Monthly Archives: May 2008

Tour of Carson

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The Bike Habitat celebrated their 1 year anniversary by hosting the Tour of Carson. This 26 mile moderately paced ride took us counter clockwise around the outskirts of the city. I haven’t done many road rides this year, so it was exhilarating to ride around in a group at such a brisk pace. It certainly wasn’t a race pace, but it was a stark contrast to last Wednesday’s Slow Ride around the west side! We were moving.

Tour of Carson
Preparing to Leave from the Bike Habitat

We left the Bike Habitat shortly after 9:30 AM, and took Clear Creek Road and Snyder Ave out to Edmonds Drive.

Tour of Carson
Clear Creek Road

We headed East at the 5th Street Roundabout, and got onto Carson River Road. It was at this point that the ride got very peaceful. No traffic, and plenty of scenery.

Tour of Carson
Deer Run Road

After crossing the Carson River, we got onto Deer Run Road where we had nice views of the Carson Range across the valley. Springtime in Carson City is pretty short, so you need to take in all the greenery while you can!

Tour of Carson
The Carson Range as Seen from Deer Run Road

Tour of Carson
Arrowhead Drive

Arrowhead Drive takes you through the industrial area, but the roads are wide, and there is plenty of room for bikes.

Tour of Carson
West College Parkway

We crossed over to the west side of 395, and rode up College Parkway. It seems that bike lanes are being included on most of the new roads around Carson. This is great! We just need to fix the older roads now.

Tour of Carson
V&T Bike Path

The wildflowers were out as we rode down the V&T Bike Path.

Tour of Carson
Keith’s Cytomax Stand

As we approached the State Capital building, Keith provided us with a shady stop, complete with an icy cold Cytomax stand. The refreshment was very much appreciated, and gave us the boost we needed to cut through the wind along Curry Street to get back to the Bike Habitat.

Tour of Carson
Heading towards the Capital Building down King Street

Tour of Carson
Tasty BBQ

When we got back to the Bike Habitat, the BBQs were already going, and there were other finger foods laid out. There were also more beer choices than you could sample in one sitting! Once the food came off the BBQ I helped myself to some chicken and a Bison Burger. All the food was great.

Tour of Carson
The Tap Room

Thanks, Bike Habitat for putting on such a fun ride. It was great to ride with some familiar faces, and even meet some new people. When is the next ride?

Bike to Work Week Wrap Up

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The official Bike to Work Week celebration has come to a close. We’ve had non stop fun since Wednesday, and now it’s time to rest for a few days! Here’s a look back at the activities since the last report.

Wednesday Night Social Ride

Bike to Work Week Social Ride

Wednesday night’s social ride was a big success, with around 50 riders of all ages attending. It was quite a sight to see, a parade of bikes traveling along the quiet west side streets. Dan Turner’s high wheeler was one of the main attractions, and several of us got a chance to ride it. It was one scary ride!

Bike to Work Week Social Ride

Home Bicycle Maintenance Clinic

On Thursday night Dennis Coyne put on another great clinic at the Bike Habitat. He took a grungy, out of tune bike, and went through the cleaning and tuning process. I think all of us learned some new tricks (I was pleased to find some lemon pledge under the sink when I got home!).

Bike Habitat

Don’t forget that Dennis will have another Bicycle Commuter Clinic this Thursday. See the Calendar for details.

Bike to Work Day

Bike to Work Day! The biggest bicycle commuting day of the week. Me? I took the day off, and didn’t go anywhere near work! Instead I manned one of the Commuter Stations, the Starbucks on Retail Drive. We had other volunteers working the other Commuter Stations around town, and I hear that Comma Coffee had the most visitors. Once the commuter stations closed, it was time to go prepare for the main event.

End of BTWW Party

After work, the bicycles began arriving at the Firkin and Fox. They reserved a large portion of the patio and 3 parking spaces for bikes. It’s amazing how many bicycles you can fit in the area it takes to park 3 cars!

A few members from Anouaze Beat helped us kick off the party with some fantastic African drumming and dancing. They played a few songs, but left us wanting more! Thankfully they will be performing at the Brewery Arts Center on May 24th with the rest of the group and dancers.

End of BTWW Party

Thanks to many generous donations from local businesses, we had plenty of raffle prizes to hand out. The grand prize commuter bike finally ended up in the the hands of Pete Hansel. A few people had actually “won” the bike ahead of Pete, but the prize was passed along to the next ticket holder due to conflicts of interest or the prize recipient already having too many bikes! Pete just returned from a week long bicycle trip from Carson City to Ely on the east side of Nevada. What a nice prize to come home to! He earned it.

It was great to meet so many new people. I even got to finally meet Scott Schrantz from the Around Carson Blog! It was also remarkable to speak with so many progressive people that share a vision of Carson City as a great cycling town. It seems that we have all the ingredients, and people are starting to come together with many great ideas. These are exciting times!

