NEWS FROM THE SONOMA COUNTY BICYCLE COALITION
ISSUE 24· FALL 2009 promoting bicycling for transportation and recreation
SMART and Bikes:
Promise of great things to come
Barbara Moulton
F
rom the get-go we knew SMART would be
a boon for cyclists as well as everyone else
wanting to go places sans car. The 70-mile
train and trail project, formally known as Sonoma
Marin Area Rail Transit, will go from Cloverdale in
the north of Sonoma County to Larkspur in Marin.
Bicycle and pedestrian paths and bike lanes will
roughly parallel the tracks the whole way. Some
portions of the trail will be open to cyclists and
walkers before the projected startup of the train
in late 2014; 66 percent of the SMART pathway
will be completed by the time SMART begins
rail service in 2014 and 91 percent will be built
within the three years that follow. Should extra
funds become available, the timetable for pathway
construction could be accelerated.
The trail will provide not only enhanced
foot and bicycle access to the new train, but will
significantly expand the bicycling network. No
longer will cyclists going from Sonoma to Marin,
and vice versa, have to take long strenuous detours
to the west, or subject themselves to an unpleasant
ride along 101 through the narrows. All along
the route, the trail will offer a multiuse pathway
separated from cars.
The Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition, the
Marin County Bicycle Coalition and Friends of
SMART are working together to help SMART
design and implement the project to best serve all
users, and particularly cyclists.
One issue in Santa Rosa is bike and pedestrian
access to the Railroad Square station in Santa
Rosa. According to SMART spokesman Chris
Coursey, there will be paths connecting the Prince
Memorial Greenway/Creek Trail to the Railroad
Square development to be built west of the tracks.
This is a great improvement over sending bikes
and walkers out to Pierson and then back on
city streets. As of press time, Coursey had not
confirmed the timing of the building of those
connectors, or whether they will have to wait for
the Railroad Square development to be completed.
To the north of the Railroad Square station,
the rail right-of-way is narrower than ideal for
placing the trail adjacent to the tracks, so the
trail may go on city streets for a few blocks. This
is somewhat problematic, since the city seems
poised to decide against striped bike lanes on
those very blocks of Wilson Avenue, which might
be the route of the trail. But nothing is written in
stone yet.
Further north in Santa Rosa will be the
Jennings station. Most of the discussion has placed
this station somewhat south of Jennings Avenue,
though Coursey said there is some talk of possibly
moving it north to Guerneville Road. This would
make it less accessible to the
Santa Rosa Junior College and
the 101 bike/ped overpass that is
currently being designed.
One of the critical points of
access is from Jennings Avenue
west of the tracks. Jennings has
been designated as a major east-
west bike route through Santa
Rosa. SMART anticipates there
will be an at-grade crossing for
bikes and pedestrians, complete
with gates and lights. However,
this will require permission from
the California Public Utilities
Commission (CPUC) as it is
responsible for crossings. This
is by no means assured as the
CPUC avoids at-grade crossings
whenever possible, unless they
happen at existing roadways that
cross tracks.
While SMART currently
does not have a Bicycle/
Pedestrian Advisory Committee,
it does plan to seek public input
on station design, trail design,
railcar amenities and the like.
There are a number of Citizen
Advisory Committees (CAC)
that SMART has announced
and at some point will be filling.
Everyone is encouraged to check
the SMART Web site about this.
Follow the progress
of SMART at www. Photos: Top 3 John Luton,
sonomamarintrain.org. bottom Stuart Mac Donald
 Bike Friendly?
Kudos to the City of Sonoma for
receiving the Bronze level Bicycle
Friendly Community award from the
EDITOR League of American Bicyclists (LAB).
Christine Culver The League gives this designation
COPY EDITOR/ to communities that go through the
LAYOUT arduous application process and meet
David Abbott
the LAB’s fairly stringent (in a good
CONTRIBUTORS way) criteria. The LAB requires that
Ario Bigattini
Martin Clinton communities actively strive to provide
Christine Culver safe accommodations for cycling,
Sarah Hadler and encourage people to bike for
Sandra Lupien
Barbara Moulton transportation and recreation. A Bicycle
Tina Panza Friendly Community must be working
PHOTOS toward improving the 5 E’s for bicyclists:
Christine Culver Engineering, Education, Encouragement,
Sandra Lupien Enforcement, and Evaluation & Planning.
