Planning Meeting on Wednesday!

Want to help set priorities for improving the safety of biking in Calistoga? Want to get acquainted with the members of the Bicycle Advisory Committee that serves the City? Considering becoming a member of the BAC? Here's the meeting notice sent out today.

Despite the date, this is for real. Please come if you want to help.

Get Out of Town!

Sometimes the best thing about living in Calistoga is getting out of town. You see stuff you just don't see too often around here. Like this . . .

Not a mariachi. Ole!


Or this . . .

Protected Bike Lanes in Golden Gate Park

Or even this . . .

Wow . . . they have suspended bike lanes!

For those wanting to go further north, a Class I transition off the bridge, to Sausalito

Looked like fun, but I was running out of time.

Seems like everywhere I went with my bike I felt welcome . . .

Even President Wilson.

And even when I cut through a neighborhood littered with villas, I felt expected and respected.

Makes me want to come back to ride again. Good job San Francisco!



Open Seat on Bicycle Advisory Committee

Do you want to help make Calistoga a safer place to get around by bike or on foot? Do you have some time to actually do stuff in addition to attending a monthly meeting? Do you play well with others? If this sounds like you, fill out the application and get involved. Here's the BAC at work just a week or so ago.

Tom, Dieter, Brad and Erik planning a brainstorming session to prioritize the Bike Plan

The BAC team agreed to meet April 3 at noon for a 3 hour session to set priorities for projects embedded in the Bike Plan. It is a public meeting, so it's a perfect way to get involved if you are thinking of joining the BAC. Maybe one of the things they will agree on is getting parklets in Calistoga with more bike parking. Here's one of the many parklets you can find in San Francisco.

Park your bike, get a coffee, relax and take in the scene.

Parklets encourage visitors and locals to linger downtown, and parklets are proven to improve business for adjacent shops. Here's a fledgling parklet in Calistoga . . . just need to add a few bike racks in the red zone and there we have it!

Just add bike parking!

Inevitably, the question will arise, 'Do we need really need more bike parking?' A picture is worth 1000 words, etc.

One well-utilized bike rack: 3 people parked in the space of 1/4 of a truck.

Another 1000 words . . .

No room at the rack . . . enough said!

 

This Just In:
Calistoga Gets $200k for Trail!

Who says miracles don't happen? An anonymous donor (said to reside in Calistoga!) has donated $200,000 to the Napa Valley Vine Trail to pay for the engineering necessary for building the missing parts of the Calistoga segment of the Vine Trail from the Oat Hill Mine Road to Bothe-Napa Valley State Park. This trail will also become part of the Bay Area Ridge Trail, serving as the Napa Valley crossing.

When completed, this portion of the Vine Trail, a Class I multi-use path, will provide safe off-highway connections to two of the most beautiful hiking and mountain biking resources in Northern California.

Blue line indicates the approximate route

This is really big deal. With proper engineering plans in place, this planned segment of the Napa Valley Vine Trail will be considered "Shovel Ready", which means as of this fall, it qualifies for Federal and State funding. So instead of Calistoga being at the end of the Vine Trail's project list, it is now near the top. Thank you to our generous neighbor, whoever you may be; clearly you understand how good this trail will be for the residents and visitors of Calistoga.

Absolutely awesome!  Here's the complete press release.

A Fundamental Issue Revealed

Occasionally (like every day) I read Bike Snob NYC. It is an irreverent, funny, and often R-rated blog about bicycling. Not for everyone, I am sure. 

This morning the Bike Snob pointed out an all too-common behavior that drives me nuts: people citing stupid and dangerous behavior of people on bikes as a greater concern than the stupid and dangerous behavior of people in cars.

 

Idiot who thinks bikes are a bigger hazard than cars

 By the way, I have no idea about the meaning of the picture (was in the blog today), but it suggests to me the mentality of 'TT', the person who wrote to the NY Times (text in italics below) in response to an article about the recent death of a bicyclist. Here is the excerpt from today's Bike Snob NYC:

Yesterday I mentioned a New York Times article that, despite itself, proved we have a serious problem in this city with drivers running people over.  While the person who wrote the article made some dumb points, the people reading it are apparently even dumber, because one of them left this comment:

TT
new york

I was hit by a bike five days after Martha was killed, just a few blocks away.

Her situation was tragic. I was lucky. The bike food delivery messenger was not wearing a glow in the dark vest, had no ID, no bell on the bike, no basket
in the back for the food and was peddling quickly the wrong way.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has been hit and injured, unfortunately.
What to do about reckless bike riders and bike messengers?

March 11, 2013 at 12:07 a.m.

Yes, you are lucky.  You're lucky the delivery person was on a bike and not in a car.  When you get hit by a bike you live to leave whiny Internet comments.  When you get hit by a car there's a blurb about you in the Post that ends with the phrase "no criminality suspected."  There seems to be a unique brand of American idiocy which causes us to read articles about cars running people down by the hundreds and then respond by getting angry about bikes.  It's like reading an article about gun violence and then leaving a comment about how you cut yourself while making dinner so what's being done about knives?

The bright yellow highlight above is mine. If you think this attitude does not apply in our area, check out online comments in the Press Democrat or the Napa Register the next time somebody gets hit while riding a bike.

People on bikes are fathers, mothers, sons and daughters. They work, they pay taxes and oddly enough, almost all of them also drive cars. What is with the anger that cyclists seem to create just by riding a bike? And what can be done to make that go away? 

Thank you Bike Snob! Ride safely and often. 

Wanted: Bicycle Advisory Committee Member

Are you interested in improving bicycling in Calistoga?  There is an opening on the Calistoga BAC that will be announced by the City soon. So if you want to get involved, now is the time to apply. 

Key qualifications include: 1) whatever the City says in the announcement, 2) time to help get things moving forward with the bike plan.

October 2012: New Bike Plan 

A bike plan is important for several reasons . . . most important is that we need one to qualify for State or Federal funding. No plan, no money.

Click her to download your own copy of our new 5 year plan

What is really cool is that the City Council adopted the plan unanamously, uh, 5-0. Here's the Resolution with a breath-taking 14 Whereases in it.

11 Whereases on page 1

3 more Whereases, plus a Now, Therefore, Be It Resolved.

As important as this document is, even better is that it met with the approval of the Metropolitan Transportation Agency . . . we qualify for funds.
Well done to the City Staff!

An important hurdle is behind us!

OK, we're legal now. What's next? Check back, or subscribe, to find out.