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May Cycling Fun in Long Beach, California

On the first Sunday of each month, the free, Cyclone Coaster ride (slow pace—a celebration of old and unusual bicycles) departs from Portfolio Coffeehouse (Fourth at Junipero) at 10:00 am.

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.

Bikestation Long Beach — new location

The Bikestation of Long Beach moved to its new, permanent facility downtown on July 27th, 2011. Be sure to stop in to check out the new structure.

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.

May… a great month for cycling in Long Beach

May 11th — If you wish to volunteer as a Course Marshal during the Tour of Long Beach (Saturday morning, May 14th), contact Stacey.Toda@longbeach.gov (or phone 562 570-5027). Orientation for Course Marshals will take place Wednesday, May 11th, at 7:00 pm at CSULB. Proceeds from the Tour of Long Beach benefit Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach.

May 11th — Free, second Wednesdays, 11:00 am-1:00 pm, you are encouraged to take advantage of free Bike Safety Checks at CSULB, courtesy of Jax Bicycles.

May 13th — Free, the Family Fun Fest will take place Friday, 5:00-9:00 pm in the lawn area of the Pike at Rainbow Harbor. This includes live music, cycling stunts, a fixed gear competition, and vendors.

May 14th — Preregistration is required for the Tour of Long Beach (that benefits Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach). Three rides: A 9:00 am, 4-mile family fun ride at Marina Green Park (540 E. Shoreline Drive)… also a 31-mile leisurely circuit around the entire city… also a 61-mile Metric Century.

May 14th — Free, the Finish Line Festival, 9:00 am-4:00 pm. in the Rainbow Harbor area. Children’s activity area, bike safety and education booths, live music, food, and vendors.

May 18th — Free, Traffic Skills 101 at CSULB, Wednesday evening class session, 6:00-8:00 pm. Followed by the free 3-hour Saturday morning on-road training session. Preregistration required. Click EDUCATION at the top of the longbeachcyclists.com page for more information, or click here.

May 19th — Free, Thursday morning Bike-to-Work-Day Pit Stops, one at CSULB, the other at Long Beach City Hall Civic Center Plaza. Refreshments, freebies and bike safety checks.

ROSSCOTTING DOT COM—THE SYSTEM #286

The City of Long Beach has installed a considerable number of bike racks in public spaces. Do you suppose there’s someone out there who has already tried out each one?

Ideally, we can find secure places for us to lock our bicycles when we go about our shopping, and at banks, cafés, restaurants, and at work. Do you lock up the frame and both wheels? Do you prefer locations ‘out front’ or somewhere ‘tucked away’? Rosscott reminds us to have along a strong lock, so that we can leave our bicycle without worrying about coming back later to find it gone.

The System is created by Rosscott—a cartoonist who is also a cyclist. Rosscott makes thought-provoking and humorous observations about urban life, conditions at the office, transportation issues, and more.

Posted at LongBeachCyclists.com with permission. To see more of Rosscott’s work, go to www.notquitewrong.com/rosscottinc/.

Moving Long Beach, join the conversation — April 7

Participate in an important interactive group dialogue about bicycle-friendly “Living Streets” in Long Beach.

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.

Bixby Park—Saturday, March 19

See you at Bixby Park for an easy, family-oriented neighborhood bike ride on Saturday, March 19th, departing at 10:00 am.

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.

Will the Gerald Desmond Bridge Be a Gateway for Bicyclists and Peds?

Brian Ulaszewski reports from LBPOST in favor of linking non motorists to San Pedro Basin from Long Beach

Please join Long Beach Cyclists for the public meeting at City Hall September 28, 2010 at 3:30pm.

READ THE STORY HERE

A different kind of Cellist

Nothing wrong with a little solar assistance, especially if your are touring with a very large instrument by bike

Read the Treehugger story!

Photo courtesy of Kristin Rule

Rosscottinc dot com—The System #146

Rosscott is a cartoonist who is also a cyclist. What a great combination!  We are very pleased that he has given Long Beach Cyclists permission to reprint this The System cartoon. 

The System is a humorous and insightful series of panels often dealing with cycling issues—especially as they relate to urban cycling and commuting to work—and to traffic-related issues in general, and to the work place, and to other aspects of contemporary life.

To see more of Rosscott’s work, go to www.rosscottinc.com.

To be sure, NO cyclist should ever run a red light. We encourage all cyclists to cycle safely, legally and responsibly. If you haven’t already, we encourage you to take the free Traffic Safety 101 course, taught at CSULB Pyramid Annex (with follow-up practice time on Long Beach streets to put vehicular cycling concepts into practice). Click EDUCATION at the top of the page for fall semester dates and sign-up information.

Long Beach Bikeways—Where to? What are they like?

During the past year, we see Bikeway signs posted here and there across town.

Each Long Beach Bikeway route is assigned a number. Some signs also have arrows or destination information. How might we make use of these new traffic tools?

Local cyclist Peter Dopulos—no ties to the City of Long Beach nor to Long Beach Cyclists—has been cycling newly posted bikeways. Over time, Peter has been describing what he has observed and felt while cycling the routes he has explored so far. To read his interesting descriptions, full of discovery, see www.everythinglongbeach.com/lb/long-beach-bikeways/.

Peter visited Long Beach Cyclists during a recent monthly meeting to share what he has observed and learned. It was wonderful to hear Peter’s stories and sense his enthusiasm as he explores routes on his bike, without initially knowing where a new route will lead him.

What Long Beach Cyclists knows from our ongoing interactions with City planners and engineers is that many cycling-related projects are being contemplated or sketched out, and some are already being implemented. City staff developed a detailed list of preliminary route options. However, City engineers in turn are making adjustments, based on road widths, traffic flow and other considerations. Someday not too far off it would be good to have in hand an excellent map for cyclists indicating all of the eventual numbered bikeways.

Lacking a map of bikeways already posted no doubt has made Peter Dopulos’ adventure of sniffing out the where to’s all the more fun for him.