Get Healthy. Stay Fit. Ride the Iron Horse Trail from Dublin BART to Pleasant Hill BART on Saturday September 18, 2010 between 10 AM and 2 PM. The event features:
Have questions about the event? Leave a comment below!
[Photo via Nokia Europe]
In addition to giving you shapely calves, pedaling away on a bike can now give your cell phone, music player, or other portable devices juice on the go. Last Thursday, Nokia launched a charger kit that will charge Nokia phones with a 2mm charging interface, but it can be made compatible with other devices using a converter cable.
The charger begins working when you pedal about 3.73 mph (6 km/h), with maximum output at 15.5 mph (25 km/h) and stops charging when you pedal over 30 mph (50 km/h).
The kit will be available before the end of the year in selected retailers and Nokia online and branded retail.
For more information, view the Nokia Bicycle Charger Kit specifications and check out more additional pics in the Nokia Bicycle Charger Kit photo gallery.
Source: Nokia throws down a €15 bike cell phone charger – CrunchGear
Evening on the Trails was a huge success on May 13th, an event geared toward getting families out on the Iron Horse and Canal Trails on Bike to Work Day. Our winner, Emmett Lutz, received a gift certificate for a bike and rode to our office to show it off.
This Sunday, bike a 25-mile course starting at Waterfront Park in Martinez, cross the Carquinez Bridge, ride through Benecia, and cross the Benicia-Martinez Bridge. For a more challenging 50-mile ride, participants may complete the course twice.
The event is called “Bike the Bridges” and is sponsored by local police departments. The event is a fundraiser benefitting Special Olympics Northern California.
Registration is $40 and begins at 8:30 am in Waterfront Park in Martinez. A post-ride lunch is included in the registration.
Collect $150 in pledges to earn a free lunch and commemorative coin, or $250 to earn an additional bike jersey.
For more information, visit http://bikethebridges.kintera.org.
Source: Contra Costa Times
To see a neat collection of posters from this year’s Bike to Work Day put together by Los Medanos College in Pittsburg, CA, click the following link for a slideshow: Bike to Work Day 2010 posters
Come help celebrate National Bike Month and California Bike Commute Week in May with Bike to Work Day. The Bay Area’s 16th annual Bike to Work Day will take place on Thursday, May 13th, 2010. Bike to Work Day is an event that helps to promote commuting by bicycle. Bike to Work Day in the San Francisco Bay Area is primarily funded by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission with the help of financial donations from event sponsors and volunteers. There are over 100 energizer stations throughout the region on Bike to Work Day where cyclists can stop by for refreshments and promotional items.
511 Contra Costa has supported cyclists and Energizer Station hosts throughout Contra Costa County since 2001 using Bay Area Air Quality Management District funds and the Contra Costa Transportation Authority’s half-cent sales tax for transportation funds.
Hank and Frank’s Bike Shop Lafayette
Free bike safety checks – discount on commuter accessories!
Pre-event dates: May 3rd – May 7th
Store hours: Mon-Sat 10-6, Sun 11-5
3377 Mount Diablo Boulevard, Lafayette
Encina Bike Shop Walnut Creek
15% discount on bikes and accessories not already on sale. May 1st – May 14th
Free bike safety checks May 1st & 2nd and May 8th & 9th
Store hours: Mon-Sat 10-7, Sun 12-6
2901 Ygnacio Valley Road, Walnut Creek
Sports Basement Walnut Creek
Bike Clinic Tues. May 4th and Thurs. May 6th 6:30 – 7:30pm
Free bike safety checks April 26th – May 7th
1881 Ygnacio Valley Road, Walnut Creek
REI Brentwood
Free bike safety checks Sat. May 1st and Sat. May 8th 10am – 2pm
2475 Sand Creek Road, Brentwood
REI Concord
Free bike safety checks May 5 – May 12
Store hours: Mon-Fri 10-9, Sat 10-7, Sun 10-6
1975 Diamond Boulevard, Concord
Thanks to the following Public Agencies and Companies who are sponsoring Energizer Stations. We now have 36 Energizer Stations.
