The SFBC’s Second Annual Family Day was well-attended this past (Healthy) Saturday in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.
People enjoyed a bicycle road-eo, games, a safety clinic, a scavenger hunt, a parade and some free bike maintenance.
But best of all, some children gained their Freedom From Training Wheels. (Four wheels bad, two wheels good, right kids?)
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See you next year!
Now, we’re not talking about temporarily closing down a freeway to cars on Father’s Day like they did in Pasadena a while back, to the horror of Rob Anderson.
And we’re not talking about an illegal bicycle romp in traffic the way the Crimanimalz do it on the 405.
We’re talking about you legally riding your bike on the right side of some of California’s 4000 miles of freeway.
Well, according to the California Department of Transportation, maker of melty orange and blue cupcakes, si, se puede! Yes, you can ride your bike on about 1000 miles of California freeway.
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For proof, check out this white sign in Marin County on the 101 South. You see? It says “BICYCLES MUST EXIT” so that means, assuming you didn’t ignore any ”Bicycles Prohibited” sign, it’s all good for you to be on this stretch of freeway. Q.E.D. Res Ipsa Loquitur.
Here’s the CalTrans version:
Of the more than 4,000 miles of freeways in California, about 1,000 miles are open to bicyclists. These open sections are usually in rural areas where there is no alternate route. California Vehicle Code Section 21960 says Caltrans and local agencies may prohibit bicyclists from traveling on freeways under their jurisdiction and that they must erect signs stating the prohibition. There are no signs permitting bicyclists on freeways. When a bicyclist is legally traveling on a freeway, he/she may be directed off the freeway at the next off-ramp by a sign that says “Bicycles Must Exit.” The freeway will be posted at the next on-ramp with a sign that says “Bicycles Prohibited.”
And here’s the Vehicle Code:
21960. (a) The Department of Transportation and local authorities,
by order, ordinance, or resolution, with respect to freeways,
expressways, or designated portions thereof under their respective
jurisdictions, to which vehicle access is completely or partially
controlled, may prohibit or restrict the use of the freeways,
expressways, or any portion thereof by pedestrians, bicycles or other
nonmotorized traffic or by any person operating a motor-driven
cycle, motorized bicycle, or motorized scooter. A prohibition or
restriction pertaining to bicycles, motor-driven cycles, or motorized
scooters shall be deemed to include motorized bicycles; and no
person may operate a motorized bicycle wherever that prohibition or
restriction is in force. Notwithstanding any provisions of any
order, ordinance, or resolution to the contrary, the driver or
passengers of a disabled vehicle stopped on a freeway or expressway
may walk to the nearest exit, in either direction, on that side of
the freeway or expressway upon which the vehicle is disabled, from
which telephone or motor vehicle repair services are available.
(b) The prohibitory regulation authorized by subdivision (a) shall
be effective when appropriate signs giving notice thereof are
erected upon any freeway or expressway and the approaches thereto.
If any portion of a county freeway or expressway is contained within
the limits of a city within the county, the county may erect signs on
that portion as required under this subdivision if the ordinance has
been approved by the city pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section
1730 of the Streets and Highways Code.
(c) No ordinance or resolution of local authorities shall apply to
any state highway until the proposed ordinance or resolution has
been presented to, and approved in writing by, the Department of
Transportation.
(d) An ordinance or resolution adopted under this section on or
after January 1, 2005, to prohibit pedestrian access to a county
freeway or expressway shall not be effective unless it is supported
by a finding by the local authority that the freeway or expressway
does not have pedestrian facilities and pedestrian use would pose a
safety risk to the pedestrian.
See you out there. Stay safe!
Today’s Pandhandle Bike Swap and Summer Party had a huge turnout with hundreds of cyclists doing all sorts of things. Check it out here.
The First Annual Dustin Long Tubeball Toss was a smash success:
What’s a tubeball? This is. It’s surprisingly heavy:
At the end of the day, people pedalled off with bike frames, tires and wheels.
See you next year!
