Spring Fest Celebration

The UCSC Sustainability Office hosts an annual Spring Fest celebration to honor outstanding projects students have worked on for the year. Melissa and I were invited to this year’s Spring Fest to honor our work on our IDEASS Bike Transit Planning Project. The day started with the MC’s introducing all the different organizations and project teams who have been working on incredible projects this past year. After a delicious lunch, all project teams went alongside their project posters to describe to attendees about the work they’ve done and their future projections of their project. Melissa and I had just created our poster for the Wharf Sanctuary and could not wait to show it off at this celebration! Talking to people about our project with our poster behind us summarizing the amazing work Melissa and I have done was an incredible experience. It allowed us to both feel so recognized and accomplished. We are so proud of all the other project teams that were recognized at this event and we give a big thank you to the Sustainability Office for creating an event like this! 

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! 

Wheeling women: Female-friendly bike resources (Pedaling Periodical)

There has always been plenty of information out there for male-identifying bicyclists, and fortunately, there continues to be more and more resources designed for all different kinds of women bicyclists, too! As women, we want to share the resources we've found helpful in the bicycling world.

"Helmet Hair Do’s (and a Don’t)" by Janet Lafleur
One of the excuses I often hear from women is that they don't want to bike to work because their hair will get messed up. Well, that excuse is no longer valid thanks to Janet Lafleur of One Woman. Many bicycles., who writes about how to bike to work and still look professional, feminine, and composed. (Okay, I realize that she is one woman with a particular hair type that may not apply to all women, so some of you may not believe it's possible to bike without helmet hair... the biggest takeaway is to bike slower and take sweat out of the helmet hair equation entirely.) She's my go-to writer for stylish bike riding. Her blog has great fashion and practical advice, and she's tweets on Twitter a lot, too. She lives in Mountain View, so if  you're ever over the hill on Caltrain, you might just see her... (I have!). If you're looking specifically for tips on helmet hair, click here.

Photo credit: Janet Lafleur (One Woman. Many bicycles.)

Wheelwomen Switchboard
Do you ever wish there was a place to connect with other women bicyclists and ask questions or find opportunities for better bicycling? The new Wheelwomen Switchboard is that place. After creating an account, you can post offers or requests or reply to others' posts. Topics include job hunting, bike ride meetups, tips for better bicycling, and more! A Bike Portland post from March 18 quotes the creator of the site, Elly Blue: "'We weren't sure it would take off, but it was huge,' writes Blue, a 2002 Reed graduate whose most recent book is Bikeonomics. 'What it tells me is that the women's biking movement is something a lot of people are eager to identify themselves as being part of, that these same people are hungry to connect with each other, and that a lot of the stuff they want to talk about is practical tips for everything from gear to routes to organizing movements and creating equitable spaces.'" Female-identifying bicyclists, join today!

The Best Bike Stickers Ever
I recently perused the shop at Taking the Lane: Publishing the feminist bicycle revolution (another Elly Blue creation), and I found some pretty awesome, mostly feminist bike stickers. I ordered some, and I've since put one on my bike rack (see below). If you like stickers and bikes and beer and/or feminism, I highly recommend ordering some. Might as well search the rest of the shop, too, because the zines and books available are really cool. Anything related to Elly Blue tends to be cool, actually.

Pedal Love's next blog columnist: You!

A couple months ago, I came across Pedal Love, an online storytelling site for women who love to bike. I submitted some photos for their Valentine's Day post, and I was asked by Melissa Balmer, Women on Bikes California Director and Editor for Pedal Love, if I wanted to become a blogger for their site. Of course I said yes, and the first blog I submitted was a Bike Love piece. I've since written another piece featuring Santa Cruz women bicycling advocates, and I'm waiting for it to be published on the site now. The good news is that anyone who loves their bike can submit content to the site after connecting with Melissa Balmer, and there's a lot of other exciting stuff happening through the Women on Bikes and Pedal Love platforms. Learn more on the site here, and contact Melissa Balmer for details about writing for them.

Women's Bike Blogs

The largest list of women bike blogs the world has ever seen (or that I've ever seen at least) is available online here. Some are recreational blogs, some are environmental, others are hardcore cargo bikers with kids, and many are from other countries. If you're looking for more resources on bicycling from a woman's perspective, this list is a great place to begin searching!

Have more resources to share? Post in the comments, or email Melissa so we can include them next time.

Being the bicycling change we wish to see (IDEASS BTPT 2013-14)

This is the first of many blog posts about the Bicycle Transit Planning Team's IDEASS project for 2013-14. 

