At about 9 a.m. Thursday, three-time Amgen Tour of California winner Levi Leipheimer announced via a "tweet" that he was going to defend his title in 2010. It was part of a high-profile Twitter conversation started by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that went something like this: "@schwarzenegger: Great news for American cycling fans and CA. The 2010 Amgen Tour of California will be better than ever. @lancearmstrong will you join us? @lancearmstrong: Absolutely! @schwarzenegger, I've decided to ride the #Amgen Tour of California in 2010. Can't wait. What about you @levileipheimer? @levileipheimer: I'll definitely be racing the 2010 Amgen Tour of California, defending my title." Then at 4:30

The Tour de Sacramento kicked off today and will continue for three weeks of activities and ride-alongs around the Sacramento area. The event coincides with the Tour de France. The three-week event in Europe is a world-famous race, but tour organizer Dawn Dais says that the Tour de Sacramento has a different feel to it. "We don't really want to encourage a competition. Its going to be super laid back and fun." Dais has written a book called "The Noncyclist's Guide to the Century and Other Road Races," that details her training for a bicycle race and breaks down the process to encourage people of all backgrounds to participate in cycling. Today, a bike safety check and a Safe Cycling Cli

Dozens of bikers braved the pouring rain and biked from West Sacramento through downtown and midtown, ending their soggy ride at the Bicycle Kitchen on 20th and I. Ed Cox, City Bike and Pedestrian Coordinator led this group ride Friday, May 1 to kick off Bike Month, a month-long event which encourages Sacramento-area residents to try bicycling as a mode of transportation. The ride followed a press conference in which Davis Mayor Pro Tem Don Saylor and Roseville Councilmember Jim Gray, co-chairs of the event, spoke about the importance of cycling. This event, sponsored by Sacramento Area Council of Governments and various transportation management associations and organizations, also encou

Sacramento, CA Friday, May 1, 2009 Sacramento EMS crews were kept quite busy all day Friday. Mild temperatures and start of a new weekend had many people out on the road, but add in rain with heavy traffic throughout the region and you’ve created a recipe for havoc on the roads. We caught up with Sacramento Fire engines, truck crews, medic rigs, and Sac Police on a couple of incidents today out of the many we heard being dispatched over the squawk box. As the rain poured down, fire crews made sure the scenes were safe and assisted as paramedics tended to the victims; and officers took statements and reports on wet notepads. The first incident we encountered with EMS crews was a head-on c

The statistics are staggering. There are nearly 200,000 people currently living with HIV/AIDS in California. In the United States, 1.1 million people have HIV. Throughout the world, 33 million people live with the virus. These statistics, taken from a number of sources, including the Joint United Nations Program on AIDS and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention also say that the estimated cost of treatment for a person with HIV is $20,000 dollars per year. Funding -- for services and treatment for those who have HIV/AIDS, not to mention prevention for at-risk groups -- is much needed. A number of Sacramentans, including friends Danny Gutierrez and Douglas Vincent, will be doin

This Thursday, April 23rd from noon to 1:00 pm, HLA will be hosting a lunchtime Urban Cycling Clinic, presented by Erin Reschke of the Sacramento Bicycle Kitchen. The clinic is intended to provide useful information both to beginners and more experienced urban. This lunchtime presentation and discussion will address issues relevant to both seasoned commuters and new cyclists. Topics covered include: Legal rights and responsibilities Positioning yourself in traffic Common collisions and strategies to avoid them Communication skills Route Planning Skills Necessary Equipment HLA is located at 1050 20th Street in the MARRS building. Please RSVP to echandler@hlagroup.com by Wednesday, 5:0

Downtown/Midtown Sacramento is awash with bicycle activity, and why not? Bicycles are the quickest and most efficient way to maneuver this metropolitan area. The Sacramento Police Department realized this as well, and in 1989 established a four-person bike unit in the Downtown area to patrol the streets during business hours. Today this unit consists of 10 officers and a sergeant who patrol from 6 a.m. until 1 p.m., seven days per week. They cover an area of the city from Old Sacramento to 19th Street between H and N Streets. Sergeant David Valdez spoke with Sacramento Press to shed some light on the role of the bicycle police in Sacramento. He has been a part of the bike unit for seven

Around 20 bicyclists loiter around the fountain in the center of John Fremont Park at 16th and P Streets, resting on park benches or milling about to chat with other riders.  A small group huddles around one park bench, where rider Danny Gutierrez is passing out t-shirts printed with an arresting graphic: a car, surrounded by a circle of bicycles, framed by the slogan, "¡La revolución no será motorizado!" -- "The revolution will not be motorized!"  Another rider is passing out fliers with links to the Sacramento Critical Mass Google Group: groups.google.com/group/sacramentocriticalmass.  It seems every time an anxious rider checks his watch, a couple more riders ride in from the Starbucks

The Sacramento Bicycle Kitchen at 1915 I Street has decided to join the chorus of organizations offering free services to furloughed state workers. According to a post on its web site, the SBK will open its doors from 10 AM to 3 PM on the first and third Fridays of the month, in addition to its normal midweek schedule.  As a further incentive to pedal in for some bike maintenance, the normal $5 shop fee will be waived for furloughed state workers.

