The next Traffic Skills 101 course taught by League-certified Cycling Instructors (LCI’s) is scheduled for February 17 and 20. You need to register in advance. The February course will meet at CSULB Pyramid Annex, (Atherton, between Bellflower and Palo Verde).
For details and to register online, click EDUCATION at the top of the longbeachcyclists.com web page.
January 31st at 6:00 pm, join us at Portfolio Coffee House on Fourth at Junipero for an additional opportunity to discuss interesting ideas found in Jeff Mapes’ book Pedaling Revolution.
The Long Beach Cyclists Reading Group, organized by Kevin Flaherty, meets monthly to discuss books and news of interest to the local cycling community.
Click EVENTS at the top of the page, and scroll to the January 31st calendar entry to view a map pointing to Portfolio.
Click on this must-read letter. It’s from Russ Roca. Russ writes to friends and to all those who look forward to Long Beach becoming an even better city than it already is.
Charles Gandy is the City of Long Beach Mobility Coordinator. Gandy is a nationally known cycling advocate who for the next year or two has made Long Beach home while contracted to assist the City of Long Beach in its efforts to make Long Beach a better, more livable city for all.
A League Certified Instructor (LCI) leads traffic skills courses for cyclists and other road users. Several members of Long Beach Cyclists are LCIs. Long Beach offers Traffic Skills 101 at CSULB Pyramid Annex. Click EDUCATION at the top of the longbeachcyclists.com web page for more details and to find out how to sign up for an upcoming course.
Russ Roca and Laura Crawford have been on a cross-country cycling adventure called Path Less Pedaled since August of 2009. They send us updates, this time from Arizona. For several years, Russ made a living here in Long Beach as the Eco-Friendly Bicycling Photographer. Daily, Russ was seen cycling here and there around Long Beach and beyond on his cargo bike—a long bike with an enormous rack to carry lots of specialized photo equipment. Many of Russ’ photographs have been featured in the District weekly and other publications. Both Russ and Laura were active participants in Long Beach Cyclists and cycling advocacy when they lived in Long Beach.
Russ and Laura, we send you a ‘hello’ from Long Beach, California! We miss you. We wish you continued safe travels and more wonderful adventures!
BikeTalk can be heard any time by scrolling through the KPFK Pacifica Radio Audio Archives of recent, previously-aired programs and clicking BikeTalk.
Tune in Tuesday evening, December 29, 11pm, for the first live broadcast of BikeTalk on KPFK, 90.7 FM. Bike culture, politics, technology, sport and friendliness. BikeTalk has been a weekly internet show for several months already, and Tuesday evening will be its first on-air broadcast.
BikeTalk celebrates bike rides, bicycle collectives, activists, artists, commuters, enthusiasts, professional cyclists, inventors and repairers, and, of course, the bicycle itself as an alternative human-powered mode of transportation. Hosted by Nick Richert and guests, including Jim C of Orange 20 Bikes, Steve Bowers, and Jim Bledsoe and Eric Potter of Bicycle Kitchen.
The first live broadcast is Tuesday evening, December 29, 11pm. You can hear BikeTalk live every Saturday, 10am-Noon, at www.killradio.org. And you can download all nineteen previously recorded shows at www.kpfk.org. Click Programs at the top of the page, then click Audio Archives, and scroll for BikeTalk. Or click List of Programs, All Programs in the left margin to find the BikeTalk general description and contact information. Click on Program Highlights this week to see the announcement and details about the December 29th broadcast.
The Cyclist Reading Group meets monthly so that cyclists and book lovers can sit down for an hour of literary discussion in a public space.
Sunday evening, December 20, at 7:17 pm, meet with us at Portfolio Coffeehouse to talk about Pedaling Revolution by Jeff Mapes. Whether you have read the book already or not, you’ll enjoy meeting with us to talk about cycling issues.
The Cycling Reading Group comes together to engender growth of knowledge in the area of cycling research. Each month’s literary selection is discussed for one hour. Also, a book or article is identified for future reading and discussion.
There are many events and rides planned for this month and months to come. To see our calendar, click on EVENTS at the top of this page. There, you can read more details and click open a map for each event.
Monday, November 16: Meet cyclists from Pedal Movement at the Catalyst Space on First near Linden, 5:00-7:00 pm. Pedal Movement people recently taught bicycle maintenance to a Boy Scout troop. That same night, there’s also a developer meeting held at Wilson High School. And every Monday you can watch polo for cyclists (Monday Night Murderball) at Whaley Park, perhaps even join the team… the Long Beach Knights. Click on the EVENTS calendar for specifics.
Tuesdays: Pedal Movement organizes GFunk Tuesdays, for a medium-to-fast ride that starts at the In-n-Out near the Traffic Circle, departing a few minutes after 8:00 pm. And there are Tune-Up Tuesdays—the seeds of what might become a bicycle maintenance cooperative?—meeting at Ferns on Fourth Street.
Wednesdays: CSULBCyclists does a weekly ride starting at the Pyramid at 9:oo pm.
Thursday, November 19: Jeff Mapes, author of Pedaling Revolution, will be in town, meeting with the public at three venues, as mentioned in the previous article, and as outlined in the EVENTS calendar.
First Fridays: Support local bike-friendly businesses. Many offer special deals for cyclists on the first Friday of each month.
First Sundays: Cyclone Coaster rides (vintage bicycles riding a leisurely pace) depart Portfolio Café the first Sunday of each month.
And there are ongoing Traffic Skills classes. And you can assist in LBC advocacy work. And Metro Access Audits will take place on December 5th and 12th—Saturdays. And more!
Again, click on the EVENTS calendar to get to maps, start and end times, and other details.
Welcome to another exciting edition of “What’s Wrong With This Picture?!”
Your hosts for this show are two of Long Beach’s very own bicycle-mounted Police.
This photo was taken on E. Broadway near Promenade, looking East.
So, how many things can YOU find wrong with this picture?
Click for larger image
As you know, Long Beach is looking for a new Chief of Police.
With the city’s commitment to become the most bicycle-friendly city in the nation – it would be ideal if the new Chief had a sense of what his officers could do to make Long Beach safer and more enjoyable for cyclists, and to set the best example possible to citizens and residents.
With that in mind, what questions would YOU have for the new Chief?
The Long Beach Cyclists World Headquarters received this email today:
To all Fire Station personnel:
The City Council recently approved numerous fee increases. Effective immediately the new fee for Bicycle Licenses (both original registration and renewals) is $3. Please begin charging the new rate immediately.
Please post this attachment where the public can see it and remove any old signs which refer to the previous $2 fee.
For more information, the following image was sent with the email:
From BikePortland.Org:
Responding to last month’s biking momma drive-thru debacle, Burgerville has announced that they’ll welcome people on bikes to each of their 37 drive-thrus (which are from this day forward known as cycle-thrus!).
The company also announced that they have already begun adding signs to “alert drivers and bicyclists to safety precautions for bicycle access”. Burgerville’s Chief Cultural Officer Jack Graves will also be on hand to discuss their “expanded bike policy”.
In other biking-in-drive-thru news, Portlander Brad Reber says he got refused at his bank today on liability grounds (the teller told him he “might get hit”). Will banks follow Burgerville’s lead on this issue? We hope and we’ll see.
It is true that bicycles are not vehicles, but those on them ARE drivers – the law says so.
Whilst driving a bicycle, you have all the rights and are subject to all the provisions applicable to the driver of a vehicle .
Wouldn’t not serving you be vehicle discrimination? Why not. I’m calling it.
