About one hundred people showed up on a rainy Friday afternoon for the dedication of a new bike/pedestrian bridge that crosses the San Lorenzo River adjacent to Highway 1 in Santa Cruz, California.

Highway 1 becomes of limited access highway with no pedestrian or bicycling allowed just east (nominally north) of River Street. This new bridge provides an important connection allowing walkers and cyclists access across the San Lorenzo River without traveling down to Water Street. This is a bridge I’ll certainly use, giving me quick and easy access to downtown Santa Cruz, the beach and the Boardwalk that allows me to avoid Ocean Street traffic.

The bridge is located where the San Lorenzo River Path ends just short of Highway 1. The plan is for this path to eventually extend underneath Highway 1 and connect to River Street / Highway 9 past The Tannery area.

Elsewhere in Santa Cruz, the city plans to raze Bicycle Trip Bike Park to make way for more beach parking. This popular BMX park located across from the Santa Cruz Wharf was always planned to be a temporary facility.

BMX riders and fans of the park would like a permanent home at Depot Park in Santa Cruz, but they need your support by showing up at these important meetings:

• “Friends of the Bicycle Park” meeting, Wednesday January 28, 6 PM at the Civic Center.
• Parks and Recreation Commission meeting, Monday February 2, 4 PM in the City Council Chambers at City Hall.
• City Council meeting, Tuesday, February 24, 7 PM in the City Council Chambers at City Hall.

The Bike Park was designed and constructed through private donations and volunteer labor, so all they’re asking for is a permanent home at a city park.

The Santa Cruz Local Organizing Committee for the Amgen Tour of California attracted a fair number of enthusiasts in the full lycra kit, but most of the people who showed up on bike were people interested in cycling for transportation.

Tim Bustos of Ecology Action at the Amgen Tour of California Santa Cruz organizing committee press conference.

The title bike shop sponsor, for example, is The Bicycle Trip in Santa Cruz. While they sell to the high end enthusiast market, The Bicycle Trip is also very actively involved in promoting cycling for transportation Santa Cruz. They sponsor Bike Smart, a youth bicycle safety program that encourages and empowers youth to use bicycles for transportation. The Bicycle Trip also runs the Bike Shop @ School program, which teaches Santa Cruz public school youth how to repair and build bicycles at the high schools.

Bicycle Trip manager Aaron Jacobs told me that he believes sporting events such as the Amgen Tour of California and personalities like Lance Armstrong encourage people to get on their beach cruisers and ride. “It’s a great cycling event for the community,” said Jacobs. “Santa Cruz has great cycling culture and is really suited to host the Amgen Tour of of California because it’s such a great place for cycling.”

Utility cyclist advocate Tim Bustos also attended the press conference in Santa Cruz. Tim was the bicycle and pedestrian coordinator for the bicycle friendly city of DAvis, California. Today, he is a program specialist for Ecology Action, an environmental consultancy in Santa Cruz. Although Tim gets around on a very practical Raleigh Sojourn as he wears ankle straps, he believes the Tour of California is good for utilitarian cycling. “Bicycle racing elevates cycling in the public eye,” says Tim. He looks at Italy as an example of a nation where all cyclists benefit because of the passion Italians have for the sport of cycling. “The Italians drive like maniacs, but they take cycling seriously so they watch for cyclists on the road. They don’t want to run down a national hero.”

Santa Cruz Mayor Ryan Coonerty announces route details of the 2009 Amgen Tour of California.

The Santa Cruz committee are still organizing transportation options, and because Stage 2 will take place on a holiday weekend the expect as many as 20,000 visitors to Santa Cruz on Presidents’ Day. When asked how fans should get into Santa Cruz to watch the race, Santa Cruz committee chairman Matt Twisselman had a three word answer: “Ride your bike.”

A shout out to:

• Santa Cruz AToC Facebook group.
• Adventure travel journalist Karen Kefauver of Santa Cruz.
• Team Velo Bella.
• The Bicycle Trip bike shop.
• Ecology Action
• My good friend Ken, who posted route profiles for all stages of the 2009 race.

I’m moving tonight and this weekend, but I’ll try to get the detailed street map of the route in Santa Cruz posted sometime. Here’s a cellphone snapshot of the paper map if you want to try to figure it out yourself.

Five of the 19 businesses that either made the League of American Bicyclists’ list of Bicycle Friendly Businesses or their Honorable Mention list are located where I live in Santa Cruz County, California. They include:

• Ecology Action in Santa Cruz, a nonprofit environmental consultancy working to promote and help implement pragmatic changes to help improve the environment.
• California Giant Berry Farms in Watsonville, which prominently features there professional cycling team in all of their advertising.
• Santa Cruz Seaside Company in Santa Cruz operates the popular Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk amusement park.
• Beckmann’s Old World Bakery in Santa Cruz supports cycling advocacy in Santa Cruz and gives a 5% discount to customers who ride to the shop on their bicycles.
• Geo. H. Wilson, Inc. in Santa Cruz is a mechanical contractor specializing in HVAC and and steel fabrication.

Read more: Bike friendly employers abound in Santa Cruz County.

See also San Francisco Bike Blog: Bay Area Companies Recognized as Bicycle Friendly Businesses.

The San Lorenzo Valley Press Banner published a story about the walking and cycling conditions along State Highway 9 in Santa Cruz County.

For San Lorenzo Valley residents between Boulder Creek and Felton, Highway 9 is the primary — and sometimes only — option to reach businesses and school by foot or bike. But the two-lane highway is not especially pedestrian or cyclist-friendly.

Blind curves, areas with mere inches of shoulder, falling mountain debris, low-light conditions, inexperienced tourist traffic, drunken drivers and speeders are some of the reasons the road can be a hazard to pedestrians’ health.

The article mentions a possible trail alongside the Big Trees & Pacific tourist railroad that runs between Santa Cruz and Felton. The railroad right of way already a popular bicycling route between Santa Cruz and Felton — I know people who commute daily along the tracks from the Santa Cruz Mountains into Santa Cruz.

Dateline Santa Cruz, California.

1. Motorist and cyclist get into argument.
2. Cyclist kicks car door.
3. Motorist gets out of car and assaults cyclist, hitting him on the head with a broom handle.
4. Cyclist, defending himself, pulls out a knife and stabs motorist.
5. Cyclist rides away on his cruiser bike.
6. Police on manhunt for the cyclist, who they name as a suspect in the crime of, umm, defending himself I guess.
7. Okay, maybe the knife was a bit much.
8. But if I’m a Latino on bike in Santa Cruz, is it really a good idea to wait around for the police to sort out who started the fight?

Santa Cruz Sentinel: Man stabbed on Santa Cruz west side.
KSBW News: Bicyclist stabs driver.

In other news, Man bites dog.