As energy costs steadily increase, it is becoming more important to change our habits to conserve these vital resources. In years past, there was no consideration to throw the bike in the car, and drive up to Lake Tahoe for recreation. Fuel was cheap. These days are over, and it’s time to start thinking of new ways not only to get around town, but to get our favorite recreational areas too.

Last weekend some friends and I decided to explore some of the Lake Tahoe Trails by beginning our ride from Carson City. In the end, the ride was much more rewarding, knowing that we had made the whole journey using only Muscle Power.

Please come read the story of our ride that took us from Carson City, up Kings Canyon to Spooner Summit, up to Marlette Lake, down to Hobart, and finally back to Carson City down Ash Canyon. The story can be viewed on the Bike Carson site by clicking HERE.

WE CAN – WALK CARSON CITY

Governor’s Field/Linear Park Walk – This is a nice walk for family adventures and accessible even in winter. Each season will offer opportunities to spot wildlife and holds its own beauty.

In one walk last winter I flushed some quail, spotted a lot of birds in the rushes, probably Wrens, and saw a hawk, could have been a Cooper’s. In the water, Mallard ducks and Canada Geese seem to be quite at home in the frigid water.

Governor’s Field Park is at the corner of South Roop Street and Evalyn Drive. Start at the parking lot, walk north along the playground, following the access road until you reach the gate by the handicapped parking spaces.

Pass through the gate to access the paved bike trail, turning right follow the trail east to Saliman Road. Along the way, watch for the interpretive signs, the kids will enjoy the ‘treasure hunt’. Each of the signs offers up a different set of facts, history, and pictures of the animals and birds that live in this little ecosystem.

When you reach Saliman, cross with care. On the opposite side you’ll cross the bridge over the drainage to continue on until the end. Again you will find interpretive signs along the way.

The total round trip mileage is 1.9 miles and should take 30 to 45 minutes depending on how much time you spend discussing the information found on the signs. When you reach the gate at the end enjoy the view. If you’re lucky the cattle will be in the field and in the early spring you may be able to spot some new calves. You can go another .1 miles beyond the gate, be sure to close it behind you, but that ends at a barbed wire fence.

If you’re just getting started, or have little ones with short legs along, there are 2 alternatives to doing the entire route. You can do just the first half turning around at Saliman Road for a total of 1 mile. The second half can be done by parking at Freemont Elementary school for a total of .9 miles. Doing it this way eliminates crossing Saliman Road. If you can only do one or the other the second half has more interpretative signs and is more likely to have birds and the cattle for the young one’s to discover.

But don’t do this just once. Come often and watch the changes that come over the plants and animals as the season’s progress.

]]> http://musclepowered.wordpress.com/2008/06/18/linear-park-walk/feed/ http://musclepowered.wordpress.com/2008/06/11/road-ride-this-weekend/ http://musclepowered.wordpress.com/2008/06/11/road-ride-this-weekend/#comments Wed, 11 Jun 2008 18:41:20 +0000 musclepow http://musclepowered.wordpress.com/?p=108

Musclepowered will lead a ride Sat., June 14, 2008: Jacks Valley to Woodfords and return. Meet at north end of Target at 395 and Jacks Valley Road at 8:30 a.m., travel to Woodfords via Carson River Road. Return on same route. Estimated 50 miles.

 Hope you can make it!

Movie Night

“A Glimpse of Heaven and a Taste of Hell”
Award winning documentary
2007 Tahoe Rim Endurance Run
Thursday, June 12th, 6:30 p.m.
Library Auditorium
Free and open to the public

“This 2007 film was directed by Tyler Bourns and captures the race event which was held on July 21, 2007. In this 56-minute DVD you will get a chance to see what the 400 entrants from around the world experienced when competing in an ultra distance endurance run on the world famous Tahoe Rim Trail. Athletes were able to choose from a 50 K, 50 -miler, or the exhausting 100-mile National Championship Event. Hosted by Kelly Quinn and told by the participants and volunteers you will discover both the story of ultra running as well as the colorful history of this event.”

Here’s a message from the League of American Bicyclists:

Dear League Members:

 Do you fight your way through traffic each morning, even with gas prices surging to record levels?

 We appreciate your support in helping to create a bicycling-friendly America .   

 Visit the following link to learn more about how to submit your photos, videos and audio stories about your commute.  

http://www.ireport.com/ir-topic-stories.jspa?topicId=27556.

 Safe cycling, Tiffany Payne

 www.bikeleague.org

Here’s your chance for your five minutes of fame!

I had a dentist appointment today, and I decided to ride my bike. The problem was that I had no idea if there was secure bicycle parking, and when I arrived, I realized that there wasn’t. The lobby of the office was too small to expect them to allow my bike to stay in there, so I ended up chaining up to a handicapped parking marker. It was just a pole, but thankfully it was pretty tall.

I spoke with the Dentist about the parking issue, and he mentioned that someone had visited just yesterday on a bike too. He said it was probably time to get a bike rack, and we discussed some of the options.

This conversation led to another conversation with my hygienist about bicycle commuting. She thought maybe she should give bicycle commuting a try, living less than a mile from work.

The lesson I learned today? It doesn’t take much to convince people of the need for proper bicycling infrastructure. Sometimes all you need to do is show up on your bike to create a demand! Also, showing others that you conduct your business without a car can be a powerful message.

There is one more Bicycle Maintenance Clinic left to attend. This week’s topic; what to wear when commuting by bike.

These very informative clinics provide necessary instruction to the experienced and novice cyclist, and have contributed greatly to the success of Bike Month in Carson City.

Thanks Dennis!

Bike Habitat
921 Topsy Ln #238
267-5053
Clinic begins at 6:30 p.m.

See you there.

Proving they are the corporation to beat, Lumos and Associates have taken 1st place in the Bike to Work Week Corporate Challenge(mid size business category). Their best day had a whopping 36% of employees riding a bicycle to work, and total milage for the week was 395. OUTSTANDING!

Second place goes to Resource Concepts Inc., who gave Lumos a good run. Midweek however, an RCI employee had other things to take care of. JoAnne Robben gave birth to a new baby boy. Congratulations JoAnne!

Redrock Family Dental has set the bar for future corporate challenges by taking 1st place in the small business category. Redrock’s best day had a terrific 43% of employees riding a bicycle or walking to work. Their total milage was 55.74.
Very impressive!

Congratulations and thank you to everyone who participated in the Bike to Work Week Corporate Challenge.

We’re still waiting to hear from some of our corporate challengers before we publish all of the results.

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

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!

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!).

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.

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.

Carson City Stylin’

Starting at 6:30 a.m.

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.

JAC’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 on
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

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