Bike Buzz: June 2015 News from Bicycling Monterey

1. 6/15/15 deadline [updated from earlier deadline of 6/11] for input about TAMC’s Wayfinding sign design. Bilingual (Spanish-English) Virginia Murillo of TAMC can take input by phone (especially helpful for people not online). Input can also be given to Virginia via the “mySidewalk” (formerly MindMixer) application, or via email.
2. 6/19 deadline for summer youth internship applications for Ciclovia Salinas.
3. Road skills trainings this summer! Also, have you considered becoming a Bike League Certified Instructor (LCI)? Let TAMC know if you’d like LCI training in Monterey County this fall. The same post with info on both of those (the Bike Month post—added there for now because there was a late-scheduled addition of a May 30 road skills training for Bike Month) also includes two local cities who proclaimed May as Bike Month.
4. No price increase for Monterey-Salinas Transit’s Summer Youth GoPass. Bike-and-ride tips for teens included in that post. Thanks to MST, from June 1-Aug 31, $38 and a bike will get teens just about anywhere they need to go.
5. Monterey County Probation Department Youth Center Bike Class rolls on, now in its 4th year. Read this updated post to find out how you can support these incarcerated local boys.
6. League of American Bicyclists featured Monterey County in May. (See “We’re All Heroes” on Bicycling Monterey, or see bikeleague.org’s May 11 blog post, “Seeing the World Anew.”)
7. Additions to the Bike to School compilation about elementary, middle, and high schools include an East Salinas school whose “perfect attendance” students received new bikes and helmets.
8. 6/26-28: Santa Cruz County teens / Green Ways to School 6th Annual Bike the Bay. Consider informally meeting up with them (e.g., in Castroville, Marina, Seaside, or Sand City) to give them a special welcome as they ride to their Monterey lodging destination.
9. 7/18-8/1: For the 16th year, Australian visitor and Carmel Bach Festival professional Carey Beebe will be biking to the festival venues. Did you know the Bach Fest is also in the HER Helmet Thursdays project? Learn how that works.
10. 9/2-7, Monterey County Fair and 9/18-20 Monterey Jazz Festival bike valet stations welcome volunteer attendants; get on the valet station schedule in advance.
11. 10/3: MORCA’s annual activities for Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day are open to children and teens. Great way to encourage kids in recreational MTB-ing, or (for high school age girls and boys), to consider participating on one of the high school teams. (And congrats to Salinas High Cowboys—a co-ed team—on winning third place spot in the National Interscholastic Cycling Association’s State Championships.)
12. Vandalizing Kyle’s memorial bench? You must be kidding!
13. Love social rides? You would have gone to the May 30 Salinas Community Ride or the May 31 Salinas Burrito Bike Ride (the 5th biannual) but you didn’t know about them? Those two social rides were on the home page and the master calendar. Remember to check that calendar now and then for the many things not found elsewhere on the site, or for reminders. (The master calendar is under the Resources/Los Recursos tab.)
14. Also under Resources/Los Recursos is Bicycling Monterey’s main resources page AKA bike community page. Look at the films section of that 32-section page to see who’s eager to show their bike touring documentary; they’re just waiting for your invitation.
15. HER Helmet Thursdays updates: [and for your convenience, here’s an updated guide – HER Helmet Thursdays – Quick Reference Guide – as of 17 July 2015 (a) Newest spots are all in the Restaurants category—the following new participants, in four communities: Lugano’s Swiss Bistro, Carmel; Perfectly Pressed Juice Bar ‘n’ Eatery, Prunedale; Ginger Thai, Salinas; Vietnam Restaurant, King City; Hacienda Mexican Grille, Salinas; and Halē Kai Lana Kona Coffee, Sand City. (b) I’ve added more photos to the Bicycle Security section to show some of the many HER Helmet Thursdays spots especially well suited for touring cyclists or others who want to keep a sharp eye on their bike. (c) If you scroll down the right-hand side bar of the site, you’ll see that I’ve also highlighted North County’s HER Helmet Thursdays spots in the Bike Castroville section, and South County’s spots in the Bike Greenfield section. Carmel/Carmel Valley, Salinas, and Seaside sections all include lists highlighting their first spots too. You may be surprised to find out how many there are.
16. Scenes from the 25th Sea Otter Classic: portraits of international visitors, including some world pros, among other folks at SOC–including staff from two HER Helmet Thursdays spots that served up beer, food, and fun at an SOC party.

Frosting on the cake of the Sweet Sixteen above?

#17 – the Pedal Pushers! Sweet indeed. See who they are.

Thank you for your interest and support for biking. The Bicycling Monterey website and projects are now in their 7th year. If you find them of value, please contribute money, project supplies, or volunteer time if you can. Any amount of help is welcome and appreciated.

Happy riding!

Updates:

6/27 community ride in Watsonville (great excuse to explore bike-friendly spots in North Monterey County that day).

7/5 Adrian Garcia memorial ride and BBQ; and a variety of Independence Day weekend activities.

7/13 Carmel community meeting about the proposed Rio Road bike lanes.

8/25 Middlebury Institute for International Studies at Monterey – Information Fair

Natividad Medical Center employees boost youth biking!

Yearning for a pump track in Monterey County: What’s the latest development?