Cycles of Change Bike Benefit Party and Swap Meet
Sun., Aug. 17 | 12-5pm, Panhandle blacktop, corner of Masonic and Fell
Come out on Sunday for a day of bike-related fun! Cycles of Change and a few of your local SF cyclists are putting together a bike benefit party promoting the organization. Cycles of Change is an East Bay cooperative that builds bikes for kids and teens and promotes bicycling as a more viable form of transportation. Donate your old bike parts to help CoC continue to assemble more bikes for children. Come for a the big bake sale, fun game events (like Chainring toss) and swap meet with fellow SF cyclists. For more information, please visit www.summerbikeswap.blogspot.com
Lane splitting - everybody’s doing it, even SuzukiGirl. But what does John Law think about that?
Q. Can motorcycle riders “split” lanes and ride between other vehicles? A. Lane splitting by motorcycles is permissible but must be done in a safe and prudent manner.
Does lane splitting irritate drivers? Perhaps, but who cares?
Go for it, dOoD. The University of California says lane splitting is good for you. Plus, these days you’ve got the Vatican-certified patron saint of motocycle riders, Columbanus of Bobbio, on your side.
Bonus.
“Filtering forward” through the long line of stalled cagers in front of the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge toll booths. Click to expand:
Now you might think this fellow zooming down Golden Gate Avenue (not too far from where Patty Hearst spent a few terrifying months) is standing on a California Chariot, but you’d be wrong because this backwards tricycle appears to have pedals and a drivetrain.
Complete with his “Wild Kid” T-shirt, this man has got it going on, leaning this way and that down Ignatius Heights.
For those about to trike, we salute you.
Whatever you do, don’t strip it down and take off the paint. You look good in pink.
Get your Schwinn steel cruiser frame with steel springer fork and Shimano 7-speed rear derailleur with SRAM grip shift right here at Target. Some assembly reqd.
Pee-Wee Herman’s rather baroque red bicycle, stripped down to its essence, would look something like this Schwinn beach cruiser avec springer fork seen on Valencia. Click to expand:
Whitewalls, gratuitous spokes, kickstand and chrome, chrome, chrome.
That’s quite a look.
Only in Marin! That’s right, Marin County, the birthplace of mountain biking, and home to nuclear-tipped missiles, endangered deer, and marauding mountain lions (nee cougars), can’t abide you people building your own single-track MTB trails.
Michael Philip More is getting a ten-day jail sentence for illegally building a quarter-mile trail at the end of Robinhood Drive in San Rafael.
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Possible path of the trail, the white line is a quarter-mile long
Does Michael More wish there were more singletrack MTB trails in Marin? Given that MTBers are mostly confined to fire roads in Marin County, signs point to yes.
Here’s the situation. This recent photo shows an interstate bus parked in the westbound bike lane of John F. Kennedy Drive in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. Of course the curb is painted red so people shouldn’t park there, but they do.
So where should a bike rider go? Well, around the bus of course, but that seems a tad on the dangerous side. For some odd reason, somebody decided that JFK should have the widest bike lanes in all of Christendom. And there’s an old tunnel under the road so it has a little kink, as seen here, right in front of the Conservatory of Flowers.
When you’re mapping things out in an ivory tower (ala the abysmal Octavia Boulevard) it’s a little tough to see how things will work out in real life.
In real life, pugnacious-looking, Norman Maileresque bus drivers will park their 8.5 foot wide rigs wherever the Hell they want.
So, is there another way to handle the striping on this piece of road? Maybe compromise on bike lane width? Maybe take out parking on the eastbound side of the street? Anything?
The Senior Action Network reminds us:
According to the City Traffic Code Article 5, Sec. 96, it shall be unlawful to ride a bicycle upon any sidewalk area, except juveniles under the age of 13 and not in front of schools, stores, or buildings used for business purposes.
To get the word out, they’re back with their sidewalk stencils. Take the bike survey, if you dare.
McAllister and Van Ness, San Francisco
