Bike Buzz: Autumn 2024 News from Bicycling Monterey

Bike Buzz has items of interest countywide (Monterey County), statewide, and nationwide.

Through the end of autumn (December 20), this Autumn 2024 Buzz will be continually updated with more event dates and other news. News updates are typically posted at the top of each section.

Missing buzz? To subscribe to Bicycling Monterey, click here. You may also wish to follow @bikemonterey on social media.

We came upon this happy trio biking the last Sunday of September on a section of Monterey County’s 18-mile coastal trail. These children had freedom from motor vehicle traffic and easy access to the beach for play breaks, along with bike-savvy guidance and support of their attentive father. No wonder Chris’s daughters radiated such joy!

Lissa and Cody, and their napping little one, pause along the city of Monterey section of the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Scenic Trail. Visiting from Nevada, they appreciated the city’s car-free recreation trail aka bike path, along with the refreshing coastal air and 75-degree autumn sunshine of September 28, 2024.

Autumn Calendar Notes
(September 21 – December 20)

• CARMEL: Saturday, September 21, 2-4 p.m. Monterey County Climate Action Coalition Organizing Meeting at the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Monterey Peninsula, 490 Aguajito Road, Carmel; or attend via Zoom. Details: https://www.climaterealitymb.org/events/monterey-county-climate-action-coalition-npg9l
• CALIFORNIA, Statewide: Tuesday, September 24 and Thursday, September 26 – Call-In Days for people who want to urge the Governor to sign AB 3233. Details: California’s Local Environmental Health and Safety Act, AB 3233.
• SALINAS: Wednesday, October 2, 6 p.m. Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC) Bicycle & Pedestrian Facilities Advisory Committee (BPAC) meeting. Public welcome to attend, either in-person (at 55-B Plaza Circle, Salinas, in TAMC Conference Room) or via Zoom or phone. AGENDA AND PACKET: https://www.tamcmonterey.org/files/1e9f4af0b/BPC+Agenda+Packet+October+Meeting.pdf
• KING CITY: Friday, October 4, Bike Repair Workshop.
• FORT ORD: Saturday, October 5, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. – Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day, with Monterey Off Road Cycling Association (MORCA), an annual event.
• SEASIDE: Saturday, October 5, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. – Seaside Bike Swap. For details, contact https://www.amgcyclery.com/.
• SALINAS: Sunday, October 6, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. – Ciclovía Salinas. Launched in 2013, Ciclovia Salinas is normally an annual event (with exception of no event in 2021).
• NORTH MONTEREY COUNTY: Wednesday, October 9, 5:30-8:30 p.m. North Monterey County Safe Routes to School committee meeting #2. For details and any changes, contact: https://saferoutesmonterey.org/northmontereycounty/#lp-pom-block-313
• SEASIDE and beyond: Friday, October 11 – meetup 5:30 p.m., roll out 6 p.m. AMG Cyclery group ride, free. AMG reminds: Bring your bike lights to make ride safer for everyone. Meet up at their bike shop, 805 Broadway Ave, Seaside for a relaxed, no-drop ride. Stops are planned for rest and photos, so everyone can have a fun time, whatever their personal riding pace. Route will be mainly the coastal multiuse trail (aka bike path). (Optionally, at about 7:30-ish, riders can meet for a no-host social gathering at neighboring business Other Brother, 877 Broadway.) Questions? Contact https://www.amgcyclery.com/.
• MONTEREY COUNTY: Saturday, October 12, for Greenfield High School students (only); limited space. Biking Trip to Monterey Bay. Funded by the California State Parks Outdoor Equity Grants Program, the cost to attendees is $3. To register and for other details, text or call Greenfield Community Science Workshop, 831-233-8335.
• KING CITY: Sunday, October 13, noon to 4 p.m. – Ciclovía King City. This is the second Ciclovia date for King City (the first was in 2019).
• SEASIDE TO FORT ORD: Friday, October 18. AMG Cyclery road ride, AMG to Fort Ord and back. Meet up 5:30 p.m., roll out 6 p.m. Meet-up spot is their bike shop, 805 Broadway Ave, Seaside. AMG reminds: Bring your bike lights. For event details, contact https://www.amgcyclery.com/.
• CALIFORNIA, Statewide: Monday, October 21 is the last day for Californians to register to vote for the November 5 General Election. (Same-Day Voter Registration [registering on Nov 5] is Conditional, so please register by Oct 21!)  Voting resources for Californians and other U.S. voters.
• UNITED STATES, Nationwide: Tuesday, November 5 – General Election. https://bikemonterey.org/nov-5-2024-usa-general-election-and-voter-registration-deadlines.html
• MONTEREY COUNTY: Wednesday, November 6, 6 p.m. Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC) Bicycle & Pedestrian Facilities Advisory Committee (BPAC) meeting. Public welcome to attend, either in-person (contact TAMC for Nov 6 location https://www.tamcmonterey.org/contact-us) or via Zoom or phone.
• ONLINE, Worldwide: #BikeNite on Mastodon, e.g., https://sfba.social/@ascentale/112934545357620700. Weekly on Fridays, 4-5 p.m.—or, as organizer Phil Yip / https://sfba.social/@ascentale welcomes, respond “whenever at your convenience. Anyone [with a Mastodon account] can join, now or later.” (Note: Bike Nite on Mastodon is similar to Bike School on the site formerly known as Twitter.) And to follow Bike Monterey’s posts on Mastodon, with or without a Mastodon account, go to https://sfba.social/@bikemonterey.
• GREENFIELD: Weekly on Fridays, 3-5 p.m. Free 1-on-1 bike repair workshops at the Greenfield Community Science Workshop, 45 El Camino Real. For details, refer to the bilingual posters below; and for any updates or changes, contact GCSW.
• GREENFIELD: Weekly on Saturdays, 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. Free 1-on-1 bike repair workshops at the Greenfield Community Science Workshop, 45 El Camino Real. For details, refer to the bilingual posters below; and for any updates or changes, contact GCSW.

