Green Town Los Altos adopts Freiker!

A bit of news from the CA trenches.... Green Town Los Altos (GTLA) is a group of about 100+ influential community leaders and philanthropy groups who are focused on reshaping the City of Los Altos for the future. GTLA and the city council are focused on building a culture that is more community oriented with a vibrant downtown infrastructure and establishing community values of energy conservation, use of alternative energy sources, green building standards for new development, transportation alternatives for downtown access, waste management and educational programs targeted at the schools.

I've been to 2 of their forums to talk to them about Freiker - one I sort of just showed up and the 2nd time I was invited (that's always a good sign :) Last night I was invited to attend an advisory board strategy meeting where they spent 3 hours talking about their strategic goals for the next 2 years. They ended up adopting 4 programs - the one that got the most recognition and votes by the advisory board and city council as fitting with the values of the town and showing promising results was Freiker!

GTLA is going to target 3 schools next year: Gardner-Bullis, Covington, Egan (a middle school) and Loyola are the most likely candidates - several of them already have volunteers that have stepped up to be the wheels. I am going to be the committee organizer for this effort and part of what we need to do is settle on the final 3 schools and define the 'Freiker In A Box' program for getting them started. The funding will come from GTLA. I will be going to each of the schools over the next month to talk to both students and parents about Freiker. Included with Freiker will be a bicycle safety curriculum that will be introduced at these schools - bicycle advocacy and bicycle safety training were introduced in the Palo Alto school system many years ago and today about 33% of the Palo Alto and Gunn high schools students ride their bikes to HS...

This is progress. While it is only 3 schools next year, if all goes well it will be all Los Altos School District elementary schools the following year!

Every Ride Counts!

Freiker @ Almond, Week 5

Well, the kids are having a lot of fun with the Freikometer that is installed at Almond. Slowly, but surely, the number of rides per day is creeping upwards, we are now over an average of 100 rides.... but not by much. I'm not sure why the other 50% of the school has not registered and I know there are a lot of kids that ride to school everyday that are not Freikers - need to find out about that too. But here is what I have so far for the kids that do ride or walk:

Results at Almond School for week 5:

• Approximately 265 kids are registered Freikers.
• On averagle, over 100 kids commute by bike or by foot every day.
• Grand total of 2,290 round trips in 5 weeks.
• Grand total of 3,431 miles traveled! This is the distance from the Almond School parking lot to Lubec, Maine (pictured below) which is the eastern most city in the United States of America. This week they left Pittsburgh, PA and traveled through Philadelphia, PA, Boston, MA and Nashua, NH before they arrived in Lubec. The kids of Almond have successfully crossed the United States for the first time! How about that for hussle!
• For the first time, Almond is the number #1 Freiker school in the US!
• The number of bikes in the bike racks has increased by 70% from the week-long count that was done the week prior to Freiker being started.
• We did the "Freiker rolls to Jamba Juice" at the beginning of April. This weekend we are doing "Freiker rolls at the Challenge Bike Ride". These are group rides focused on safe routes and bicycle safety and a great way to meet new friends in the community.
• 73 kids qualified for the Baskin-Robbins free ice cream cone this week (every 5 rides wins you a free childs ice cream cone of your choice).

Well, you can't ask for much better results than that. I'm going to work on what it takes to get the rest of the kids registered and what it takes to get an average of 125 riders per day. I'll let you know how that goes.

Every Ride Counts!
Jon

Florida Bike Lanes...

A friend of mine sent this to me. I thought it was pretty funny and worth a post :-)

Roadshow: Bike Lane not a Passing Lane

Q: Can you remind readers that a bike lane is not a passing lane? I was nearly run off the road Tuesday morning as a completely oblivious driver on Park Avenue in San Jose swerved into the bike lane to pass cars waiting to turn left. She didn't look before swerving and I was almost pinched between her and the parked cars.

Phil Nicholas

San Jose

A: Not good. Although you can move into a bike lane to make a right turn 200 feet before the intersection, you cannot veer into a bike lane to pass a car waiting to make a left turn.

2009 Solvang Century is in the books!

Well, the 2009 Solvang Century is now in the record books. It was a massive peloton including riders from MVV, LGBRC, SJBC and a handful of riders who are free agents.

