Author Archives: Pete van Nuys

CyclingSavvy class in Orange April 24th and 25th

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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!

East Wilshire Bicycle Boulevard

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Article by Jane Rands, Chair of the Fullerton Bicycle Users’ Subcommittee. From the Fullerton Observer:

A new concept to Orange County, known as a Bicycle Boulevard or Bike-friendly Street, is slated for a 2 week trial run on East Wilshire Ave from Pomona to Acacia in the fall of 2015. The IBI Group, under a grant funded contract with Fullerton, will be testing a new street design intended to improve bicyclist and pedestrian safety. The design will allow bicyclists and cars to share the street at speeds of 10-15 mph while enhancing the neighborhood with a calmer and quieter street.

Temporary “traffic calming” and “traffic diversion” devices will be selected from a standard set of tools that have been permanently installed in cities such as Berkeley (10 years), San Luis Obispo (5 years), and now Long Beach. A traffic circle could replace a four-way stop. A raised “slow-movement” intersection that puts the road at sidewalk level where the streets meet, would place pedestrians at a higher level of visibility when crossing the street.

Traffic diversions at entrances, such as Raymond or Lemon, or at key points along the route would allow bicyclists and pedestrians to pass through while diverting larger vehicles to signalized intersections. Limiting through traffic encourages automobile drivers to utilize faster, non-residential parallel streets, such as Commonwealth and Chapman.

Chicanes may also be used to reduce speed by reducing the width of the street. Chicanes up to 40 feet long can include attractive landscaping. But they also remove on street parking which is already at a deficit in this older neighborhood impacted by student parking from Fullerton College.

East Wilshire Avenue is a great candidate for a Bike Blvd and has been identified as such in Fullerton’s Bicycle Master Plan. It is a lovely tree lined street that is popular with cyclists. Nearby there are schools, the main post office, the transit station, and downtown.

If the bike boulevard is to be successful, it must meet the needs of both cyclists and residents who live on and around East Wilshire. On February 4, IBI invited the residents to attend a presentation where IBI answered questions and received feedback on the proposed options. There were 2 sessions at the Wilshire Auditorium with about 30 people total in attendance. The most often raised concern was the possible loss of parking. Mark Miller, the traffic consultant for the City, recommended that residents apply for parking restrictions with permits for residents only.

IBI will be bringing their plan to Fullerton’s Bicycle Users Subcommittee and to the City Council in the spring before returning to the residents again. After the two week trial in the fall, the council will review IBI’s study in late 2015 or early 2016 to determine whether to move forward with permanent improvements to establish Fullerton’s first bicycle boulevard.

Santa Ana River Trail – Delays/Suggested Alternate Routes – May 3, 2015

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Dear Santa Ana River Trail Users,

The OC Marathon is coming up on Sunday, May 3, 2015.  Approximately 1.5 miles of the marathon route takes place on the Santa Ana River Trail, on the east side of the trail between Segerstrom and Gisler.   Approximately 2,200 runners will be using the trail and we expect congestion and delays.

We have suggested detours listed below as well as a map showing the affected areas.  Affected times is approximately 5:30 am – 12:00 noon.

 

 

Santa Ana River Trail Suggested Detour
Sunday, May 3, 2015 5:30 am – 12:00 pmApproximately 1.5 miles of The OC Marathon full marathon course takes place on the east side of the Santa Ana River Trail,  from Segerstrom to Gisler.Area to Avoid:
– We suggest avoiding the bikeway on the East side of the Santa Ana River Trail, between Segerstrom and Gisler, as the route will be very crowded.Suggested Routes:
We suggest all cyclists, buggies, pedestrians, etc to use the west side of the trail, which is a compacted dirt surface.
– Southbound  –  you can transfer to the west side of the trail at Segerstrom, and then transfer back to the east side at the footbride at Fairview Park.
– Northbound – head north on the east side until Victoria OR until the footbridge at Fairview Park (just south of Adams), where you can easily transfer to the west side.   Then continue on the west side of the trail until you reach Segerstrom, and you can transfer back over to the east side.

Please feel free to pass this along to other users you may know might need this information.

Thank you for your support! 


Kristin Llorente
OC Marathon Traffic/Community Coordinator

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Caltrans Maintenance Work Along the Santa Ana River Bikeway

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Caltrans will need to clean out debris from one of its culverts located under the SR-91 Freeway (part of an emergency project, hence the late notice). The culvert begins on the south side of the freeway and empties into the Santa Ana River to the north. Recent heavy erosion on the south side of the freeway caused large rock and soil to clog the culvert. As Caltrans stated at a meeting this morning if the drain is not cleared future rain may cause water to fill behind the clog and reach eastbound travel lanes. The work site is located between Coal Canyon and the county boundary along the Santa Ana River Bikeway.

To open the clog Caltrans must park its service vehicles along the edge of a portion of the Santa Ana River Bikeway. A large vacuum truck and water truck will be on-site this coming Monday morning to begin the work. The cleanout will last one to two weeks. Work will begin at 7AM and end at 6PM (Monday through Friday.) Caltrans agreed not to work weekends.

The project may include a bikeway detour off the levee (where the bikeway now exists) to a parallel, paved Caltrans service road located between the levee and the freeway. The bikeway will also narrow from two lanes to one lane in the work area, a distance of about 80’ to 100’. I’ve asked Caltrans to install signs on the approach to the work area and to have at least two flag-persons on site when work is in progress. The bikeway will re-open (both travel lanes) each evening after 6PM. The two trucks will also move off the bikeway after 6 PM and the site will be swept. I will share more information with you as it is provided to me.

Thank you,

Jeff Dickman, Trail Coordinator – Planner IV
OC Public Works, Project Development
300 N. Flower St.
Santa Ana, CA 92703
(714) 647-3937 Office
(714) 240-0883 Cell