Bike For Your Life Video

Check out the video for this year's Bike For Your Life which aired recently on Shaw Community Channel 4:

Thanks Gord Byers for making the arrangements with Shaw to come and shoot the video.

Click here for the video

Public Information Meeting

A Public Information Meeting about a planned 38 lot subdivision located
at the corner of Yellowbrick and Wembley Roads will be held next Monday,
August 13 starting at 7:00 pm at Oceanside Place, in the Multi-Purpose
Room (2nd Floor).

Yellowbrick Road is a major connector street between Wembley Road and
the Morningstar area. On the Area G OCP, Yellowbrick Rd. has a Roadside
Trail designation. For anyone travelling along this route, they must
walk on the side of the Road - this includes students walking to/from
Oceanside Middle School.

Here is the link to the PIM notice regarding the proposal.

http://www.rdn.bc.ca/cms.asp?wpID=2857

If you want to have a say about the proposal, come to the meeting on the
13th.

An article about the meeting appeared in the August 16 edition of the Oceanside Star

French Creek Bridge Lobbying Efforts Update

Click here for the article that appeared in the August 17th edition of the PQB News.
Thank you Neil Horner for article. 

If you read the article it will mention that an elderly gentleman in a medi scooter started across the sidewalk of the bridge just as we were meeting below the sidewalk. Then a person started walking across the sidewalk from the opposite side of the bridge. The walker had no choice to get around the medi scooter but to climb the railing. This is perfect example of just how inadequate the sidewalks on the bridge are for people to safely cross the bridge. 
 

On Tuesday, August 14, MOTI Engineers David Edgar, Janelle Erwin and Winnie Wong met at the French Creek Bridge with three of our Board Members (Richard Nuesch, Gord Byers and myself), Joan Michel of RDN Parks and Trails and Neil Horner of the PQB News.

The meeting began with our presenting copies of the survey about safety concerns with the Bridge that we completed in June. 

Go to the Home Page on our website to access the survey results

We then looked at all of our concerns:

1.Current Signage
2. Approaches to the Bridge - including the concrete barriers and the laneway to the walkway (sidewalk) on the bridge and
3. The sidewalks on the bridge and
4. The travel lanes on the Bridge

We emphasized that the problems - especially with the sidewalks - affect not just cyclists but anyone using the sidewalks - including walkers and mobility scooter users. Just as we were discussing this issue, a fellow on a mobility scooter started coming across the sidewalk right above us. I spoke to him about the sidewalks (He stated that "hates crossing the bridge on his scooter") and David Edgar then spoke to the fellow and measured his scooter in relation to the width of the sidewalk. As we were talking a person walking across the sidewalk in the opposite direction met up with the fellow on the mobility scooter. The walker decided that the only way he could get around the mobility scooter was to climb the railing. The "conflict" could not have been better timed and I can honestly say that we did not plan this situation in any way.

We then presented a 1 page sheet on possible solutions to each of the problems. With Joan Michel lending her voice, we emphasized that we want to see more than just erecting signs to solve the problems.

Possible Solutions to problems with the French Creek Bridge

1.Walkways on Bridge

a. Widen the existing walkways to acceptable standards

• current width = 0.91 metre
• TAC standard = 2.0 metres plus 0.5 metre shy distance
• Problem – current sidewalks require regular maintenance due to wooden composition

b. Replace walkways with Aluminum walkways

• lighter in weight than wooden structures (allowing wider width)
• could have a safe non-skid surface that would not hold water (or snow)
• not rot out or require extensive ongoing maintenance
• Handrails can be part of the integral structural design, a safe height for cycling, and made to safely "deflect" any rider errors.
• When the bridge is eventually replaced by a new design these aluminum structures can be "re-purposed" on our area trail systems where needed for short span crossings
• 2.Concrete Barriers on approaches to Bridge
   
  ·        clean up the barriers of weeds, etc.
• make the barriers more visible – fluorescent paint

3. Bridge Deck and approaches to Walkways

·        Regular sweeping

4.Signage

• Share the Road signage on approaches to bridge

Problem: Requires an extensive education program for both motorists and cyclists

•  

The MOTI officials made notes during the 1 hour meeting and they said they would share these with their Bridge Engineer. We were promised that we would hear back from them soon.

I have to thank Neil Horner for the article in today's PQB News.

After the meeting we discussed the need for continuing to press forward on the safety issues. One suggestion was to have a "Work Bee" at the bridge where we clean up the weeds around the concrete barriers, clean the weeds from the walkways approaching the bridge and possibly re-paint fluorescent paint on the concrete barriers at the ends of each walkway. We will also post regular updates on the website.

The Great Debate over Helmet Laws

The following opinion piece recently appeared in the Vancouver Sun. It is written by David Hay, a bike-injury lawyer from Vancouver. I found the article to be very informative and helped to clarify a number of issues relating to helmet use when cycling. I would recommend this article to anyone interested in this controversial issue.

