Now here is something you don't see every day!

Has America Outsourced High Tech to India?

For some time now, I've had a growing concern that America is in the process of outsourcing it's high tech industry to India, China and some of the Baltic countries. More and more of the jobs are going into these regions. While US corporate executives and high-tech companies get rich (at least for now) for outsourcing, many US high-tech workers are out of jobs because those jobs are now overseas. Beyond that, many of the US companies have a practice of hiring developers from India to work here in the US on H1B1 visas. Over time, many of those workers return to India where their money will go further thus creating a brain drain effect. This process has been going on for the last 30 years but now at a much more accelerated rate. The talent and experience is being developed elsewhere little by little.

Beyond just the general fears, I read the following article entitled Outsourcing CEO Says American Grads Are "Unemployable" which was published in Inside Tech today. While I realize that a large part of what is being outsourced to companies like HCL is more low-skill IT work, I can not help to think of all of the American companies that have development centers in Bangalore, Pune and Hydrabad where they work on parts of the core technology stacks. This is disturbing, to say the least, and reckless over the long haul as India and China build their high-tech infrastructure to compete with the US.

The US auto market will be under more pressure soon from cars that are designed and manufactured in India....

Look...

Before you say a word, ask yourself 3 questions...

Next time you hear or are about to go along what person telling you a rumor, gossip, innuendo, or insinuations, wants you to act like against another person, keep this ancient Greek story in mind.

In ancient Greece, Socrates was widely lauded for his wisdom.  One day the great philosopher came upon an acquaintance, who ran up to him excitedly and said, "Socrates, do you know what I just heard about one of your students?"

"Wait a moment," Socrates replied.  "Before you tell me.  I'd like you to pass a little test.  It's called the the Test of Three".

"Test of Three?"

"That's correct," Socrates continued.

"Before you talk to me about my student, let's take a moment to test what you're going to say.  The first test is truth.  Have you made absolutely sure that what you are abut to tell me is true?"

"No," the man replied.  :actually I just heard it."

"All right," said Socrates.  "So you don't really know if it's true or not.  Now let's try the second test, the test Goodness.  Is what you are about to tell me about my student something good?"

"No, on the contrary..."

"So," Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him even though you're not certain it's true?"

The man shrugged, a little embarrassed.

Socrates continued, "You may still pass though because there is a third test - the filter of Usefulness.  Is what you want to tell me about my student going to be useful to me?"

"Well," concluded Socrates, "if what you want to tell me is neither True nor Good nor even Useful, why tell it to me at all?"

The man was defeated and ashamed and said no more.

Day 3: 184.8 lbs!

OK, so now I know I can lose another 5 lbs in 2 weeks - no problem. Let's reset this goal... let's shoot for 175 lbs by the time the cruise starts.... that should make things interesting. Amyone want to take any bets?

I'm sticking to my meal plan pretty well. Tonight was an exception since it is Friday night. I had a couple of glasses of wine *and* dessert! Blueberry coffee cake from the chef of the Savory Bite! Now that is worth blowing a diet for :)

I am also sticking to my riding plan. I rode every day this week - at least 20 miles. I did miss yesterday because the day took over before I could get my ride in but today I did 30 miles to compensate somewhat. The end result is still positive - 5 lbs in 3 days. And yes, I am drinking lots of water!

I am thinking I need a double-double though :)

Day 1 of the march to 180 lbs !

OK, here is how I did on my weight loss program... Short and sweet! First, let's see how I did against my goals:;

1. Eat 3 meals a day - no snacks. It is OK to be hungry. I did OK against the goal in this category. I just made one tiny little mistake when I had 3 sample size bags of Jelly Belly Beans as a treat! I'll try to not do this ever again!
   
2. One helping at dinner time. No more! I did OK on this one too - but not great. Chef Adub made a fresh vegi stew from vegetables that she got at a CSA pickup earlier in the day. It was yummy! I couldn't help but take a smaller second helping.
   
3. When given a choice, eat low fat foods. I did pretty well on this. Breakfast was toast, margarine and jelly. Lunch was pan seared noodles and vegis with skinless white meat chicken. Dinner was vegi stew. Everything was pretty low fat for the day.
   
