Bike Buzz: 17th Anniversary, 2026 edition

On June 5 we met Carol (above) near Monterey’s Hartnell Gulch walkway, which borders Slow Fiber, a cool local business where we’ve found exactly the thread we wanted for making sachets from our homegrown lavender! We’ve also enjoyed chatting years back with Jaki Canterbury of Slow Fiber about skirt guards. A Salinas resident, Carol was headed to Slow Fiber via transportation that is typical for her: She did the bike-and-ride to Marina, then biked the remainder of her trip.

Carol’s hi-vis helmet and jacket make sense; she regularly shares streets with motor vehicle traffic. Being visible—and being predictable (e.g., signaling turns, signaling slowing and stopping)—may increase your safety. Of course, as we remind when educating youth on being visible and predictable, that can’t protect you from speeding, drunk, texting, or otherwise careless drivers—as we experienced this spring: https://sfba.social/@bikemonterey/116219787478611800

In an ideal world, there would be no need for high-visibility apparel and accessories. There would be improved infrastructure, such as protected bike lanes. There would be no distracted travelers. And there would be so many people biking in every community that there would be a constant mindfulness about looking out for them.  Meanwhile, Carol is hip to the fact that high-visibility apparel and accessories may be helpful. 

When we met Lana, from Brooklyn, New York, on June 3, 2026, her joy in her transportation choice—bicycling—was immediately visible! Her June riding includes four days of bikepacking from San Francisco to Kirk Creek (on the Big Sur coast) and back. She was interested in Bicycling Monterey’s advocacy work, and how it began, in May 2009, by sharing tips with Monterey County visitors like herself.

That same day, we also loved meeting another bikepacking visitor (above). He is currently biking from the Canadian city of Vancouver, British Columbia to Tijuana, Mexico! For fifteen years, he is a full-time bike commuter—so it sure makes sense that he appreciates Bicycling Monterey’s advocacy work, including as Monterey County’s local partner of the California Bicycle Coalition.

Among ways to advocate here on the Central Coast: Give input to the California Coastal Commission about specific areas that could use safety improvements or enhanced Complete Streets facilities; see how.

For more ideas on how to advocate, see what you can do to advocate locally and nationwide. Note some special Monterey County June dates below.

We met Carlos (pictured above), when we swung by Cali Roots on our bicycle, to see how packed the bike valet station was (surprise—not full at all). But the joy of that stop was meeting Carlos, who was doing Cali Roots volunteering nearby. He does road and mountain biking and is also a bike-to-work commuter, using the Monterey-Salinas Transit as a bike-and-ride option to make it feasible to bike to work from his Soledad home. We chatted a few minutes about e-bikes, e-motos, and more. We encouraged Carlos to consider becoming more active in bike advocacy by serving as a voice for Salinas Valley residents on Transportation Agency for Monterey County’s bike-ped committee.

The ease of pausing to chat with people who bike, and others, is one of the many benefits of bicycling. That same day, we also enjoyed meeting Sam at the front of Portola Hotel, who was eagerly awaiting his next stop: his wedding that afternoon to Lindsay! Next we pedaled down the coastal trail, where we had the opportunity to say thank you to a girl whose family, from Hollister, was helping reduce carbon emissions and holiday weekend traffic congestion by biking. We then met Olivia and Chris, whose joy in biking was so visible and contagious; they had moved up from Santa Barbara in recent years and enjoy local bike shop AMG Cyclery of Seaside’s social rides.

Biking the coastal trail, we also met Carol, who has been to First Presbyterian Church of Monterey for music in the past and was interested in our Bike Month event on May 31, Bike to Bluegrass Sunday at FPC. Maybe you’ve heard of Bike to Worship events for Bike Month — biking to church, mosque, satsang, synagogue, or other place of worship. That inspired our May 31 Bike Month events!

May 31 Bike Month events: Bike to Bluegrass Sunday; and Bike Chat

Bike to Bluegrass Sunday May 31 at FPC-Monterey—an inclusive Presbyterian Church USA congregation—will be followed by a bike chat in the Jay Bartow Memorial Garden. Anyone—of any age—is welcome to the bike chat, even if they didn’t bike to FPC.

Our May rides in to city of Monterey also included another special event at FPC: The May 23 ordination ceremony, at First Presbyterian Church, for Cory Pina, Curator for Spiritual Life at All Saints Day School in Carmel Valley. We appreciate that Cory has helped make Bicycling Monterey’s 17th anniversary (May 2026) possible, by volunteering time in 2019 and beyond to boost our WordPress skills.