Tina Panza
Sonoma’s Bronze designation is
SCBC BOARD OF DIRECTORS one of four award levels, the others
Sherry Adams
Tom Bahning (Secretary) being (as you might guess) Silver, Gold
Scott Bowen and Platinum. Only Davis, Boulder,
Vicki Duggan and Portland, Oregon have received
Mike Eunice
Tim Gonzales the Platinum. Sonoma has reached the
Deanna McKenzie (Vice first rung of the ladder, and should be
President) commended for the intensive stock-taking
Misty Mesel (Treasurer)
Barbara Moulton required to complete the comprehensive
Richard Peacock application, and for working toward
Ken Wells (President) implementing the numerous requirements
STAFF necessary to become Platinum.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Christine Culver
Yes, Platinum. Can you see it? Bikes
welcomed in Sonoma just like (or better
DEVELOPMENT AND
OUTREACH DIRECTOR than) in Davis? LAB recognizes the work
Sandra Lupien Sonoma is doing toward creating a City
MEMBERSHIP that supports bicycling as a mainstream
COORDINATOR/ form of transportation. The Bronze
OFFICE MANAGER
Christie Molidor
award is a major acknowledgment of that
intention.
SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL
DIRECTOR That said, the city’s leadership and
Christina Panza those citizens who want Sonoma to go
SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL Platinum have their work cut out for
ASSISTANT, SEBASTOPOL them. Like in every community, there
Sarah Hadler
are many folks who seek to block the
SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL very types of actions needed to make
ASSISTANT, SOUTH SANTA ROSA
Lacy Moore Sonoma more bicycle friendly They are
STREET SKILLS INSTRUCTOR
working very hard to make sure they
Martin Clinton give up nothing in the process of making
cycling safer and more fun in Sonoma.
For instance, there are neighbors who are
fighting to keep the city from installing a
much-needed bike and pedestrian bridge.
They don’t want to be disrupted by folks
going past their houses. (See comment)
Sonoma resident Matt Metzler writes,
2 “The bridge will connect the Newcomb
Street/Fryer Creek Drive neighborhoods
with the existing bike path on the west
side of Fryer Creek. This will create
more routes
for bicyclists
and pedestrians, and would provide an
alternative to bicycling on MacArthur
Street. It would especially make it easier
for students living in the Manor and
Harrington Drive neighborhoods to get
to the High School and Adele Harrison
Middle School. These kids already jump
across the creek and climb the barbed
wire fence to get from their neighborhood
to Newcomb Street and the schools.”
So much for keeping people from using
that path, it is already being used and
all the research shows that paths reduce
trespassing, littering and vandalism in
these situations. AND, the values of
nearby houses increase.
Part of being a truly bicycle-friendly
community is creating a connected system
of roads and paths for bike riders. Having
the LAB designation increases the appeal
of the community to tourists and visitors.
It makes the community more attractive
to businesses and quality personnel.
Both points emphasize the importance of
cycling as an economic generator.
Sonoma is the second community
in the County to receive the LAB
designation; Rohnert Park was recognized
as a Bicycle Friendly City in 1998 but
hasn’t reapplied since the new, far more
stringent, qualifications were put into
place in 2002. Rumor has it that Rohnert
Park is working on its application. The
city’s leadership and a committed group
of citizens (like those in many of the
County’s communities) are working
very hard to increase the use of bicycles
by offering safety education and better
facilities.
The one thing that is lacking in the
LAB application is any reporting about
the local attitude towards bike riders of
people driving cars. This is where so much
work still needs to be done. We can do our
part by riding correctly and courteously.
Of course, we should keep reporting the
jerks who threaten our lives at http://
bikesonoma.org/harassed.html. You can
learn more about the Bicycle Friendly
Communities program by checking out the
League’s website www.bikeleague.org
Executive Director
Local Scene
City of Healdsburg has received
a State grant for a Safe Routes to
School project. The project includes
constructing sidewalks, widening a
narrow bridge crossing and connecting a
lower-income area to the City sidewalk
system, which leads to the junior
high and elementary schools. This is
currently in the design mode.
