In 2011, the SF Bike Coalition taught courses at 16 locations, from the Presidio to the Excelsior; from Bayview to Richmond; and Sunnyside to the Waterfront. They taught 600 adults how to ride safely, responsibly, and legally on the road; and 59 adults how to balance, turn, and pedal a bike. In 2012, they intend to host at least 1,000 adults in their courses.

Their education program also teaches youth about bicycle safety and has helped over 150 families teach their little ones how to ride without training wheels. A two-week Bicycle Education Component brought courses to nearly 1,500 middle school students in SFUSD physical education programs.

Urban Bicycle Workshops: Intro to Safe Bicycling

With so many San Franciscans already biking and so many more people considering using a bike to get around the city, this introductory course is perfect for everyone. This four hour, in-classroom course will cover the basics for how to choose the right bike and properly fit a helmet, as well as tips for the safest ways to ride in traffic. Techniques to avoid or handle road hazards and emergency maneuvers along with the best way to lock up your bike and how to use a bike in combination with public transit and biking rights and responsibilities. This free class, hosted by the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, is open to adults and anyone over 14 years of age; preregistration is required.

Note: This class is the “Day 1″ course for League of American Bicyclists’ Traffic Skills 101 certification.

Classes are offered on:

• Saturday, April 28th | 9am-1pm | City College of SF Evans Campus (Evans & Mendell)
• Sunday, May 27th | 10am-2pm | South Beach Harbor Comm. Room (Embarcadero at Pier 40)

Pre-register for either of these classes here as space is limited.

Disability Access

All of SF Bike Coalition’s classes are held at locations that are wheelchair accessible. To request real time captioning, a sign language interpreter or other accommodations for a disability, please contact Marc Caswell at marc@sfbike.org 415-431-2453 x302. Providing at least one week advance notice will help to ensure availability.

Looking for a different course?

SF Bike Coalition offer a variety of adult bicycle education and safety courses, both in-classroom and on-bike, all free of charge:

1. Adult Learn to Ride: Learn how to balance and pedal on a bike
2. Urban Bicycling Workshops: Learn how to ride in traffic, legally and safely
3. On Road Street Skills: Practice riding in traffic with our certified instructors
4. Family Bicycling Workshops: Learn how to bike pregnant, or as a family

Como montar en bicicleta en cualquier parte de SF: en español

Photo by Dave Campbell

En preparación para el Día de de Montar en Bicicleta al Trabajo,La Coalición de la Bicicleta de San Francisco le mostrará la mejor manera de dirigirse por la ciudad en bicicleta con la máz seguridad y rapidez. Usted reciberá una introducción a dirigiendose en tráfico, el equipo necesario, evitando accidentes, y sus derechos y responsabilidades legales. Este taller general de 1 hora será presentado en español, y una bicicleta no es necesario.

Summer dates, times, and locations to be determined (TBD).

How to Ride Anywhere in SF: In Chinese ()

Learn the best way to get around town quickly and safely by bike. You’ll get an introduction to riding safely in traffic, necessary equipment and cyclists’ legal rights and responsibilities. This two-hour classroom overview is conducted in Chinese, and a bicycle is not required.

Summer dates, times, and locations to be determined (TBD).

Links

Bay Area Bike Ed Class Schedule

League of American Bicyclists BikeEd Program

Palo Alto offers bike safety classes for parents with kids under 10, as well as for kids ages 10-14 with a parent

SFBC’s Bicycle Safety Education Project is working to incorporate service learning projects that focus on bicycling and transportation issues into class curriculums.

Bicycling Street Smarts John Allen’s safety bible

Connecting Youth to the Bridge

In honor of the Golden Gate Bridge’s 75th Anniversary, the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy and the National Park Service will provide various education programs that share the Bridge’s stories with more than 3,000 Bay Area youth.

