Bike Sharrows Added in Old Town Temecula


The City of Temecula showed off its new Bike Sharrows (bike symbol and arrows painted on the street to let motorists and cyclists know they are sharing the lane) on May 10. Thanks to Councilmen Naggar and Washington for riding with us.

I am posting a link to my YouTube video of the ride.

http://youtu.be/NgK746YRGQM

The sharrows have been proven to resolve motorist/cyclist tensions in other places. We rode with Temecula city planners on a field trip to Long Beach where sharrows on busy Ocean Avenue reduced the number of complaints to nearly zero, without painting a bicycle lane! They are used where there isn't room for lane.

So c'mon Temecula motorists, share the road!

Ride of Silence will honor cyclists

   Honor cyclists who are killed or injured in road accidents and join a worldwide event at the Eighth Annual Temecula Ride of Silence scheduled for 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 21, in front of Temecula City Hall, 41000 Main St.

   The Ride of Silence started in 2003 to honor cyclist Larry Schwartz, killed by a passing bus in Dallas, Texas. It is now an international event held in more 300 cities and involving thousands of riders on the second Wednesday of May.

   The Ride of Silence is an opportunity to honor the more than 800 cyclists killed in traffic accidents each year in the United States and many more injured or killed around the world.

   Participants are encouraged to bring lights and helmets. Organizers will be handing out black arm bands bearing the names of cyclists who have been killed or injured in road accidents. Cyclists may also bring their own armbands if they wish.

   The ride is about 10 miles long, fairly flat and speed is kept to 10 mph or less.

   Riders wear black armbands and use lights on their bicycles to form a solemn procession. This year the route will be from City Hall to Overland, across Interstate 15 to Margarita Road, up to Jax Bicycles in Murrieta and back on the same route. Please be aware this is a nighttime ride on public roadways suitable for adults and teenagers who typically ride in traffic. Small children should be in trailers or with adults on tandems.

   There are no entry fees or costs. More information on the Ride of Silence can be found at www.rideofsilence.org.

   For more information, or to submit names of cyclists to be honored, go to www.rideofsilence.org   or contact Rick Peoples, rickpeoples@hotmail.com   or 951-764-4075.

Temcula Bicycle Coalition Rolls at the Temecula Holiday Parade

First-Ever Temecula Cranksgiving Bicycle Ride Benefits Community Pantry

More than 40 cyclists participated in Temecula's first-ever Cranksgiving bicycle ride sponsored by the Bike Shop and Temecula Bike Train on Saturday, November 30, and collected food for the Temecula Community Pantry. Cranksgiving is part bike ride, part food drive, and part social event.

Cranksgiving riders started at the The Bike Shop and made stops at a half dozen markets, buying food to donate to the Pantry. More than 200 pounds of food was delivered to the Pantry.

More information about Cranksgiving can be found at Cranksgiving.org.

San Diego to get $200 million in cycling improvements -- We can dream, right?

This is good news. We don't live in San Diego County, of course, but a lot of us  ride there. San Diego County is going to spend $200 million for cycling infrastructure over the next 10 years. There is not that kind of commitment in Riverside County, but we can dream. Here is the link:
http://www.sdcbc.org/temp/news/newsletterChainGuard_Fall2013_WEB.pdf?utm_source=Fall+Chainguard&utm_campaign=Chainguard-+Fall&utm_medium=email

Bike Trail Master Plan Meeting

Kudos to the city of Temecula, Rick and the Bike Shop, hosting the Oct. 26 meeting on the bike/hike/equestrian trail meeting. The city is looking for input about which trails to link up first, so go to hikebiketemecula.org and vote for where to start work. There's money to start linking trails. Best news of the day: There will be bike lanes on the new interchange north of Winchester, and bike lanes on the new Main Street bridge in old town (outside the car lanes, sharing with pedestrians).

San Diego's CicloSDias, time for a Temeciclovia?

On Sunday we rode the San Diego version of Ciclovia, an event held around the world where cities close streets to car traffic and let cyclists, walkers, rollerbladers and skateboarders enjoy their communities without dodging traffic.

Hats off to the progressive leaders of San Diego for staging their first CicloSDias. It actually takes a little getting used to having complete right of way in the streets for one day. Plenty of entertainment and even shopping on the way. Lots of volunteers helping out -- San Diego has an active cycling community and they were everywhere.

While I was riding, I was thinking about what would happen if we closed Old Town Temecula to car traffic for part of day on Sunday. We could let cyclists and walkers own the streets for a few hours, set up entertainment, food booths, shopping booths, whatever we want.

The name Temeciclovia came to mind, but you know how ideas pop into your head on rides. Is there a better name? Is there support? Would it work? Time to put Temecula on the map.

Here is an incentive: Riverside is thinking about the same thing, according to news stories. Riverside already has buttons to let cyclists trip the traffic lights and cross busy streets, a dedicated bike path/on street lane system and circumnavigates the city, and a bike consultant who actually rides a bicycle and has great ideas for improvements.

Are we going to let the city to the north, and the city to the south have a great event like this and do nothing? Where is our competitive spirit? They can do it, we can do it, right?