Fresno County Bicycle Coalition

Archive for June, 2009

Hey City of Fresno Residents, tonight is BPAC! The Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee meets on the fourth Thursday of each month in City Hall. This month we are continuing our very energetic discussion of the proposed Bicycle, Pedestrian, Trails Master Plan (BMP).

Just as Ed has explained below, the meeting exceeded my expectations too! The friendly staff blew me away! I have been to number of public outreach events and have never been engaged in conversation by the staff, instead I have always had to engage. Not yesterday! The professionals at this meeting were very outgoing and encouraging. And look at all of the public participation!

Last weekend Le Poseur found himself high in the Sierra Nevada Range at more than 9000 feet. The lack of oxygen at that altitude apparently caused temporary amnesia, for I cannot for the life of me recall what could possibly have driven (ridden?) me to climb to such an inhuman altitude!

On the descent from some godforsaken place called Kaiser Pass, the threatening thunderclouds lived up to their promise, and the cold rain and hail (thankfully, no snow!) met Le Poseur and his companions between some location called Tamarack Summit and Shaver Lake. It was COLD going downhill, even at cautious (sub 60 kph) velocities required by the wet and slippery road.

After reaching the end of the ride, Le Poseur pondered the fact that Le Tour de California had ventured into the Sierran foothills months ago! While those riders were at much lower altitudes than your humble scribe, the reality pertains that snow, sleet, hail, rain, postmen, and the National Health could all have descended on the peleton of the Tour de California. What an unfortunate mess that would have been. As it was, snow on the side of the road was charming but harmless. Asking the peleton to forge through 6 inches of snow on the road would have been unacceptable, not to mention very bad publicity….

Le Poseur will keep his fingers crossed that the Powers That Be will move Le Tour de California to June, a generally much more civilized month in the mountains.

Wait!!! Le Poseur was a rider around Lake Tahoe on June 2! On June 1 the weather was thunderstorms, sleet, freezing rain, and hail! Perhaps the Tour de California route should be modified, and the race renamed Le Tour de Coastal California!

Two meetings remain:
Thursday: Sunnyside High School, 5:30-7:30pm.
June 23: Malloch Elementary School, 5:30-7:30pm.

This morning I attended an outreach meeting in City Hall. I wasn’t expecting much, and I almost didn’t go. I was expecting another boring meeting with dubious connections to the reality of riding in the City of Fresno. I couldn’t have been more mistaken. Immediately I saw the bike racks outside the building, I new that energetic cyclists were in attendance.

Inside, I signed in and was greeted by the friendly staff. Not only City of Fresno staff, but representatives from Quad Knopf and Fehrs and Peers, who are working on the Bicycle Master Plan as consultants. Staff from other organizations, such as the County Public Works, were also present. Everyone was labelled with their name and affiliation, and the meeting was organized into activity zones. Cyclists, advocates, and officials were mingling together, sharing ideas and brainstorming how to make Fresno a bicycle-friendly place.

The activity zones includes tables with giant aerial photographs of the City. Attendees were armed with markers and instructed to mark up the maps with details of their favorite routes, danger zones, biggest frustrations, and all kinds of details for changes they would like to see on the street.

In another area, examples of various bicycle facilities, such as trails, lanes, lockers, racks, and bike boxes were portrayed in large color photographs mounted on easels. Attendees were given sheets of little sticky stars and told to give stars to the facilities they would most like to see in Fresno. It was very satisfying to put stars next to things I like, such as bicycle boulevards.

In yet another area, attendees were invited to sit down and fill out surveys. The data from these surveys will be used as input, along with all the other data collected at this meeting, to provide input into the Bicycle Master Plan.

Hopefully, with this level of input, the final document will reflect reality and will be designed to produce policy that accurately reflects the needs of local cyclists. Can you imagine if official government policy was programmed to produce useful and effective infrastructure? As the tax money is spent over the next two decades, the built environment will begin to reflect this ideal, shaped by the wants, wishes, and fondest desires of real everyday cyclists.

How can you help this project succeed? You can make your voice heard by attending one of the two remaining meetings. They will be the same in format and content. Please attend one.

When: June 18, 2009
Where: Steve & Nancy’s, 3753 E Balch Ave, Fresno CA
Why: Monthly business and social gathering
What: Mix ‘n Match a bicycle ride, a communal dinner, and a business meeting.

Please RSVP using our special form.

Relaxing social bicycle ride

Join us at 5:15 on Thursday evening at Steve & Nancy’s house for a fun, relaxed ride to find a Mexican Popsicle! About six miles, and we need to be back for dinner by 6:30. Here’s the route:

View Larger Map

Communal Spaghetti Dinner

At 6:30pm we’re having dinner. Steve & Nancy are providing spaghetti and sauce. You will choose something to bring from the list (fill out the RSVP form so we know how much to cook and who is bringing what). We’ll eat together!