End of BTWW Party

The only incident we had all night was at the very end. Apparently taking a break from cracking down on gangs and drunk drivers, a police officer visited the Firkin for some real action. Under a nearly full moon, he turned off his cruiser lights and drove slowly down 3rd Street. Thankfully he didn’t run over anyone driving so dangerously. Next he came to the patio and started questioning folks about “what they were doing” and if “these were their bikes”. It was definitely time to go. Keith (who wasn’t even intoxicated) rode back to the patio to let people know we were leaving, and the cop got on him for “riding on the sidewalk”. Then he demanded that Keith park his bike and sober up at the bar instead of slowly riding home a few blocks. He wouldn’t even let him walk his bike home! Totally insane! A group of us decided we’d ride home anyway, and sped off for home at the reckless speed of 6 mph.

End of BTWW Party

Overall I think we had a great week, and it was definitely a learning experience. A big thanks to Jeff Potter for all his hard work. He was the man on the street, knocking on doors and visiting sponsors. Thank you to the rest of the Muscle Powered group that helped coach us and provided their support. We couldn’t have put this together properly without you. Thank you to everyone else that helped us along the way and attended all the events. Also a big thanks to Mrs. P and Mrs. M for being patient through months of planning, and lending so many good ideas! Jeff Potter and I both agreed that we will add more to the BTWW team next year to help divide the workload better (We’re looking at you Jason and Tasha!). Neither of us realized that the corporate challenge would be so popular. Hopefully we can dedicate one full person to this next year. One thing is for sure though, “Biking is Fun” as a theme for this year was the right thing to do!

End of BTWW Party

The celebration may be over, but the commuting to work by bike is not. I hope to see everyone continue what they’ve started, and I hope to see more and more of you out there on your bikes!

Click HERE to see the complete Bike to Work Week 2008 photo collection.

Tour of Carson

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Post Ride Refreshments, originally uploaded by Bike Carson.

Don’t forget today’s Tour of Carson starting at 9:00 AM from the Bike Habitat. The route will be around 26 miles if I remember correctly. There will also be a post ride party back at the Bike Habitat! Hope to see you there!

Bike Commuter Station Live Broadcast

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I had 10 bicycle commuters show up at the Starbucks on Retail Drive. Free coffee (and hot chocolate for the kids) was enjoyed, and I gave out a few Muscle Powered Maps. 2 riders just happened to be riding by and didn’t realize it was Bike to Work Day.

And yes, I thought the NO Bicycle Riding sign behind me was a nice touch!

Bike to Work Day! Friday, May 16

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Bike to Work Day is tomorrow, and it’s a day packed full of events; free bus service for bicycle commuters, bicycle commuter stations, and Bike Month raffle.
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Carson City Stylin’

Starting at 6:30 a.m.gas_prices_arm.gif

JAC-Jump Around Carson

You may have seen the Jump Around Carson (JAC) buses making their rounds in Carson City. Lately I’ve noticed more passengers are filling up the seats. This isn’t a scientific study I’m reciting. When a bus goes by I look to see how many people are using our local transit system, and lately I’ve noticed more users.
I imagine usage is up because of higher fuel prices. I’ve also noticed something else on JAC buses, and that is bike racks.

When I contacted JAC I was informed that all their buses have bike racks installed on the front of the vehicles. I would like to take this opportunity to thank JAC for providing a multi-mode transportation option in our city.

JAC is participating on Bike To Work Day, Friday, May 16, by graciously offering free all-day bus service to bicycle commuters.

You might ask, ” If you’re on your bike, why would you need to take a bus?”

One of our major goals for BTWD is to encourage as many people as possible to ride their bicycle to work. Some people might think they couldn’t possibly ride a bicycle 10 miles in one day…. but maybe five miles is possible. There are many combinations a person could use to achieve their car-free goals.

Pedal to work, take the bus home, or vice versa. Or you could pedal to a JAC bus stop, lock up your bike, and take JAC to work.

motorway l.jpgJAC’s offer to allow free passage to bicycle commuters on BTWD is an outstanding position to take towards their continuing community involvement. While free is a great incentive, their regular daily fares are more than reasonable, which makes it a very affordable way to get around town.

JAC’s hours are from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Saturdays. Be forewarned, there are only two available spaces per rack on each bus, so if the rack is full you may need to have a “plan B”.

Visit JAC’s website here to get more information about routes and schedules.

Please contact JAC and thank them for installing bicycle racks, and for supporting Bike Month.

Bicycle Commuter Stations: 7:00 a.m.-9:00 a.m.

Comma Coffee
312 S. Carson St
June Joplin, proprietress of Comma Coffee, who among other vocations is an actress, massage therapist, jazz singer, and mother, is once again supporting
Bike to Work Day.
Bicycle commuters can stop by from 7 – 9 a.m. and grab a free cup of joe while onbike n' coffee.JPG
their way to work.

STARBUCKS 7 a.m. – 9 a.m.

