Spoken Wheel | Spring 2014

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SPOKEN

WHEEL Annual Members Party p4

May is Bike Month!

National Bike Summit

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SLO COUNTY

BICYCLE COALITION

SLO County Bicycle Coalition • Spring 2014 • slobikelane.org

Our Mission

To improve the quality of life in slo county through bicycle advocacy, education and inspiration.

BOARD

STAFF

Tyler Wertenbruch, President Jaime Hill, Vice President Alex Lorton, Secretary Branden Welshons, Treasurer Joel Diringer Ken Kienow Chris McBride Eric Meyer Jeff Spevack Anne Wyatt Ron Yukelson

Executive Director Dan Rivoire, dan@slobikelane.org

CONTACT 860 Pacific St, Suite 105 San Luis Obispo, CA 93401

Programs Director Troy E. Johnston, troy@slobikelane.org

(805) 547-2055

Communications Director Steve Akers, steve@slobikelane.org

slobikelane.org

Bike Kitchen Manager Tyler Jamieson, tylerj@slobikelane.org

facebook.com/slobikecoalition

Bike Valet Staff Grace Morgan, grace@slobikelane.org

twitter.com/bikeslo

The Spoken Wheel is a publication of the SLO County Bicycle Coalition

Events MAY

12 MAY

17 MAY

19 MAY

30 JUN

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Commuter Bike Education Workshop 6:00 – 8:00 pm | Bicycle Coalition HQ, 860 Pacific St, SLO

Our popular workshops teach bicycle laws, debunk common myths and give you the tools you need to bike safe and smart. Attendees receive a free Bike Bell & dinner from Chipotle Mexican Grill. Sign up for free online at slobikelane.org

Climate Ride

May 17 – 20 | San Francisco to Sacramento

Enjoy a four-day fully supported ride in Northern California benefiting the Bicycle Coalition. The ride goes from San Francisco up the coast and across wine country to Sacramento. Sign up and choose us as your beneficiary – it’s easy! More information online at climateride.org

Women’s Bike Education Workshop 6:00 – 8:00 pm | Bicycle Coalition HQ, 860 Pacific St, SLO

Riding as a female on our roads presents unique challenges. Join us and our female instructors for our popular women only workshop! Attendees receive a free Bike Bell and dinner from Chipotle Mexican Grill. Sign up for free online at slobikelane.org

Bike-In Movie

7:30 – 10:00 pm | Mission Plaza, SLO

Ride down to Mission Plaza for our 10th Annual Bike-In Movie. This year we’re showing Disney’s recent blockbuster Frozen, outside, under the stars with popcorn, hot chocolate and our free Bike Valet parking. Grab your family and friends, bring a blanket and enjoy!

Members Only Party

6:00 – 10:00 pm | The Grange, 2880 Broad St, SLO

We are so excited to host the third annual Members Only party in June to celebrate our incredible members. This year we’re planning a Casino Night with live music, wine, beer, food and fun!

COALITION PROGRAMS to promote bicycles

bike education

bike kitchen

bike valet

kidical mass

VOL UNT EER

casino Gambling! Live Music! Wine!

y

t u a e B & s e k i B icycle

...the b

coalitio

nm

s only ember

party

o night Beer! Friends! Food! Fun! Saturday, June 7th

6:00 - 10:00 pm SLO Grange Hall

2880 Broad St

OUT OF THE

SADDLE A letter from our Executive Director

The first quarter of 2014 has proven to be one of the most transitional in Bicycle Coalition history. We said goodbye to our longtime Director of Communications and Operations, Leslie Bloom.

It was with great respect that I accepted Leslie’s resignation from the San Luis Obispo County Bicycle Coalition. Leslie’s four year tenure with the Bicycle Coalition has been the most exciting in our history thus far. Whether designing our new headquarters, screen printing t-shirts by hand or sending out messages to rally the community to meetings or events, Leslie has been essential HER COMMITMENT EXCEEDED to our growth.