Kids will discover the design, construction, and impact of the Golden Gate Bridge at Crissy Field Center’s Archi-Techies summer camp and explore the art and engineering behind the Bridge at Galileo Learning’s summer camp. Teachers and parents can also choose their own educational Bridge adventures through a variety of online resources. Learn more…

Community Tributes Salute the Bridge

Golden Gate Brass Band

With less than 75 days until the 75th Anniversary, there are “75 Tributes” by community groups that are in full swing across the Bay. See the complete calendar of events.

4/7: San Francisco Carnaval’s Golden Gate Jubilee

4/14: Golden Gate Brass Band’s Musical Bridges to 1937

4/14-7/14: Bridging Minds: San Francisco Reads, 1933-1937 at San Francisco Public Library

Make a Gift to the Bridge

Joseph Strauss

Leave your mark on an international landmark. By making a gift in honor of the Bridge, you will help support the May 27th community celebration, the “75 Triibutes” by civic and cultural organizations, a new Kids to the Bridge program, an improved visitor experience for the millions of people who come to the Bridge each year. Be a part of this special occasion by choosing the gift that’s right for you.

• Give a gift of $35 or more and receive a commemorative 75th Anniversary pin. Give online now.
• Honor the 75th Anniversary by giving to the Joseph Strauss Legacy Circle and receive lasting recognition at the Bridge plaza with a legacy gift of $10,000 or more. Learn more…
• Become a member of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, the nonprofit partner of the Golden Gate National Parks working on the 75th Anniversary celebration and legacy improvements at the Bridge. Learn more about membership.
• Text “ggb75″ to 20222 to make a $5 gift.

These giving opportunities are a part of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy’s mission to preserve the beautiful national parks at the Golden Gate for future generations.

We look forward to celebrating the Anniversary with you throughout the year. Get on one of our rental bikes and ride across the Golden Gate Bridge for one of the experiences of a lifetime.

(Originally published in Yahoo Contributor Network by Isabel Bonfatti, Tuesday, Feb 28, 2012)

As the number of people riding bicycles in San Francisco increases every year, so do the options and demands for rights and improvements regarding city riding. The number of San Franciscan bike ridershas grown 7 percent since last year and 71 percent over the past six years. And now San Franciscomight have one of the most comprehensive bicycle access laws in the country. Supervisor John Avalos is working on introducing legislation that will require owners of commercial buildings to either provide secure bicycle parking in their buildings or allow the tenants to bring their bicycles into the building.

The Employee Bike Access Bill was unanimously approved by the Public Safety Committee, and the Board of Supervisors will hear it in the next couple of weeks. If the bill is approved, bikers that commute to work will not need to leave their rides outside in the street locked to a pole or rack.

San Francisco’s bike riders will also be able to learn from another city’s successes. Paul Steely White, executive director of NYC’s Transportation Alternatives, and Leah Shahum, executive director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, will be discussing and presenting alternatives and ideas towards safer streets and public spaces at “The Future of the Bicycling Movement: Views from Two Coasts.” They will be answering questions from the public in this event that happens this Thursday, March 1, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at SPUR (654 Mission St.).

And in order to keep the number of bikers increasing, we should get them while they are young. Bike to School Day is Thursday, April 12. Parents, caregivers, teachers, administrators, or volunteers at San Franciso’s schools can register their school for the big day. There will be many chances to bring kids to the streets in their bikes this year: The popular program Sunday Streets is set to start again in March 11, with its 2012 debut along the Embarcadero. This year, Sunday Streets will return to the Great Highway (April 15), Bayview and Dogpatch (July 22), Western Addition (September 9), and Chinatown (in a date to be defined in August), as well as the Mission. The popular Mission Route will increase to four consecutive first Sundays, May 6, June 3, July 1, and August 5. Also this year, Sunday Streets will happen in a Southwest neighborhood for the first time on October 21, making its way in the Outer Mission/Excelsior.

Isabel Bonfatti is a San Francisco journalist with a master’s degree in anthropology and a wandering eye for art, food, music, and sustainable living. Her first novel is “Catching Red Herring.”

