Textbook delivery via bicycle

Rode my bicycle to Santa Rosa City Schools this morning, for a district meeting. The distance represents just a few minutes’ ride from Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts. I stuffed my pannier, trunk bag, and backpack full of instructional materials for delivery back to my site. Talk about a win-win; my school’s teachers will get their books as soon as I’ve cataloged them; my bicycle was that much more stable during wind-gusts thanks to the added weight; plus I’ve saved someone else maybe having to make a delivery that put them out of their way.

Trackable coin found in Santa Rosa geocache

On Friday afternoon, we took a walk down to the Friends of the Santa Rosa Libraries’ book sale, taking place this weekend at the Veterans Memorial Building. The book sale, in itself, would have been a highlight — but, while there, we decided to attempt a nearby geocache.

To our excitement, we found this trackable coin, from the 2010 “Geowoodstock” event in Carnation, Washington. Trackables, like this one, are part of the fun of Geocaching. Once you release a trackable, you can follow its progress as other finders move it from site to site.

Geocaching expedition through S.F.’s Golden Gate Park

Caught Golden Gate Transit​’s Route 101 down to San Francisco on Saturday, Sept. 29, for an adventure in geocaching. San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency​’s Routes 28 and 5 brought us out to Ocean Beach, and we then made our way through S.F.’s Golden Gate Park​, hunting for caches as we went. Our final geocaching stop for the day was outside the de Young Museum​, near its “Pool of Enchantment.” Cool, overcast weather made a great day for traveling through Golden Gate Park on-foot. We’re looking forward to further geocaching expeditions aboard the area’s public transit.

Sonoma County employer earns ‘Bicycle Friendly’ status

​For the first time, a Sonoma County employer has earned certification as a Bicycle Friendly Business by the League of American Bicyclists. (​This welcome news comes via the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition.)

Dare we hope that more businesses follow the example of Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital?

My husband and I live and travel throughout a city that’s a Bicycle Friendly Community — but too often, sidewalks are the only safe place to ride along roads that were only built for cars. ​​It’s vitally important to have safe and complete routes to get us where we need to go.​

When we reach our destinations, we frequently find no secure place to lock up our bicycles. Too often, around town, we’ll see a bicycle still attached via a lock through its frame to a rack — only to see that someone has stolen one or more tires. Or a reflector. Or the seat.

What sort of message does a business think it sends when it posts a sign proclaiming itself “not responsible” for the theft of your bicycle?

In addition to exposing our bikes to weather and possible theft, many of the racks appear designed and installed by someone who doesn’t ride — someone who, therefore, doesn’t understand the practical needs of cyclists.

For example, we’ll find racks that were placed too close to a wall or other barrier — so there isn’t any room to attach a bike to the now-useless, solely decorative rack.

This absence of safe, usable, bike parking at the majority of Santa Rosa businesses really shows in glaring contrast to what Sutter is doing right ... specifically, providing “secure covered parking” for its employees who ride bicycles.

Personally, we’d love to see more BikeLink® lockers at business and government buildings. ​For a few cents per hour, we can lock up our bikes safe from thieves and inclement weather. Sadly, however, BikeLink® locations are still few and far between; we find them mainly at SMART Train stations and on the Santa Rosa Junior College campus.

Rails-to-trails through Sonoma, Mendocino, and Humboldt counties

A bill awaiting signature by California governor Jerry Brown would convert 300 miles of decommissioned rail line ​into a pedestrian and bicycling trail. The trail will still face numerous hurdles in the way of its completion, but just imagine what it could do for bicycle touring in northern California. (​Via Brian Coyne, the San Francisco Chronicle)

Trackable geocaching tokens

CityBus pass and PathTags token

Bought a couple of all-day CityBus passes, and headed out for geocaching adventure. First stop, “Good Grief Sparky!,” which requires the user to visit a Santa Rosa landmark — where, using information we obtained on-site, we were able to obtain the coordinates we needed to locate a hidden cache.

Geocaching

Jonathan and I have embarked on an outdoor treasure-hunting adventure! Geocaching involves using GPS to locate a hidden object.

With so many phones now equipped with GPS, participation can be as simple as downloading a free app and creating an account.

Caches come in a range of sizes, and shapes. This one had an appealing “hand-crafted” look, sort of a paper-collage effect.

The caches generally include a paper “log” for finders to write their names, but some of them also carry little “prizes” and even trackable tokens. If you take a prize from the Geocache, it’s nice to leave something too, for the next finder who comes along.

Jonathan and I went around to some local thrift stores and assembled a “stash” of trinkets, less than $1 each. Later, we might also purchase tokens from the Geocaching store.

I especially like combining Geocache with a ride via public transit or a trip on-foot or by bicycling. Yesterday, we caught Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit from downtown Santa Rosa. We disembarked in Cotati, and then used our apps to look for nearby caches.

West County Regional Trail via bicycle

Image credit: Sonoma County Regional Parks

After taking several successful round-trips on bicycle between Santa Rosa and Sebastopol, Jonathan and I made our first foray this week on the West County Regional Trail between Sebastopol and Forestville.

West County Regional Trail is 5.5 miles in length, according to Sonoma County Regional Parks. “The path is separated from Highway 116 and offers views of farms, pastures, and vineyards.”

We began our ride from our apartment to Santa Rosa-downtown and out the Prince Memorial Greenway, which, if we stayed on it, would become the Santa Rosa Creek Trail. But for this ride, we headed out the Joe Rodota Trail to reach downtown Sebastopol.

We had to navigate downtown Sebastopol traffic to reach the West County Regional Trail entrance. We fell in line behind a tour group of riders led by Getaway Adventures.

