bay area cycling news

SFStreetsBlog (again) mentions that a social engineering project for a Stanford Master's student is gathering momentum again. Closing about six blocks (gradually) of University Ave in Palo Alto could draw large numbers of consumer-happy crowds. Read up on the SFStreetsBlog site or head directly to Palo Alto Pedestrian Mall website. This reminds me of the week after Walgreen's burned down on University Ave, which closed one block in front of the scene of the fire. Local restaurants spilled onto the streets, and a good time was had by all. There was a Palo Alto Online town square post about it.

June 2009 races as posted by the NCNCA . Notables: June 6, 2009 - ICCC Dash For Cash , Pleasanton - register June 13, 2009 - Pescadero Road Race , Pescadero - register June 20, 2009 - Mount Diablo Hill Climb , Walnut Creek June 26-27, 2009 - American Velodrome Challenge , Hellyer June 27, 2009 - Cytomax Benicia Crit , Benicia - register June 28, 2009 - Burlingame Crit , Burlingame - register

Beat The Clock has a well-run time trial series. Not official UCI, instead a benefit event for the Lance Armstrong Foundation . A rolling 10mi course up and down Cañada Road . A great event (even if you have to get up at 6am). Next event is Saturday, May 30, 2009 .

Another great post over on SF Streetsblog shows that Caltrain is dropping the surcharge idea from it's budget proposal .

Begin forwarded message: On Sunday, Mary Ellen Allen crashed in the W3/4 Scratch Race at Hellyer. She crashed very hard in turn three. She was rushed to Regional Medical Center in San Jose. She has severe head trauma and was placed in ICU. Besides the head injury, she had a broken collar bone and miscellaneous road rash and contusions. She is doing very well and is scheduled to move out of ICU tonight. She made very good progress from when I left her at midnight in ICU to 8:30AM this morning. Everything appears to be progressing satisfactorily for this type of head injury.

SFIst has a great article with lots of links about biking to work in SF tomorrow. Read, click, enjoy.

Join fellow cyclists in riding for our fallen brethren. The Ride of Silence "is a free ride that asks its cyclists to ride no faster than 12 mph and remain silent during the ride." Cyclists will take to the roads in a silent procession to honor cyclists who have been killed or injured while cycling on public roadways. Although cyclists have a legal right to share the road with motorists, the motoring public often isn't aware of these rights, and sometimes not aware of the cyclists themselves. There are bay area rides beginning from Cupertino, Redwood City, SF, and Santa Rosa.

Thursday is Bike to Work Day . Peninsula Energizer Stations are being hosted by the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition . Bring a friend and grab a bike! Loan them a bike if they need one! And don't forget that all month is the Team Bike Challenge , where you can grab some friends, log your unverifiable points on the webpage, and feel good about challenging teams that have three times as many novices as you do.

Caltrain might need to declare a fiscal emergency for the last half of this year, which will include proposals such as implementing a $1 surcharge on bicycle passengers. A $1 surcharge could generate $700k to $800k annually, and "each bicyclist occupies the amount of train space that two regular riders take up." A good article is over at SF Streetsblog .

Begin forwarded message: Ladies! We need to fill up the entire Womens 4 Field at the San Jose Memorial Day Crit Jonathan (the awesome prez of the SJBC ) is donating ALL of the proceeds (after the various fees are taken out, etc.) to Ashleigh Jackson. Please sign up and pass this along to all your friends who are Cat 4 so they can sign up too. I just signed up. Field limit is 50, let's get all 50 spots filled! Please pass this on!

Word is flying that the Tour of California, always held in late winter, will now compete with Giro d’Italia 's time slot of late May. Late winter in California can be a bit damp , or maybe just crazy foggy . So this is a good thing for fans within California... although most certainly an aggressive move by Amgen to attempt withdrawing fans from Europe's prime races now. Another interesting tip in the article mentions that the Tour of California will become a UCI ProTour race in 2011, which doesn't mean as much as it used to since the Triple Crown races withdrew from ProTour status during the ongoing spat between the UCI and the ASO . Is this the UCI attempting to gain more circulation as more independent races spring up?