner in the bike lane running against traffic, and if so the position of the rider and runner should be reversed, or the runner could use the sidewalk without putting either at risk.  But this is a great graphic to depict the proposal and initiate comment.

National Bike Challenge Wrap-Up

From the website: “12 million total miles were achieved on the final day of the 2012 National Bike Challenge. What an exciting way to end what has been a great effort by a community of over 30,000 riders!”

Raw Numbers (at the time of this writing):

Rider Goal = 50,000 Achieved = 30,371 Result = -19,629

Mile Goal = 10 million Achieved = 12,003,584 Result = + 2,003,584!

The mileage attained surpassed the stated goal by over 2 million miles with over 19 and a half thousand less riders which is awesome. Breaking it down (miles/riders) it works out to roughly 395 miles per rider – well done!

Here’s the top 10 latest standings:

Top 10 States / Points Top 10 Companies / Points
1 – Vermont      / 337.91
2 – Wisconsin    / 212.97
3 – Nebraska    / 191.92
4 – WashDC      / 67.99
5 – Colorado     / 57.48
6 – Iowa           / 50.23
7 – Pennsylvania/ 30.58
8 – Ohio            / 25.81
9 – Kansas        / 24.48
10 – Indiana      / 24.42
1 Trek Bicycle Corp   / 213198
2 Kimberly-Clark Corporation / 198500
3 Retired / 107212
4 American Electric Power / 63277
5 Ingersoll Rand / 51297
6 Texas Instruments / 49591
7 Oshkosh Corporation /
42798
8 NW Mutual / 42585
9 U of W – Madison / 34139
10 Self Employed / 28807

California wound up in 40th place with 4.85 “points” a far cry from where we started out in May at 28th. Ridership grew to 1,553 riders covering 488,719 miles

Here’s the top 10 standings for the state:
Rank   Name                            Distance         Points – County
  1. Antonio Dimatteo    5,063 miles  – 1864p – Ventura
  2. Ken Walker                  4,645 miles – 1735p – Sacramento
  3. Wayne Stetina            3,307 miles – 1499 p – Orange
  4. William Hunt              3,924 miles – 1492 p – Orange
  5. Jeff Shein                     3,492 miles – 1477 p – Orange
  6. Terry Koberstein      2,810 miles – 1475 p – Alameda
  7. Ben Arguilla                3,568 miles – 1420 p – San Diego
  8. Jeffrey Driskell          3,239 miles – 1404 p – Santa Clara
  9. Greg Kline                    3,492 miles – 1389 p – Orange
  10. Jim Alejandre             3,618 miles – 1376 p – Los Angeles

The County of Orange was well represented, thanks guys!

Thanks to all the riders – see you next May?