San Jose Bike Train coming soon

I’m talking with Lady Fleur and a couple of other people to start up a San Jose Bike Train. A bike train is a no-drop (~10 MPH) group commute designed specifically to help newcomers overcome obstacles like wayfinding.

Our initial route will begin from Diridon Station in San Jose, with maybe a spur from near Willow Glen, and run north along the Guadalupe River Trail to serve destinations along Hedding Street, SJC airport, Technology Drive, Brokaw, Trimble, Montague Expressway, River Oaks and Tasman.

I ride seven miles from San Jose Diridon to my office in Santa Clara. I ride just two blocks on streets; the rest of it is all bike path. It’s a wonderful route.

We’re still discussing start times and days, but we hope to get this going in February. Stay tuned for details.

A grab bag of bike news and event announcements below this photo from the Guadalupe River Trail.


Guadalupe River Trail River Run notice

Monterey County bike advocates and projects win six of ten Transportation Excellence Awards from the Transportation Agency of Monterey County for 2013.

San Francisco Yellow Bike Project is “a grassroots, pop-up, do-it-yourself, community-building machine that brings dead bikes back to life and puts more city dwellers on two wheels.”

Here’s a nice business profile on Light & Motion, the bike light company that’s been able to keep manufacturing in Monterey, California.

Daniel Emerson wants to turn his Monterey business into a $50 million company. He’s about 20 percent of the way there.

For Light & Motion, the only major bike light manufacturer in the United States, that means beating its Asian competitors and American companies which outsource there.

The first step is leaving its cramped — yet idyllic — location on Cannery Row at the end of the month for a former Apache helicopter repair depot in Marina.

“While it is a pretty cool place,” Emerson, the CEO of Light & Motion, said of the current location, “we need to compete.”


NYPD 78th Precint went out to shovel and sand bike lanes by hand around their precinct house in Brooklyn.

Kansas Cyclist writes on the virtues of military BDU pants for winter cycling.

BDUs for bicycling offer some really excellent characteristics:

  • Ruggedness: They’re typically made of a rip-stop nylon/cotton blend, with reinforced seams and heavy-duty thread, so they’ll take a lot of abuse without tearing or unraveling.
  • Wind Resistance: The fabric is reasonably wind-resistant, and also offers a bit of water resistance.
  • Adjustable Waist: They usually offer adjustable waist tabs, which makes it easy to tighten the fit at the waist, without requiring a belt.
  • Blousing Strings: This is my favorite feature. It’s simply a ribbon threaded through the ankle cuff, and it allows the ankle to be cinched up, to prevent it from flopping around and running against the chain. Just tie the ribbon using a standard shoelace-style knot, and then tuck it up under the tightened cuff, where it will stay out of the way.
  • Lots of Pockets: The BDUs I use have two rear pockets (secured by buttons), two front/side “slash” pockets, and two large cargo pockets (secured by buttons) on the lower thigh. They can hold a truly impressive volume of stuff.

Pomona Valley Bicycle Coalition call for a bicycle access plan for Metrolink.

Streetsblog: Ford CEO Alan Mulall says adding more cars in urban environments is “not going to work” and that he was interested in developments in “personal mobility” and “quality of life.”

Autoblog: Hamburg works to eliminate cars from city center by 2034 (with poll).

Electric scooters in Toronto bike lanes? In California, they’re generally allowed unless prohibited by local authority. Powered vehicles of any kind, including electric-assist bicycles or pedalecs, are banned from bike trails in California State Parks.

“When I was your age, I walked through ten feet of snow to school.” And once upon a time, that Polar Vortex wasn’t a thing.

You have a kickstand on your bicycle, right?

A UCB grad student’s thesis on the effect of corporate shuttles on housing prices in San Francisco. (PDF)

Events

New York City Youth Bike Summit coming up February 14-16, 2014.

North American Handmade Bicycle Show coming up March 14-16, 2014 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Santa Cruz Mountain Bike Festival coming up April 5-6, 2014 in Aptos, California.

Carnage

Lots of it this past week, here’s a short collection.


Watsonville man flees to rooftop after hit and run.

A man reported missing last weekend was found Tuesday afternoon off of the side of Highway 17. He apparently crashed Sunday afternoon but his vehicle wasn’t discovered until Tuesday.

31 year old San Jose man arrested for felony hit and run after he struck three children – ages 9, 7 and 6 – in Vacaville, CA.

Hit and run driver in Pacifica kills and pedestrian.

Do you remember last October when the driver in Menlo Park accidentally hit the gas of his BMW SUV, causing the SUV under his control to jump the curb and crushing a pair of six year twins against a wall? Because it was not an intentionally malicious act, the driver will not be charged with a crime.

I’ll just cut and past the headline here: Four-time DUI offender injures pregnant woman in accident.

Crash into power pole snarls 101 traffic and causes power outage in San Rafael, CA.

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