OUR HOPES AND WE KNOW THAT HER WORK ETHIC AND ATTENTION TO DETAIL IS BEHIND EVERY SUCCESS THE COALITION EXHIBITS TODAY.

Her design work has been the face of the Bicycle Coalition, her communications our voice, and analysis our mind. Her commitment exceeded our hopes and we know that her work ethic and attention to detail is behind every success the Coalition exhibits today.

Thanks to her organization, focus, and integrity, this next phase will also be one of improvement. Our new and growing team will not be able to fully replicate her contributions, but aims to with every move.

We will do our best to see the world through Leslie’s lens, develop new thoughts, tones of voice, and smiles on our faces. Thank you for your long time service to the Bicycle Coalition Leslie. You will be missed!

See you in the Bike Lane,

Dan Rivoire, Executive Director

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NEWS The latest happenings in SLO County

Kidical Mass Update

This year sees some exciting changes to Kidical Mass, our family bike happening. We’ll kick off the summer with our first ride on June 21st, meeting up at Sinsheimer Stadium at 4 pm. After reviewing important safety skills we hit the road at 4:30, then return to Sinsheimer Stadium. The gates open at 5 pm and kids get in to see the baseball game for free! Inside we’ll be hosting our Kidical Mass Family Fair where you can learn about cool family bikes, get tips for riding with kids and learn the best routes for riding around town.

New Staff!

Thanks to your fantastic support, The Coalition staff is expanding. Troy Johnston comes on board as our new full-time Programs Director, while Steve Akers transitions from Bike Valet Staff to Communications Director. Grace Morgan, formerly providing auxilary support to Bike Valet, is busier than ever as she steps up to head the Bike Valet Staff.

This takes us up to three full-time and two part-time staff members.

Expanded Bike Kitchen Hours

Since March, working on your weekend bike project got a whole lot easier. Now you can get even more of your Bike Kitchen fill with expanded hours, including new days of the week. With more additional weekend hours than before, more people are able to find time to join us and get their bicycles in tip-top shape.

In addition to more open hours we also introduced a tiered pricing system, allowing for half-day and full-day pricing options. Our new hours are Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 12:00 - 5:00 pm.

SLOBIKELANE.ORG

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2014

BIKE MONTH

May’s Celebration of Bicycles! Brought to you by Rideshare

MAY

1

MAY

2

MAY

4

MAY

7

MAY

10 MAY

11 MAY

16 MAY

18

Bike Month Kick Off & Happening 7:00 -10:00 pm | Lincoln St. Deli, SLO

Come kick off Bike Month at Lincoln Street Deli. Park onsite at Bike Valet then watch a documentary on SLO’s very own Bike Happening.

Bob Jones Trail Ribbon Cutting

10:00 am - 11:00 am | Los Osos Valley Road and Hwy 101

Celebrate the connection of the Bob Jones City-to-Sea Bike Trail to LOVR. Biking encouraged, parking available at the Strawberry Stand.

Cycle de Mayo

10:00 am - 4:00 pm | Atascadero Lake Park, Atascadero

Cycle de Mayo is a fun family event celebrating bicycling & Cinco de Mayo, with a parade around Atascadero Lake, barbeque, & live mariachi bands.

National Bike to School Day All Day | Countywide

Special events are happening at K-12 schools countywide! For a complete list of schools and events, visit SLOSafeRoutes.org

Bike Fest

12:30 - 4:00 pm | Branch St Deli, 203 E Branch St, Arroyo Grande

Join us for cheap beer, great food, live music, and raffle prizes... including a limited edition New Belgium cruiser bicycle!

Tweed Ride

1:00 - 4:00 pm | Triangle Park, SLO

Jaunt about town in your best turn of the century attire & vintage velocipedes.

We’ll end at the Triangle Park for lawn games, iced tea & a great time.

Bike to Work Day ALL DAY | SLO County

Energizer Stations will provide you with fuel & inspiration to complete your ride. See rideshare.org/BikeMonth2014 for a map of Energizer Stations.

First Annual Blessing of the Bicycles 1:00 - 3:00 pm | Salon 544, 544 Higuera St, SLO

Join us for this fun, non-demominational Blessing of the Bicycles. All Faiths (or lack thereof) are welocme. Refreshments, face painting!