The first phase of the Sonoma Plaza
bicycle racks are in the process of being
installed. This should be completed by
the end of September.
Sonoma is working on developing
the plans for Class II routes on West
Spain Street, Fifth Street West, and a
Sonoma Highway Crosswalk (in front
of Maxwell Village). These projects
will require environmental review
prior to applying for grant funding or
construction.
In April, 2009, Sonoma staff
completed the Bicycle Friendly
Community application. Our application
will be reviewed this fall and was
awarded a BRONZE! Well done Sonoma.
The Sonoma Cultural and Fine
Arts Commission is developing a
contest for a local artist to create a
piece of public art in the Sonoma
Plaza that will also function as a
bicycle rack.
Sonoma Staff has begun to work on
a Plaza Merchant Parking Plan.
The Town of Windsor has added
about 5.5 miles (11 lane miles) of
Class II bicycle lanes in the past two
years. These projects include Arata
Lane, Hembree Lane, Conde Lane,
Old Redwood Highway, Windsor
Road and Windsor River Road. These
project were funded by Bay Area Air
Quality Management District,
Street Resurfacing,
Traffic
Impact
We missed a couple of important volunteers
in our list of thanks in the last newsletter. So
a HUGE thanks to Joe Shaughnessy for his pro
bono legal support (he reads lots of ugly contracts for us.)
and another HUGE thanks to Stan Quaranta for being our IT guy
and hooking up the new SCBC computer server.
Mitigation Fee and local gas tax funds.
The town was successful in getting
Bicycle Transportation Account funds
to widen a portion of Windsor Road and
construct a new Class II bicycle lane.
This project was one of only 23 projects
statewide to be funded by BTA in the
2009/10 cycle.
In the City of Santa Rosa
anticipated construction date for
Sonoma Ave bike lanes is Summer
2010.
Bike lanes are finally installed lanes
on Mendocino Avenue – McConnell
to Fountaingrove Parkway (May 2009)
creating a continuous bikeway from
College Avenue to the northern Santa
Rosa City Limits.
Bike lanes will be installed soon
on Summerfield Road between Hoen
Avenue and Santa Rosita as well as on
College Avenue between Knolls and
Tyara Way as part of the local road
maintenance stimulus funding.
County Regional Parks are in the
process of preparing the environmental
document and is starting design work
for the next segment of the Bodega
Bay Trail. They are hoping to start
construction in Summer 2010. This
segment is located between Keefe
Avenue and near Ranch Road.
County Regional Parks hopes to
start construction on the Ross Station
Road Trailhead on the West County
Trail this Fall. The scope includes the
construction of a seven stall parking lot,
trees, two picnic tables, and one park
bench. The trailhead can serve as a rest
stop for pedestrians and bicyclists.
The construction bids for the Santa
Rosa Creek Trail, between Willowside
Road and Fulton Road have been
awarded and we can expect to see work
in the Spring.
SCBC CALENDAR
www.bikesonoma.org
SCBC BOARD MEETINGS
Regularly held meetings on the third
Monday of the month at 6:30 p.m.
750 Mendocino Avenue Suite 6, Santa
Rosa.
STREET SKILLS CLASSES
(Past students can retake for free)
Sunday, November 8
Saturday, December 5
Please e-mail to reserve your spot at
skills@BikeSonoma.org.
SEBASTOPOL FAMILY RIDES
SERIES
Saturday, November 14
West County Revolution Bicycle Shop
(6731 Sebastopol Rd.) 9:30 am - 1 p.m.
Children (ages 10 and up) and parents
are welcome. Contact Sarah Hadler at
sarah@bikesonoma.org.
SCBC ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP
MEETING … AND CELEBRATION!
Friday, January 29
6:00 p.m. Board Election/Presentation/
Dinner
7:30 p.m. Celebration!
The Glaser Center, 547 Mendocino
Avenue, Santa Rosa. RSVP:  Sandra@
BikeSonoma.org; 707-545-0153
SCBC HOLIDAY AUCTION ON
EBAY
November 27 – December 6
Support SCBC while doing your holiday
shopping. Stay tuned for details. Have an
item to donate? Have questions?