Minutes after leaving the office today, a giant swarm of bikers nearly hit my car as they quickly turned the corner from 9th onto H street. They made their way up H street at about 20-30 miles per hour, before turning left again onto 16th. I was far behind the small group, but when I caught up, I realized it was Team Rabobank, one of the teams in the Amgen Tour of California. Like a stalker, I stuck my head and camera out the window and snapped a few photographs from only a few feet away during the practice ride. Rabobank, a Netherlands based bank is also committed to sponsoring the Tour of California for the next three years. Team Rabobank includes three-time World Champion Oscar Freire

  Lance Armstrong, contenders in the Tour of California, and hundreds of global media representatives filled Sheraton Hotel's conference room downtown. The riders, tour organizers, and other public figures such as Mayor Kevin Johnson and commentator Phil Ligget made statements to the frenzied media representatives. A panel representing perhaps the strongest racing team ever assembled in the United States fielded questions, mainly expressing their excitement for the race, which begins in Sacramento this Saturday.  "It's an honor to have these professional cyclists here in Sacramento," said Mayor Johnson. "You'll see Saturday in Sacramento how thrilled we are. We are pleased to have been

Sacramento's newest bike rack is just in time for this weekend's Amgen Tour of California. There it sits, on the corner of 19th and O, right outside of Zuda Yoga Center. The smell of fresh concrete, a green metal masterpiece, new paint - it's the real deal.  The Sacramento-themed bike rack, which has a depiction of a bicycle inside the State Capitol Building, was installed earlier this morning. The work of art already had a blue bike locked to it this afternoon.  Zuda's owners, spouses Anne Marie Kramer and Bill Prysock, had been actively "trying to get a bike rack installed" outside their business for approximately six months, said Yoga Coordinator Amanda Johnson.  Johnson added, "We a

Sacramento needs to become more bicycle savvy in these days, today I was riding the Sac Press bike around and I had 3 cars make right hand turns right in front of me. One of these cars cut me so close to the point where I was forced to put my left hand on her car and push off the car as I take the turn with her. Had I not been able to do this or had I been a less experienced rider this could have caused a bad situation. The worst part is that I can see these people in there mirrors and they are clearly not looking or on their phone or something like that. We really need to work on this as a city cycling is on the rise in Sacramento and we need to be aware out there when we are behind the w

The Sacramento Bike Kitchen (SBK) has been open for a week and the buzz is all over town. A DIY bike workshop that spreads bike culture with its unique approach to getting 'er done. Volunteers help YOU know your bike by showing you how to fix and maintain it. The result is that you are much more at cause over your 2 wheeled friend NOT the effect. Your affinity skyrockets for all things bicycling and simply cannot go anywhere unless it's on a bike. Well alright thats a little over the top but I hope you get my point. At the kitchen we have a theory that most entry level bicyclists have had their hearts broken with the box store variety of bicycles that are not long for the dumpster. Poorly

Friday evening, you may have run into a crowd of cyclists pedaling their way downtown, uptown, and back again. The racing term for this group is a peloton. These rather enthusiastic riders were in the midst of the Sacramento Alley Cat bike race.  The Alley Cat is an unsanctioned bike race, checkpoint-to-checkpoint, where the emphasis is placed not on speed, but on knowing the layout of the city. Races are always open course, taking place in street traffic.  40 riders took off for the five checkpoints of the race which stretched from Lucky Lefty's on 16th Street all the way to West Sacramento and back.  Many others who came chose not to race, but remained at Lucky Lefty's, watching a bik

  A common scenario for a Sacramento bicycle messenger: I enter an elevator in one of the taller office buildings downtown. A thirty-something man in a very expensive suit and glistening hair enters with me, holding a laptop case and perhaps a Starbucks grande et cetera (cliché, but very true). A few seconds into the ride to the 23rd floor he turns to me with a smirk and says, “You a runner? A court runner?” I glance back and say, “Sort of. I do a lot of court filings, but I work for an independent company rather than a law office. I’m just a general messenger.” Despite the obvious clues (bike gloves, heavy-duty shoulder bag, short-bill cycling cap, some grease on my right calf), he asks,

Greetings from City Hall. I've been on the job for about two weeks now. Fortunately I was able to hit the ground running with the help of a 100+ community members that were part of my transition team. They included the director of the 40 Acres Art Gallery, the director of Regional Transit, faith leaders, and bicycle advocates. As you may know, my campaign slogan was "A City That Works for Everyone," and we've started out exactly that way. One of the first products of the transition team's work is a policy paper on transportation, which you can view on my website, www.kevinjohnsonformayor.com. Its focus is to reduce traffic congestion and promote mass transit. I'd welcome your feedback. (

Food, drink and riding bikes sums up the Appetite Enhancement Ride in a sentence. This event has been taking place for over 20 years. This year was my first experience with the event and due to its traditional occurrence on Thanksgiving I only had a chance to be there an hour or so in the morning. All it took was a quick ride over from our office at 431 I street, to the Towe Museum on Front Street. By the time we rolled up there were already a couple of hundred people there, scattered throughout the parking lot. The spread was impressive; there were great looking, and tasting, pastries, coffee and even oysters. People were working the crowd selling raffle tickets for $1 each. The proce