Check out this FREE comprehensive guide to bicycle touring. I haven’t glanced at it yet, but it looks pretty good from reviews and comments. Let us know what you think, well oiled bike tourists out there in LB!
Hey, New bike Tourists!
Tour of Long Beach—May 8th
The weekend-long Long Beach Bike Festival is for young and old. May 8th will include an easy family ride that is perfect for toddlers… and plenty of fun too for oldsters who like the idea of getting into shape.
And May 8th will be a day for cycling races—the Tour of Long Beach—for those who love adrenalin. Click on the photos to get a taste of what’s in store.
Saturday afternoon and evening, downtown Long Beach will be alive with a family-friendly Kids’ Fun Zone, and with push-pull competitions, with Bike Polo, BMX and Flatland demonstrations, bicycle art… and a ‘Cyclestyle’ fashion show.
Long Beach Cyclists volunteers will be downtown to provide free bike valet service. We’ll watch after your bicycle while you stroll among the crowds and celebrate the magic of our Long Beach filled with people who love cycling and healthy living.
Fixed Gear Festival in the East Village—May 7th
This year’s Long Beach Bike Festival starts in the East Village—First and Linden. It’s free, starts at 6:00 pm, and promises to be a blast. Click on the photos to enlarge them.
Fixed gear cyclists will do tricks, freestyle fun, skid competitions and more. And you might meet Josh, who is organizing the Gold Sprints, which are mad, brief races on stationary bikes where nobody goes anywhere, yet hearts throb to the moon and back! And for gentle fun, some members of the City Council will race down First on tricycles.
May 7th, cycle on down to the East Village.
Metrolink to the Desert
Our hats and sunglasses off to Allan and friends who participated in the recent Metrolink to the Desert ride! We’re talking the Burro Schmidt Tunnel Camping Trip.
Allan, Thaddeus and Gabriel love city cycling… yet they also love a larger-than-life camping adventure. You will want to click on these photos, and check out more great photos of their recent weekend cycling trip in the Mojave Desert.
They traveled by Metro light rail and Metrolink train to get out of the L.A. area. That was perhaps the only easy part of the journey. They headed out to the Burro Schmidt Tunnel, and met the caretaker at Bickel Camp. They pushed their bicycles through sand when the dirt roads became sandy roads. They enjoyed some tail winds, and they laughed through some head winds as well. A comfy campfire at night.
While the cycling and road conditions were challenging, they had a GREAT time. We know this, because Allan is already planning his next cycling adventure. Allan calls his next great ride the Ridge Route.
On our bicycles, we feel at home everywhere… in the bustle of downtown Long Beach… also along quiet residential streets… and also out in faraway places where few folks wander… where the silence is stunning. The bicycle! What a great invention!
Andy Singer’s No Exit — Bicycles of Famous Artists
Andy Singer is a Minnesota-based artist who loves bicycles. Singer draws a self-syndicated cartoon called No Exit that celebrates cycling life, and that finds interesting things to say about other aspects of life as well.
Singer’s cartoons are published in dozens of newspapers, including James Preston Allen’s amazing Random Lengths (published in San Pedro).
We contacted Andy, and he gave Long Beach Cyclists permission to reprint his great cartoons on our web page. We’ll feature cartoons of his on this page from time to time.
Thank you Andy!
To see more of Andy Singer’s humorous, insightful work, visit www.andysinger.com.
All Andy Singer / No Exit cartoons are copyright 1992-2010 by Andrew B. Singer.
Cycling in Long Beach, in the LA Times
Check out the recent “Long Beach makes way for bicycles” article by Tony Barboza, published in the Los Angeles Times. You can link to the article here:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-outthere26-2010jan26,0,3205517.story
Much has taken place since the article was published. And we know that many cycling events and activities during May 2010 will place Long Beach on the front page again.
If your bike’s tires need air and if your chain needs oil, NOW is a perfect week to get your bicycle into shape. The May 2010 calendar is sprinkled with lots to do, so you’ll want to have your bike in good shape so you can join us.
Barboza’s article can provide you with an overview of some cycling-friendly initiatives in the works. We already have Sharrows (the green lane) along Belmont Shore, and we have trial Bicycle Boxes. A Bicycle Box gives the cyclist at an intersection a designated place in front of motorists to wait until the signal light turns green.
Barboza also mentions plans for protected bikeways, traffic circles on less-traveled streets, and talk of creating ‘bike corrals’ to favor convenient bike parking near certain shops and restaurants. Barboza quotes Charlie Gandy: “We can fit 15 customers where we used to fit one.” That is, 15 parked bicycles occupy the same amount of space as one car. The idea is that ‘bike corrals’ can help ease parking congestion by encouraging larger numbers of local people to drive a bicycle rather than a motor vehicle.
Barboza also quotes experienced cyclists, motorists, and other City representatives. And he quotes Jennifer Klausner of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, a nonprofit advocacy group that is something like Long Beach Cyclists’ regional cousin. Klausner says that Long Beach is looking for ways to make east-west and north-south corridors safer and more inviting for cyclists. Klausner suggests that Long Beach is ahead of Los Angeles in that respect.
Barboza reports that Long Beach has raised $17 million in grants that will be translated into traffic improvements, bike share programs, and education.