Embarcardero Sunday Streets season kick-off route

Sunday Streets is a series of events put on by the City of San Francisco to encourage health, community and fun, inspired by similar events in cities throughout the world, and creating miles of car-free roads for folks to get out and get active in diverse San Francisco neighborhoods.  A Sunday Streets event creates a large, temporary, public space by closing off stretches of a neighborhood’s streets to automobile traffic, and opening them to pedestrians, bicyclists, and activities for several hours on a predetermined Sunday.

Sunday Streets is free to all participants. Some will enjoy the route by strolling, skating, cycling, or just people-watching. Others will participate in free group events such as tai chi, yoga, aerobics and other activities. These group events will be spaced out along the route. Information on these activities is contained in this website.

Bay Area residents of all ages, families, local businesses, and visitors are all invited to join the fun. Come one come all. No sign-ups required. Participants will enjoy this unique opportunity to safely enjoy the streets and explore new neighborhoods. Sunday Streets are working with an array of San Francisco organizations to coordinate activities along the route, so there are sure to be something for everyone!

Bike and Roll San Francisco is a proud sponsor of Sunday Streets and will have bike kiosks set up along the various routes for those who would like to ride the closed streets for these events.

Sunday Streets 2012 Season Schedule

• March 11: Embaradero Season kick-off
• April 15: Great Highway/Golden Gate Park – new route through the park
• May 6: Mission
• June 3: Mission
• July 1: Mission
• July 22: Bayview
• August 5: Mission
• August TBA: Chinatown
• September 9: Western Addition/N. Panhandle Alamo Square
• October 21: Outer Mission/Excelsior

History of Sunday Streets and Ciclovía

Sunday Streets originated in Bogota, Columbia as Ciclovía, a day to promote free, health and community oriented events. 30 years after the first program, the concept has spread around the world from Tokyo, Japan to Kiev, Ukraine. Now, it has come to San Francisco!

“A quality city is not one that has great roads but one where a child can safely go anywhere on a bicycle.” Enrique Peñalosa, Former Mayor of Bogotá, Colombia.

Ciclovía, literally “bike path” in Spanish, is a ground-breaking event that started in Bogotá, Colombia. This weekly event draws more than 1.5 million people to walk, bike, skate and enjoy more than 70 miles of streets opened to people – and closed to automobile traffic – every week.

Nearly 20% of this city’s population turns out every Sunday and holiday to participate in the 7 am to 2 pm event, which includes unparalleled free recreation and social opportunities, including dance and yoga lessons in the city’s streets and local parks.

Bogotá has the distinction of hosting the biggest and longest-running Ciclovía in the world. Founded in 1976, it started small and grew in the 90′s under the Mayor and the Parks Director, Enrique and Guillermo Peñalosa. By 1996 it was recognized as the most important recreational activity in the country. The route was extended to 50 miles in 1997 and events to appeal to non-cyclists were added.

‘Aerobics on the Way’ soon began to attract new people to the Ciclovía and the City set a world record by having over 37,000 people performing aerobics on the same stage at one time. Activities for skaters and joggers were created to continue to widen the appeal.
Bogatá was careful when expanding their Sunday event to choose routes that connect neighborhoods. The original route was mostly centered on the northern end of the City.

Now the Ciclovía covers 70% of the 20 neighborhoods, with four loops through the city., enticing people to walk, skate, or cycle to other neighborhoods, visit friends and take their children to different neighborhood parks to play.

Tourists on Bike and Roll San Francisco bikes (Christopher Reynolds/LA Times)

A bicycle built for two might make for a romantic spin around San Francisco. Bike and Roll offers a discount on daily tandem bike rentals for Valentine’s Day — and lots of suggestions on where to pedal. Maybe over the Golden Gate Bridge, which turns 75 this year?

The deal: Ride With Your Valentine on a Bicycle Built for 2, as the promotion is called, offers tandems for $45 a day instead of the usual $60. There’s also a $5 damage waiver charge. Reservations are required, and the deal is based on availability. Bike and Roll has five rental kiosks around the city that are open 8 a.m.-6 p.m. daily in winter.