Alamo
Antioch
Brentwood
Concord
Danville
El Cerrito
El Sobrante
Hercules
Lafayette
Martinez
Orinda
Pittsburg
Richmond
San Pablo
San Ramon
Walnut Creek
Antioch
Danville
El Sobrante
Lafayette
Pleasant Hill
San Ramon
Walnut Creek
Join us on the evening of Bike to Work Day for an after-hours bicyling event! Evening on the Trails will take place at four energizer stations: 1st and Buena Vista, Iron Horse Canal Trail Crossing, Contra Costa Canal Trail at Heather Farms and Civic Park at Ball Fields from 4pm – 6:30pm.
Not only will you have a chance to explore the trails and learn how to navigate through different neighborhoods and towns on your bike, but at each of the participating Evening on the Trails energizer stations you’ll be able to fill out a raffle ticket and have a chance to win a free kid’s bike.
Read more about this event in the Contra Costa Times article, Evening on the Trails offers family fun after hours, or click below the image to download the event flyer.
This year’s winner from Evening on the Trails was Emmett Lutz. Congratulations!
Download the full resolution version of the Evening on the Trails promotional materials.
The Bike to Work Day website has google maps of energizer stations all over the bay area. Click here for a map of Contra Costa County energizer stations. A list of all energizer station region maps is available here.
Need help with your route? Check out our selection of free paper and on-line bike maps.
In the Team Bike Challenge, groups of up to 5 cyclists competed to ride their bikes for transportation as many days as possible in the month of may. Points were given out based on the type of cyclist each team member was. Novices receive the most points (5 per trip) as the competition tried to encourage new bike commuters to ride together with more experienced cyclists for support and encouragement.
Read more about the Bike to Work Day Team Challenge
Do you know someone in your community who is committed to making every day a “Bike to Work Day”? Does this person epitomize and actualize the health, environmental, social and economic benefits of bicycling? Share his or her story with You Can Bike There.
Download 11″ x 17″ Bike to Work Day Poster
Download 8 1/2″ x 11″ Bike to Work Day Poster
Our flickr stream is chock full of Bike to Work Day photos from years past. You can check out our photos from Bike to Work Day 2009 here. We are also compiling an archive of pre-2009 Bike to Work Day photos, which you can check out here.
Submit your photos and/or videos of Bike to Work Day to enter for a chance to win $25 Peet’s Coffee & Tea! Submissions must be sent by May 14, 2010 5pm PST to be eligible for the prize drawing. Send your photos and/or videos via Twitter or email them to bike@511contracosta.org.
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511 Contra Costa is proud to announce the start of its 2010 Bicycle Commuter Assistance Program class for 2010. For the past two Saturdays, 15 Contra Costa residents have been taking the League of American Bicyclists‘ “Traffic Skills 101” class. Each Saturday, students learned basic bicycle mechanics, riding skills and the experience needed to ride their bicycle safely in traffic. Emphasis was placed on students becoming good ambassadors for the cycling community.
Graduates of the bicycle program have committed to trying to ride their bicycles to work about two days a week for three months. The Bicycle Commuter Assistance Program is the only program of its kind in the nation, sponsored by 511CC. Through this program, 511 Contra Costa not only provides League of American Bicyclist’s training, but also incentivizes participants to ride their bicycle to work with free transit tickets.
Interested in participating? Unfortunately, the deadline has passed for the 2010 511CC BCAP registration, but we have other events and resources for both novice and experienced bikers:
511 Contra Costa would like to congratulate Louis Sandoval, Contra Costa County’s Bicycle Commuter of the Year for 2010. Sandoval was chosen as this year’s winner by the East Bay Bicycle Coalition, an organization dedicated to promoting bicycling as an everyday means of transportation and recreation.
Mr. Sandoval is a consummate bicyclist. He commutes by bicycle to his part -time job as an adult education mathematics teacher for the West Contra Costa Unified School District. He commutes on his Bridgestone bicycle between two job locations in Richmond and San Pablo and has done so for more than 5 years. “My Bridgestone is a real beater,” Louis says. “It’s a tank of a bike, but has a real bike rack and a pannier, and does the job of carrying my books, groceries, everything, rain or shine.”
His bicycle commutes also include jaunts into Hayward to visit his mother and to take classes at Cal State East Bay. “Even at 11pm at night you can find him on the street making his way home from Hayward, via Oakland, Emeryville, Berkeley, Albany, El Cerrito and Richmond,” says Raul Ramirez, a principal at WCCUSD. When needed, Louis utilizes BART to transport his trusty steed and himself around the Bay to appointments and classes. Louis says that the toughest part of bicycle commuting is not the distance, weather or the terrain “it’s the traffic that is sometimes the toughest part.”
