Start of Stage 6 of the 2012 Amgen Tour of California

The 2012 Amgen Tour of California started Stage 6 this morning from Marie Kerr Park in Palmdale.

Stage 6 goes from Palmdale to Big Bear Lake.

I rode over to the park at 8:30 am, and met Elaine Macdonald, who gave me flyers for the ride on September 28th and 29th to Save Saddleback Butte State Park and the AV High Desert Cyclists’ Fall Century on October 20th. I passed out quite a few of these. Elaine said that she would send me a digital copy of the Saddleback flyer, so if you’d like one, contact me by email.

Then, I hung out with Fred Flores. While waiting for the race to start, we were approached by Channel 3 News and asked if we would agree to be interviewed since we looked like avid cyclists. I don’t know if and when this segment will be on Channel 3, but if you see it, let me know.

Fred Flores

After that, Fred and I walked over to where some of the Tour riders were and I took some pictures of some of the Colombian riders.

Colombian Riders

We wandered around some more and saw that Bob Roll of NBC Sports Network was interviewing race leader Dave Zabriskie. There were too many tall people around them, so I didn’t get a photo of Zabriskie. But Bob Roll kindly consented to let me have a picture taken with him.

Bob Roll and Me

We found a good spot to catch the start of the race. Fred managed to get five shots of the start. I got four.

More Riders in the Start of Stage 6

. . . fire officials responded to a bicyclist who was injured after being struck by a vehicle.

The crash was reported around 3 p.m. along 10th St West at Avenue I.

This occurred yesterday, Wednesday, May 9, 2012.

Nothing further was known and the incident is under investigation by the Lancaster Sheriff’s Station.

Join the High Desert Cyclists for a fun monthly Brunch Ride starting at Marie Kerr Park. Meet in the Parking Lot on 30th St West near the basketball courts.

The ride will be at a comfortable pace. Beginners and families are welcome. Distance covered approximately 15 to 20 miles. Road bikes and mountain bikes are fine.

We will ride to brunch or coffee at a local restaurant or coffee house. Please bring money for your meal.

All riders must wear helmets and carry a spare tube.

No one will be left behind. For information, contact Michele at michelechavez@yahoo.com.

Linda Pluss

Text of Linda’s Obituary:

Born December 10, 1937, and passed away March 29, 2012, after a courageous battle with cancer. Her husband, Bob, was her best friend and her knight in shining armor – he was an amazing and devoted caregiver during her illness. She was a beloved wife, mother, sister, grandmother, great-grandmother, teacher, and friend. She treasured her family and always made them a priority. She was a vibrant woman who approached all aspects of life with enthusiasm, optimism, and passion. Her achievements and involvement in the community were many, including helping victims of domestic violence with her involvement in the Valley Oasis Amigas. She earned her bachelor’s degree from CSUN in 1978. She enjoyed teaching senior fitness at the YMCA. At age 51, she began a new career and taught 4th grade at Mesquite Elementary School for 14 years.

She dedicated herself to inspiring each and every one of her students to be the best that they could be. She touched many young lives with her creativity, energy, sense of humor, poetry, and love of learning. She was the 1997-1998 Palmdale School District Teacher of the Year. One of her greatest accomplishments in life was riding her bicycle with Bob across the transcontinental United States, and also writing and self publishing a book about their amazing adventures, “Pedaling into the Sunrise: – a legacy and treasure for her family and friends to keep her alive in their hearts and memories forever. She received the Woman of Inspiration Award at the 2007 AV Women’s Conference. She loved entertaining, playing tennis, snow skiing, hiking, bicycling, dancing with Sweet 01′ Bob (SOB), tap dancing with the Boogie Woogie Mamas, and being involved with AAUW. She modeled living life to its fullest and motivated us all to do the same. She brightened all of our lives and graced us all by loving us. We will miss her sparkle, but will never forget it, and will treasure it forever. She was preceded in death by her parents. She is survived by her loving husband Bob, daughters Nikki (Bob) Williams, Lori (Doug) Greener, grandchildren Melissa (Aaron) Snyder, Chris and Ethan Williams, Mitch and Ellie Greener, great-grandchildren Landon and Carson Snyder, and sister June Snow. A celebration of Linda’s life will be held on Sunday, May 20th, at 2:00 p.m. at the Antelope Valley Country Club for all who knew and loved her.