When: The offer is good Feb. 11-17 only.

Details: Check out Bike and Roll’s self-guided routes around San Francisco and beyond. From the rental office at 899 Columbus Ave. in North Beach, you can take a 9-mile ride on easy terrain over the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito and return to the city by ferry. Another ride, about 25 miles one way, takes you to Muir Woods National Park before returning via ferry.

Contact: Bike and Roll, (415) 229-2000, Ext. 1

GETTY IMAGES FILE PHOTO: San Francisco was the start of a stage for the Tour of California in 2010 but was left out of the race in 2011. The Marina and Presidio will be included in 2012.

(originally posted by Will Reisman, San Francisco Examiner Staff Writer)

Professional cyclists will zip through the Marina, the Presidio and portions of western San Francisco in this year’s version of the Tour of California, which returns to The City in 2012 after a year’s absence.

Route details of the annual pro cycling event were announced Wednesday, with this year’s version featuring the most extensive coverage of San Francisco since the 2007 event.

Cyclists will start at the Marina Green and travel up to the break wall of the San Francisco Bay before making their way through the Presidio. From there, the cyclists will hook up with the Great Highway and travel southbound out of The City.

Last year, the cycling tour completely skipped over San Francisco. In 2009 and 2010, the tour included through The City, but the riders only traveled down the western portion of San Francisco.

The last time the race featured San Francisco extensively was 2007, when The City was the site for the opening individual time trial.

The 2011 Tour will begin on May 13 in Santa Rosa, home of the three-time champion Levi Leipheimer. The event will conclude in downtown Los Angeles on May 20.

For the first time in the event’s history, cyclists will scale Mt. Diablo in the East Bay, during the Stage 3 competition from San Jose to Livermore.

American Chris Horner is the defending champion of the eight-day bike tour, which started in 2006 and is the nation’s largest cycling competition.

Along with Leipheimer and Horner, fellow American Floyd Landis and Australian Michael Rogers are past champions.

from the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition

This afternoon, Mayor Edwin M. Lee announced an exciting finding: the number of people biking in San Francisco has risen an impressive 71% in the last five years, according to the just-released 2011 San Francisco Bicycle Count Report.

“These counts back up what is apparent on our streets everyday — that San Franciscans love bicycling, and that bicycling has never been more popular in our city,” said Leah Shahum, Executive Director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, a 12,000-member nonprofit that promotes the bicycle for everyday transportation.

“Whether people are biking to work, to school or just to have fun, these latest bicycle counts demonstrate that San Francisco is a national leader in bicycle ridership,” said Mayor Lee. “We are using innovative strategies such as bike sharing, and installing sharrows, dedicated bike lanes and bike boxes, to make sure that our road network is safe and convenient.”

[Read the Mayor's press release on the 71% counts here]

Each year the SFMTA conducts a citywide manual bicycle count to measure bicycle ridership trends. This year’s findings were impressive: at each of the 23 count stations, the numbers increased—often dramatically.

Fell and Scott Streets also showed one of the highest growths: 108% increase of ridership in the last five years. The automatic bike counter at this intersection shows an average of 15,000 bike trips per week year-round.

“This huge increase in the number of people bicycling on Fell Street is a clear indication of the need and desire for better conditions on this critical bicycling connection between our neighborhoods,” says Shahum. “These new counts support the urgent calls – more than 200 letters sent already — for physically separated bikeways on Fell and Oak Streets between the three blocks of Scott & Baker Streets. This much-needed safety improvement cannot wait.”

Market Street—with its green, protected bikeways completed in 2011—showed the greatest growth of ridership: 115% increase from 2006, and a massive 43% increase since last year alone.

Townsend Street, a bike lane that was striped this year, and connects bike riders to Caltrain and booming business districts in SOMA, the waterfront and downtown, also showed dramatic numbers: a 54% increase since just last year.