If you have a Monterey County bicycling or bike-related activity, event, or meeting scheduled that is open to the public, contact us to have it added to this “Bike Buzz: Autumn 2024” post (dates through the end of autumn, December 20) and/or shared on @bikemonterey’s social media.

Volunteer opportunity

There are many active Bicycling Monterey projects, such as this one that saves cited teens and their families money. Volunteers are needed, including to help with website tasks. If you may be able to help compile Calendar Notes additions for Oct-Dec 2024, please contact us.

California News

“It was Chevron that sued Monterey County and a voter initiative [Measure Z, Protect Monterey County],” Governor Newsom stated in a 9/25/24 signing ceremony. He was signing his approval of California’s Local Environmental Health and Safety Act, AB 3233, along with AB 1866 and AB 2716. To watch the ceremony, including an intro by Physicians for Social Responsibility, go to https://www.youtube.com/live/J2sAAls_Ljc?si=4NN3W2Yftrsj79E_.

NOTE ABOUT YOUTUBE: You may want to do as we do, i.e., make use of Duck Duck Go’s Duck Player. The Duck Player “lets you watch videos on YouTube without privacy-invading ads, and keeps what you watch from impacting your recommendations.‌” Details: https://duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/duck-player/

California Bicycle Coalition End-of-Session Legislative Recap: https://www.calbike.org/end-of-session-legislative-recap-big-wins-for-safer-streets/

Celebrate a win! On September 27, California’s Governor signed the Complete Streets Bill of 2024: Senate Bill 960. As CalBike wrote to supporters, the SB960 “victory wasn’t quick, and it wasn’t easy. Senator Wiener introduced his first Complete Streets Bill in 2017 with CalBike’s sponsorship. We sponsored his second Complete Streets Bill in 2019 and SB 960 this year. We campaigned hard for each of these measures, getting closer to passage each time, never giving up on a policy we know is vital to California’s green transportation future.”

“New CalBike Report Details the Unfulfilled Promise of Complete Streets in Caltrans Projects” https://www.calbike.org/new-calbike-report-details-the-unfulfilled-promise-of-complete-streets-in-caltrans-projects/

California Bicycle Coalition turns 30 this autumn.

“To be a bicycle advocate is to know disappointment….The car-centered mindset that built much of our state is difficult to change, and progress is sometimes painfully slow. But if we keep coming back, eventually, we win.”—Kendra Ramsey, executive director, CalBike: https://www.calbike.org/celebrating-30-years-of-better-biking/. Support the work of CalBike and its local partners! Californians, find your local partner for the Central Coast, Central California, Northern California, San Francisco Bay Area, or Southern California: https://www.calbike.org/about_us/who_we_are/local_partners/

Support the Bicycling Monterey work

Share items from our Tool Kit, as the teen above did, and/or make a donation to support the work of Bicycling Monterey projects.
How to donate?
Go to https://bikemonterey.org/about/financial-donations.
You may specify how you’d like your donation used, i.e., for Website and Public Outreach, Education Projects, Advocacy Projects, or General Operating Expenses of the Bicycling Monterey work, now in its 16th year.
For contribution FAQs, click here.