4. 1 glass of wine per day with dinner! Eh.... Errrr... I need to work on this one. Not bad but not good. 1 and 1/2 glasses for the day total.
   
5. No dessert. Period! Almost! I did take a spoonful as I was dishing Dalezilla his nightly bowl of ice cream. Rocky Road is sooooo good! If I ever get to 170 lbs, I'm going to make myself a big bowl of Rocky Road.
   

and ride at least 20 miles per day on my bike! I almost didn't make this goal. I was planning on eating dinner at 5:00pm give myself 90 minutes to digest and then do the MVV Hill Interval ride. Unfortunately, Kira sprung on us at the last minute that we needed to shuttle her to Santa Clara for a Color Guard event by 5:30. Dinner just got pushed out. By the time I finish eating and gear up, it is 6:45. I made myself get on my bike and decided to do an easy ride to let my dinnner digest... nah... let's see if we an find the MVV guys tonight! I went looking but never found them. Ended up doing the Tuesday night Hill Interval course with a little cut off the start in an attempt to catch the club.

Stats For My Ride:

• Distance: 21.7 miles
• Elevation Change: 2,016 ft.
• Rolling Time: 1 hr 24 min.
• Pace: 3:53 per mile
• Ave Speed: 15.4 mph
• Max Speed: 41.8 mph
• Ave HR: 145 bpm
• Max HR: 182 bpm

Stats For My Diet:

• Starting Weight: 190 lbs on Jun 16, 2009
  
• Goal Weight: 180 lbs by July 3, 2009
  
• Today's Weight: 187.4 lbs
• Daily Delta: 2.6 lbs
• Total Delta: 2.6 lbs

Thought For The Day: Stay hydrated. Drink lots of water!

Well, it has been a great 4 months for the Almond Freikers. I think that I can say that there is no challenge too big for this group of youngsters. They not only showed us how committed they are to their own personal health and the health of our planet but they also taught us all how much fun it can be to do the right things. Congratulations to the Almond Freikers !

Year End Stats !

And what a year it was. The kids at Almond have changed the landscape in the bay area and maybe around the world with the effort they put in....

• 270 students registered
• 5,915 total round trips logged
• 9,000 total miles logged
• Almond was the #1 Freiker school in the nation!
• 6 tons of CO2 emissions where prevented from entering the earth's atmosphere.
• 850 gallons of gasoline were saved.
• 450,000 kid calories were burned.
• $9,000 were raised as a result of their efforts. This came in the form of a $3,000 grant to Almond School for Freiker next year, $3,500 grant to Egan to start Freiker next year and $3,500 grant to Santa Rita to start Freiker next year.

Freikers Arrive Safely Back At Almond School !

After a 9,000 mile whorl-wind tour of the entire United States, the Almond Freikers pulled into the parking lot on Wed morning, June 10th in time to celebrate the last day of school with their friends. What a trip it was too! The Almond Freikers left the Almond School parking lot on Monday, March 16th at 8:00am and traveled to the following destinations:

1. Chicago, IL
2. Pittsburgh, PA
3. New York, NY
   
4. Boston, MA
5. Lebec, ME
6. Baltimore, MD
7. Washington D.C.
8. Savannah, GE
9. Key West, FL
10. New Orleans, LA
11. Cliff Dwellers National Monument, NM
12. Los Angeles, CA

That was quite and effort and was accomplished in just 13 weeks of walking and riding their bikes to school every day. Imagine what could happen next year!

Year End Awards Party !

The Almond Freikers may have worked hard along the way but their were also rewarded for their efforts. Here are some of the Awards that were donated:

• 478 ice cream cones where handed out by Baskin-Robbins in Los Altos.
• 56 Spot Pizza coupons where awarded

• There were 12 riders signed up on the first week and never missed a day !

• There were a total of 56 students who walked or rode at least 75% of the time. This means at least 40 round trips out of a possible of 57.

• Here is a short video of the closing cereemonies...
  

Spot Pizza Coupons !