"When our principles inform our method, our project goals can be attained more effectively, with insight along the way." This thought came to me last Tuesday while bicycling along the westside of Santa Cruz, counting cars in parking lots for my bicycle transit internship with the Impact Designs: Engineering & Sustainability through Student Service program at UC Santa Cruz. The sky had let up on the rain, the air was warm, and sun peeked out from behind clouds. Needless to say, the bike ride was a treat.

But why count cars? My team project partner Alyssa Tyree and I are working on a number of different bicycle transit-related mini-projects, housed under the umbrella of our IDEASS project, which is a year-long commitment. We are working with two awesome women in the community, Tiffany Wise-West from the City's Climate Action Program and Amelia Conlen, the Director of People Power of Santa Cruz County. They are both supporting us in different ways for our project, which you will hear more about in future posts. The counting cars aspect is a small slice of our overall project scope, and it's a way for us to support the rail trail project (part of the Monterey Bay Scenic Sanctuary Trail master plan) by collecting data on how many spaces are filled in parking lots along the rail trail on different days and times each week. The goal is to identify if there are empty lots at certain times of the day or week that the City could incentivize lot owners to allow rail trail users to park in for access to the multi-use trail that will eventually be built along the rail line. Counting cars sounds boring, I know, but the bike ride to do so was a delightful way to end my afternoon, and it led to this philosophical reflection about principles, methods, and goals... But how did I get from counting cars to philosophy? Let me explain.

The thought I began the post with came to me right after I biked around the circular road of Errett Circle, which introduced me to the Circle Market and the Circle Church, adorable and unique attributes of the neighborhood that I hadn't ever come across before. I had just biked to this area of town from the Safeway area near Mission Street, and as I passed by Garfield Park, I was struck by how different the neighborhood felt and looked in that area. It felt closer, more quaint. I hadn't ever really explored near there before, and it was fun to be in a new part of town. When I drove through this area last time I conducted the car counting survey (it was pouring rain that day, and I rented a Zipcar), I did not notice the neighborhood around me or associate any feeling with it whatsoever. Cars are like that--you're in them to get from point A to point B, not to enjoy the scenery through glass and metal. The rain may have played a part in this, too, but certainly cars require more focused attention on operating heavy machinery, not gazing around.

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about community places and how to live presently in our communities rather than just travel from home to school to work. I think this is why I was so interested in and excited to see the Circle Market and Circle Church. The circular nature of the community space has lent its name to these establishments, which seem to support community in their own ways. The market has a colorful storefront that is inviting, and the church looks welcoming and it's at the center of the neighborhood. It reminds me of the commons area in old European establishments, central and a place for gathering. There is a different feeling in that part of town, as I said, and it's even more tangible the closer to the circle you get. Especially on a bike. On a map it looks like a destination, a place all roads lead to. When you're there, it can feel like something special is happening or about to happen.

As I rode away from the circle and down California Street, I couldn't help smiling at a man walking by and being simply drawn into the present moment and aware of community in a profound way. And then I had this philosophical realization about principles. By "principle" I mean the values and expectations of conduct that we hold ourselves to as we work on a project. In this IDEASS project, we value clear communication, clear deadlines balanced with self-sustainability and awareness of the incredible amount of work on each of our plates. We also value bikes and sustainable transportation, community and relationship-building. These are all the ways we approach the different tasks and goals of our project--these are our guiding principles. So when I say "principles inform our method," I mean in this particular case that our principle of seeing and believing in the bike as a form of sustainable and viable transportation directly translates into our method of conducting our counts by bicycle. In turn, this brings us into the realm of our goal for our project overall--increased bicycle ridership, safer bicycle ridership, and engaged community ridership. Riding my bike last Tuesday for the count put me into the position of evaluating the effectiveness of the bike in these ways. I chose to bike instead of rent a Zipcar again. I put into place the safety tips that I and Aly and Amelia will be sharing at our upcoming bicycle commuting workshops (more on this here, and in future posts). Most profoundly for my experience last week, I was aware of the way the bike can engage you with your community--in this case, a silent and contemplative engagement with a community space that I hadn't come across before.

"When our principles inform our method, our project goals can be attained more effectively, with insight along the way." When we know our audience and can experience what our goal might be like for other people--in this case, biking in any situation--and when we can reflect on how our work can be real in the world or how we can approach our work differently based on experiencing it, we are closer to our goals than if we sit removed from them. Bicycle advocacy is fun, not only because you get to bike while you're doing it a lot of the time, but because the bicycle is so much more than just a mode of transportation in the way a car often feels. It is a tool for accessing reflective thoughts and engaging by being in the spaces we travel in (rather than simply through). By being the change we wish to see in the world and living our principles each day in our work, we can see the possibility and vision of our goals, and that in itself is incredibly inspiring.

