Video review: ‘Crunch’

Video: Get to know my latest read-aloud, Crunch, by Leslie Connor.

Product reviews: Jersey and trunk bag

A recent ride between Santa Rosa and Sebastopol, via the Santa Rosa Creek and Joe Rodota trails, was an occasion to utilize two items in my cycling gear collection: my new Xingrass women's bicycle jersey, and my do-it-yourself backpack rigging for the Topeak MTX Trunk Bag. Here are my reviews of the jersey and the trunk bag.

Xingrass short-sleeved women's bicycle jersey
I really like the colors and the pattern of this women's cycling jersey. (I love damask and paisley patterns, and rich colors like dark green, blue, and brown.) I ordered a size Medium, according to instructions to use the sizing chart and to order by chest, height, and weight. it fit as expected, very comfortable to move in.

Topeak MTX Trunk Bag
As a cyclist, I often rely on my Topeak MTX Trunk Bag. I just slide it onto the MTX Quick Track rack, it locks into place, and I am ready to go.

The panniers are great to fold down and stuff with groceries (or books purchased at a local store or found in a Little Free Library).

This is my second purchase from Topeak; the first trunk bag did not come with the panniers, and my husband and I (both Topeak trunk bag users) have found that the central pocket of the trunk bag seems to have less carrying space in the model that has panniers.

One design concern of mine is the single carrying strap that comes with the Topeak bag. I have a smaller frame, and the bag gets heavy to carry when I am walking around.

The single carrying strap does not relieve the weight when I carry the bag by the handle, and when the bag hangs free, the weight just bears down uncomfortably on my shoulder. I end up carrying the bag two-handed.

My solution, or "hack," was to take a second carrying strap with me. I shortened one end of each strap so that the shoulder padding falls to the right location, and I attach both straps to the trunk bag I'm using for a makeshift "backpack." A backpack is much more comfortable, plus I prefer "hands-free."

I can't use the water bottle pocket when I convert to a backpack, but I can put my bottle directly into the trunk bag. The water bottle is upright inside it, when I wear the Topeak trunk bag as a "backpack."

Our family’s ‘third’ place: parks and community garden

Shelter-in-place affects the way that we can work in our community garden

I’m taking a course in Sociology through Santa Rosa Junior College, and a recent discussion assignment asked, “Where is your ‘third’ place?”

Bicycle theft, a close-to-home social problem

For a Sociology class, I was asked to describe a close-to-home social problem, characterize it as “rural” or “urban,” and identify “objective” and “subjective” aspects of the problem. For this assignment, I described bicycle theft as an urban problem.

Multi-use paths, closed to bikes but not pedestrians?

With parks closed in Sonoma County to prevent spread of COVID-19, the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition raises a fair concern: why are multi-use paths off-limits to cyclists, but still available to pedestrians?

Bay Wheels bike rental

Jonathan and I recently took a multi-modal San Francisco trip. On Saturday, Sept. 28, we rode down into San Francisco aboard Golden Gate Transit’s Route 101.

With bike helmets strapped to our backpacks and having packed our reflective vests, we were all set to try Bay Wheels Bikes rental via the Lyft app. This photo was taken at the Steuart Street at Market Street station near the San Francisco Ferry Building.

Handling the bikes felt unfamiliar at first. The step-through frames had cargo baskets in front so they were weighted and balanced differently from what we were normally used to: which is diamond-frame with rear trunk bag with or without rear panniers. But as we rode, we became more used to handling the rental bikes.

We discovered that bike rental works best when used for short, maybe 15-minute, rides, and we grew accustomed to using a station-map to check for bikes or spaces to dock.

We were able to slip easily along the San Francisco waterfront past a glut of pedestrians at the area’s most “touristy” attractions. We also felt safe biking in the San Francisco road-way due to “critical mass;” there were a lot of other cyclists in the bike lane.

The experience was not without its stressors: the final dock where we stashed our bikes failed to register ride’s-end, so our Lyft apps continued to show an escalation of time and ticking meter of supposed bike-use. It took 48 hours, but eventually the matter was resolved to our satisfaction.

Altogether, our SF bike-rental experience was interesting, fun, and educational. We will consider Bay Wheels Bikes rental for another San Francisco trip.

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.

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)

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.

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.

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.

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.

‘Walk and Roll’ to school today

Here's a friendly reminder of "Walk and Roll" each Wednesday at Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts. If you haven't already, perhaps you'd give it a try?

The intention behind "Walk and Roll" is to promote alternatives to students commuting to school by car, which is why, every Wednesday, we close the gates to the school parking lot.

(Our school is located just a couple blocks away from bus stops on Mendocino Avenue -- a main corridor both for Santa Rosa CityBus and Sonoma County Transit. There are also places to park your vehicle just a couple blocks away, if you have a younger child or want to ease into the idea of not simply driving your child to school.)

With fewer cars pulling in and out of the driveway, safety is enhanced for those students (and adults) who want to travel to-and-from using "person-powered" transportation.

We admit after-school programs' vans, and people with disabilities who have DMV placards. But we ask that other motorists park safely and legally on the street.

Crossing guard at-risk from cars in Santa Rosa intersections

Santa Rosa crossing guard Mario D’Olivo says he “could have retired long ago if he had a dollar for every motorist who has zipped through the crosswalk despite the red traffic signal overhead and the stop sign in his hand, or who’s breezed by in clear violation of the no-cellphone-while-driving law.”

Living in Santa Rosa, Calif.

Our first weekend in our new apartment in Santa Rosa, Calif.! Having secured a home in the same community where I work and where we like to hang out, we really enjoy our recovered ability to walk, ride our bikes, and take public transit.

‘Walk and Roll,’ school gates close each Wednesday

School is out this week, in observance of Thanksgiving, but I want to reinforce “Walk and Roll” each Wednesday at Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts.