Immersing ourselves in Bike Week

Melissa and I could not wait for the first week of May. We had our calendars ready (well Google Calendars), our watches set, and our bikes all cleaned up. We were ready to start May with the big, the bold, and the wheely fun Bike Week.

This past year Melissa and I have been collaborating with the City of Santa Cruz, People Power, Ecology Action, and other related organizations. We've given our efforts in tabling at multiple events throughout the year, volunteering with Elise Ehrheart of Ecology Action in teaching elementary school children how to properly ride their bikes to school with the Bike Smart! program, and co-facilitating bike-commuting workshops with Amelia Conlen of People Power. All these events we partook in were to contribute towards our main goal: to increase bicycle ridership in Santa Cruz.

Melissa, our friend and favorite volunteer Hasti, and me at Bike Night First Friday

We started our week off last Friday (May 2nd) at the Ecology Action and People Power sponsored event "Bike Night: First Friday at the Museum of Arts & History." This event was the big kickoff of Bike Week! It was fun night filled of bike-related arts and crafts stations, a group-led bike ride downtown, live music from local artists, bike-blended ice cream, and free helmets! Melissa helped people deck out their bike with decorations for Bike Week while I helped lead the bike ride downtown. I had to to keep people to the right side of the road to ensure that we weren't impeding traffic too much! Overall it was a successful night!

On Saturday, Melissa hosted a Bikes & Food Justice Fest on campus to promote students to become more aware of this mode of transportation and get some free strawberry bike-blended smoothies! At this event, people learned about the importance in Food Justice and how it's related to sustainable transportation. I helped table about our project to heighten the importance of bicycling! 

Bike valet by People Power at Open Streets

On Sunday, Melissa volunteered at Capitola's "Open Streets" event. It was  day filled with music performances, arts and crafts, and People Power's exhibit on the importance and safety that cycletracks or protected bike lanes can bring in our town. Since Santa Cruz has two of these protected bike ways, this exhibit was advocating the importance of them and the encouraging people to support having of more in the local communities.

Bike Week World Cafe

On Monday, Melissa and I participated in a UCSC World Cafe by having the theme be about bikes (since Monday was the official beginning of Bike Week)! We made bike-blended smoothies, talked with students about cycling and its benefits, and got people stoked about the upcoming events! On Tuesday, Melissa helped volunteer with UCSC Transportation and Parking Services to give away free helmets to ensure people who are biking remain safe!

Bike to Work Day on May 8

Celebrating Bike to Work Day with a beer at Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing with one of our mentors, Amelia Conlen.

IT WAS FINALLY THURSDAY! The reason Bike Week was so important for the both of us was it allowed us to measure if our goal of increasing bicycle ridership was being reached in Santa Cruz, specifically on Thursday when it was Bike to Work/School Day. To measure our success, Melissa and I volunteered alongside the UCSC Cycling Team in giving away free breakfast to bicyclists who biked up to school. We all had such sensational and awe-inspiring conversations with the vast amount of cyclists who stopped to chat and eat some of the food we offered. From bike cruisers, to mountain bikes, to road bikes, Melissa and I were both so proud to see so many people ditch their cars and bike that day. To end the great day, we both went to Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing to help donate $1 from our pints of beer (hehe) to Ecology Action and Bike Week programs for all their hard work this week.

Santa Cruz Bike Party takes over the Wharf!

On Friday, Melissa and I wanted to bring all this bike awareness towards some hard earned fun! We joined People Power in a massive Santa Cruz Bike Party that was themed (Bike) Empire Strikes Back with many local community members, students, and families in the streets of Santa Cruz. We all biked from downtown to the Wharf, along the San Lorenzo River, up to Mission Street, around Safeway, and back downtown. We were all motivated to bike the night away by the speakers blasting dancing music and everyone dressed in Star Wars costumes.  

Melissa and Hasti promote bike valet

We ended our Bike Week by volunteering with Amelia Conlen, director of People Power, in having free bike valet at the UCSC music festival "Edge of Eden." We wanted to promote to student and participants a cheaper alternative to driving and taking public transportation! We got to enjoy the amazing performances of several artists, soak in the sun, and give people the freedom to have fun as we took care of their bikes. 

On the "edge of Eden" waiting for people to come valet their bikes!

Overall, this week was filled with so many amazing moments, conversations, and memories. This month has only just began, but this past week sparked the passion and drive that Melissa and I have for cycling. Come join the fun! 

Portland's Bicycle Infrastructure Takes the Cake (Food is fuel)!

Portland, Oregon has been ranked as the #1 fittest city in the United States and I could not agree more. This past week my friend and I went to visit an old pal in Portland and filled our days with countless miles of walking, biking, driving, and using the TriMet. Portland's transit system is truly incredible. There were frequent MAX light rails delivering you to every thinkable location, there were unlimited TriMet buses, and of course cyclists equally numbering the amount of cars on the road. I was able to see the visual bicycle counter placed on Hawthorne Bridge displaying the amount of people who biked over the bridge that day and that year. At 10am on a Wednesday, there was already 968 people who biked on the bridge that morning! Astounding! 

My friend and I walked to most locations while enjoying the beautiful wet skies and bustling people. We went into the famous Powell's bookstore and I was amazed by the selection of bicycle-related books. There were historical books, factual books, autobiographies on famous cyclists, pictured books, and books with short stories by the average joe (photo above)! This town just loved bicycling! 

So after observing the volume of people bike riding around the city, my friend and I had to join the hype! We went to Waterfront Bicycles to rent a bike for the day. At first we tried out a tandem bike, but due to the rain and slippery streets we opted for two separate bikes. With the purchase of the bike we were given a bike map listing which streets had designated bike lanes called "Greenways", which streets had shared roads, and which streets to avoid. In addition, we were given helmets, u-locks, cable locks, and a carrying packs to put on the racks on our bikes. With all these essentials we felt prepared to embark on this enlightening adventure. We started on the designated Greenways which were a real sweet treat because of instead being the normal narrow right side bike lanes, these Greenways were placed in the middle of the road or if on the right side were incredibly spacious allowing a handful of cyclist to ride past each other (photo above). While bike riding we were observing the positive attitudes of cyclists and their graceful interaction with traffic. It was astounding to see cars obeying the cyclist's right of way and working with them to communicate effectively. It was a phenomenal and unbelievable sight. We both were awarded the ability to bike freely and not be a part of the bad stigmatism that has been given to cyclists over time. Honestly, I can not stop talking about the refreshing attitudes Portlandians have towards public transit and alternative modes of transportation; such as, bicycling.

I can not wait to go back and experience the lifestyle of Portlandians and their positive approach towards commuting!

Bicycle commuting community-building through conversation (Pedaling Periodical)

On St. Patrick's Day, March 17, a dozen bicyclists gathered in the People Power office in downtown Santa Cruz to discuss bicycle commuting tips, tricks, and laws. Hosted by People Power of Santa Cruz County and the UC Santa Cruz Bicycle Transit Team, this was the first of five community workshops happening every third Monday of the month from March until July.

The workshops are designed to educate new bicycle commuters, as well as remind and refine seasoned commuters' understanding of bicycle laws, best practices for all weather, and safe strategies for getting to work, school, errands, and back home safely on a bicycle. An article in the Good Times provides an overview of the workshops here.

Upon arrival, participants were asked to fill out a one-page survey about their current bicycling habits. The team coordinating the workshops will be compiling this data and comparing it to two post-workshop surveys one month and three months after the workshop. The purpose of comparing data is to identify the effectiveness of the workshops in encouraging more bicycling, as well as to be able to calculate carbon emissions reductions from miles biked instead of driven. The workshops are made possible by the UC Santa Cruz Carbon Fund, which funds projects on-campus and in the community that will reduce carbon emissions. 

The first twenty people to attend the workshops will receive a free bike light. Only about eight people attended the first workshop, so if you're looking for a new bike light, you might consider attending the next workshop on April 21. Front, white bike lights are required by law for night riding, and back red lights are required by common sense (the law does require rear reflectors for night riding, but a light's way more effective). 

In addition to bike lights and the survey, participants could take a free bike commuting tips half-sheet and if they do not already own one, a Regional Transportation Commission bike map. The map can also be downloaded online here.

The People Power office is located at 703 Pacific Avenue, and it has a big bike commuting workshop flyer on the window in addition to other information about bicycling. Right around the corner is the Bike Church, a tool cooperative where you can learn to fix your bike and also purchase parts.

Amelia Conlen, Director of People Power, led this first workshop, providing an outline and overview to bicycling law, best practices, and safety tips. Throughout the presentation, participants were encouraged to ask questions, share stories, and talk to one another about concerns and suggestions they have. Sitting at a table together helps to facilitate the dialogue, and it was clearly helpful to have community members talking among each other to identify solutions to challenges they face. 

At the beginning of the workshop, everyone shared their name and current bicycling habits. One woman had never bike commuted before, but she was interested in giving it a try. Another woman is an employee at UC Santa Cruz who has only biked to campus once. She is interested in making it her regular commute. Because everyone in the room knew a little about others in the room, people were able to share specific tips that they knew that might help others. When you get a slice of the community talking about bike commuting, you realize that we have the solutions to our problems within the collective knowledge of everyone in the room. It's pretty empowering to realize that!

Amelia had a whiteboard set up with a drawing of an intersection to demonstrate different ways to make left turns. Everyone had suggestions for methods they use to feel more comfortable among traffic, and it often depended upon location and comfort level as to the method people chose to use when turning left.

Aly Tyree, one of the student interns on the Bicycle Transit Planning Team, expressed her enthusiasm about the workshop: "By having people with a range of confidence in cycling, we really got to see the reasons why people bike compared to the reasons why people do not. I think by having some bicycle advocates at the workshop they became positive enforcers for the people who want to increase bicycling in their lives. It was overall a fantastic event and I had such wonderful conversations with everyone that showed up!"

The first workshop was certainly a success, and all people who bike commute or are considering it are encouraged to attend a future workshop. These free community workshops take place every third Monday of the month until July, from 6-7 PM at 703 Pacific Avenue in downtown Santa Cruz.

If you are an employee or owner of a business in Santa Cruz County and you'd like to have a free bike commuting workshop take place at your business during the lunch hour, please contact People Power at 831-425-0665 or email Amelia.

We hope to see you April 21st! 

Promoting People Power through Media & Interactive Activities

At the beginning of the quarter, I promoted and participated in the Sneak Routes and Secret Places Bike Ride. This 10 mile group bike throughout the lesser-known routes on the Westside of Santa Cruz took place on a beautiful sunny day and drew in a cool crowd of all ages.

A week before the sneak bike ride event, I was inspired to make my own laser cut version of a bike route sign for a secret bike route.

This is the digital design I created in Adobe Illustrator. The thickness of the lines instruct the laser machine where to cut and where to engrave.

The smaller squares from the digital designs were cut into dozens of People Power key chains!

Before the Sneak Routes and Secret Places Bike Ride, we reviewed saftey guidelines and helpful riding tips.

Instead of using the main street, we took the sneaky route!

We stopped by the railroad near Wilder Ranch to talk about the Rail Trail, a recently funded project to build a bike path along the rail road that will connect San Mateo County to Watsonville. You can read more about it on People Power's website.

The MAH organized a Pop Up Museum event at hub where People Power coexists with other organizations like the Bike Church, Computer Kitchen, and Sub Rosa. A Pop Up Museum is an open event for all community members to set up related exhibits and workshops in one space.

People Power set up a fun an interactive spin art station where participants could pour paint or pedal the stationary bike to create a cool splatter effect.

We also set up a helmet decorating and spoke care making workshops. We had reflective stickers participants could cut out to make their gear unique and visible!

Some sample spoke cards.

After adding reflective stickers of my initials "HA" on both sides of my helmet, I went for a bike ride along West Cliff. It was definitely noticeable! HAHA

Here's a glimpse from the Santa Cruz Bike Party on Valentines Day. We had a gang of over 50 people biking around town under the full moon. It was so roll-mantic!

An awesome glowing tandem bike with speakers and a couch trailer!

Some sisterly love!

Dancing in San Lorenzo Park!

We set up some spin art again for the "What the Cruz?" event at the MAH.

Here are some submissions for the Bike Week poster from high school students across Santa Cruz County. Instead of hiring a graphic designer to create the poster, there was a contest among local teenagers and the entrees were impressive! 

We met at the pirate themed bike party a few months ago. We were laughing because we both arrived at the meet up spot late with our pirate buddies and couldn't find the official group so we ended up forming our own bike party like true pirates!

We also set up a station for helmet decorating and spoke card making workshops. This time we had a legitimate laminating machine!

Crafters creating spoke cards with reflective stickers.

I made this spoke card using one of the unclaimed splatter paint papers from the previous event we held with spin art. People Power!

Currently, I've been helping promote upcoming free Bike Commuting Workshops that will be held at the People Power headquarters on Pacific Avenue. I walked around downtown  Santa Cruz with my classmate Maryam talking with local businesses about posting these eye-catching posters in their window for the next few months. The majority of businesses we spoke to were very supportive!

I look forward to continuing my work with People Power in the Spring and participating in more informative workshops and interactive events!

*A big thanks to Tawn Kennedy and volunteer photographers from the MAH for capturing many of the photos included in this post*