3325 Retail Dr

1410 E. Williams St
921 Topsy Ln.
3228 N. Carson St.
2320 S. Carson St.

In our early stages of organizing Bike to Work Day activities, I approached a few of our local Starbucks’ managers and asked if they would like to participate in BTWD. Each one of them, without hesitation, said “YES!” So thinking I had everything under control (boy was I kidding myself), I continued with the printing of our Bike Month fliers and brochures.

A couple of weeks ago I received an e-mail from Starbucks’ district manager Rick Roche, who after seeing our fliers and viewing our website, noticed a huge over-site on my part: Why are only three Starbucks’ shops participating? Oops! What was I thinking?
Mr. Roche informed me that not three, but all five of the Carson City Starbucks’ would like to be involved in BTWD. Whew!

The generous offer from Starbucks will give us six commuter stations to serve the Carson City area, helping to make this our most successful Bike Month ever. Thanks Rick!

Wrap-up Party and Raffle: Firkin & Fox 6:00 p.m.- 7:30 p.m.

Bringing things to a close is the Bike Month Raffle sponsored by Muscle Powered.

We have some cool things happing this evening, starting with a special performance by African drum and dance group, Anouaze Beat. This energetic ensemble is giving us a preview performance a week in advance of their upcoming Brewery Arts Center gig on Saturday, May 24
Fliers.cdr

During intermission we’ll raffle off prizes donated by our wonderful sponsors, including our grand prize, a KHS Urban-X commuter bicycle donated by Lumos and Associates with help from Big Dan (Bicycle Authority).

So ride your bicycle over to the Firkin & Fox and tip back a cold brew, listen to some hot music, and make a few new cycling friends.

And that’s not all.

TOUR OF CARSON 25-35 miles

On Sunday, May 18 Denis and Viola will take us on an unsupported, moderately paced ride around Carson City to celebrate the one year anniversary of Bike Habitat. Meet in front of the shop at 9:30 a.m. There will refreshments served after the ride.

HELMETS REQUIRED!

P.S. Events like these don’t happen without the generous support of our sponsors. So if you’re participating in one of the events, or you visit them in the future, please thank them for their community support.

See you there.

Thank you Bike Month Sponsors:

BICYCLE AUTHORITY
BIKECARSON.COM
BIKE HABITAT
COMMA COFFEE
CYCLO-CORE
DOWNTOWN CARSON CITY
FLEET FEET
FLUME TRAIL BIKES
JAC- JUMP AROUND CARSON
LUMOS & ASSOCIATES
MUSCLE POWERED
RED ROCK FAMILY DENTAL
STARBUCKS
THE BIKE SMITH
VELTEC

Home Bicycle Maintenance Clinic

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We had another successful Bicycle Maintenance Clinic last Thursday at the Bike Habitat.

Denis demonstrated several emergency repair scenarios that may occur when out riding your bicycle and what to do to fix the problem.
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One more example of why Jeff M. should be the only person allowed to take photos

This Thursday’s clinic may be the most important: Home Bicycle Maintenance.
You can decrease your chances of roadside repairs by taking the time to give your bike a little home lovin’.

Clinic starts at 6:30
Bike Habitat
921 Topsy Lane #238

Wednesday Night Social Ride

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Continuing the Bike to Work Week celebration on Wednesday, May 14th, is the West Side Social Ride. This Muscle Powered sponsored event will begin at 6:00 PM at the Brewery Arts Center (corner of Minnesota and King Streets). Come join us for a 4 mile slow ride along the quiet streets of Carson City’s historical west side.

Kristy

All participants will be required to sign a waiver (release and waiver of liability, assumption of risk, and indemnity agreement), and helmets ARE required. The route is mostly flat, and stays off the narrow, heavily traveled streets. Kids are welcome, so you are encouraged to make this a family event! We will also be giving out raffle tickets to all participants for Friday’s prize giveaway at the Firkin and Fox.

After everyone has checked in and signed up, we will start the ride. Please remember that since we will be on public streets, we are required to follow the rules of the road. This means obeying all traffic signs, and riding no more than two abreast. Hope to see you there!

Promotional Items!

Long time readers, going back to the Facility Bike Club Blog, will remember the popular Mojo Bag Promotion from last year. The Mojo Bags are back just in time for Bike to Work Week, and will be available for purchase at the Social Ride. These good luck charms were handmade by Kristy Moser and Amy Potter, and contain a variety of botanicals and artifacts from the Carson City / Ash Canyon area. Last year, these mojo bags were shipped out all around North America! Both coasts, the heartland, the north, the south, and one even made it to Canada after a long stay in customs. See Amy or Kristy during the ride to get your mojo!

MOJO

Also for purchase at the ride are these one of a kind, made in Carson City ankle straps to keep your pants out of your chain on your bike commute. Production has just started on these, so they are limited in quantity at this point. See Kristy or Amy to get your ankle strap!

Mojo and Ankle Straps