If you’re on our mailing list, watch for our weekly Bike Month Emails about other Bike Month events not listed here.

MAY

20 MAY

21 MAY

24 MAY

30 MAY

31 JUNE

3

JUNE

7

Cal Poly Bike Fair 2014

10:00 am - 1:00 pm | Cal Poly, Via Carta Mall, SLO

Featuring a raffle, give-aways, refreshments, bike safety information, bike maps, bike registration, tune-ups and much more!

Bike Happy Film Screening

Happy Hour 6:00 pm | Film 7:00 pm | Park Cinemas, Paso Robles

The Third Annual Bicycle Happy Hour with a screening of A Sunday in Hell. $10 donation benefitting SLO County Bike Coalition. Bike Valet provided.

Bicycle Swap Meet

9:00 am - 2:00 pm | Flanders Bicycle, Santa Barbara Ave, SLO

Looking for a “new” used bike? Searching for the perfect bike seat? Buy, sell, trade or just to come see all the pretty bikes. Free space for all!

Bike-In Movie: Frozen

7:30 pm - 10:00 pm | Mission Plaza, SLO

This 10th annual event is sure to be the biggest yet! We’re showing Disney’s Frozen, under the stars, with popcorn, hot chocolate and our Bike Valet.

Pedal to Paella VI

5:00 - 10:00 pm | Santa Margarita Park, Santa Margarita

An evening of backstreet riding, live music & food. Bring plates, cups, a paella ingredient, a side dish to share and BYOB.

Bike Month Blowout!

6:00 - 8:30 pm | Creeky Tiki, Higuera Street, SLO

The Bike Month wrap-up party! Music, food, beverages & the iRide Bike Challenge Awards, plus a chance to win a shiny new bicycle!

Bike Coalition Members Only Party 6:00 - 10:00 pm | The Grange, Broad St, SLO

The SLO County Bicycle Coalition’s Annual Member Party. This year will feature Casino Night, live music, great food, beer, wine and fun!

2014

NATIONAL

BIKE SUMMIT

March 3 – 5, 2014 was a literal whirlwind of days in Washington DC. Amid several inches of snowfall and high winds, the brightest minds and leaders of the national bicycle movement converged to advance efforts towards a more bicycle friendly America.

DAY ONE: The week kicked off with the third annual Women’s Bicycling Forum.

Everyone came together to address the gender gap in the bicycle world. With amazing speakers from government, advocacy, industry and culture, the forum had one goal – getting more women on bicycles. There is great leadership from women in the bicycle world and amazing progress has/is being made towards the common goal of encouraging more female leadership in the bicycle world and even more women out riding!

DAY TWO: It was an early start to a day full of presentations and speakers who are doing amazing things to promote bicycles across the country. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Albio Sires (D-NJ), Texas Senator Rodney Ellis (D-TX), and Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto were all present to fire up the crowd in the early morning opener. Anthony Foxx is in his first year as Transportation Secretary, and filling the shoes of former Secretary Ray LaHood is something he is proud to do. LaHood has long been an ally in the administration, being very vocal about his support for biking and walking. Luckily for us, Anthony Foxx continues to carry that torch.

On the new $302 billion dollar transportation proposal released that same day: “We made sure that this plan increases resources to step up bicycle and pedestrian programs and the resources we need for our public transit systems, which are so important to people who walk and ride bicycles… I’ve made investing in bicycles and pedestrians a priority in the president’s plan… We need to make sure Congress acts on this plan.”

We’re looking forward to working with Secretary Foxx in the future, and thank him for his continued support of biking and walking as key components of our country’s infrastructure.

After Foxx, we heard from Douglas Meyer on a study conducted on the perspectives of mayors on bicycles. Interviews with 40 mayors from across the country revealed that ”Everyone is bought in and support is increasing” for biking and walking. This is true for cities of all sizes where mayor after mayor said that those who oppose bicycle infrastructure are now in the minority.