Looking ahead, Louis says he is looking forward to riding south everyday to San Jose State University this Fall to get his own degree in biomedical engineering. His bicycle trip will travel along the Bay Trail past the Oakland Airport and across the new San Leandro Slough Bridge. From there, the Bay Trail extends down to Union City. The new San Leandro Slough Bridge is scheduled to open on Bike to Work Day this year.
Events & Meetings
Continue reading “This Week’s Headlines in Transportation & Transit: Apr. 3-9, 2010”
On Thursday, April 15 2010, the Alameda County Transportation Improvement Authority is sponsoring a two hour meeting from 6:30 – 8:30 PM at Dublin City Hall, 100 Civic Plaza.
Presentations and discussion will include the following transportation improvement projects in Eastern Alameda County:
For more information:
Source: Transportation improvements in eastern Alameda County, Contra Costa Times
Local News
Continue reading “This Week's Headlines in Transportation & Transit: Mar. 27-Apr. 2, 2010”
Yesterday, Google announced it had added a new biking feature to Google Maps. When a user needs directions for getting from Point A to Point B, they can now select ‘Bicycling’ in addition to ‘By Car’, ‘Walking’, and ‘By Public Transit’. From the Associated Press:
Google spent the past six months tweaking its mapping service so it could recommend routes that would steer bicyclists away from big hills and heavily congested streets.
You can see trails and bike lanes directly on the map, as well as drag and drop points to customize your route.
Here is a short video on how to use the new feature:
Source:
With the rain almost on its way out and with little but gorgeous days ahead, we thought we would point out one resource for helping you take advantage of the more than 1 million acres of publicly accessible open space in the Bay Area this weekend. The best part? You don’t even have to drive. By visiting the Transit & Trails website, you can plan to use public transit to travel to your next adventure, be it camping, hiking or cycling.
The map, shown above, was last updated in April of 2009 and features a list of transit-accessible hikes, details about which spaces are open to the public or have limited access, and routes for a number of different modes of transit, including but not limited to: BART, Caltrain, VTA, SamTrans, Tri Delta Transit, WestCAT, Wheels, and the County Connection. The map is free, and can be downloaded from the Bay Area Open Council website.
Get those calves in shape! Now that the weather’s been shaping up nicely, there’s no excuse not to get out that two-wheeler of yours and hit some of the fantastic trails in Contra Costa County.
If you feel like traveling further, we’ve got resources for East Bay and Bay Area bike maps, too.
For ideas on longer, more scenic routes to try, read the San Francisco Chronicle article: Long rides for lengthening days.
For those of you looking to compete (or just go watch bikers), we’ve listed some upcoming cycling events. If we missed one you think we should know about, leave a comment and we’ll add it to the list.
Continue reading “Upcoming cycling events in the Bay Area and California for biking enthusiasts”
Update: This program is no longer available. Please see our Program of the Week for a current program.
Are you a novice or recreational cyclist?
Always wanted to ride your bicycle to work?
511 Contra Costa can help, beginning with training and resources. We’re putting on a free two-day “Traffic Skills 101” class created by the League of American Bicyclists. We will provide you with a helmet or lock or bicycle tune up if you need one.
Get rewarded for riding your bicycle to work. Receive 0.49 cents per mile you ride your bicycle to work up to $100.00/month for three months.
Get compensated for taking transit for part of your commute. We’ll compensate you up to $100.00/month in transit passes for three months.
Continue reading “Bicycle Commuter Assistance Program”
511CC wins Safe Routes to School Mini Grant. The National Center for Safe Routes to School announced today that 511 Contra Costa was one of 25 national applicants to receive a $1000.00 mini grant for Spring 2010. The National Center received 247 Safe Routes to School applications from across 44 states and the District of Columbia.
511 Contra Costa will be working with Dallas Ranch Middle School in Antioch, California to craft a social marketing campaign to educate fellow students about the pedestrian and bicycle safety and health benefits as part of its “Walk and Roll 2 School” program. Selected proposals distinguished themselves through originality of efforts to help lead local community efforts to promote safe walking and bicycling to school.