Page and Scott, along the popular Wiggle bike route, also had staggering counts. The number of people biking through this intersection increased 53% since 2010, and an incredible 180% since 2006.

The Bicycle Count Report isn’t the only great news for San Francisco biking this year. In the last year alone, more than 17 miles of bike lanes have been striped, including 2.5 miles of buffered bikeways, and 15 bicycle corrals were added to city streets, making it easier and safer for people of all ages to bike on our city streets.

Carlina Hansen, Executive Director of the Women’s Community Clinic, said the bike corral has made a positive impact on her business. “The bike corral gives us greater capacity to provide a safe place for everyone to park their bikes when they come to the Clinic. Most importantly, it encourages staff, volunteers and clients to ride to work.”

“These significant increases prove that a relatively small investment of resources in better biking pays off hugely in making our city more accessible, affordable, healthier and cleaner,” says the SF Bicycle Coalition’s Shahum. “More people bicycling is a win for all San Franciscans. Now we look forward to helping the City reach its goal of 20% of trips by bicycle by 2020.”

To reach that goal, the SF Bicycle Coalition has put forward a vision for Connecting the City with a 100-mile network of inviting, family-friendly bikeways connecting neighborhoods, commercial corridors and transit centers. Find out more at connectingthecity.org.

The Executive Summary of the Bicycle Count Report says it best: “One thing is certain, more and more San Franciscans are riding bicycles every year.”

Bike Love Abounds at Love on Wheels!

Lovelorn lovebirds each quiz three possible dates (hidden from their view) and choose one to ride off with, on a date provided by one of our fine sponsors.

DJ Jamie Jams will set the soundtrack for phone numbers, emails, and bike stats to be exchanged all over Public Works by single cyclists.

Meanwhile, those not-so-single cyclists cheer on their single friends and win sweet raffle prizes like a hot night on the town, all from our awesome sponsors.

How do you roll? Boy-Boy? Girl-Girl? Girl-Boy? Boy-Girl? We’ve got a ride for you. Come on down!

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

PUBLIC WORKS, 161 Erie St. (at Mission)
Complimentary valet bike parking, courtesy of the SF Armory (map)
Doors open at 6 p.m.; game at 7
$5 for SF Bicycle Coalition Members (bring your card)
Non-members $10, or become an SF Bicycle Coalition member at the door and get in free!
Ages 21 and over

Download the Poster

To be a contestant email love@sfbike.org and say which way you roll (Girl-for-boy, boy-for-girl, girl-for-girl or boy-for-boy).

Too shy for the stage, but you want to help out? There are lots of ways you can volunteer, sign up at sfbike.org/vol_sign_up_love.

Download a poster! Spread the word in the name of bike love by printing some posters or stopping by our office to pick some up and hanging one in your favorite cafe, shop, and laundry mat.

You’d think the color of the most photographed bridge in the world would have a more exciting name than “international orange.” Something like “vermilion” or “terra cotta” or “burnt sienna” might seem more appropriate.

Whatever you call it, it’s the vivid, unmistakable color of the Golden Gate Bridge, which turns 75 next year. But back in the 1930s, the now-iconic hue was a radical choice.

(Photo courtesy of goldengatebridge.org: A painter at work in 1937, the year the Golden Gate Bridge opened. It was the longest suspension bridge in the world at the time; painters had to cover more than 10 million square feet of steel.)

First, to set the record straight, the bridge is named not for its hue, but for its location. It’s built above the Golden Gate Strait, the entrance to the San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean.

The color came about thanks to Irving Morrow, the Golden Gate’s consulting architect, who noticed the striking reddish-orange primer painted on some of the steel.

Morrow designed the bridge’s lighting and its art-deco styling. He also championed the unusual color. Most bridges were gray, silver or black. It was expected that the Golden Gate Bridge would follow suit.

“He had to convince the Department of War, the permitting agency at the time, that the largest suspension span ever built at the time [should] have this wild crazy color,” says Golden Gate Bridge spokeswoman Mary Currie.

