Also, on the last Saturday of each month, the free Velo Caravan ride (slightly faster pace, calling together ‘classic’ bikes and others) departs from the Bicycle Stand bike shop (1824 E. Broadway, one block west of Bixby Park), at 10:00 am.

In addition, the month of May is packed with special events. Click to the right to see events scheduled by Bike Long Beach.

Long Beach is a wonderful city. The bicycle is a fantastic way to get around!

And keep in mind that many cafés and restaurants now offer ‘Bike Saturday’ discounts to customers who show up on bike.

There will be $5,000 in prizes given away during May. Go to BikeLongBeach dot org to register and for more information.

The Bikestation’s new home is located along First Street between Long Beach Blvd. and Pine Avenue. It is an integral part of the downtown transit hub.

Bikestation is about day-use and long-term safe bike parking for commuters, and it is about rental bikes. Also, staff mechanics can fix your flat tire or do a bike tune up. Bikestation is run by Mobis Transportation Alternatives, Inc., a firm specialized in multimodal transportation systems. Mobis runs Bikestations in a growing number of cities, including Washington, D.C.  The very first Bikestation was here in Long Beach, California.

The following images trace Bikestation as it has moved four times over the past fifteen-some years.

Back in the mid 1990s, Bikestation Long Beach was a brand new idea. The first temporary Bikestation structure was placed on what had been an empty plot of land along First Street immediately west of the Promenade. (Since then, a multi-level condominium with first-floor commercial spaces was built on that parcel.)

East Village artist Anna Wooten created the following drawing, celebrating the Bikestation in its first Long Beach home.

In 2000′s, the Bikestation moved several hundred feet east into a second temporary structure.

In 2009, that second structure was demolished.

Between 2009 and July, 2011, Bikestation was housed on Broadway, one block to the north.

On July 27, 2011, Bikestation moves into its new, permanent, two-story facility on First Street east of the Promenade.

Go to www.mobisinc.com for more information about multimodal transportation system projects in planning and underway in many cities. Also, check out www.bikestation.com.

To learn about projects coordinated by the City of Long Beach to help make our city a great place for cycling safely on city streets, check out bikelongbeach.org.

Also, you are encouraged to participate and support the activities of the various cycling groups in the region… most of us operating on little more than shoestrings and enthusiasm.

The event is free, but you’ll need to RSVP by Wednesday evening, April 6th.

For details, click on the postage stamp to the right. To RSVP, contact Allan Crawford at allancrawford@bikeablecommunities.org.

Then, from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm, also at Bixby Park, join the community workshop to update the Long Beach Bicycle Master Plan. Your suggestions and observations will be noted by staff of the Department of Public Works.

Bixby Park is located between Cherry and Junipero, and between Ocean Blvd. and Broadway.

If the opportunity to participate in a fun bike ride and to provide City planners with your input about cycling infrastructure isn’t incentive enough… here’s one more goodie to sweeten the pot: There will be free Mc’Coffee.

It occurs to us that this Saturday you could enjoy a particularly Buzzy Day in a coffee-tasting way. We suggest that you buy various cups of coffee at several of our favorite local cafés (including coffee from Hot Java and from the Park Pantry—both across the street from Bixby Park—and from Portfolio Coffeehouse on Fourth at Junipero)… and then enjoy some free McCoffee as part of the community workshop. After the workshop, you could then cycle over to Sipology #2 on Broadway at Temple… and then cycle around the rest of the day to a dozen other great, locally-owned cafés. No… wait… you should NOT sip that much coffee in one day. Better to do your coffee tasting little by little. So… scratch the Buzzy Day idea. This Saturday, would you care for some McCoffee?

The final Bicycle Master Plan Update community meeting will take place at the Mark Twain Library (1401 E. Anaheim), Wednesday, March 23rd, 6:00-8:00 pm.

The City has scheduled nine public sessions to request input during January, February and March. Also, the City will sponsor free bike rides prior to five of those public meetings.