Sandra@BikeSonoma.org; 707-545-0153
VOLUNTEER APPRECIATION
PARTY
Saturday, December 2, 6 p.m.
All you fantastic SCBC volunteers, this
is a party to celebrate your amazing
support. Food, drinks, prizes and lots of
fun. Mark your calendar!
3
 Holidays and celebrations
Shop for the holidays and support SCBC at the
same time
Holiday shopping can be a real bummer of a
stress-fest. Why not give yourself a big ol’ break
this year, and do your shopping from home?
Sounds good, doesn’t it? Now, if only every
dollar you spend on those gifts could benefit your
favorite bicycle organization …
It can.
We invite you to the first-ever SCBC Holiday
Auction on eBay. It’s true: SCBC will create a
shop for you featuring bikes, bike clothes and gear,
gift certificates for all kinds of goods and services
(bike stuff, massage, fitness, to name only a very
few), amazing experience-based items, travel
packages, and much more.
The auction opens on Friday, November
27 (yup, that’s the day after Thanksgiving)
and runs 10 days until December 6. Mark your
calendar now and look for more information soon.
Stress-free shopping and supporting SCBC. It’s the
Numbers count
Martin Clinton
D
o you ever wonder if it might be
irresponsible to encourage a friend to
bicycle? After all, it’s really dangerous out
there, isn’t it? Well, not really, as most experienced
cyclists will tell you. Obeying all the traffic rules
and following a few straightforward techniques for
being in the best position on the street will improve
the odds of surviving even the scariest traffic.
SCBC’s Safe Routes to School Director Tina Panza and son Jacob lead a bike bus to Proctor Terrace Elementary.
There is an additional reason for encouraging
that friend: if he or she is riding, it may make the
streets safer for you.
On a larger scale, environmentalists and local
authorities have sometimes grappled with the
same issue: if they encourage more people to ride
4 bicycles won’t that increase the number of crashes,
injuries, and even fatalities? The surprising answer
seems to be, no.
First, it seems that the safest places to ride are
where most people ride. If you measure bicycle
ideal holiday gift-buying experience.
Where’s Velopalooza?
After many lovely years of producing the fun
and fabulous Velopalooza Bike Party, SCBC has
opted to do things a little differently this year. For
those who loved Velopalooza for it’s awesome
auctions, SCBC brings you the SCBC Holiday
Auction on eBay (see “Shop for the holidays and
support SCBC at the same time” on this page).
For those who mourn the party, fear not: SCBC
would never leave its members without a proper
celebration. Save this date: January 29, 2010.
That’s when SCBC holds its annual membership
meeting and board election. After the election,
we’ll create a festive mood with dinner and
drinks and music, throwing a party in honor
of you, the best membership in the
world. All members will receive
an invitation to this event, so watch your
mailbox for details. Looking forward to
seeing you there.
use against crash frequency it shows that more use
means fewer problems. Studies have shown this
by plotting data for countries in Europe, cities in
England, and states in the U.S.
It is also true that safety gets better when there
is more bicycle use, measured over time. Over a 15-
year period in the Netherlands the number of bike
riders increased by almost 50 percent, while cyclist
fatalities were close to 60 percent lower. Now
some people think of that country, and particularly
Amsterdam as a special situation, but similar results
have been measured in cities that might seem
particularly dangerous for riding when viewed from
a distance. How about San Francisco, New York
City, or London, England? All known for dense,
often dangerous vehicle traffic, yet for each of them
increased bicycle use has resulted in lower rates for
rider injury or death.
Continued on next page
Numbers count
Continued from previous page
What is particularly interesting is that the
reduction is not just proportional to the distance
ridden or the number of riders, but is a lower actual
number. In the last ten years the number of London
bicyclists has almost doubled. The total number of
casualties among cyclists is one third lower in the
same period. If you do the math that means that a
London bike rider’s chance of a bad crash is one
third what It was a decade ago.
Now you can always get a good discussion
among bicycle advocates when making any
statement like that: Numbers don’t matter, it’s
improved facilities; It’s improved driver behavior;
It’s those helmets that are saving lives.