Hiking: A Social Cure for a Disconnected World (A re-post from Green Gal)

This was originally posted on Melissa's Green Gal blog here on March 27, 2013. It relates to walking and the power of walking with others, so it ties into this week's theme. It's also a love story!

In addition to being great exercise and a way to get to really awesome places in the world, hiking is also one of my favorite social activities. Since the time I was old enough to hike around Pinecrest Lake, I was making the trek with my family, trying to keep up with uncles and cousins in my little hiking boots and sunhat. I've always been a hiker, and I continue to be one, especially since I live in a hilly forest off the coast of the Pacific Ocean. How can you not be a hiker when you live two minutes from hiking trails and views of the ocean?

Given this interest in hiking and the opportunities for social engagement and community building that it offers, this past fall, a fellow student sustainability leader at UC Santa Cruz and I organized a hike into the Upper Campus trails that meander through forest and meadow above our university home. The goal was to bring together students, staff, faculty, community members interested in sustainability at UC Santa Cruz for a day hike to explore the natural space where we live, learn, and work.

My fellow sustainability hike leader and I had met at the Harvest Festival at the campus farm at the beginning of the quarter, where he served me countless bike-pedal-generated smoothies that he had made himself as I sat tabling for the Sustainability Office in the sweltering September heat.

A few days later, we spoke during dinner at the Student Environmental Center's General Gathering, and we realized we both had an interest in getting students from sustainability orgs on campus to spend more time together outside of org events. We swapped numbers, met in the library a couple times to draft an email, and then sent it out to everyone involved with sustainability work on campus, using the list-servs and email addresses that I have access to as the Education & Outreach Coordinator for the Sustainability Office (not an abuse of power, given that these hikes serve to further the aims of my job, even if I don't count those hours toward work). We even made a Facebook event for the hike. We were stoked.

The day came to meet up in the North Remote Parking Lot. I showed up first with my hiking shorts and hiking boots and reusable water bottle. No sign of anyone.

A few minutes later, I got a text message from my co-leader, who is the Transportation Coordinator for the organzation who hosted the General Gathering. He was on his way, and walked up from his redwood-surrounded apartment a few minutes later.

We waited. And waited.

"Well, it's time to go. Should we just start hiking?" No one else had shown up, and I'd received at least one text message from a friend who wasn't coming after all.

"Yeah, let's go."

We hiked up into the forest, just the two of us, on what would become not only the first of many sustainability inter-organizational hikes, but our first hike together, our first date, and our first chance to get to know each other through awesome conversation on the trail.

Hiking is a great social activity with both people you don't know well and people you do know well. You're moving around, exercising and getting high on endorphins, immersed in wild places that feed your soul, and there aren't really awkward silences. You're hiking outdoors, and silence is never awkward in the outdoors--there is so much to hear and experience and learn from when you are silent in a natural space.

We ended up hiking through Wilder Ranch State Park and all the way to the Highway 1, crossing the asphalt to reach our destination: the coast of the Pacific Ocean. We settled into some cliffs by a little cove, where the water rushed in at every wave and then receded. The sounds were soothing, the sun was warm, and we ate our lunch, enjoying the day, kind of glad that no one else showed up on the hike because of the opportunity it gave us to spend time together.

"I heard that some study found that chocolate is detected in the brain to cause more pleasure than kisses," he said to me. "But I don't really think so. What do you think?" I thought people only said those kinds of things in romantic movies, but I guess I was wrong. We had to test the theory, of course, so he shared an M&M with me, and then we shared a kiss. Like I said, hikes really are the best way to get to know someone.

Since then, he and I have organized a few other hikes, bringing together our friends, coworkers, and people who heard about the hike from Facebook or campus newsletters. I've had interesting conversations on the trail with people I never would have met otherwise, and I've realized how simple and worthwhile organizing hikes can be. People in the sustainability world of UC Santa Cruz now know about the hikes, and many who haven't come before have expressed interest in coming in the future. I cannot wait for spring quarter and the sunlight and flowers, which will hopefully draw even more people out to our hikes.

A photo of the fantastic group who came on our second inter-organizational sustainability community hike. I got to know some people on this hike who have brightened my life, and they continue to remain in my life either in person or through the perspectives I gained from talking with them.