To view details (dates, times, locations) about meetings 1-5, click on the LEFT. (Bicycle Master Plan workshops at Lowell Elementary School, First Congregational Church, Silverado Park, Coolidge Park and Los Altos Library.)

To view details (dates, times, locations) about meetings 6-9, click on the RIGHT. (Bicycle Master Plan workshops at El Dorado Park, Bixby Knolls, Bixby Park and Mark Twain Library.)

To view details about free bike rides starting at Lowell Elementary School and Silverado Park, click on the LEFT.

To view details about free bike rides starting at El Dorado Park, Bixby Knolls and Bixby Park, click on the RIGHT.

For more information, contact Courtney Aguirre at (562) 570-6667.

Courtney.Aguirre@LongBeach.Gov.

New bicycle advocates join the club! Congrats Jim Powers for putting another great team in action!

http://www.hubbabikenews.blogspot.com/

You need to sign up online in advance. Go to EDUCATION at the top of the longbeachcyclists.com web page for details, for schedule, and for the registration link. The next in-class session is Wednesday, December 15th at 6:00 pm.

There are many good reasons to take the Traffic Skills 101 course. It’s smart to know your road rights and responsibilities, and to always cycle safely and legally. Another great reason to take the course is that it is a prerequesite for serving as a board member of Long Beach Cyclists—you are encouraged to consider becoming one of the organization’s leaders in coming months. Our first board was elected in March of 2010; soon perhaps a new group of individuals will want to lead our organization. Step up and make it happen.

let it be noted here, now, that Long Beach Cyclists has no stance for, nor against the Critical Mass rides which take place all over the country and around the world in many metropolitan areas. what we do stand for is abiding by all traffic laws just as motorists must. “Same Roads. Same Rights. Same Responsibilities.” you can read all about the CA vehicle code as it concerns bicycles and their drivers here [LINK]. and though it’s not a legal requirement for those of us over the age of 17, we strongly recommend the proper use of helmets while biking. I, Travis Bos, current vice-pres of this organization, do not bike without one.

if you don’t know what happened with October 29th’s Critical Mass you can read the articles already published by others here (LA Times), here (P-T), here (PedalMovement.com), and here (MashLBC.com). don’t forget to read the comments, of which there are many. this is very important dialogue occurring among cyclists.

it’s a dialogue which will be brought to Long Beach’s City Hall this Tuesday, November 9th at 5pm. our friends at PedalMovement are organizing a group to go before city council to express their concerns over this most recent clash of cyclists and non-cyclists. please, let this not be characterized as a march on city hall with picket signs and shouting and anger. these are honest citizens looking to express their concerns with a perceived contradiction in the policies and actions of “the most bicycle friendly city in America.”

PedalMovement’s plan is to meet in Lincoln Park (broadway/pacific) an hour before the council meeting to organize, clarify and galvanize their efforts. everyone will be wearing green as they step up to the podium to talk about issues such as a Cyclist’s Bill of Rights.

Ronnie Sandlin, spokesman for this issue for PedalMovement, has given his phone number for contact (562 243 2448) if you would like to be more involved. if you’d like to show up in support of bicycling in Long Beach, please remember to wear green.

Like Long Beach, Huntington Beach has been awarded the ‘bronze level’ for bicycle friendliness by the League of American Bicyclists (LAB) in Washington D.C.  The LAB recognizes that significant bicycle-friendly improvements are in place or are underway in both Long Beach and in Huntington Beach. 

Is it too much to hope that more and more cities across California chose to make themselves increasingly supportive of safe, vehicular cycling as a transportation choice?

Upcoming HuBBA activities serving the Huntington Beach area include Street Cycling Skills classes at the end of October. (Like our monthly Traffic Skills 101 program taught at CSULB Pyramid Annex, the HuBBA program follows the vehicular cycling curriculum promoted by the League of American Bicyclists in Washington D.C.). Go to HuBBA Bike News, or click EDUCATION at the top of the Long Beach Cyclists dot com page and see dates, times, and the how-to to enroll in an upcoming, two-part cycling safety course—now either in Long Beach or in Huntington Beach.