Ohm on the Range – Davis, California

From Bikemag.com

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Ranked #1 in the People for Bikes Annual City Rating for Midsized Cities, we take a closer look at how this Californian city transformed itself into ‘Bike City, USA’ and continues to evolve.

In the expansive tapestry of California’s cycling culture, Davis emerges as a vibrant thread, woven with passion, innovation, and a relentless pursuit of two-wheeled excellence. Nestled in the fertile Sacramento Valley, this unassuming town has become synonymous with cycling, earning its stripes as a veritable mecca for riders of all stripes. To understand the genesis of Davis’ cycling prominence is to embark on a journey through time, tracing the evolution of a community deeply entrenched in the saddle.

Davis’ Rich Cycling History

Long before the advent of carbon frames and electronic shifting, Davis was already pedaling its way into the annals of cycling history. The seeds of its cycling fervor were sown in the 1960s, a time of burgeoning environmental consciousness and a nascent desire for alternative modes of transportation. As the countercultural waves swept across California, Davis stood at the vanguard, embracing bicycles not merely as recreational tools but as instruments of societal change.

Photo by Mark Stosberg on Unsplash

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CalBike Announces 2024 Legislative Agenda

From CalBike.org

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The California legislative session is shaping up to be a busy one, with a large number of new bills affecting active transportation plus a few two-year bills introduced last year and still moving through. We will also continue to advocate for more funding for active transportation in the budget process.

Here are the bills CalBike is supporting, opposing, and keeping an eye on in 2024.

Must-pass bills

If you were following CalBike’s work in 2019, you might remember the Complete Streets Bill. We won a hard-fought victory that year, passing the bill in the legislature, only to see it vetoed by the governor. Complete Streets is back for 2024 and at the top of our list of four top-priority bills.

2024 Complete Streets Bill

SB 960, authored by Senator Scott Wiener, would require Caltrans to implement safe infrastructure for people bicycling and walking when it repaves a state route that serves as a local street. The new version strengthens the measure by adding the needs of transit to the mix, paving the way for more bus-only state highway lanes, as well as transit improvements on local streets. We must show the governor he was wrong to trust Caltrans to implement its own policies since the 2019 veto, and we need to hold Caltrans accountable to make roads safer for all. We hope you’ll join our Complete Streets Campaign.

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The 5 Most Common Bike Fit Mistakes

Are you struggling with your bike fit? Feeling uncomfortable on the bike and not sure where to make adjustments? Alex and Ollie talk to a bike fit expert, revealing 5 top tips to get the perfect bike setup! Say goodbye to saddle sores, bad backs and painful knees.

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I know how it feels to finish ‘dead last’ – here are my tips for completing your first gravel race

From CyclingWeekly.com

After conquering Unbound and MidSouth, Marley Blonsky shares 3 tips to get you to the finish line triumphantly

BY MARLEY BLONSKY

Congratulations, you’ve registered for your first gravel race! Now the real fun (and work) begins – training and preparation for what will likely be your longest, hardest day on the bicycle yet.

With two Unbound Gravel century finishes and one DFL crown (Dead F***ing Last) at MidSouth Gravel to my name, I’ve figured out a few things that are crucial to taking on a gravel century.

While I don’t have a specific training plan or mileage targets for you to follow (–I’m by no means qualified to give you that advice but you can find one here), I have some tried and true advice that will hopefully have you crossing that finish line triumphant and excited to sign up for your next big challenge.

TIP 1: EAT EARLY AND OFTEN

A century is basically a 100-mile snack parade. Your job is to continually eat and drink your way through the miles. When it feels hard, eat. When you hate your bike, eat. I’m serious. You love bikes, you love riding your bike, and today, you get to do it all day long. Eat and it’ll be easier to remember this.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

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Complete streets are an accessibility issue.

From PasadenaCSC.org

Pretending otherwise denies the experience of thousands of local residents.

I don’t really like Impossible Burgers. I think they taste funny.

But when restaurants include vegetarian options on their menu, it makes those businesses more inviting for vegetarians, so they can end up serving more people.

When buildings include ramps or elevators in addition to stairs, it makes the facility accessible to more people.

When signs and instructions are written in multiple languages, it makes the message available to more people.

In today’s world, most people prefer our restaurants, libraries, and schools to be accessible to a wide range of people. Vegetarian options, wheelchair ramps, and inclusive policies are all good examples of things that make a place more accessible and welcoming to a wide range of people.

In general, creating more options for access and inviting in more people is the American way when designing public spaces and when we think about our businesses and institutions.

Our transportation system, though, is a strange exception to this. For some reason, public officials often prefer LESS accessible streets, with FEWER options for who can use them and how.  Even baby steps toward making our streets more diverse leads some people to complain.

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