National Center for Safe Routes to School Press Release
A Clayton commuter once believed that cycling was for recreation and weekends, but now his commute to work IS recreation.
Meet Steve Biggs of Clayton. He began cycling to work on Bike to Work Day (May 14th, 2009) and has continued bicycle commuting ever since. Although Steve is a trained road cyclist he didn’t commute by bike because he was a bit unsure of the route, how to clean up after the ride, and with a new job he didn’t want to risk being late. Steve threw caution to the wind and cycled to work on Bike to Work Day. Read Steve’s updates below to see how things are going.
June 2, 2009- “There was a little bit of a learning curve on the logistics. Now I have enough clothes at work to last a week or so and the local health club gave me a” shower” membership. The first week I almost threw my back out by carrying too much stuff with me and managed to cover a pair of slacks in grease. ”
July 2, 2009 – “Cycling to work is going great. I rode all four days this week. I have been getting a little more comfortable doing errands or stopping for other meetings on the way home, so that has helped increase the number of days I ride. I also found out that there are showers in our building after meeting another cyclist that works in the complex. Monday had been a driving day because I was always tired, but now when I cycle to work Monday I feel more energetic all day. With all the road miles that I’ve logged I decided to sign up for the 100-mile Livestrong Challenge and raise some money for cancer.”
November 11, 2009 — Steve Biggs has been cycling to work since Bike To Work Day six months ago. He’s cycling to work three to four days a week and says it feels strange to drive into work. “I wasn’t sure if I would ride as frequently once the days started getting shorter and it meant riding in the dark. The route I was originally taking had some sections with heavy traffic so I adjusted the route to make the trip a little safer. I use a mountain biking headlight that provides more than enough light for the road, and I bought a bright blinking tail light and lights for the wheels. I actually find that cars have no trouble seeing me, and are a little more careful in the dark when passing. The nice part is that I only get home 15 minutes later than I would if I had driven.”
Biggs says his weekday riding makes a huge difference on weekend rides with friends. He found that he is a much stronger rider (than last year) with all the mid-week mileage he is doing, which makes his recreational riding more fun.
We have a great selection of transportation-related maps in Contra Costa pulled into one comprehensive map page. The collection includes maps for bike routes, air quality, transit service, park & ride lots and much more.
Suggestions of other maps you would like to see here can be posted here in the comments.
Free bike safety classes from the East Bay Bicycle Coalition are coming to an East Bay city near you soon! The 3.5 hour Traffic Safety 101 Classroom Workshops are for ages 14 and up and are scheduled through mid November in locations all over the East Bay. No bike required. The EBBC has also scheduled two 6 hour long Traffic Safety 101 Road Classes in October and November.
The full schedule of these and all EBBC events is available on the EBBC website.
You can also read more in the Contra Costa Times.
Diablo residents know that cyclists use their community to access or egress the south side of Mt. Diablo. Some residents have voiced their desire to gate Diablo in the past. Residents are asking that cyclists obey the rules of the road which means ride single file, obey the 20 mph signs, stop at stop signs, and remain mindful of vehicles ahead and behind you. If you can follow these simple requests, it will send a positive message to the community. Read the full flyer.
Biking to work during the BART Strike? Help fuel your ride with some free coffee…on us!
Join the 511 Contra Costa crew at Tracks to Trails 2009. We’ll be stationed at the Whole Foods Energy Station in Walnut Creek. Tracks to Trails is an event promoting the Iron Horse Regional Trail and its easy accessibility via BART.
Where: 6 Different Energy Stations along the Iron Horse Regional trail.
When: Saturday, July 11. 10am – 2pm.
Energy Stations along the trail:
For more information on Tracks to Trails check out the East Bay Regional Park District website.
The 2009 Contra Costa Countywide Bike and Pedestrian plan is now available for review on the CCTA website.
There are three community workshops scheduled to discuss the proposed bike plan. Two of the workshops will be held this week on Monday and Thursday. The third and final workshop will be held Monday June 29th.
More information available on the Contra Costa Times website, and the Contra Costa Transportation Authority Website.
Check out these excellent photos from Bike to Work Day 2009. Thanks to everyone who contributed to our pool!
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511 Contra Costa’s Flickr Page
