Naval Postgraduate School Foundation Cycling Club provides inspiration and support for biking in Monterey County

The NPS Foundation Cycling Club is “dedicated to supporting NPS students who enjoy riding bicycles for recreation, exercise, and competition.” A club brochure is typically distributed to new students at the NPS clubs fair held at the school each quarter: NPS Tri-Fold Info Flyer v5.

The bicycle corrals at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey are inspirational!  Imagine such corrals all over Monterey County–including at elementary and high schools, at transit plazas, and elsewhere. Maybe you will be inspired to work with municipal leaders, cycling organizations, and civic groups to get more such bike parking in the county.

Bicycling ambassadors for Monterey County

There’s something even better than the bike corrals going on at NPS:  the actions of the NPS Cycling Club members, which ripple throughout Monterey County.

This is not only visible in the friendly men and women out biking in their NPS jerseys, it is also demonstrated through their commitment to bike advocacy.

Whether serving informally as ambassadors for cycling through their safe, predictable riding, or doing formal bike advocacy at events and elsewhere, the NPS Cycling Club is out there regularly, actively involved in Monterey County’s bicycling community.

Here’s just one example of the ways the Naval Postgraduate School Cycling Club supports the Monterey County bike community: as helpers / vigilant ride escorts for children and others on Bicycling Monterey’s intergenerational rides. Click here for details on the 2013 ride, where NPSCC’s Rich Buaya, Jimmy Mastrom, and Barcley Stamey took on this Saturday duty. Thank you!

Read below to learn more!

Thank you to Joe Strunk for providing these photographs of some  NPS bike corrals.

NPS Cycling Club in action

Active in both road and mountain biking, the NPS Cycling Club includes approximately 100 active and over 300 legacy members.  Members are military officers attending NPS or the Defense Language Institute, and all over the world, as well as instructors, support personnel, and spouses.

Here are just a few examples of  their local bike leadership.  NPS members:

• Provide information and support at public events, such as the Seaside Police Activities League’s PAL Bike Fair and local Cub Scouts bike rodeos.
• Attend city planning meetings, where they speak up on behalf of everyone who wants to bike within the city.
• Support bike safety outreach to youth and others through donations, e.g., providing helmets for kids attending the South County Health and Safety Fair.
• Host cycling events benefiting local charities, such as the holiday Twilight Ride benefiting the Pacific Grove Kiwanis Santa Project.
• Support Bike Week events, such as the Dress-Up Challenge, through active participation.
• Serve as another good information resource for serious cyclists in Monterey County.
• Demonstrate the value of supporting fellow cyclists–including those biking through pregnancy.
• Encourage more bicycling countywide by promoting the HER Helmet Thursdays project–at their Twilight Rides,  on their website and events calendar and through patronizing the businesses and organizations.
• Share countywide cycling resources at campus functions, such as the annual Earth Day celebrations.
• And not least of all, honor the past by remembering leaders:  See Captain Alan Poindexter Tribute Ride.

Say hi on the bikeways

When you see NPS jerseys out in the community, please give these cyclists a smile or wave.  Let them know how much their contributions are appreciated in Monterey County!

http://twitter.com/BikeMonterey/status/231520944542330881

The Naval Postgraduate School Cycling Club got the word out about HER Helmet Thursdays at Mazda Raceway, Laguna Seca, at one of the Twilight Rides they hosted.

Photos below were taken at the NPS Cycling Club-hosted May 18, 2011 Twilight Ride at Mazda Raceway, Laguna Seca

Above:  Devin, Tyler, and Dena Donnell

Above:  Hosts NPS Cycling Club welcomes Salinas High Cowboy Racing team members to the 5/18/11 Twilight Ride.

Photo below, taken at the Naval Postgraduate School in 2010, provided courtesy of Javier Chagoya.

Starting school in Monterey County? 

See “Back to the books–and bikes.”