As for hiking dates with my transportation coordinator friend, who has since become my boyfriend, we definitely continue to hike together, getting to know each other better every time. We just went on a gorgeous hike yesterday at a county park near San Jose, and we had a really good time enjoying the view from the top of a hill.

I believe that in addition to the conditions for conversation that hiking creates, the energies and connections that happen in nature between self and wilderness transform human social interactions into deeper connections when you spend time outdoors with someone one-on-one. Observing natural space, viewing the soil and vegetation and ecosystems, getting to know the environment, talking about where we would choose to live if we had been people living there thousands of years ago, and having moments of connection with nature together--all of this connects us to nature and ourselves.

Ultimately, hiking is a connecting activity, and in this digital age of social and human disconnection through overconnection with technology, hiking is a cure that I cannot get enough of. I encourage you to consider organizing a hike with your friends, significant other, or family. It's easy, fun, really inexpensive, and the opportunities for engagement with yourself, nature, and others are so rewarding!

Thanks for reading!
Green Gal

ReCYCLED Bike Parts!

I stumbled upon some wonderfully creative uses for bicycle parts. How cool would it be to design a bicycle themed community garden? A unique space where sustainable transportation meets sustainable food systems using charming recycled materials. It could be a symbol of collaboration between local organizations with different specialties but a similar vision.    

Stained glass cogs

Wheel inspired planters and genius pest management tactics

My personal favorite - a trellis adapted from wheels and zip ties. It looks like a special gathering space for small groups, families, picnics, etc.. I would use it to grow pole beans. 

 

A bicycle gate to tone set upon entry. 

These are pretty cool, as they can be utilitarian or strictly decorative. Perhaps one could hang trowels, shovels, rakes, or even bicycles on one of these bad boys.

Maryam's Transportation History

Write your transportation history - Think about the various modes of transportation that you've used in your life at different times and places. How do your experiences with these modes affect your perception of the world, your community, etc.? Have you had pivotal moments on buses, bike rides, car trips, etc. that have changed how you see the world?

One of my earliest memories was the purchase of a white Dodge minivan with a built in roof extension. I was at the dealership with my parents and two sisters, vastly unaware about what was happening at four years old. What I did know was that we drove home in a different car that day - a car that would come to see dozens of family road trips and the birth of my youngest sister. The Egg, as we called it, soon became a symbol of family unity and comfort. Looking back, it is no surprise how I was brought to value the automobile at a young age. Then I entered my teenage years. I began carpooling with the neighbors who traded one Mercedes SUV for another each month. Suddenly, the Egg was not cool. It was the opposite of cool. It was an incredibly lame assault to my desperate pursuit of acceptance from the snobby and self absorbed junior high school kids. I hated the Egg as I was conditioned to perceive cars as a status marker.

Eventually, the Egg broke down. To my wretched fourteen year old delight, we traded it in for a Nissan Armada. It was shiny, new, horribly gas inefficient, and one of the biggest cars on the road. I was driven around by my parents until I got a license. I hated that I had no control over my transportation. The city was hardly walk-able, and bikes were not culturally relevant enough to even consider.

My first car was a 2000 Mazda Millenia. For the first couple weeks, it was freedom on wheels. It was quickly apparent that owning a car came with a lot of responsibility, expense, inactivity, and anxiety. I sold it during the Summer before I moved up to Santa Cruz for college. While I expected to be disappointed, I was relieved. I truly felt as though a burden had been lifted. I bummed rides off my friends for the remainder of the summer, and everything changed afterwards.

In Santa Cruz, I relied on my feet and the bus. I loved it. I was breathing fresh air that smelled like redwoods, exercising, interacting with people and my environment, more aware of ecological impact, and truly happy. By the end of my Freshman year, I was working downtown at the Penny Ice Creamery. Suddenly the buses were not reliable enough (either that, or I wasn't), and I was struggling to get to work on time. So, I invested in a bicycle to get to work on the fly. Within a week, it was stolen. I had hardly gotten to know it, but I felt if someone had reached into my chest and ripped my heart out. It was a stark and eye-opening comparison to the way I felt when parting with my car.

After another month or so, I had saved up just enough to get a fixer-upper. I took the initiative to learn the basics of bicycle mechanics and get it up and running. Soon, I had the most beautiful bicycle that had ever existed in the history of bicycles. It was the love of my life, the apple of my eye. I was commuting to Cabrillo college from the west side four times a week, commuting to work downtown, and going on bike rides up and down the coast on the regular. I was introduced to the simple joy of night riding. I felt free and alive. It was a life-changing experience to travel with conviction. Alternative modes of transportation connected me to my community, the city, my body, and my bicycle.