This is a three day event for most riders:

Day 1: The ride down and a regroup at the Best Western, Big America in Santa Maria. After a few beers and a lot of trash talk, we head into Solvang to register and pick up our packets. Then it is back to the hotel to get ready for dinner at The Olive Garden around the corner. This, of course, is a pasta feast which includes several sides of wine with each meal.


Day 2: We start with a massive breakfast at the hotel, and then a drive to Solvang to start of the race. Next comes 105 miles of the most beautiful country you can ever imagine. We have the post ride festivities at the Bundy Van and then head back to the hotel to get ready for dinner at the Far Western Tavern in Gautalupe, CA. The Far Western is a great Santa Maria BBQ joint that has the most fantastic Rib Eye steak you have ever had.... and did I forget to mention lots of wine? The eating ends at some point but the drinking continues way into the night until you end up looking like this:

Day 3: This is a recovery stage for most people, including myself. It starts with dragging yourself out of bed, going to breakfast, packing what you can still find, crawling someone's car and driving back. Of couse, the ride back usually includes a stop at In'n'Out Burger or something like that to cover lunch. If you are lucky you get to sleep when you get home. If you are me, you have to engage as a payback for abandoning the family for the weekend... but it is always worth it to go to Solvang with the boys :-)

The Starting Peloton that joined the weekend festivities:

1. Paul "Yetiman" Desmeth, Free Agent
2. Jon "Feel Good" Simms, MVV
3. Mark "Switch" Jongsma, MVV
4. Aline "Lead Dog" Cincu, MVV
5. Steve "HammerSchlagen" Stewart, LGBRC
6. Mark "Fletch" Fischer, SJBC
7. Kyle "The Drill Master" McElroy, SJBC
8. Bill "Sledge" Nowlin, MVV
9. Marc "The Cannibal" Moisson, MVV
10. Markus "The Kaiser" Brockmann, MVV
11. Betina "Banana-Rama" Brockmann, Free Agent
12. Calvin "The Spanish Climber" Darling, MVV
13. Paloma "Senora" Lucas, Free Agent
14. Mike "BroSchlagen" Whitlach, LGBRC
15. Becky "Cool Hand" Whitlach, Free Agent
16. Paul "Clank" Hartrey, MVV
17. Jon "Jon-Bon" Null, Free Agent
18. Bryan "The Flying Dutchman" McLean, LGBRC
19. Mary McLean, Free Agent
20. Chris "Never Lost" Paxton, MVV
21. Mike "Freight Train" Aberg, MVV
22. Steve "I Stop 4 Bagels" Pratt, MVV
23. Kevin "The Energizer Bunny" Fox, LGBRC
24. Aaron "Sneak Attack" Lowe, MVV
25. Neal "Any Beer" Motta, MVV
26. Peter "Crossing Guard" Marcotullio, SJBC
27. Cindy "Go-Go" Woverton, Free Agent
28. Dave "Spaceman" Sloan, LGBRC
29. Meg "Spacegirl" Sloan, LGBRC
    

Since videography is one of my many hobbies, I prefer that media in giving my ride reports. So, from Broken Spoke Productions, here it is...

The Ride Report With A Beat:


2009 Solvang Century from Break Away on Vimeo.

Ride Stats:

• Distance -- 105.39 miles
• Climbing -- 5,562 ft.
• Ave. Speed -- 20.2 mph
• Max Speed -- 45.3 mph
• Ride Time -- 5:01
• Calories Burned -- 6,395 cals
• Temp -- 60-65F and clear

This year was the fastest pace we have ever done for a Solvang Century race! In general, the weather cooperated and was nice and cool, the pace was blistering fast and the sag stops were excruciatingly long - kind of the turtle and the hare story only on bicycles. We kept passing the same folks over and over and over again, all day long :-)

Hope you enjoyed the entry - stay tuned for more cycling action...

Every Ride Counts!

Freiker Comes To Almond School

About a year ago I had the opportunity to go on a bike ride with Vasanthan Dasan, a collegue of mine from Sun Microsystems. He told me all about a wonderful program called Freiker (pronounced fry-ker) which was a program designed to encourage kids to ride their bikes to school instead of being driven by Mom and Dad. The program has some pretty simple goals:

1. Kides get fit! Riding a bike is a great way to burn off some extra energy and calories at the same time. I don't know if I'm average, but when I am out riding my bike hard, I burn between 1,200 and 1,400 calories and hour. What a fun way to fight childhood obesity!
   
2. Kids can manage! Freiker teaches kids to be a little more self reliant at running errands and going cool places. By not having to wait for someone to drive them around, the gain another level of freedom on the road to growing up.
   