Personally I think a strong case can be made
that it’s “All of the above,” and also that “It
doesn’t matter.”
In England the Cycle Touring Club (League
of American Bicyclists equivalent organization)
are conducting a vigorous campaign to increase
ridership, and they quote three main ways that this
will benefit all cyclists.
When there are more bike riders, drivers are
more aware of cyclists and can anticipate how to
accommodate them. This makes sense to me. I
feel safest if there is always bike traffic on a road I
am using, and feel less secure if on a street where
I have never seen another rider. On a side-note, I
believe this was the effect of the Share-the-Road
campaigns: not that it made a driver friendly and
courteous, but it made seeing a bike less of a surprise.
As more people ride, more motorists will also
have had the experience of bicycling. After your
friend has ridden in traffic they are likely to be more
considerate of cyclists when next behind the wheel.
Improved bicycle facilities and education are
also important, and they are more likely to happen
when local authorities, law enforcement, and
politicians in general see bicycle riders as a sizeable
section of the population.
The British campaign has simple goals: double
bike use and halve the risk, in a 10-year period. Do
you think that would work in Sonoma County?
In Denmark there is a different campaign that
should also have our attention: measuring how
safe cyclists feel when riding. There is general
agreement that fear, or feeling at risk, is the major
deterrent for bicycle use. Statistics may “prove” that
riding isn’t dangerous, but it’s difficult to convert
that knowledge into behavior. I think we can expect
more emphasis to be placed on these perceptions in
the future Some have suggested less emphasis on
safety when encouraging riding, and concentrate
more on the “fun and healthy” aspect of bike riding.
What do you think?
Martin Clinton is certified as a Cycling
Instructor by the League of American Bicyclists. He
teaches the class: Street Skills for Cyclists. Call the
Coalition office for the next available date.

PLEASE SUPPORT OUR BUSINESS MEMBERS

Alta Planning & Design
www.altaplanning.com
American Lung Association
707-527-5864 www.alac.org
Bear Valley Inn 415-663-1777
www.bearvinn.com
Bici Sport Bike Shop 707-775-4676
www.bicisportusa.com
Chelino’s Mexican Restaurant
707-571-7478 www.chelinosrestaurant.com
City of Sonoma www.sonomacity.org
Community Bikes 707-579-5811
www.liteinit.org
Community Market 707-546-1806
www.srcommunitymarket.com
David Peoples, Coldwell Banker
Realtor, www.PeoplesHomes.net
Dow House Graphics
707-494-3900 www.dowhouse.com
Eleanor Guerin, Massage Therapist
707-322-6540 www.east-west-massage.com
Eleven Gear www.elevengear.us
Empire Eye Doctors Medical
Group, Inc.707-575-3800
Friendly Feed and Supply
707-546-2156
Fun Car Tattoos 707-566-9169
www.funcartattoos.com
Gary Wysocky, CPA 707-575-3820
Gianni Cycling
GoLocal Sonoma County
707-888-6105
http://sonomacounty.golocal.coop
Halls Executive Gifts and Awards
707-546-9220 www.hallsawards.com
Jeffrey Kahn, PhD. Licensed
Psychologist 829-1477
Jill B. Nimble/Nimble Training
www.jillbnimble.com
LifeCycle Adventures, LLC
888-669-2453 lifecycleadventures.com
New Belgium Brewing Company
www.newbelgium.com
NorCal Bike Sport 707-573-0112
www.norcalcycling.com
North Santa Rosa Physical Therapy
707-523-2848 NSRP@sonic.net
Peacepipe Smoke Shop 707-541-7016
Perry, Johnson, Anderson, Miller &
Moskowitz LLP 707-525-8800
www.perrylaw.net
Petaluma Wheelmen Cycling Club
http://petalumawheelmencyclingclub.
