Sacramento will paint more bike lanes

According to an Examiner.com article, Sacramento is ready to start adding more painted bike lanes to downtown Sacramento streets over the next 18 months.

The plans aim to create an environment downtown which resembles the bike-friendly portions of midtown, where cycling is popular and bikeways are more common.

This seems in line with what appears to be a growing trend of bike-friendliness throughout the region.

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Folsom receives funding for new bike facillity

Bike Friendly CityAccording to the City of Folsom newsletter, folks traveling to Folsom on bike, light rail or other options will have a secure facility to park their bicycles in downtown Folsom.

Folsom continues to make moves to accommodate bicycle infrastructure.  These actions are in line with Folsom’s ranking of a Silver level Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclists.

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Bicycle Film Festival in Sac

The Bicycle Film Festival will be in Sacramento on May 12, 13 and 14th.

The festival showcases a number of bicycle-centric short films, ranging in length for just a couple of minutes to about 45 minutes.

The festival opens on the 12th with screenings at Sacramento’s Crocker Art Museum.  Things then go “outdoors” for Friday and Saturday night as activities move to Freemont park on 16th and Q street.  And perhaps not by chance, that park just happens to be across the street from the apparent center of the Sacramento cycling universe – Hot Italian.

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More Bicycle Licensing Madness

It is human nature – when you are aware and think of a particular topic, you tend to find things related to that topic in the world around you.  Even so, my eyes kinda bugged out of my head when I ran across an article about a New Jersey lawmaker Cleopatra Tucker wanted mandatory license plates for bicycles.

Umm…  wasn’t I just talking about this just the other day?  The motivation for this bill was identical to what I speculated about in my previous post:
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License to Ride

I’ve received some interesting responses – both directly and indirectly – about my recent post titled ‘Anti-bike Propaganda.’  In that article, I picked random comments made by folks on various websites, forums and news posts.  All of the quoted comments – by design – had a decidedly anti-cycling flavor.

I’ve now taken some time to ponder some of the responses, and I think I’ll start selectively addressing some of the statements I collected.  The first statement I’d like to examine deals with the issue of bicycle registration, or licensing

Share the road. Make insurance mandatory along with license plates on bicycles, they can cause accidents just as cars, and be used in crimes just like cars so the laws should be made “center of the road” so it is equal for both parties using the road. Simple.

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DIY Bike Snow Tires

It has been a secret desire of mine for some time to get myself some studded snow tires for my bike, and then drive somewhere where they are actually required.

But what about those poor folks that already live somewhere where they are required.  Or worse yet, those poor folks that wake up one morning to find that they are suddenly and unexpectedly required.

Don’t you fret.  The folks at Dutch Bike Co. in Seattle have got you covered:
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Handy cycling tips from a driver

In an odd series of connections I found a great video of tips for cyclists, given from the point of view of a driver.  This was actually posted over 3 years ago on Brian Acord’s blog over at GreenWheels.org.  Brian is actually a fellow CycleFolsom member and ride leader.  Yup – I’m referring to that Brian.  Have a look at the video – and share it with friends and family!

The World Would Be Better Place if Santa Wore Lycra

“Jolly old soul.” Bahhh Humbug. These days, the world could benefit if America’s favorite holiday icon was trim enough to sport some lycra. With childhood obesity considered to be at epidemic levels, do we really need a “jolly old soul” who is overweight and probably very out of shape? Would we think a little differently about fitness throughout the year if we new that Santa was planning to give the reindeer a break and ride a bike for next year’s delivery instead of his sled?

Apparently, Mr. Clause has been getting pressure from all sides recently.  On the health front, especially, it is reported by insiders that Mrs. Clause has been pushing Santa hard.  One elf, that asked to remain anonymous, said:

Clearly he have to consider if shaking like a bowl full if jelly is still the right image to portray to our children.  But it is also a lot more personal than that for the boss.  Even though he is immortal, heart attacks still hurt like hot cocoa in the lap.  And Santa’s cholesterol numbers have been through the roof lately.

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Divisions, divides and cultures

Divisions, divides and cultures.  Divisions, divides and cultures.  It seems to have been my mantra of the last couple of months.  And apparently I’m not the only person somehow entranced by these topics.

I had an opportunity to guest post on BikingInLA and talk about my thoughts on bike culture.  Zeke responded with his guest post on BikingInLa, providing more thought-provoking insights.

On the other side of things, I’ve talked ad nauseam about the cycling world’s habit of dividing up into subcultures.  Truth be told, I don’t really think this is a “cycling world” issue as much as it is just human nature.  Us versus them seems to be an innate human tenancy.

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Sac press and Hal Grades on deterring bike theft

Sacramento Press has put out an article titled Tips for deterring bicycle thieves. Most of the article is repeating the “lock it, lock it, lock it” mantra.  However, urban cycling supports in the comments for the article took minor exception to the description of cycling as a sport.

Interestingly enough, the statement made by a Sacramento Police Offices – as quoted in the article – is one of some contention as well:

Try not to leave it in areas that aren’t well-traveled,” said Sgt. Norm Leong, spokesman for the Sacramento Police Department.

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