3. Kids go green! By using kid power rather than automobile power to get to and from school, kids can help fight air pollution and global climate change. They get it! And they want to help out - after all, it will be their planet someday!
   
4. Kids have fun! Buzzing in on the Freikometer every morning is as much fun as winning all the cool prizes. You can even do cool things like have different competitions between schools to see who can ride the furthest!

Well, on March 17, 2009 - almost a year later, we went live with Freiker at Almond School. It was and instant success for the kids and a lot of work for me. The day was special and was highlighted by a special afternoon assembly and a bike parade of unusual bikes. Jelly Belly Beans sent me 3 cases of jelly beans to pass out to the kids. So, do you think that kids like jelly beans? In the first couple of weeks I have passed out 250 freiker tags and 500 packages of jelly beans. And I had a blast doing it.


News Coverage:

Well, there has been lots of that.... here are just a few of the TV broadcasts, newspaper articles and blog entries that have followed the launch.

1. San Jose Mercury News: Fisher: Bringing back biking
2. ABC News 7: Green commute program at Los Altos school
3. KLIV/CNN 1590: Los Altos school encouraging kids to bike
4. SF.Streetsblog.com: The Freiker Movement
5. Cyclelicious: Freiker in Los Altos, California

In addition to the above, I believe the Los Altos Town Crier (it's about time guys!) and the Palo Alto Daily News are about to publish articles. I'll keep you updated as we go along....

What About those Prizes?

Well, Freiker does promise that. I'm in the process of working with local merchants on what the prize donations will be. Here is what I have so far....

1. Palo Alto Bike and The Bicycle Outfitter donated $4,000 for the Freikometer and the first year of operation. Way to go guys!
2. MVV (Monta Vista Velo) Cycling Club donated $1,000 to get the program up and running at Almond. This covers collateral and some of the prizes. You guys rock!
   
3. Specialized Bicycles donated 250 Freiker logo water bottles. Water is an important thing to have on a bike ride!
4. Baskin-Robbins will be giving the kids a free child's ice cream cone for every 5 rides they complete. Kids will do anything for ice cream!
5. Spot Pizza is donating a large pizza to every Freiker that completes at least 30 rides! You need to be well fed after riding that many miles!
6. Jamba Juice donated $50. I thought it would be more like $250 but somehow we had communications problem... I sent people down there but didn't realize that they had to identify themselves as Freikers... Live and learn...

There are a few more in the works but this is what I have so far....

So, What Are The Results So Far?...

It is hard to measure the impact in terms of the smiles and fun that the kids are having with Freiker but if you hang around the Freikometer some morning you begin to realize that it is real. There is nothing like the buzz of a Freikometer to get your day going. Some of the kids need to do it over and over again. Parents love it to. Many of them are dusting off the bikes that have been sitting in their garage since last summer and riding to school with their kids! There are a few of these types of success stories - I'm glad to be a part of this kind of movement :-)

What is much easier to measure is what the Freikometer does best - it counts the number of times each student has ridden their bike or walked to school and posts the results on a secure webpage for the child and the parents to see. Here you go....

1. About 260 students are registered Freikers! That's 1/2 the student population of Almond School. Not sure why this isn't 100% but I suspect it has more to do with parents than kids.
2. The number of bicycles in the bike cages has increased about 50% since a week long sample was taken the week before the program started.
3. Every day about 100 kids commute to school by walking, scooter or bike. In just 3 weeks, the student body of Almond School has logged over 1,500 Freiker round trips to school.
4. If you estimate that each student travels about 3/4 mile, 1 way, to school, the total number of Freiker trips covers about 2,250 miles! To put it another way, if those kids started in the Almond parking lot and rode their bike 2,250 miles across the US, they'd be in Chicago, Il after the first 3 weeks. They did this without burning a single drop of gasoline! That is no small 'feet' for these kids!

I'll keep everyone posted on new developments as the kids get into Freiker. It might be interested to track their progress, in miles, as they accumulate rides. This could turn into a virtual journey around the US. I was also thinking of some fun competition between Freiker schools - it might be interesting to see which student body can pedal the furthest in a month so something like that. If any of you have any fun suggestions, let me know.

If you are interested in learning more about Freiker, you can contact me via a comment left on this blogsite or by sending email to freiker@almondschool.org.

Every Ride Counts!