The bridge’s construction began in 1933. Two years later, Morrow made the case for the wild color in the 29-page document, Report on Color and Lighting, which he presented to the bridge’s board of directors.

“The Golden Gate Bridge,” Morrow wrote, “is one of the greatest monuments of all time. Its unprecedented size and scale, along with its grace of form and independence of conception, all call for unique and unconventional treatment from every point of view. What has been thus played up in form should not be let down in color.”

The primer would need some added tones, but Morrow felt it was an ideal complement to the gray fog, the golden and green hills, the blue water and sky.

(Photo courtesy of goldengatebridge.org: A painter touches up one of the bridge’s cables. When it came time to decide the paint color for the bridge, consulting architect Irving Morrow wanted a warm hue to contrast with the cool grays, blues and greens of San Francisco Bay.)

There are more than 10 million square feet of steel to paint on the bridge. It’s constantly touched up, not just to keep up the color but to protect it from the salty weather.

Currie says one of the big myths is that the bridge is painted from one end to the other rather than continually touched up.

Paint superintendent Rocky Dellarocca jokes: “Yeah, you start at one end, and when you get to the other end, you retire.” That’s how long it would take.

Dellarocca spent two decades painting the bridge. Now he oversees some 30 bridge painters.

“Rocky dreams in international orange,” Currie says with a laugh.

Painting the bridge is tough work. Only rain stops Rocky and his crew. But the bridge is wrapped in fog almost 70 percent of the time. And the winds can blow 60 mph — which can cause problems because workers usually use spray guns.

“There’s some places it’s so windy you have to hold the spray gun next to the steel — otherwise the paint will blow off at a 90-degree angle. That’s why, to be a structural steel painter — bridge painter — you’ve got to be a little off-center,” Dellarocca says.

(Photo Cindy Carpien/NPR: A bit of “international orange” paint on Susan Stamberg’s fingertip.)

Buckets of paint are stored in an underground bunker near the bridge. Dellarocca estimates that 5,000 to 10,000 gallons are used yearly.

You can’t just walk into a paint store and buy the Golden Gate Bridge color. You may find something called “international orange,” but it’s not this international orange. This is a special mixture formulated just for the Golden Gate.

“Over the years, I’ve had so many people call me,” Dellarocca says. “They want to get this color because they want to paint their bikes, the trim on their house, their fence, their dog house. They love the bridge.”

Dellarocca spent a good deal of time mailing chip samples to anyone who asked. Now you can find the exact paint mixture on the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District’s website.

Color? I Can’t See The Bridge!

San Francisco is regularly wrapped in the kind of fog poet Carl Sandburg described as coming “on little cat feet.” When that happens, it’s hard to see the color of the paint on the bridge. The cables curve upward but go nowhere, disappearing into the fog.

“But when this fog goes away,” Currie says, “you’ll see the beautiful Marin Headlands and golden hills as they reflect against this beautiful international orange.”

It’s an understatement to say that Currie and Dellarocca take great pride in watching over this bridge.

“People took care of this place before I got here, since 1937,” Dellarocca says. “I’m going to take care of it, and when I retire, someone’s going to come right behind me and keep taking care of this bridge.”

Can he imagine the bridge any other color?

“No, it’s the most beautiful bridge in the world,” he says. “The Navy wanted to paint it black and yellow so it was more visible, but the [Golden Gate] Bridge District said no way.”

No way, indeed.

The Navy proposed yellow and black horizontal stripes for the Bridge; the Air Force wanted orange and white stripes. Orange vermillion, “International Orange,” was chosen by architect Irving Morrow, who wanted a warm color to contrast with the cool grays, blues, and greens of the water, sky, and clouds.

Each tower contains 21,500 tons of stell, weighs 44,000 tons and supports a 61,500-ton load from the main cables.

There are approximately 1.2 million rivets in the two towers of the Golden Gate Bridge.

The length of wire in the two cables is 80,000 miles. If it were one wire, it could circle the Earth at the equator three times.