memberlodge.com
R.G. Window Cleaning 707-778-1383
REI 707-540-9025
www.rei.com/stores/santarosa
Rickshaw Rudy’s Pedal Cab Service
www.rickshawrudys.com
Rincon Cyclery 707-538-0868
www.rinconcyclery.com
Santa Rosa Cycling Club
www.SRCC.com
Sarah Glade Gurney, Mediator &
Collaborative Attorney, 707-823-6500
www.gurneyattorney.com
Sojourn Bicycling & Active Adventures
800-730-4771 www.gosojourn.com
Sonoma Mountain Village
707-795-3550
www.sonomamountainvillage.com
Soulcraft Bikes 707-775-2453
www.soulcraftbikes.com
Spoke Folk Cyclery 707-433-7171
www.spokefolk.com
The Bike Peddler 707-571-2428
www.norcalcycling.com
Trek Store Santa Rosa 707-546-8735
www.trekstoresantarosa.com
Undiscovered Country Tours
650-494-1635 www.udctours.com
West County Cycle Service
707-824-0112
www.westcountycycleservice.com
West County Revolution 707-829-2192
www.westcountyrevolution.com
Wine Country Bikes 707-473-0610
www.winecountrybikes.com
Wooden Spoon Technologies, Inc
707-523-2222 www.wooden-spoon.com
W-Trans 707-542-9500
www.w-trans.com
Wordshop Translations 707-829-0305
www.wordshoptranslations.com
5
 SRTS National Conference Report
Tina Panza
With our new Safe Routes to School
academic year just around the corner, I attended
the Safe Routes to School National Conference
in Portland this past August with the hopes of
finding innovative ways to encourage Sonoma
County parents and children to walk and bicycle
to school.
And I have. After spending two days with
550 other health, transportation, and education
specialists, I came back with a head full of
ideas about effective methods of recruiting and
retaining parents, and working with students,
school administrators, and teachers. One of
my special missions was to come up with new
strategies for engaging upper elementary and
middle-school aged kids, so I attended several
workshops on that topic. At one workshop I hit
the gold mine when I met Arthur Orsini, who runs
a “child and youth engagement in sustainable
transportation” program in Vancouver B.C. called
Urban Thinkers (www.urbanthinkers.ca).
His work in promoting active transportation falls
under five elements: Head, Heart, Hands, Feet,
& Friends. “Head” equals learn all about bike
safety. “Heart” equals love cycling and look for
ways to make it more fun. “Hands” equal steer
your bike along a safe routes. “Feet” equals
pedal a well maintained bike. And “Friends”
is about sharing the fun and riding with others.
Arthur was an inspiration. I came away from his
workshop with many specific ideas for how we
can motivate and collaborate with kids at our
SRTS sites. Of course, we will continue working
with parents and teachers — we’re already off to
a great start in Sebastopol and at our six new sites
in the Roseland and Bellevue School Districts.
Safe Routes to School in Sebastopol
When Safe Routes to School got underway
in Fall 2008, student arrival/departure tally
data was taken at Brook Haven Middle School,
the Sebastopol Independent Charter School,
Park Side Elementary School and Pine Crest
Elementary School. Teachers, with support from
SRTS staff, conducted the tallies asking students
how they arrived at school and departed from
school. Choices for modes of transportation
were: single family vehicle, carpool (two or more
families), walking, biking, school bus, public
transit, and other (skateboard, scooter, roller
skates, etc.). The same student tallies were taken
in Spring 2009, and in comparing the two, there
is a 3-8 percent decrease in single family vehicles
6 at Brook Haven, Park Side and Pine Crest (from
Fall ’08 to Spring ’09). That decrease is mainly
made up for with an increase in walking.
Getting kids moving and reducing traffic
Just being in Portland was inspiring as well.
I had the opportunity to both bicycle around the
city and take public transportation, and I was
impressed by how accommodating Portland
is to cyclists. I learned that Portland’s local
Safe Routes program saw a 24 percent jump
in the number of children walking to schools
just between 2006 and 2007. Still, even in the
Portland area, there are plenty of areas around
schools that lack marked crosswalks on busy
streets, need better signs, and have some serious
gaps between sidewalks. We all have our work
cut out for us.
One of the best things about the conference
was the connections I made with other Safe
Routes to School coordinators in California and
elsewhere. I spent time with coordinators from
Napa, Alameda, Contra Costa, San Diego, Marin,
San Francisco, and Riverside Counties, not to
mention Portland and other states. Everyone is
open to sharing ideas and materials, and all the
Bay Area coordinators are planning to have our
own annual or biannual get together. We may
even hire Arthur Orsini to come down and give
us our own special workshop.
