Fresno County Bicycle Coalition

iBikeFresno just finished filming a public service announcement. It’s available online, and will go out over the Fresno airways in the next week.

Grab your bike and go with Google Maps! Google announced what we’ve been clamoring for for ever so long. You can now specifiy Bicycling as the mode of travel when you search for directions on Google Maps. The map will even show bicycle lanes!

Update:

Congratulations to Dan, Becca, Pete, Michael, Bruce, and Brenda. They all took the Traffic Skills 101 course this past week. They all did a fantastic job in the discussion and the practical components of the class.

Brenda recently began using her bicycle to get to work, and before taking this class, she was nervous riding in the roads, and preferred the sidewalks. Now she understands that she is safer on the street, that bikes belong in traffic, and she has the skills she needs to safely interact with other traffic and to negotiate her route to work with confidence.

TRAFFIC SKILLS 101 – SAFE BIKING IN CALIFORNIA’S GREAT CENTRAL VALLEY

Date: Monday and Wednesday, March 8th and 10th: 1:00 to 5:30pm
Instructor: Louise Colbert-Mar
Location: Fresno, CA 93702
Fee: 25.00

Description: As the League says, “You may know how to ride your bike, but do you know how to drive it?” This course will give you some really good information about how to ride safely in traffic and some practice with bike handling skills. If you just want to improve your cycling skills or you want to take this class as a prerequisite to taking the League Cycling Instructor (LCI) seminar, this is the class for you. It’s fun! It’s informative! It’ll make you a better rider.

For more information and how to sign up, to go the Bike League Web site.

Here’s another great video from Seattle, featuring their mayor commuting to work by bike! Check out the tip at 1:20… even without the white T on the pavement, you can see how to position your bike to trip the red light.

Fresno has many at-grade railroad crossings that present some challenges to area cyclists. Crossing railroad tracks on a bicycle can be dangerous, and I’ve seen cyclists crash. Usually this happens when you do not approach the rails head-on at a 90 degree angle. Your front wheel will slip out from under you and you will go down. Check out this video from Seattle on how they are handling a particularly tricky railroad crossing, and you can learn how to safely cross the Fresno railway crossings.

The monthly general meeting of the Fresno County Bicycle Coalition will take place this Thursday, January 21st. We hope you can join us. Topics of conversation will include:

• Report of Statewide bicycle advocacy at CABO from Nick.
• Report of recent training and Tour de Fresno 2010 plans from the TdF sub-committee.
• Bike to work Month 2010 planning
• Other items

Details of the meeting are as follows:

• When: Thurs, 21st, at 6:30 PM
• Where: Steve & Nancy’s
• What: FCBC Monthly General Meeting
• Why: It’s what we do!
• How: Plenty of bicycle parking inside
• Send email to info at fresnobike.org to RSVP and request location

We want to hear from you as we come down the home stretch on the most progressive and comprehensive Bicycle Master Plan to transform the City of Fresno into a more Bicycle Friendly Community! We heard many of your initial comments last June and we want to show you what we have accomplished so far and get your input and feedback.

The second round of City of Fresno Bicycle Master Plan Open House Meetings are scheduled for
Lobby at City Hall: Tuesday, January 26, 2010, 11:00 am-1:00 pm.
Bullard High School: Tuesday, January 26, 2010, 5:30-7:30 pm
Sunnyside High School: Wednesday, January 27, 2010, 5:30-7:30 pm.

All three meetings will have the same information available; we just have them in three different locations of Fresno; Downtown, North, and South for your convenience.

Biking is an Affordable Family Fun Activity to Enjoy Fresno. It is great for your health, great for the environment, and great for your wallet! If you are not a fan of ibikefresno.org on facebook we encourage you to stay connected with the 2010 Bike Fresno Campaign! We have a lot of exciting events and activities planned for 2010 to showcase biking in Fresno!

For more information and background on the Bicycle Master Plan please go to www.fresnoBMP.com or www.fresno.gov/BMP

Bryan D. Jones, TE, PTP, AICP
City Traffic Engineer/Traffic Engineering Division Manager
City of Fresno Public Works Department

The FCBC attended a very exciting planning meeting yesterday. Also there were JP Marketing and the City of Fresno Public Works department. It’s still a bit early to share specifics, but suffice it to say that the Corporate Challenge is going to grow into something completely different and much more fun this year. Tell your co-workers, tell your friends and neighbors, tell your kids, and tell your grandma. Tell everyone you know who can ride a bike or who can learn by May. If you are a long-time Corporate Challenge rider, get your team ready to represent old-skool style. There’s going to be lots of n00bies this year that need your help and your straight-up beacon of guidance. The Challenge is going beyond Corporate this year (although that core is our most-important foundation).

If you haven’t already, go to ibikefresno.org and sign up so you get the news as it develops. If your on the Facebook, check out the ibikefresno.org page there too. Amazing activity in the short time it’s been up. The Fresno Beehive noticed, too!

It’s going to be a great year to cycle in Fresno County!