Business Meeting

The business meeting will start late this month so some attendees can go to another meeting beforehand. We’ll try to get most of the food cleared so we can use the dining-room table as a meeting table. We already have a quorum of the board confirmed to attend.

What do you think? Would you ride more if Fresno drivers were calm, cool, collected, and courteous? Would you feel more comfortable taking the lane and riding safely in traffic if you knew the drivers behind you were more likely to stay calm and not fly into a blind rage? Of course! I would too. And a recent study commissioned by AutoVantage, a national auto club, sure makes it seem at first glance that there is some causal-effect relationship between bicycle ridership and calm motorists. Portland, a Platinum Level bicycle-friendly community, is ranked number 1 for calm drivers in the survey! Seattle, a Gold Level bike-friendly city, is also in the top ten.

Reading further, we notice that cities high on the angry-driver list, such as Miami, Atlanta, and Dallas, seem to tend towards the opposite end of the bike friendly spectrum. Hmm! Then, right near the end of the short article reporting the results of this survey, we find out that Minneapolis/St. Paul is in the top 5 most-angry driver communities. Minneapolis, Bike Love. Minneapolis, a Silver Level bicycle-friendly community!

Oh, how can this be? Can a bicycle-friendly community indeed flourish amongst the rocks and thorns (preach it, brother!) of angry, provincial, truck-driving, bicycle-haterz? Apparently so! This is indeed good news for Fresno. Get out there and ride your bicycles, Fresno!

Downtown: it’s so far away! You may not want to come all the way down here just for the new farmer’s market (http://www.downtownfresno.org/market) but what if they threw in a
travelling Madame Tussauds exhibit? And remember, bicycle riding is now allowed on the Fulton Mall. Try the new bike racks!

“The glamorous Bankers Ballroom on Fulton Mall will host four life-size wax figures from Madame Tussauds Hollywood on Wednesday, June 17, from 12:30 p.m.–1:30 p.m. The public is welcome and the event is free. People are invited to bring their cameras and take pictures
with the figures.

“Arriving in Fresno as part of a state-wide tour leading to the opening of Madame Tussauds Hollywood, the four figures featured are Barack Obama, Lucille Ball, Bruce Willis and Penelope Cruz. Each figure was newly-created in London by artist Neil Linssen, who accompanies the figures and will be available to answer questions in Fresno. Each figure is valued at $300,000.

“This event is held in conjunction with Market on the Mall, the certified farmers market that runs on Wednesdays and Fridays from 10:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m. It is sponsored by the Downtown Association of Fresno and 1060 Fulton, the building that features the Bankers Ballroom and The Lofts. The Bankers Ballroom is located in the ground floor of 1060 Fulton, formerly know as the Security Bank Building.

“For more information, go to www.downtownfresno.org/wax-museum or contact the Downtown Association at 559-490-9966 or jminami@downtownfresno.org. Madame Tussauds Hollywood will launch on August 1, 2009, next to Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in an all-new $55 million dollar attraction. More information at http://www.madametussauds.com/hollywood or call 323-993-3000.”

We waited around as long as possible, hoping Luc and Clinton, our French Couchsurfers, would get up so we could say goodbye. They didn’t stir, so we heading out at 9:00 a.m. Our destination was the community garden at The boys and Girls Club on Tulare.

Getting somewhere by bike should always be an adventure! Downtown and Chinatown offer many opportunities for exploration, education and nutrition!

After an hour of gardening, we headed back home to
see if Luc and Clinton were up and about. Along the way back, we passed by the “Secret Clubhouse” and Hero’s Pizza, where all of the motorcyclists that were headed for the Rumble to the Summit were hanging out.

Luc and Clinton were packed and ready to head for San Francisco when we got home. About 30 second after they left, Kendall showed up for a Tour De Downtown and Cass and Kendall invited me to tag along!
!
We headed straight for Yoshi Now! because Shannon sent a text saying that a fantastic musician was playing in the store. The musician was great–kind of folk-bluegrass. Cass and Kendall loved him!

After enjoying some music at Yoshi Now!, we headed down Fulton, assuming we would have pizza at Milano for lunch. Milano was closed so we headed for Hero’s. This was Kendall’s first time to the Fulton Mall! She had a great time! She looks forward to her next Tour De Downtown!

If you want to experience what Couchsurfing is all about–head to our house tonight!

We just got an e-mail from a planned visitor that he has befriended a whole carload of people and they will all be staying with us tonight!

In total, we will have 7 Couchsurfers! Come see how it works!
Visit all of tonight’s guests profile links and come meet them!