Although Barboza’s article does not mention Long Beach Cyclists, we’d like to toot our horn here by mentioning that LCI instructors offer Traffic Skills courses for cyclists. Click EDUCATION at the top of the longbeachcyclists.com web page to see the schedule of upcoming sessions and to link to the online registration process. It’s springtime, 2010. Be sure your bicycle is in shape, and be sure to take Traffic Skills 101 so that you can improve your skills cycling safely and legally on city streets.
Comments Off
Inspiration from Tehran
There are so many directions a bike advocate can take in his or her journey. This image from Bikejuju, titled “Tehran Bike Mechanic” inspired me and led my thoughts in a new direction today; I wanted to share.
Meet and Cycle with Andy Clarke of the League—April 16th
At 2:30 pm on Friday, April 16, we will meet at the H.U.B. bicycle cooperative (on Long Beach Blvd. just south of PCH, located within eyeshot of the Metro Blue Line PCH station).
At 3:00 pm, we will cycle together to Bixby Knolls, to learn about activities underway to turn Bixby Knolls into a more bicycle-friendly business district.
The League is a major livable cities advocate. Also, the League oversees certification of LCI’s who teach Traffic Safety courses nationwide, including our courses here in Long Beach.
Click EDUCATION above for details about upcoming Traffic Skills courses. Click EVENTS above and scroll to the April 16th entry to see a map pointing to the H.U.B.
Cyclists from Long Beach visit Spain
Sevilla is a Spanish city that is rich in history, yet is also very modern in its cycling infrastructure. Citizens and visitors can rent bicycles (free for the first 30 minutes) at any of 250 bike parking facilities. Long Beach, take note!
The program is called “Sevici,” which is the city’s name, Sevilla, combined with the Spanish word for bicycle, “bicicleta,” affectionately also known as “bici”. Spaniards pronounce the letters ‘ci‘ with a lisp—‘seh-VEETH-ee’.
Each “Sevici” rental bicycle has water-spatter protection, a handy basket and lock, and a walkthrough design for ease of use—folks dressed in expensive skirts or suits will not soil their clothing.
Long Beach Cyclists member Donald Moore recently visited several cities in Spain, accompanied by his family, and he files the following report:
Biking in Spain, by Donald E. Moore
My family and I spent three weeks, from Christmas until January 14, 2010, sightseeing and visiting a friend in Spain. It was great fun. Among other things, I noted biking conditions in the cities we visited.
Seville is about 300 miles south of the Spanish capital, Madrid. Like most Spanish cities, Seville is built along a river and offers a lot to see. It has an extensive system of bike paths, is very bike friendly and has a public bike rental program. According to Wikipedia, Seville has 250 bike stations, inaugurated in April of 2007, with 2,500 bikes.
My family used the short-term, one week membership that costs 5 euros, (about US$7.50). The first half hour is free, the next hour costs 1 euro (about US$1.50), and subsequent hours cost 2 euros each, (US$3.00). You can use any credit card to purchase membership at the control pane located at each of the 250 locking stations. A deposit of 150 euros (US$225) is taken from your card to deter theft and is returned when the bike is locked up again at any station.
Obviously, the Seville municipality wants you to ride a bike to the station nearest your destination and leave it there for the next rider. Locking stations are spaced about two city blocks apart.
As you can see in the photos, Sevici bikes have a step-through frame, upright bars, effective fenders and a chain guard and medium-width tires. A Sevici rental bike has a very good dynamo lighting system that is always turned on, front and rear. It has a three-speed internal hub transmission, and a built-in cable lock for locking the bike when away from a locking station. Sevici bicycles must have originally been designed for circus bears as they weigh about fifty pounds; their brakes could be a disaster on a long, steep hill! Fortunately, the neighborhoods where I rode are almost flat.
Sally and I had a great time riding our Sevici bicycles on the many separated bike paths and along the river path. Seville drivers were courteous. The city is very bicycle friendly.
Other cities we visited include Madrid and Salamanca.
Spain’s capital is “sunny” Madrid. When we visited, there was as much snow as sun.
Madrid has a great deal of history and culture. Our friend Ramón says that Madrid has a “beltway” of paths around the city and is building “spokes” into the center. Although Ramón walks to work, he does not commute by bike because he does not feel it is safe. With the narrow streets, buses and taxis there, I do not blame him. Madrid is less bike friendly than Long Beach. In downtown Madrid there seem to be more motor scooters and motorcycles than cars. I did not find a public bike rental system there. As in other parts of Spain, about one half of all bikes are folders—probably due to small living spaces.
The next city we visited was Salamanca, about 76 miles northwest of Madrid. Salamanca is much smaller than Madrid. It is more bike-able and has a very nice bike path along the river and elsewhere. Salamanca is a beautiful little city, with a university, cathedrals and museums. Although Salamanca has no public bike rental system, I would say it is very bike friendly. The lack of a bike and rain there kept us from enjoying the bike paths.
///
The author of this report, Donald E. Moore, was recently elected Long Beach Cyclists board secretary. Don, congratulations!
Farmers Market Bike Ride twice monthly
“What a great looking bike you got there, mister!”
”You betcha! I’m all about the FMR.”
“The FMR?”
”Yes. The first FMR will be THIS Sunday, April 11th.”
“And what does FMR stand for?”
“Easy, just click on the little postage stamp on the right to find out.”
“THIS Sunday you say?”
”Just click on the postage stamp on the right.”
