Bicycle Culture and Advocacy

Sac Sunday Streets announced at City Council

2009-03-18T20:46:48Z

For about five months now, a group called Bikeramento have been waiting to hear those words out in the open: "Sac Sunday Streets" and yesterday, while they were all seated at City Council, CM Cohn announced it to Mayor Kevin Johnson and the Council Members.

Sac Sunday Streets is a monthly fitness-based and family-friendly event revolving around the soft closure of Capitol Avenue from 3rd St. to 28th St. from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the First Sunday from May Thru October 2009.

The event's inspiration is modeled after events from cities in the world like Bogota, Colombia's Ciclovia and cities in the U.S. like San Francisco's Sunday Streets, Portland's Sunday Parkways, New York City's Summer Streets, participating in a growing movement to free urban spaces from automobiles.

In every instance thousands of people come out to run, skate, cycle, dance, yoga, or just stroll down a city street transformed into a park like setting also called "livable streets"

"Sac Sunday Streets" will be the first largest monthly family-fitness oriented event for our Central City. A great opportunity for the community at large to come out and play.

Be in the know: Follow Bikeramento on twitter @bikeramento and on facebook for the latest updates! Want to help? We need you? Sign up for emails updates at www.bikeramento.org

Cycling to work

2009-03-13T23:23:15Z

Today was a beautiful day in our city and I was amazed, and pleased, to see how many of us choose to ride our bicycles to work this morning.

How many people ride to work in your office?

This Second Saturday at the Sac Bike Kitchen

2009-03-13T22:11:38Z

There will be a great party this Second Saturday at the Bike Kitchen in midtown. Two live bands, the Poplollys and Nick York and Chris Fairman, will be providing music and there will be beer served as well.

The celebration starts at 6:00 p.m. and the music will start at 8:00 p.m. There is no cost but they are accepting donations to cover the drinks expenses.

The Sacramento Press team will be there in full force. We'll be having a cross promotion with Mochii yogurt to help them in their effort to raise money to support the Sacramento Ballet.

Come out and say hello, we will be giving away yogurt, reusable grocery bags and lots of cool stuff from The Sacramento Press.

Sacramento Kitchen is a do-it-yourself bicycle maintenance shop located at 1915 I St. On the tracks between H & I

Bike Safety Night During Bikeramento Week

2009-02-10T23:13:30Z

We had a great beginning to Bikeramento Week, last night at the Sacramento Bicycle Kitchen located in midtown.

Ed Cox and Chris Dougherty put on a very informative presentation about riding around in an urban environment and how to keep our bikes safe for riding.

Chris is a very engaging speaker with great tips. He stresses the importance of being visible to everyone on the road. "Blinking lights are good but as a motorist looking at them is hard to judge your distance. I recommend that you wear a solid light on the back of your jacket and on your helmet" he suggests.

Chris also encourages us to learn to care for our bikes. "Sacramento Bicycle Kitchen is a good resource; you not only can work on your bike here but they will also teach you how to do it yourself." He mentions a website http://www.sheldonbrown.com that contains videos and different bicycle technical information.

Then comes Ed Cox with his wealth of knowledge and experience. Ed is the pedestrian and bicycle coordinator for the city of Sacramento. He shares a powerpoint presentation on the California Vehicle Code (CVC) and provides a smart street skills summary.

One of the things I will remember from Ed's presentation is that "Bicyclists fare best when they act and are treated as drivers of vehicles." I know I am afraid at times to take the road, and have had my close calls once or twice, but I believe that in a bicycle culture this is one of the first things that we need to do to educate on both sides.

"There is no CVC code on crosswalk crossing on a bike," reminds Ed. "And sidewalk riding is only allowed in a residential district or where there are signs indicating that is okay to ride on the sidewalk."

In front of us, we have a very enthusiastic group with a yearning and desire to make Bikeramento's goals a reality. It is a community coming together to establish change that matters in our everyday lives. Together, we make green choices and it's exciting to watch it unfold.

Come out tonight for our bike crawl! Meet us at Temple Coffee & Tea 5:30 pm and ride with us to different locations in town. Details are on our website: http: www.bikeramento.org

And join the celebration at Zuda Yoga tomorrow 2/11 at 10:30 am for the installation of the first Sac Bike Rac