The train leaves Palmdale Metrolink Station at 6:39 am, so be there in plenty of time to buy your ticket. Weekend passes are only $10 roundtrip.

There will be a BICYCLE CAR on the train for our bikes!

Ride the streets with NO CARS!!!

CicLAvia lasts from 10 am to 3 pm. This is a wonderful ride in a street festival atmosphere.

We will arrive at LA Union Station at 8:30 am. We will meet a friend of mine, who is taking the San Bernardino line from San Bernardino that arrives at the same time.

Her return train leaves at 1:45 pm; ours is at 2:25 pm.

That gives us plenty of time to ride to our content, enjoying the carless streets.There will be stops in the downtown area where we will wait politely for traffic police to direct us through, but otherwise stops are few and far between.

Here’s a map of the CicLAvia Route.

We will ride as many of the directions as we want, ending in Boyle Heights for lunch, because one of our Caffe Racers knows a great Mexican restaurant there.

Bring enough money for lunch and for any memorabilia you might want to buy along the route.

Please invite any of your friends that you think might want to go, especially those who have never been.

Please contact your congressperson and ask him/her to support the Petri-Johnson Amendment to the House Transportation Bill. This amendment will restore funding for biking and walking as well as rail-trails and Safe Routes to Schools to the bill. Otherwise, funding for biking and walking will no longer have any federal funding.

The bill is being marked up now, so time is of the essence.

Contact Congressman McKeon:

Palmdale Office
1008 W. Ave M-14, Suite E-1
Palmdale, CA 93551
Phone: (661) 274-9688
Fax: (661) 274-8744

Contact Congressman McCarthy:

Bakersfield Office
4100 Empire Drive, Suite 150
Bakersfield, CA 93309
Phone: (661) 327-3611
Fax: (661) 637-0867

Rich Bartlett of Team Block in the Men's A Race (photo courtesy of SoCalCross)

We walked over to Marie Kerr Park before dawn to help get the course ready for the High Desert Cyclocross races sponsored by AV High Desert Cyclists yesterday morning.

The day started out cold, cloudy, and windy. Eventually, the sun came out.

After we spent some time putting posts in the ground for tape to be wrapped around, I worked at the registration table for most of the day while Sarge banged a drum for the racers on the far side of the course.

I knew little about cyclocross before yesterday. I thought you needed a cyclocross bike to race. I had a vague notion that riders have to pick their bikes up and run with them at some points in the race.

Watching the races, it was easy to catch the excitement and thrill of the sport. The course was, indeed, set up with obstacles like the one in the photo. Another obstacle we could see from the registration desk involved what looked like railroad ties spaced evenly on a hill. Riders had to carry their bikes over this obstacle to the top of the hill.

Not having a cyclocross bike was not a problem, because racers could rent a cyclocross bike at the event. Other racers rode whatever bike they had. The one restriction I saw in the cyclocross literature was no bar ends.

Racers came from all over California to participate, some from as far away as Sacramento.

Race results are available online at http://socalcross.org/results/.

On the video of the council meeting, you can hear it at approximately 1:19:41. (The link is not direct, but takes you to a page where you can select the video.)

The idea for a race between mayors was originally proposed by High Desert Cyclists’ President Paul Avila, who is also the organizer of SoCal Cyclocross High Desert Cyclocross races on Sunday, January 15, 2012.

I think it’s a wonderful idea that would promote cycling in the Antelope Valley and generate excitement for the Tour of California in Palmdale in May.

Now the ball is in Mayor Ledford’s court. I hope that in the spirit of fun and the promotion of healthy lifestyles in the AV that he will accept this challenge

LA County Planning Commission

Yesterday, I went with Alexis Lantz of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition and Alice Strong, who represents cyclists in the San Gabriel Valley, to a meeting of the Los Angeles County Planning Commission. We commented on the draft of the LA County Master Bicycle Plan.

After going through the plans for the Antelope Valley area on the plan, I found that most of the bicycle improvements planned are Class III (Bike Routes) bikeways. This means all that will be done for those roads will be green Bike Route signs. This is unacceptable, especially for roads like Elizabeth Lake Road.

There were 12 people who wished to make comments on the plan. The commission gave us each 3 minutes to speak. I was the third person to who spoke and they seemed to listen to my comments and asked questions when I was finished.

I hope that they will take some more time and make changes that will improve the final county bike plan.