If donating via PayPal, you also have the option of setting up an automatic monthly donation. On Bicycling Monterey’s financial contributors page, anyone making an automatic monthly donation of ten dollars ($10) or more is recognized as a Pedal Pusher.

If you have a Monterey County bicycling or bike-related activity, event, or meeting scheduled that is open to the public, contact us to have it added to this “Bike Buzz: Autumn 2024” post (dates through the end of autumn, December 20) and/or shared on @bikemonterey’s social media.

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY: We’ve too many bike to-dos! Contact us if you can round up more Monterey County bike calendar notes for Aug-Dec 202For October, November, December 2024 posts, check back here later, or check Archives in sidebar.

National news

Photo above courtesy of Monterey County visitor Gregg Havens. A resident of a Southern state, Gregg and his wife drive an EV, ride e-bikes regularly (e.g., as above, taking them along on travels), and make use of solar energy at home—all to help create a brighter future for their children, grandchildren, and future generations.

Standing Up to Big Oil

Bike the Vote
I bike, I vote!

Nov 5, 2024 U.S. General Election—and voter registration deadlines

From @bikemonterey’s Mastodon stream

First, our favorite way to connect with people is IRL (in real life), whether in person or in a phone conversation (https://bikemonterey.org/contact-me). Nevertheless, since @bikemonterey left the Twittersphere in November 2022, we are still on social media, although less often. Mastodon is where @bikemonterey is currently most active: https://sfba.social/@BikeMonterey. (Now and then we also log in to Instagram [a Meta company], @bikemonterey – https://www.instagram.com/bikemonterey/.)
Are you new to Mastodon? For some tips on using that decentralized social network, refer to our Contact page. As active transportation professional and advocate Barb Chamberlain of Spokane, WA wrote: “I opened a Mastodon account [at https://toot.community/@BarbChamberlain] and entered the fediverse. It deliberately avoids global search, and hashtags are essential.” #BikeTooter is among the most common hashtags on Mastodon.

Below is just a sampling of our recent Mastodon posts. For more, check out https://sfba.social/@BikeMonterey.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is aka America’s environmental intelligence agency. https://sfba.social/@bikemonterey/113247596111213990

When Driving Is Not an Option: Steering Away from Car Dependency by Anna Leticia Zivarts. https://sfba.social/@bikemonterey/113162313346523655

Thank you, Monterey Police. https://sfba.social/@bikemonterey/113199735065454654

Gracias to Ricardo y Susana Eyre of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
https://sfba.social/@bikemonterey/113133931043182351

New CalBike report: https://sfba.social/@bikemonterey/113228687869791720

Valencia Street, San Francisco followed Monterey’s lead on center bikeway design (Monterey’s, on North Fremont Street, was the first in the state), then regretted it. SF residents advocating for “Better Valencia” infrastructure design shared resources: https://sfba.social/@bikemonterey/113117195186927883

Whether on North Fremont Street (which lacks sufficient bicycle parking for shoppers and others) or wherever you bike, the kindness of business managers and others can help. https://sfba.social/@bikemonterey/113145554309346347

Sadly, when it comes to bicycle parking, Del Monte Center, Monterey has gone backward: https://sfba.social/@bikemonterey/113052967731078328

Shout-out to Salinas Police
https://sfba.social/@bikemonterey/113054872357150631

Equity, inclusivity? As we chimed in at a recent Mastodon #BikeNite: Our eyes have now been opened wider. https://sfba.social/@bikemonterey/113054790396729752

New posts since Summer Bike Buzz was published

• Aug 2024 https://bikemonterey.org/2024/08
• Sept 2024 https://bikemonterey.org/2024/09
• For more posts this Autumn, refer later to Oct, Nov, Dec 2024 Archives in sidebar.

Rest in Peace

Bill Ragsdale-Cronin of Del Rey Oaks
https://sfba.social/@bikemonterey/113054702279921526

Patrick (“Pat”) R. Perry of Salinas
https://sfba.social/@bikemonterey/113133964875682853