Once on the trail, we found it quiet and peaceful, fragrant from eucalyptus and far from traffic noises. We rode the trail until it met up with Old Gravenstein Highway; on future rides, we plan to tackle additional segments of the trail.

Commute by-bike for summer school

During the summer, I’m working for “summer school” at Montgomery High School in Santa Rosa. My work-days this week each began and ended with a bicycle ride. It takes me a 15- or 20-minute ride to reach Montgomery High School from our apartment.

Pacsafe Metrosafe LS450, essential for daily commute

For my daily commute as a non-motorist, I rely on the Pacsafe Metrosafe LS450. This roomy, but not overly-large, pack is suitable to my small frame. It’ll hold my lunch, it’ll hold my reading glasses and maybe a book or two. It has water-bottle pockets on each side of the pack to hold my reusable bottle.

Once at work, if I need to travel with a laptop to another part of campus, the bag ensures that I can carry it hands-free, without risk of dropping the laptop.

For those occasions when I find myself part of a pressed-in crowd, the pack has several security features that make it resistant to theft. There’s wire mesh embedded in the fabric and wire-reinforcement in the straps. And security clips make it more difficult for a thief to un-zip the bag's pockets and reach inside.

Possibly best of all, during most occasions of use, the pack is comfortable to wear. The straps have an ergonomic cut to them, molded to the neck and shoulders. I’d have liked the bag to include a sternum strap to help with heavier loads, but for the typical load I carry during commutes, the bag lets me travel in comfort.

Fortunately, it was easy to add a removable sternum strap. I also have a reflective and waterproof backpack cover to keep pack contents dry, as well as to provide greater visibility when I wear the pack while traveling by bicycle.

Bicycle-themed collage art

Here’s a collage from greeting-card images and from informational brochures gathered during an Earth Day celebration in Santa Rosa’s Courthouse Square. The background is a route map for Santa Rosa City Bus.

San Francisco via train, bus, and ferry

Took a library-themed day trip to San Francisco this week, to celebrate my birthday. Rode aboard Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit to the San Rafael Transit Center, then caught Golden Gate Transit’s “Route 31” free shuttle to the Golden Gate Ferry.

Once in SF, we walked to the closest branch of the San Francisco Public Library, which offers a free library card to any California resident.

Our trip wouldn’t have been complete without a visit to Readers Bookstore Fort Mason, operated by Friends of the San Francisco Public Library; with book-laden packs we then made our way to the Golden Gate Bridge Visitors Center, where we caught Golden Gate Transit’s “Route 101X” back to downtown Santa Rosa.

(Image depicts a view of Golden Gate Bridge from the Batteries to Bluffs Trail along the San Francisco shoreline.)

Santa Rosa Creek Trail via Prince Memorial Greenway

Image credit: Sonoma County Regional Parks

The highlight of this past week was taking trips by bicycle from Prince Memorial Greenway out along Santa Rosa Creek Trail.

‘Microtransit,’ exploration of on-demand public transit

On his professional blog, public transit consultant Jarrett Walker poses an interesting question: Is “Microtransit” an actual new idea?

Motorists need to safely ‘share the road’

Tina Panza, education and Safe Routes to School director with Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition, recently made a presentation to the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office about training and resource options. Her recent visit is the subject of a post by “Sonoma Sheriff” on Facebook.

BikeLink® card-access bicycle lockers

One of the best investments we made was purchasing BikeLink® memberships. These card-access controlled bicycle lockers cost only a few cents per hour to safely lock up and store bicycles and gear; they’re infinitely preferable to park-at-your-own risk, which is still very much the norm.

(The picture above was taken a few months back, during warmer weather. It’s colder out today, and overcast, but I’m getting caught up with sharing.)

We’re fortunate that in Santa Rosa, Calif., there are numerous venues where we can stash our bikes. These include SMART Train stations near Coddingtown and in Historic Railroad Square near Santa Rosa’s downtown. There are also several BikeLink® locations on the Santa Rosa Junior College campus.

We’d love to see BikeLink® catch on in more U.S. communities, and hope that more businesses and organizations consider offering BikeLink® facilities.

‘Urban Cycling Survival Guide’ by Yvonne Bambrick

“[W]hether you’re left or right leaning, urban or suburban, rich or poor, bikes are simply one of the most accessible and efficient forms of urban mobility.”

That statement, for me, encapsulates the value of traveling by bicycle. It comes from a chapter titled “Advocacy and the future of cycling" in Yvonne Bambrick’s book, The Urban Cycling Survival Guide.

This book more-than lives up to its promise of “need-to-know skills and strategies.” It covers everything from selecting a bike, basic maintenance, common setbacks to cycling, as well as how to ride and coexist among pedestrians, other cyclists, and motorists.

As a rider, I believe it’s especially important to amplify sentiments like this:

Bicycling amenities are not just a perk for some small minority; by providing a clearly-marked space to safely ride, they enhance safety and predictability for all users of a roadway.

The addition of cycling amenities to roadways is the “single most important factor” for a growth among cycling ridership, and investment in bike lanes is considerably cheaper than adding more roads for cars.

Bambrick cites a statistic by April Economides, president of Green Octopus Consulting: As of 2008 in Portland, Oregon, a 300-mile bike network cost “the same amount as one mile of freeway.”

Bicyclists have an opportunity to shift the status-quo in transportation policy and planning, which for decades has been driven by car advocates and lobbyists.

Ultimately, then, Bambrick’s book is not just about how to ride safely in the city; by necessity, it’s about how to ensure that streets are ready for you, when you are ready to start riding. I checked it out from the library, but I’d consider adding this book to my personal collection.