One of the workshop facilitators shared a
Chinese proverb that stuck with me, “Tell me
and I’ll forget. Show me and I may remember.
Involve me and I’ll understand.” Safe Routes to
School is about involving kids, parents, teachers,
school administrators, and the community
so that they understand the impact that their
transportation choices make on their health, on
traffic, and on the environment — and then do
something about it.
And that’s what we will do.
around schools is a huge goal of SRTS. It’s
wonderful to see we’re on the right track.
We are excited to begin the second year of
our 3-year SRTS grant. We have lots planned
for this year including establishing parent
school teams at each school, doing Pedestrian
and Bicycle Safety assemblies and lessons,
continuing to collect data, putting together
information that will allow parents to contact
each other for walking, biking and carpooling
to school together, publicizing a Safer Routes
to School map for parents and students, and
working more with students themselves to
spread the word about how fun and healthy it is
to walk and/or roll to school. We look forward
to continuing our work with the community
in making the SRTS program sustainable and
successful.
ABC Rides Spring 2009: 8th edition of the Tour de Trash
Ario Bigattini
The Ario Bigattini County (ABC) Rides are to install signage and video surveillance.
volunteer bicycle road rides aimed at locating This in turn allowed us to cover more ground
illegal dumping sites on our cherished back- and focus on large litter items without worrying
roads. No one knows these actual locations about the potentially hazardous mix of kids and
better than cyclists with regards to countywide traffic. The true test in confirming whether the
impacts. We work with voluntary road bicyclists impact of such efforts was successful was to see
and various organizations such as SCBC to whether the dirty
help spread deeds of regular
awareness within dumping simply
the cycling moved elsewhere.
community.
In May,
A wide Jonathan Lee and
variety of his Red Peloton
cyclists from teammates
little to no demonstrated
experience up to their continued
Cat 2 racers join dedication to our
us on strategic trash rides by
routes to help involving some
spot illegal of their sponsors
dumping sites Miguel “El Conquistador” Crawford, Ario Bigattini, Keith “Redneck”
Marchando, Antonio “Legs of Steel” Castelli, Jason Hoorn, Jason Mathies, in this community
and download Patrick, Charlie Schneider and Raul Antelme. service.
waypoints on GPS
receivers, which will then be handed over to They included prizes from the team’s
county service departments for pick-up. sponsors to reward the volunteer cyclists.
Jonathan and Sal Lucido cleverly used the
We set best of what was available to them and
out to hunt turned a community service and a biannual
down trash awareness program into something fun.
in Sonoma
County for One month later, the next ride was also
the 8th edition designed to put some fun back into the Tour
of the “Tour de Trash using “prems” from local sponsors
de Trash” by that helped spark our day’s objective as
pedaling our a dozen riders
way through showed up ready
county for the undertaking.
backroads on The result from
two separate spring rides this year. our efforts yielded
One ride headed out on May 16 and more than 20 trash
covered the northwest portion of the county, sites in Sonoma
while the second ride was a southeastern County, and GPS
route that concluded on June 13. waypoints were
handed over to
We reverted back to the original format, Photos courtesy of Ario Bigattini
the County’s Public
creating longer rides for the 8th edition of the Works Department.
Tour de Trash. The habitual and relatively safe
for kids route out of Petaluma on I-Street held no Happy reading at www.abcrides.blogspot.
significant litter as a result of the county’s efforts com for play-by-play riding details from our
spring rides.

Huge congratulations to the Levi Leipheimer’s

King Ridge GranFondo Crew! Awesome job.
SCBC is proud to have been part of this event and is very grateful for the support 7
we received for providing valet bike parking for over 1450 riders! We couldn’t have
done it without our amazing group of volunteers who worked their butts off, so big
THANKS to all our volunteers!.
 SONOMA COUNTY
BICYCLE COALITION
PO BOX 3088
SANTA ROSA CA 95402·3088

707·545·0153
WWW.BIKESONOMA.ORG

Promoting the bicycle for transportation and recreation

Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition Membership Form

You can now join or renew your membership online at www.BikeSonoma.org