Quality of life was often cited as a main reason for support bicycle projects. Economic development is also closely related to quality of life issues, and bicycle infrastructure has shown to be an incredible opportunity to attract young talent and businesses to cities of all sizes.

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THE SPOKEN WHEEL

One of Meyer’s best lines from his talk is something we believe at the Bicycle Coalition as well: “If you have a One Less Car t-shirt, burn it. Anything anti-car adds fuel to a fire you don’t want to stoke.”

DAY THREE: It was a warmer day than last, making for much easier trekking on Capitol Hill for our annual Advocacy Day. We had a meeting set with local representative Lois Capps (D-CA, 24th District) who has long been a supporter of better biking and walking on the Central Coast.

The common “ask” all of the advocates were making on the Hill was simple: • Co-sponsor the Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Act (HR3494 and S1708) • Co-sponsor the Safe Streets Act (HR3978) • Co-sponsor the New Opportunities for Bicycle and Pedestrian Infrastructure Financing Act (HR2468 and S2004) We have a great supporter in Lois Capps, who agreed to the first two and will be paying us a visit here in SLO County later this year, where we hope to highlight some of the new projects on the horizon. Read specifics about these bills and the collective ask from the Summit on the Bike League’s blog.

After meeting with Capps and a few other leaders from across the country to drop off information to their offices, we wrapped up another successful advocacy day with a reception on the Hill to celebrate our hard work! That’s all for 2014, cheers to a bright year ahead and to next year’s trip to Washington DC!

SLOBIKELANE.ORG

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News Cycle Statewide Bicycle News

California Endorses Progressive Bikeway Guides April brought great news for California bicyclists!

Malcolm Dougherty, Director of the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) announced that California will be the third state (after Washington and Massachusetts) to endorse the both the NACTO Urban Streets Design Guide and NACTO Bikeway Design Guides. NACTO is the National Association of City Transportation Officials, which encourages the exchange of transportation ideas, insights and practices. Endorsing these Guides greatly helps to pave the way for innovative infrastructure design, aimed at empowering people of all ages and abilities to bike for everyday transportation.

For a little context about why this matters, the announcement was preceded in January by the release of an independent review, ordered by Governor Jerry Brown, which called for sweeping reforms at Caltrans. The report cited archaic management practices that imposed outdated, automobile-centric design standards on California city streets. It called on Caltrans to move away from their “culture of risk aversion and even fear,” which often prevented local city planners from implementing modern designs for bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly streets.

This is fantastic news for anyone interested in seeing our city planners freed up to work on roads and paths that more equally balance pedestrian, bicyclist and livability concerns with auto-mobilty. We’re looking forward to seeing what types of thoughtful bikeways we’ll now be able to start seriously considering as a result of this monumentous change at Caltrans.

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THE SPOKEN WHEEL

BECOME A MEMBER MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS 4 free Bike Kitchen visits (a $40 value!)

Discounts at our local Business Member locations l Invites to exclusive member events, and more!

OFFICE USE ONLY

l

l

E

P

Q

MEMBER INFORMATION Name Business (if applicable) Mailing Address City State

Zip

Phone Email What is the most important bicycle issue in SLO County?

MEMBERSHIP LEVEL $20 - Student

$35 - Individual

$60 - Household

$100 - Century*

$250 - Double Century*

$500 - Triple Century*

$1000 - Tour de Force*

$150 - Business**

Additional Donation $

TOTAL ENCLOSED $

VOLUNTEER INTERESTS Bicycle Coalition Events

Bike Kitchen

Bike Valet

Kidical Mass

MEMBERSHIP@SLOBIKELANE.ORG • SLOBIKELANE.ORG Make checks payable to SLOCBC and send to: 860 Pacific St, Suite 105, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 All donations are 501(c)(3) tax-deductible as allowed by law. Memberships are valid for 12 months. *Includes free t-shirt, desired size: _____ **See details about business and sponsorship opportunities at slobikelane.org/business

THANK YOU TO OUR AMAZING SUPPORTERS!

