Posted by Founder, Bicycling Monterey
Bike Buzz: January 2020 News from Bicycling Monterey
This edition of Bike Buzz includes new Bicycling Monterey posts from the past month, and other communications. At the end is a sampling of our recent social media posts. To subscribe to Bicycling Monterey, refer here.
Scroll down to the next neon green box to learn about the need for instructional assistants to help with the Monterey County Probation Department Youth Center’s bicycling education program.
January 2020 Bike Buzz is dedicated to the memory of Robert “Bobcat” Bradfield of Aptos, who died suddenly in a bicycle crash in Santa Cruz on November 1, 2019. Bob is survived by his wife, Annie, and other beloved family members. He will be greatly missed by the Monterey Bay bike community, including by customers and friends of Bobcat Bicycles in Salinas, which Bob founded in 1994. Carrying on his work at the shop are Craig Tucker and other loyal longtime staff of Bobcat Bicycles.
Options for making a donation in Bob’s memory include the scholarship fund of NICA’s NorCal League (which will impact such youth as those on high school mountain bike teams in Monterey County—click here for details about youth pictured below). To donate to the NorCal League, go to:
https://app.etapestry.com/onlineforms/NationalInterscholasticCyclin/SupportNorCalMTB.html.
New Bicycling Monterey posts:
Why get involved in infrastructure planning: North Fremont, Monterey and other projects. https://bikemonterey.org/why-get-involved-in-infrastructure-planning-north-fremont-monterey-and-other-projects.html
On the first day of 2020, the 10th anniversary edition of the HER Helmet Thursdays guide was published! Special thanks to the charter participating businesses and organizations for being in HER Helmet Thursdays since its first year. The gallery below features just a sampling of the charter participants.
View the new guide: https://bikemonterey.org/10th-anniversary-of-the-her-helmet-thursdays-project-monterey-county.html.
Downtown Book & Sound, in Salinas.
In this 11th year, although we are publishing fewer new posts, many of Bicycling Monterey’s 700+ posts and pages continue to be updated.
Among the many updated posts is one we’ve republished as new on January 3, 2020, since we extensively revised it to include all the current committee vacancies and the proposed new meeting locations:
“Bicycle & Pedestrian Facilities Advisory Committee meetings, Transportation Agency for Monterey County.” https://bikemonterey.org/monthly-meetings-tamc-bicycle-pedestrian-facilities-advisory-committee-public-welcome.html
Among pages updated regularly throughout the year is the financial contributors page: https://bikemonterey.org/about/financial-donations/donors.
Gracias to all who have supported the Bicycling Monterey website and other Bicycling Monterey projects with one or more contributions in 2019: Andrew Liu, Anonymous, Chris Flescher, Danielle Shillcock, Edith Frederick (a Pedal Pusher / monthly contributor), Geoff Arnold, Kathleen Jones, Kay Magenheim, L. Robin Brody, Michael Bertoni, Nathan Pierce, Pebble Beach Company, Robin and Terrill Keeler, and an anonymous contributor.
To be among 2020’s first contributors, and for FAQs, click here.
Volunteer needs:
Notes from Bicycling Monterey’s founder.
We’d love to add you to our volunteer acknowledgements page! In addition to the Youth Center volunteer need mentioned in the neon green box below, there are other volunteer opportunities with the Bicycling Monterey site and projects. Please phone regarding your interests, skills, and available time. (And in case you missed it, since 2009—and still the case as 2020 begins—Bicycling Monterey’s founder is a volunteer too, not paid for any of this work.) The HER Helmet Thursdays Project alone takes a ton of time, including long hours during this holiday week. Like surely all of you, we do what we can to help our communities and planet. Yet much of my time could be put to better use in advancing bicycling advocacy; instead, it’s necessary to spend time on tasks that don’t require my experience and could be done by reliable helpers. Maybe you are a helper looking for such a way to act on climate change—or just want to support the multiple benefits when more people bike. If so, please call.
At the December 13, 2019 Bike Night (part of the Monterey County Probation Department Youth Center bike ed program founded by Bicycling Monterey), the ten boys and I had fun, and much learning happened! Nonetheless, I was sorry to see faces fall when I had to answer their question about why most of them—even those who would otherwise be eligible—can’t be in the Bike Repair and Maintenance class. My answer? Because, since I launched that class in 2012, there are just two volunteers who have faithfully provided instruction, year after year. (BTW, before launching the Youth Center’s bike ed program, in 2011 the now-retired Youth Center director told me that he’d very much wanted but could never launch a bicycle program there, because he couldn’t get any volunteers!)
I am extremely grateful for the two very dedicated volunteers who’ve stayed on as instructors since 2012. https://bikemonterey.org/bike-ed-program-for-monterey-countys-incarcerated-boys-has-passed-7th-anniversary.html Lack of additional volunteer instructors means, of course, that class sizes in this high-security setting must be kept very small.
Perhaps you might be willing to go through the necessary background check, then make a commitment to start as an assistant to the two veteran instructors. If so, in time that could allow more of Monterey County’s incarcerated boys to have this valuable bike tech instruction. Please phone me with any questions. Thank you for considering this need.
For other news, and to be alerted about some of the many updates to Bicycling Monterey content, you may wish to check Bicycling Monterey’s social media posts now and then—especially Twitter, where we are most active. (See some examples below.) Details about social media and other ways to be in touch https://bikemonterey.org/contact-me. Phone calls are welcome anytime.
Social Media Posts
This post is dedicated in memory of Bob Bradfield, founder and owner since 1994 of Bobcat Bicycles in Salinas.
This post was published on 2 January 2020. One or more changes last made to this post on 5 May 2023.