Hmmm…Piña, Piña, where else have we heard this name on bikemonterey.org? Maybe you saw our post back when the U.S. Transportation Secretary was welcomed to our county by local bike advocates, including Cory’s dad, Roy Pina.

MST Bike-and-Ride tips

See our tips for taking bicycle aboard trolley or any large or small MST bus— with the exception of MST’s ADA Paratransit (RIDES) buses. The Monterey-Salinas Transit (MST) FREE #Monterey Trolley service for summer 2026 began on Saturday, May 23, and will operate daily from 10am to 6pm through Labor Day, Monday, September 7.

Among other service changes announced by MST on 5/19/26 (https://mst.org/news_items/monterey-salinas-transit-mst-service-changes-go-into-effect-beginning-saturday-may-23rd/):
“Line 84 (King City – Paso Robles): Major schedule updates will improve connections to San Luis Obispo RTA Route 9 in Paso Robles. All southbound Line 23 (King City) trips will continue to Paso Robles without requiring a transfer. Service to Bradley will also be restored.”

Show some Bike Love—on this 17th anniversary, or year-round

We cut those flowers from our yard May 16 to take to a friend’s 80th birthday celebration. Wish we could likewise take some to Kathleen Jones and Nancy Baker, in gratitude for their May 2 and May 5 donations. These faithful donors—they pitch in every month!—are so appreciated.

Fundraising isn’t our thing, and as of May 25, those two women (one a Monterey County resident, one a visitor) are the only 2026 donors!

PLEASE be a change-maker in that regard: Support this grassroots volunteer effort with a donation in any amount today.

See how to donate, plus FAQs: https://bikemonterey.org/about/financial-donations

Grateful for Mother Earth

As we posted on social media (Mastodon) on April 20: Pedaling off under a rainbow, pedaling home with raindrops kissing our tongue as we sing—plus the many glories of nature in between. So thankful for our bicycle and how it keeps us close to the earth!

What we’re riding now

ICYMI, in 2024, when our old bicycle’s design wasn’t right for us anymore, a physical therapist recommended we look at Tern bicycles. The PT & his spouse have Tern bikes for transporting their children nearly everywhere. Nice! Altho not a doable purchase for our own meager budget. Then, thanks to 💚our adult kids’ generous support for our bike advocacy for the previous 15 years, we were blessed to receive a Tern NBD P8i (low-to-the-ground, wide step-thru Type 1 e-bike—no throttle, requires pedaling, top assisted speed of 20 mph).

Tern (https://www.ternbicycles.com/en/bikes) is among e-bike brands available from Monterey Bay locally owned bike shop Current eBikes (https://currentebikes.com/local-ebikes/).

Who is this woman who bikes to the farmers market ?

Find out who she is by reading our related Mastodon post https://sfba.social/@bikemonterey/116422535768338999

Yes, we made it to the 2026 SOC. To see two of the Expo vendors we met, in our Sea Otter intro post, plus other April news, go to https://bikemonterey.org/2026/04.

Calendar notes / More buzz

There’s more buzz to share—e.g., June 2 California Primary Election; June 3 Transportation Agency for Monterey County Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee meeting; June 10 Twilight Cycling; June 10 Elkhorn Slough Corridor Climate Resiliency Project informational webinar (for details, contact https://www.tamcmonterey.org/alissa-guther-associate-transportation-planner); June 14 Crit in Sand City (https://mbrt.bike/sand-city-crit/); and looking ahead to summer, on June 24 a Monterey County Active Transportation Plan community meeting in Salinas, 6-8pm—food provided—to learn and provide input on the 2026 Monterey County Active Transportation Plan (ATP). Details:  https://www.tamcmonterey.org/monterey-county-active-transportation-plan-stakeholder-meeting.

We hope to post more spring buzz—through June 19—here, including more SOC and other photos too. But we’ll stop for now. Why? Because we’re celebrating this 17th anniversary (start of Bicycling Monterey’s 18th year) by giving ourselves the gift of less screen time and more saddle time!

Meanwhile, catch more buzz by following us on Mastodon.

If you’ve not donated to Bicycling Monterey in 2026, please see how to donate, plus FAQs: https://bikemonterey.org/about/financial-donations. Thank you!

This edition of Bike Buzz is dedicated in memory of Linda Theresse Munoz of Salinas.

https://sfba.social/@bikemonterey/116253817885527660