Bayfront Park, a Menlo Park city park, isn’t really a mountain biking destination, but bikes are permitted on the dirt and gravel trails and it’s only two miles from my work.

Bedwell Bayfront Park, located where Marsh Road intersects with Bayfront Expressway, is a popular lunchtime walking and jogging area for the workers at the nearby office parks. Leashed dogs are permitted on the trails here. In spite of some speculation about public safety, Menlo Park police report almost no instances of violent or property crime at the park.

Dirt and gravel travels crisscross the small hills of this park which was built on a closed landfill. You can see the methane recovery plant at the back of the park, along with the remains of a retired sewage treatment plant. A wide gravel road runs along the perimeter of the park, from where you can watch the shorebirds and other critters in the adjacent sloughs and mud flats.

No trail signposts point the way, but it’s impossible to get lost in tiny Bayfront Park, which encompasses 160 acres. The perimeter road is only two and half miles, so if you somehow lose your way, either head to the top of a hill and look around, or go downhill until you hit the perimeter, then ride until you’ve reached the park entrance.

I’ve ridden about every trail at Bayfront on a fixed gear bike, so this isn’t exactly challenging mountain bike terrain. For a quick, relaxing lunch time fix, though, the location works and the views of the Bay are pretty nice. The unmarked trails invite exploration. Any kind of bike is suitable and riders of just about any level can handle most of the park trails — there are a couple of moderately steep sections but you can easily avoid them if you want.

More:

• Bayfront Park location on Google Maps.
• Friends of Bayfront Park.
• Bayfront Park Yelp reviews.
• Bayfront is part of the San Francisco Bay Area Trail system. When completed (someday), the proposed 500 mile walking / biking trail will ring the entire Bay Area.

College students on bikes at the San Jose State Univerity Campus.

A pilot project by Santa Clara VTA may have bike share stations at Caltrain stations in Mountain View, Palo Alto, and San Jose with satellite destination stations at locations such as Stanford, San Jose State University, San Jose City Hall and Moffett Park. From Streetsblog SF…

Despite the much ballyhooed talk by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom that his city will implement a public bike share pilot, the first bike share program in the Bay Area will likely be implemented by the middle of 2010 in Santa Clara County by the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA). While small size may still be a liability to its success and long term funding sources must be determined, the VTA is miles ahead of other transit operators in completing the process necessary to deliver a pilot.

“Bikes in general are given short shrift in suburban sprawling areas,” said Chris Augenstein, Deputy Director of Planning at VTA. “We can do a lot more to make bicycles a real mode and integrate them into everything we do.”

Read more at Streetsblog SF. The article quotes SFBC’s Andy Thornley, who doesn’t want to seem like a stick in the mud about this, but I think he’s right that the South Bay isn’t really the right place for bike share, at least in the way VTA seems to propose for Caltrain users.

When I served on the SVBC Caltrain working group I saw a lot of feedback regarding bike share as a solution to bike bumping. Over 4,000 passengers detrain at Palo Alto University Avenue every weekday; 360 of these passengers (about 9%) have bicycles. Let’s pretend VTA finds funding for 50 bikes at Palo Alto. Every one of those bikes would be used and gone for the entire work day and sitting, mostly unused, until the employee’s evening commute.

Big props to VTA for being first in the Bay Area to actually move on a bike share proposal. When and if it happens, I’m certainly curious to see how it works out.

See also:

• Why transit needs bikes.
• Palo Alto considers bike share program.
• San Jose works to increase bike commuting.
• SF MTA to require bike rentals at bus stops.
• SF bike sharing video.

Today is a national holiday to honor military veterans in the UK Commonwealth Nations, the United States, and some European nations.

The United States spends about as much on the military as the entire rest of the world combined and has been on a nearly constant state of war since the Korean War, so we naturally have many veterans to honor and care for in the 21st century.

About four years ago, counselor Gil Ramirez at the VA Healthcare System Menlo Park began leading group bike rides to help veterans recover from PTSD. I run into these men and women regularly in Menlo Park and it’s always great to seem them out there. This recent Mercury News story describes the program.

Running, swimming, skiing and other endurance sports aren’t new in the treatment of physically, emotionally or mentally wounded soldiers. But as a sustained therapy for PTSD, cycling appears to work wonders.

“Of all the sports we’ve tried,” says recreational counselor Melissa Puckett, “cycling is the one that’s been the most effective.”

It looks like these guys decided to suit up in Road to Recovery jerseys for the media photo shoot. I think there’s are a couple of different groups now, but when I see them here’s how they usually roll.

This group of vets was on Willow Road just a little south of the VA Center, and I think they looked fabulous. Allez!

Proceeds benefit World Bicycle Relief

Jazz vocalist Alexis Cole released her new CD, “The Greatest Gift” on October 13th. An interesting element to this release is that proceeds will benefit the World Bicycle Relief — an organization dedicated to providing bicycles to people in developing countries around the world. World Bicycle Relief allows these individuals access to transportation and promotes independence, empowerment, and sustainability.

Over 50,000 bicycles have been donated in support of disaster assistance and disease prevention. The Greatest Gift, an enhanced CD, includes two powerfully moving videos that document this wonderful work.

A winner of the 2007 Jazzmobile competition and an award recipient at the Montreux Jazz Voice Competition, Alexis Cole has been described as “a rising star in the jazz world” by Hot House Magazine. Her vocal talents from her three previous albums have been featured on NBC’s NY Morning Show, and in reputable publications such as Jazz Times, Time Out NY, and Jazz Improv Magazine.

Buy: Alexis Cole The Greatest Gift CD or Download MP3.

Cozy Beehive has some photos of a nifty looking home brew electronic shifting setup using a couple of toggles, servo motors, and some electronics tucked under the saddle. An amazing effort!