Below is an example of a Couchsurfing request trail:

Re: Request to Surf your Couch in Fresno, United States!

Hey guys

Thanks. U guys r some of the coolest cs I’ve come
across. I’ve managed to pick up another rideshare
people on craigslist. That Means there will be four of
us. I hope that’s ok. We will explore yosemite today n
drive to Fresno in the evening.

What’s ur address n phone number I best to contact u
on?
Thanks Again!
Keen

Stephen and Nancy and Cass Lewis Wrote:
>Please–come stay with us
>It could be a house full of couchsurfers, or just a
>few–we shall see!
>It will be fun!
>We can even bar-hop on bikes! It is a blast!
>We have lots of bikes for our guests!
>
>Keen Yee Poon Wrote:
>>USERNAME: KEEN
>>GENDER: Male
>>AGE: 29
>>LOCATION: Canada – British Columbia – Whistler
>>
>>ARRIVAL DATE: 11th June 6pm
>>DEPARTURE DATE: 12th June 9am
>>NUMBER OF PEOPLE: 2
>>
>>Hey Lewis’
>>
>>Im driving down to LA from Whistler, BC, Canada. Im
>>planning to arrive in Fresno on the 1tth after visiting
>>Yosemite, before heading off to LA on the 12th…I was
>>thinking about hitting up
>>King Canyon also before making our way to LA…
>>
>>Im need of a place to crash…It’ll be sweet if I
>>could
>>crash on your couch…
>>
>>A little about me….I grew up in Australia…Ive been
>>working and playing in the snow in Whistler for 6
>>months now…I worked as a corporate for 3 years
>>before deciding I would take an extended break…my
>>loves in
>>life are snow, good food, wine and music…
>>
>>Hopefully we can make it work
>>cheers
>>Keen

Fresno is one of the most competitive Couchsurfing communities in the Unites States.

Dinner at the Couchsurfing Homebase in Berkeley, CA, 2009.

CouchSurfing, which was started in 2004 by Casey Fenton, is now a worldwide web-based network for making connections between travelers and hosts in the local communities they visit. Travelers contact potential hosts via the Couchsurfing web site, and ask to stay for a day or two during their travels. We did not think we would have many requests (who would want to visit Fresno?) when we first joined the network, but we have learned that many travellers, mostly young Europeans, come through Fresno on their way to and from our national parks. We have hosted travellers from Germany, Norway, Italy, Poland, Kuwait, Belgium, Switzerland, France, Canada, and REALLY exotic places like Illinois, Florida, and Arizona!

My goal, when we first joined the organization, was to be at the top of the Couchsurfing page for Fresno. I had no idea what would be involved, or that it would become a lifestyle. Last night, Jay, the Fresno Couchsurfing Ambassador, was hanging out at our house discussing an upcoming event and my daughter asked, “Oh, so is that like Couchsurfing?” Jay said, “No, it is Couchsurfing. This is Couchsurfing.” We all laughed —we are Couchsurfers and we are living it–right now!

Currently, Couchsurfer Sam is staying with us. She is 19 years old and will be “on the road” for a year or more before she starts college in San Diego. She was born in Switzerland and has lived all over Europe. Her fantasy destination has always been the United States, especially California, where the weather is perfect. She is spending a year to explore the U.S. Sam and my daughter are on trek to Yosemite today.

Our Couchsurfing visitors add tremendous value to our lives. Our new friends from all across Europe have taught us a lot about their cultures and perspectives. They are often only a few years older than my daughter, and have provided her with an great example of the possibilities for exploring the world that she might never have been exposed to. It is a constant horizon-expanding experience.

Tonight we have Luc and Quentin staying with us. They are two French guys doing a road trip through the west coast. Luc works in Lille in the north of France and Quentin works in NYC. Sam and Cassie are looking forward to their arrival!

Clinton Stayed with us on Tuesday. He is on a memorial walk across the United States in honor of his father, brother and infant son.

Nancy and Sam, Bike tour of Downtown Fresno, June 10, 2009

We usually entertain and amuse our Couchsurfer guests with bike tours of Fresno, mostly the Tower and Downtown. Yesterday Sam was introduced to the best pizza in Fresno at Milano on Fulton Mall. She also got a tour of Broadway Studios where she was charmed by My Cow, Shannon, and Romero, three of our Downtown artist friends. When we have Couchsurfers on the first Thursday of each month, they WILL do Art Hop with us! We also take them for Mexican popsicles at Belmont and Fulton, and at night we bike to Full Circle Brewery for local beer and/or root beer. Downtown Fresno may not be quite like Broadway in New York, but there is still lots of life south of Tulare.