SPONSORS BIKE VALET SPONSORS Harris Personal Injury Lawyers* Kreuzberg Coffee Company SLO Marathon

BIKE EDUCATION SPONSORS City of San Luis Obispo

BUSINESS MEMBERS Active Chick AFX Research LLC Alpha Omega Engineering, Inc. Arrona Financial Baxter Moerman Fine Jewelry Better Business Financial Services Bluephoto Wedding Photography Branch Street Deli Central Coast Brewing Central Coast E-bikes* Central Coast Outdoors Clever Ducks Coastal Reprographic Services Continental MotorWorks Auto Repair Diringer Associates Foothill Cyclery* Hostel Obispo* iFixit jouet studio La Quinta Inn & Suites Paso Robles Lezyne Louisa’s Place

Luis Wine Bar Morin Brothers Automotive Moved by Bikes N. Bidlake Urban Adventure Wear New Frontiers Natural Marketplace North Coast Engineering Inc. Palm Dental Care Petit Soleil Power & Communications Engineering Promega Biosciences Quality Suites, SLO Retina Specialists of the Central Coast SLO Bike Club SLO-Op Climbing SLO Sail & Canvas SRAM ($5,000) State Farm Insurance - John Donovan The Madonna Inn The Plant Lady Tolosa Winery Trinity Cyclery Voler Team Apparel

*Offers a discount to Bicycle Coalition members - show your membership card!

Interested in becoming a Business Member? Visit slobikelane.org/business for more information

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TOUR DE FORCE $1,000

+

Jessica Berry Lucia & Paul Cleveland Joshua Cohen Jim Hannah Brian Kurotsuchi Derek Lauritzen

Kim Lisagor & Scott Bisheff Eric & Cynthia Meyer Tom Nuckols Jennifer Randall The Shanbrom Family Bob & Teresa Stapleton

CENTURY $100

+

David & Deborah Abrecht Michael Adamski Nils Anderson John Ashbaugh David Arrona Betsy Asmus Charles & Susan Atlee Amena Atta The Badalamenti Family Lauren Bandari Valerie Barboza Kitch Barnicle James Benson Austin Bertucci Greg & Mary Bettencourt Michael Boswell & Tammy Seale Lea Brooks & Myron Amerine Bryan Brown Craig Campbell Kevin Christian Vince Cicero Don Coffman Harvey & Kathy Cohon John Collen Grace Crittenden Wende & James David Jim DeCecco & Janet George Meghan & Jesse Englert Laurie Fraser Kurt Friedmann Adam & Amy Fukushima Dave Garth Jim Harrigan Gary Havas Stephen Hicks Jaime & Bob Hill Emily Hoffman John Kirby The Klisch Family Joseph & Julie Larwood Brian & Ashala Lawler Barry Lewis

Aileen Loe & Eric Nelson Scott Loosey Gary Lucchesi Dena & Chris Malloy Peggy Mandeville Angel & Frances Martinez Chris & Sterling McBride Jeffrey Morgan Frank Mullin Andy & Jeanne Mutziger Bob Nanninga Susan & Peter Nelson Suzanne Nishinaga Yukie Nishinaga & Chris Murphy Tom Nuckols Joe O’Donnell Dallam Oliver-Lee Garrett Otto Frank Owen Andy Pease Denis Philbin Anne Power David & Molly Preston Susan Reese Nancy Reid Missy Reitner Jonathan Roberts & Michelle Shoresman Ruth Rominger & Lars Tomanek William & Deborah Schuck John Schutz Andy Schweitzer Anneka Scranton Paula Sigman & Ron Yukelson Meg Stenger Dale Sutliff Maria & Harold Sweasey Paul & Lorna Tiexeira Glenn and Gail Vanderlinde Bill Waycott Joel & Susan Westwood Tyler Wertenbruch Jim Woolf Andy Zink & Carolyn Eicher

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SLO COUNTY BICYCLE COALITION

860 Pacific St, Suite 105

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Building a bicycle advocacy force in SLO County and leading the charge for incredible bikeways.

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slobikelane.org San Luis Obispo, CA 93401

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