The Great Debate over Helmet Laws

More information on the Comox Valley Farm Cycle Tour

Thanks to Willy van Kemenade - chair of the Comox Valley Farm Cycle Tour, here is quite a bit more information on this year's Comox Valley Farm Cycle Tour:

The main registration location is at the Farmers Market Exhibition Grounds 4839 Headquarters Rd (past curling rink) (see page 23).  We have a second location at Coastal Black Estate Winery, 2186 Endall Road, Black Creek (see page 23). This registration area will only be open on Aug 11 from 9-11am.   

At this registration location you can also register for the Aug 12 itinerary or you can go to the Bayview registration location on Aug 12 between 9 and 11am if you are only doing the Aug 12th itinerary.  It’s located at the Rest area on Buckley Bay Connector between Highway 19 and 19A (close to number 22 on page 22)

The locations of the participating farms can found by downloading the Comox Valley Growers' Guide
Maps of the farms are found on Pages 19 - 24

Backroads Bliss - North Route - Aug 11, 2012

Amara Farm

Berry Best Farm

Coastal Black

Comox Valley Greenhouse

DEE KAY TEE

Eatmore Sprouts - 2 routes

Fir  Shelter Farm

Good Earth Farm

Island Bisons

New Sprout Farm - Twelve Tribes

Outback Nursery

Stone Croft Farm

Rural Ramble - Dove Creek Area - Aug 11, 2012 - Family and Novice Route

Dove Creek Market & Petting Farm

Eatmore Sprouts - 2 routes

Lloydshaven Holsteins Ltd

Mc Clintock's Farm

Natures Way Farm

Tannadice Farms Ltd

Bayviews - South Routes - Aug 12, 2012 - On this South Route there will be 2 itineraries starting from the registration location.

(Buckley Bay South)

Country Aire - 2 routes

Fanny Bay Oysters  - 2 routes

Ironwood Farm

(Buckley Bay North)

Grassi Point Farm Market

Country Aire - 2 routes

Fanny Bay Oysters  - 2 routes

Innisfree Farm

Royston Roasterie

Hopefully that gives you the information you need for now.   Our website will continue to be updated with information.   See cvfarmcycletour.com.  There is a limit on the number of participants so suggest you register in the near future.  Thanks again for your interest.    Feel free to contact me if you have any other questions.

Willy

Presentations from Velo City 2012

Thanks to Arno Shortinghuis with the BC Cycling Coalition, here are links to many of the presentations from the Velo-City Global 2012 Conference held in June in Vancouver:

1.European Cyclists' Federation 

2.Research on Cycling Education and Cycling Accidents in Canada

3.Malmo Sweden and Planning for Cycling

4.Very Interesting Dutch Perspective on Cycling

5.Presentation on Idaho Law regarding Signage on Highways

6.The BICY Project: analysis on ways to increase cycling use in Central Europe

7.Around the World in 80 Days: Using GPS Technology to get kids cycling

8. 5 Lessons learned at Velo-City: a Good Overview of current trends in cycling

9.Reflections of conference attendees at Velo-City on Cycling Trends

Slow Food Cycle events

If you want to have a great experience cycling, visiting farms, sampling fresh, healthy foods and enjoying great views, try taking in a Slow Cycle event. There are 2 Slow Food Cycle events taking place this summer on Vancouver Island:

1.Comox Valley - Saturday and Sunday August 11 and 12 - Cost $15 per person - http://www.discovercomoxvalley.com/cvfarmcycletour

and

2.Sooke Slow Food Cycle - Sunday - Sept 23 -http://www.sookeslowfoodcycle.com/ 

There are also 2 Slow Food Cycle Events on the Mainland:

1. Vancouver - Actually in Agassiz on Saturday July 28 and Chilliwack on Sunday July 29

http://www.slowfoodvancouver.com/

and

2. Pemberton Sunday, August 19

http://www.slowfoodcyclesunday.com/

ICBC funding to create a BC standard for cycling education and organize an instructor accreditation process.

The BC Cycling Coalition's Education Committee is pushing forward with it's "Right To Bike - Cycling Education for Children" initiative. ICBC has just announced funding to create a BC standard for cycling education and organize an instructor accreditation process.

Check out the BC Cycling Coalition Blog entry

Helmets - Consumer Reports

Consumer Reports has just released a report on Bike Helmets. CTV Vancouver just did a feature piece on the report plus also on how to make sure that a helmet will fit properly.

CTV's report on Bike Helmets

David Suzuki: The benefits of cycling go beyond reducing climate change

In this Georgia Straight article - March 13th - Dr. David Suzuki discusses the benefits of separated bike lanes with specific reference to Vancouver.

http://www.straight.com/article-634356/vancouver/david-suzuki-benefits-cycling-go-beyond-reducing-climate-change

Thanks to John Fair for the link to the article

How Bikes Make Cities Cool - Portland

This 5 minute video - filmed entirely on bicycle - looks at the bicycle culture of Portland Oregon.

http://vimeo.com/38385810

NOTE: Video is in HD and may not run on your Internet feed. To see Video, when video starts:




Thanks to Fred Pakkala for passing on the link to the video