Help a stranded cyclist, they might be a rock star

Help a stranded cyclist, they might be a rock star.
Emily Kraus and her boyfriend Joe Proffitt were driving down a back road near Hersey, Pennsylvania to a Dave Mathews Band concert, when they swerved past a rider with a flat tire. Joe quickly recognized the cyclist as “Dave.”
Emily was unconvinced. Thousands were waiting to hear Dave Mathews perform that night, why would he be on the side of the road? But after a few seconds the couple turned around to help the rider.
Sure enough, walking on the side of the road was the multi-platinum recording artist and Emily’s favorite singer Dave Mathews. Turns out, the musician decided to take a quick ride before his show, but punctured and was without his cellphone.
Mathews thanked the couple for the lift by inviting them to dinner, giving them front-row seats and signing their tickets. Mathews gave Kraus a shout out during his show, weaving his experience in the opening of the song “Granny.”


See all the Bicycling.com blogs.

http://bicycling.com/blogs/thehub/2013/07/16/dave-matthews-needs-a-flat-kit/

Temecula Bicycle Coalition turns out for the Fourth of July Parade

Reflections on the 2013 Temecula Ride of Silence -- This town is changing

 

Reflections on the Temecula Ride of Silence

 

 

It was a great honor to be among cyclists Wednesday who participated in the Seventh Annual Temecula Ride of Silence as we paid special tribute to Randy Pruett, a local school teacher and active member of a cycling club, who lost his life in a bicycle accident last year.

 

Pruett’s widow Laura read a particularly moving piece, The Cyclists' Prayer, by Fr. Amado Picardal, which ends: “As we enjoy each other's company, as we feel we could bike forever, may we continue biking even as we grow old, and up to the day we die, and may you allow us to continue biking in heaven, forever and ever, Amen!”

 

The Ride of Silence is truly a worldwide event, held in 368 cities at the same time, 7 p.m. on the second Wednesday of May. It honors the hundreds of cyclists killed on the road and thousands more injured.

 

 As I rode through Temecula in the dark, I thought about Temecula being named a Bike Friendly city, the City Council approving $45,000 to design more bike lanes, and news that the city was going to hold its first Bike to Work Day.

 

Things are changing in Temecula. It's time to thank Mayor Mike Naggar, Councilman Chuck Washington, City Planner Matt Peters, and everyone else who is involved at City Hall in leading these changes.

 

 And special thanks to the dozens of cyclists who rode Wednesday to honor their friends and family, their fellow cyclists. Temecula residents have always shown they care. The Ride of Silence is a simple, silent, testimony to that. By the way, photos from the event are available at www.rideofsilence.org and at Temecula Ride of Silence on Facebook.

Temecula earns Bronze Bicycle Friendly Community Status

 

 

This just in, Temecula has been awarded Bronze in the Bicycle Friendly Communities Program from the League of American Cyclists.

 

This is the first time the city has been on this list, which gives us national recognition.

 

Congratulations to the city, to Mayor Mike Naggar and Chuck Washington on the transporation subcommittee (they ...are friends to cyclists in Temecula), and to planner Matt Peters (the application is about a foot high worth of paper). I am pasting the details from the League website, to read more about what it means to be a BFC, the commitment to make improvements each year and work up to Silver, Gold, Platinum and now, Beyond Platinum (we can dream), go to http://www.bikeleague.org/programs/bicyclefriendlyamerica/profiles/index_test.php?type=c&id=62&formid=245


Bicycle Friendly Community
City of Temecula | Bronze




Award: Bronze

BFC Since: 2013

Total Population: 103,092

Population density: 3,419 people per square mile

Total area: 30.15

Contact: Matt Peters, (951) 694-6408, matt.peters@cityoftemecula.org

Percentage of arterial streets with dedicated bicycle facilities:

26-50%

Modal split of commuters:

Bicycling: 0.8%

Walking: 1.3%

Transit: 0.6%

Percentage of schools offering bicycling education:

Elementary Schools: 1-25%

Middle Schools: 1-25%

Ride of Silence Video

The Temecula Ride of Silence, our seventh and the 10th for the event nationally and internationally, is only two weeks away. Here is a great video of last year's Ride of Silence.
https://vimeo.com/45293149

Santa Barbara Cycling

Just got back from three days of cycling in Santa Barbara, including UCSB and Isla Vista -- that's where thousands of UCSB students live just off campus. What a place. Walk out of your dorm and step onto a private beach. Wow.

Back to bicycling, I saw probably gazillions of bike racks on the campus of UCSB, where everybody gets around on two wheels, and which also boasts one of the most intricate bike trails system I have ever seen.

Not only are there roundabouts for car traffic on campus, which are useful in controling traffic, but there are so many bicycles, they have installed roundabouts for cyclists on the bike trails. They need them. Even on a Saturday, the bike trail is a freeway -- there are so many bicycles you get swept along in traffic. I wonder what it looks like during a busy school day.

Because of the roundabouts and clear marking on the trails, I saw no collisions or even near collisions. Not so much in Isla Vista, probably due to the fact that it was Alumni Week and there seemed to be a citywide block party going on. The only collision I witnessed, but I am sure there were others, was a young lady on a beach cruiser who was busy texting on her Iphone, slam head on into a guy on a skateboard who was distracted by a nearby group of partygoers.

There was a large "thud" when they collided. But they both ended up laughing it off and exchanging numbers. Not sure why since no one appeared injured. I must be getting old.

I visited a bike shop in Isla Vista full of classic bikes, beach cruisers and even some very high end racing bikes. Where did you get all these, I asked.

The owner said at the end of the term, students leave school and leave their bikes behind. Apartment managers call the bike shop and they go out and round them all up. Except the ones that get tossed off the cliffs in another unique tradition -- students toss their bikes off the cliffs when they graduate, much like other students toss mortar boards. The recycled bikes get fixed up and sold to new students. I liked the idea that none of them end up in the dump.

What does any of this have to do with cycling in Temecula? We have to get our minds around the fact that young people today don't want the same things as their parents. The older crowd wanted a place in the suburbs, an Expedition to bring home groceries from Costco (I don't know why, I can bring home everything my family needs in two saddlebags), and an average of 4.2 hours a day watching TV on the couch. Young people, on the other hand, want to live in busy cities, somewhere downtown if possible, they want to get around on public transportation and bicycles, eat healthy food bought fresh daily (not in 500 ct. frozen boxes), and an active healthy lifestyle. The couch is a coffin, they say. Get up, get outside, go for a ride, a run, a swim. Do something.

They will either try to find that culture here, or they will go elsewhere. We can build that here, and remain a vibrant, young town. It's a choice. For them, and for all of us. 

They are building a new bridge across the creek at Main Street, replacing it with a new MODERN bridge with 10-foot sidewalks, and NO BIKE LANES! Come on, this is 2013. Why is the city of Temecula operating like it's 1913? When are cyclists in Temecula going to be fed up with being treated like second class citizens? Do you care that the city is spending hundreds of millions of dollars of YOUR money to build a new interchange north of Winchester to save motorists a few seconds of wait at Winchester, with NO BIKE LANES? Don't we pay taxes? Don't we pay gas and car taxes? We all drive too. Why can't we get one bridge in this town with bike lanes? It's time to start emailing and writing the mayor, city council and city staff and let your voices be heard. Don't wait. When the new interchange is done, it's done. There won't be any adding in bike lanes after they have a ribbon cutting with the mayor and council and happy motorists smiling at you from the front page of the newspaper.