Events

If you think riding bikes is satisfying, wait till you learn how to fix them.
WOJ’s recent bike maintenance clinic at our Montclair shop was a great success, so they’re offering another one at the Albany location. Flat tires, wonky shifting, dragging brakes – there’s no reason these problems should keep you off the road or trail, so we’ll teach you how to fix them yourself so you can keep riding. That’s why we’re here, after all.
Learn how to:
Fix a flat tire
Adjust your brakes
Tune your shifting
Replace a chain
True a wheel
Adjust handlebar and seat position
Because there’s nothing more satisfying than the feeling of man (or woman) conquering machine and riding off into the sunset…

RSVP for the event on WOJ’s Facebook page.

Do you ride in or through El Cerrito? Yup, me too!
Want a San Pablo Avenue that is safer for your and your family to ride? I thought so!

Want protected bike lanes on San Pablo Avenue? Go to one of the El Cerrito meetings and speak up or write a letter! You have until the end of the day July 21 to do so.

El Cerrito is moving forward into the ‘feasibility’ phase of designing bikeways on San Pablo Avenue and is proposing protected bikeways in the Midtown area of El Cerrito between its two BART stations. Bike East Bay helped secure a Safe Routes to Transit grant for El Cerrito for this design work. As good as it promises to be, this project needs to be complete.
The City of El Cerrito recently released a draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) that covers plans specific to San Pablo Avenue.
THE DOCUMENT IS OPEN FOR PUBLIC REVIEW & COMMENT UNTIL THE END OF THE DAY JULY 21, 2014 SO IF YOU WANT TO PROVIDE INPUT, NOW’S THE TIME .
The proposal is a comprehensive document that outlines infrastructure modifications to the main commercial thoroughfare through the city; chapter 3 covers the Complete Streets plan. Comments on the Draft Specific Plan should be emailed to Melanie Mintz, the Interim Community Development Director, detailed information concerning the plan and how to submit comments can be found on the city website. We urge you to voice support of a formal bicycle lane, as opposed to sharrows, in the uptown section of San Pablo Avenue. Bicycle lanes provide street safety for all users, forming a link between public transit, businesses, and residences.

Wednesday, July 16 is the 2nd in a series of Public Meetings and a good opportunity to weigh in supporting the plan. This one is a Planning Commission meeting, so will likely include discussion of the sidewalk interface with private development, plan & site layout requirements and parking requirements, including bicycle parking.
By the way, EC City Hall has secure BikeLink lockers for you to use!

**Again, the plan is open for public review and comment and is available on the City’s website at www.El-Cerrito.org/SPASP. Public comment will close next Monday, July 21^st at the end of the day. There are also hard copies available at the Richmond City Hall, Richmond Library, El Cerrito City Hall and El Cerrito Library.  So give your input!

Here’s a great family event with our El Cerrito neighbors!
Need a kid’s bike at a great price? Just want to ride around with your family?

• buy a “ReCycled” bicycle refurbished by the Harding Dad’s Club bike mechanics
• get basic repairs on your bike for free
• learn how to make repairs yourself
• bring or borrow a bike and ride our obstacle course
• compete in the “Slowest Bike Race”
• learn how to ride without training wheels

Buy a $2 raffle ticket to be entered in a raffle for a brand new kids bike valued at $350!!

Have a bike to donate? They’ll accept donations of used bicycles up to and including the day of the Harding Recycle. Arrange for your donation to be picked up from your home by emailing hardingrecycle@gmail.com, or bring it to the event on May 21st.

Want more info? Go to their  website!

Live on Kains or Adams?
Go to the YMCA?
Do you and your family want to AVOID bicycling on San Pablo Avenue?
Then you’ll be interested in this opportunity for public input on the Kains and Adams Bicycle Boulevards!
I’m sure many of you have ridden the Bicycle Boulevards in Berkeley and seen how more comfortable it is to ride Milvia instead of MLK or Shattuck, Russell instead of Ashby, and 9th instead of San Pablo.
If not, here is info on Berkeley’s Bicycle Boulevard system.
Now imagine if people could avoid San Pablo until a half-block from their destination by riding Kains and Adams
More information is below and a link to the site walk on June 24th is here.

The Adams/Kains bike project is in the County’s and City’s plans for addressing alternative transportation along the San Pablo Ave Corridor in Albany. As the pilot project approaches the 1 year mark it has gone well in many ways and is valued infrastructure to help the City meet its climate goals and help people get around with fewer cars or no cars now that the state’s and city’s zoning has been changed to allow any housing big or small to have zero parking spaces. One sticking point with the city has been the parking direction. The pilot program has reported no collisions on Adams/Kains. Many blocks in Berkeley for ~50 years have had the same traffic flow as we have now on Adams/Kains where public data shows no injury accidents have been reported in the ~9 years since data has been collected. Literature opposed to the Adams/Kains project warned of the extreme dangers to residents, delayed emergency response and promised “chaos and carnage” if it was implemented but we have seen none of that. People who helped distribute that literature have said at public meetings “things are fine the way they’ve always been” while ignoring the city’s climate goals and new zoning that removes off-street parking requirements.

“Houston, we have no problem!”