Gas-Free Fridays!

The SF Bike Coalition really started this going in the Bay Area, but the East Bay can get in on the fun. Grab your bike and a friend or co-worker and pedal to work on Fridays. Encourage more people to substitute one short car trip with a bicycle trip on Fridays in October.

It’s easier than you think, half of all driving trips in the Bay Area are under two miles in length—a distance easily travelled by bicycle.

Heading to Piedmont Grocery? Peets? Gaylords? Grand Lake Ace? Trader Joe’s? Grand Lake Farmers Market? Try it on a bike!

East Bay Bicycle Coalition: http://ebbc.org
WOBO: http://walkoaklandbikeoakland.org
Bike Route Maps: http://bikely.com

ACTIA, what’s that mean?

ACTIA is an acronym for the Alameda County Transportation Improvement Authority.

Two Vacancies on ACTIA’s Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee

Would you or someone you know like to be on the Alameda County Transportation Improvement Authority’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC)?

The BPAC, which meets six to eight times per year, advises ACTIA on the development and implementation of countywide bicycle and pedestrian programs and plans. Beginning this fall, the BPAC will start reviewing and providing input on the updates to the Countywide Strategic Pedestrian Plan and the Countywide Bicycle Plan. One of the most cherished responsibilities of the BPAC is advising the ACTIA Board on the allocation of Measure B bicycle/pedestrian grant funds. To date 41 projects, totaling $9.5 million, have been funded.

More information about the BPAC, application requirements, and bylaws, can be found on the ACTIA website. www.actia2022.com

Bicycle and Pedestrian Plans Working Group

ACCMA and ACTIA are beginning the process to update the Alameda Countywide Bicycle and Pedestrian Plans. We would like to invite you to participate in the first meeting of the Bicycle and Pedestrian Plans Working Group, which will be on Wednesday, October 21 from 9:30 to 11:30am at the ACTIA offices (1333 Broadway, Suite 300 , Downtown Oakland). Please save this date. The main objective will be to review the draft scope of work for the updates of the two plans. We will send an agenda packet closer to the meeting date.

The Bicycle and Pedestrian Plans Working Group is an advisory group that will provide input to the Alameda County Technical Advisory Committee (ACTAC) and the ACTIA Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) prior to approval of the Plans by the ACTIA and ACCMA Boards. T  This joint group, which is expected to meet up to eight times over 1.5 years, will provide an opportunity to coordinate the updates of both plans.  This coordination includes creating one Request for Proposals, which is expected to be released December 2009. By April 2010, one consultant team will be hired for both plans, and the plans are expected to be adopted by early 2011.

Bike Commuting Increasing in USA

From the League of American Bicyclist newsletter:

43 Percent Increase in Bicycle Commuting

According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2008 American Community Survey (ACS), released today, 0.55 percent of American workers use a bicycle as their primary means of getting to work. This is up 14 percent since 2007, 36 percent from the first ACS in 2005, and 43 percent since the 2000 Census. The League of American Bicyclists is analyzing the numbers for various locations, including League Bicycle Friendly Communities. In the meantime, you can look up this information for hundreds of communities and all of the states using the American Fact Finder.

Learn more at the LoAB’s blog.

East Bay Bike Resources

Did you know we have two great East Bay bicycle organization? Check them out for events, actions you can take to improve bike and pedestrian access, and general info.

East Bay Bicycle Coalition (EBBC)
http://ebbc.org/

Walk Oakland Bike Oakland (WOBO)
http://walkoaklandbikeoakland.org

The city of Oakland also has great info on biking and pedestrain information at www.oaklandbikes.info

Bike-to-Work Day is Thursday, May 14th

May is Bike Month and this Thursday is Bike-to-Work Day. Get out your bike and ride!

In addition to a group of us meeting to ride to work on Thursday, my coworkers and I are participating in the Team Bike Challenge. On our team of 5 riders, we have three riders who ride to work 4 or 5 days a week and as often as possible on weekends and are committed to riding during the month of May. The other two riders on the team try to ride as often as they can, even though it’s not everyday. Sometimes it’s as simple as riding the bike to get your latte instead of hopping in the car. The farmers market, a quick trip to Trader Joe’s, or to the local park or market are all good reasons to ride the bike. I rode my bike to coach soccer my son’s team last fall.

If you are heading out on Thursday, be sure to check out the “Energizer Stations” where you can pick up a musette bag of goodies and bike-related SWAG. Some stations also offer refreshments. See the full list of Energizer Stations in the east bay.

For route planning, check out Bikely.com, a great bike mapping resource. For more info on local biking, see Walk Oakland Bike Oakland (aka WOBO) and the East Bay Bike Coalition.

Hope to see you on the road Tuesday!

–L

Bike to Work Day is Coming!

Bike to Work Day is Thursday, May 14th. Do you ride a bike to work sometimes or even every day? Would you like to? If there was an Energizer Station in Piedmont, would you stop by?

Add your thoughts to the comments section of this post or join the Piedmont Cyclists group to provide your input. If you are a Piedmont cyclist, we’d like to hear about your riding experiences.

“New” Bike to Work – Piedmont to Emeryville

My employer used to be located at the Richmond Marina. That was about an hour commute on the bike each way. A nice ride in the summer, but not so much fun in bad weather or on short, cold, dark days.

The company relocated the office to Emeryville the last week of December. Now my bike commute is 4.2 miles and takes about 25 minutes on my Raleigh single speed bike and should get shorter as I ride more. I rode twice last week, which is double what I rode all of the last 6 weeks of 2009.

That’s two days of no gas, no freeway, less polution, and two days of exercise. A good deal all around. My goal is to ride to work twice a week, unless it’s raining.

–L

Bike-to-Work Day Follow-up

I wanted to let you know I ended up riding about 37 miles on bike to work day. The ~4 mile trip to Emeryville was a cinch. I got there 40+ minutes before my co-workers and had a nice chat with the people at the Energizer Station at Powell while I waited.

You can see more pictures in my flickr Bike-to-Work set

6 of my coworkers met me in Emeryville and we headed up the Bay Trail toward Richmond for another 9+ miles. The pace was a bit slower than I’m used to because of the wide range of bike experience, but it was a beautiful morning and a fun ride. We met two more co-workers on the trail and the 9 of us made our way to the Richmond marina.

We had a work event at Albany bowl at lunch that day, so 4 of us biked there. It was very hot at this point and one biker hitched a ride back for herself and her bike in someone’s car. This was the record-breaking heat day. On the evening commute back to Emeryville, 5 of the 9 made the trip back, the others opting out because of the heat.

Overall, my bike mileage was about 37 miles including the Albany Bowl lunch trip. It was fun and I was not terribly physically affected the next day except for my right arm, which was sore from bowling! Remember that a typical ride for me is 5-12 miles, so this was a big step up.

One of our co-workers rides to work every day. One rides 3 times a week using a drive-bike combo. Another does a train-bike combo. As a result of the great experience, two or three of us who have typically been “car- only” decided to try to bike to work at least once or twice a month. Should be a fun challenge to see if we can do it.

Did anyone else bike to work? Are you riding for National Bike Month?

–L

Bike to Work Day – Thursday May 15th

It’s National Bike Month (since 1956) with the biggest day of the month being Bike to Work Day on May 15th. I’ll be riding from Piedmont to Richmond on Bike to Work Day. My route will head down toward the bay for a stop in Emeryville at the Powell St Energizer Station, where I’ll be meeting my coworkers for a ride along the bay trail to the office at the Richmond marina. My approximate route is on bikely.com. The Piedmont-to-Emeryville part is about 3.5 miles. If you’d like to ride with me, even part of the way, let me know (leave a comment on this post or I’m in the directory). I’m riding a 40-year old Raleigh 3-speed, so I’m not hard to keep up with. On your way home from work, Rudy’s Can’t Fail Cafe in Emeryville is hosting a Bike Away from Work Day party 5:30-8:30pm. Free valet bike parking, raffle prizes, and stories to share.

Downtown Oakland’s Bike to Work Energizer Station is huge, with extra giveaways and a pancake breakfast. If you work downtown, it’s an easy bike commute and you’ll see lots of fellow bikers and there is valet bike parking! Also checkout the Walk Oakland – Bike Oakland site for information about other BTWD events and proposed bike lane projects for on Broadway, Oakland/Harrison, Webster, and Franklin. Each of these would improve bicycling to and from Piedmont.

And if you bring your bike on AC Transit or BART to San Francisco, you’ll be in the mecca of BTWD goodies and freebies. The SF Bicycle Coalition has a huge amount of activity planned.

I am also participating in a Team Bike Challenge with some coworkers. The goal is to get points by using your bike instead of your car. Currently we are in second place in Contra Costa County. Typically I leave my bike at the office and use it for rides to lunch, for errands, or to go to Peets. On the 15th I’ll be riding the whole way.

Hope to see you on your bike this month!

Len