I tried my best but somehow this just didn't end up going as planned! 56 kids were awarded Spot Pizza Coupons. They were handed out to the teachers to be distributed on the last day of school. Unfortunately, not everyone got theirs. If your child completed over 40 walks or rides (see www.freiker.org) and did not get their coupon (Dalezilla still has not gotten his), let me know the child's name and teacher and I will try to follow up. It is too late to be manually entering rides at this point - everything is closed from and awards and coupons perspective. Sorry!

A Special Thanks To Our Sponsors !

The following sponsors have supported the Freiker program at Almond School this year. Some of them gave money and some gave merchandise but all have contributed whatever they could to to make this fun and rewarding for the students. If you are in need of any of the products or services that they offer, I ask you to shop with them first this summer.

Without the donations of the following 3 sponsors, this program would have never happened! I think we all appreciate what they have done for the school and I, for one, am a committed customer (and have been for many years).

• The Bicycle Outfitter
• Palo Alto Bikes
• Monta Vista Velo Cycling Club (MVV)
  

The following sponsors should be recognized for their more than generous donations. It takes a lot to fuel the Almond Freikers. Without pizza and ice cream they could never have walked or ridden 9,000 miles!

• Baskin-Robbins on State St. in Los Altos donated 475 ice cream cones!
  
• Spot Pizza on Main St. in Los Altos donated 60 large pizzas!
  

The following sponsors have given to the program in various and important ways and have made it just that much more special for everyone!

• Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition (SBVC) for all of the bike to work bags! These make great shopping bags as well.
• REI for donating some water bottles and gifts for the Bag-O-Goodies!
• Rick's Cafe for helping with some much need funding along the way.
• JambaJuice for helping with some much needed funding along the way.
• Specialized Bicycles for all those cute little Freiker water bottles!

And, of course, I'd like to thank the folks at Freiker.org for giving us such a cool program to work with and helping me get through the last 3 months. Great job everyone!

It's been a fun 3+ months for me and (I hope) for the kids at Almond School. Please say thank you to our sponsors when you are in the area - we need them all back next year :)

Mountain Biking in the Redwoods !

This week I skipped my normal MVV bicycle ride and went mountain biking in the redwood forest up by Felton, CA with some friends of mine. What a great day! The weather was perfect - cool in the shade of the trees, slightly warm in the sun. There are not many things better than riding a bike over twisty, turny, hilly, forested terrain. We left Felton around 9:00am and rode up through Henry Cowell State Park. You all know this area because it is the home of Roaring Camp Railroad. We road right over the tracks and up through the middle of the park.

Mountain Bike riding in this area is hard! I would not recommend it for the casual rider. You will either end up lost or hurt or both! There is lots of climbing on single track trails, you have to be able to jump over trees that have fallen across the trails, climb over washboard ramps, thread the needle between two tree with maybe 18" of clearance and navigate the sides of running creek gullies. But it is all good and all worth the effort!

We got to ride on trails which were named by the locals:

• Hobbit Trail
• Head Banger
• Slippery When Wet
• The Tressles Trail
• Steep and Deep

Here are my stats for the day:

• Distance: 19.8 miles
• Rolling Time: 2 hrs 36 min
• Elevation Gain: 2,800 ft.
• Ave Speed: 7.8 mph
• Max Speed: 31 mph
• No HR taken on this ride...
  
• Temp: 66 in the shade, 74 in the sun
• Calories Burned: 4,000 kcals
• MotionBased Map: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/8456769

The Freiker Creed !

Well, my son helped me come up with a little slogan to characterize the Freikers at Almond. I'm not sure we have this dialed in yet so feel free to offer suggestions if you have any....

Neither snow nor rain nor heat of day nor the weight of a backpack stays these couriers from the swift completion of buzzing in on the Freikometer.

• I will register on-line to measure my progress...
• I only buzz in when I walk, scoot, skate or ride my bike...
  
• I will track my walks and rides faithfully to make sure none are missing...
  
• If there is a line at the Freikometer, I will wait my turn...
• If it is not buzzing, I will enter my ride manually...

For if I complete these tasks with God speed, I'm sure to receive a free Baskin-Robbins ice cream cone for my efforts !

Remember The Freiker Challenge For The Summer !

If you find yourself about to hop in your car to drive downtown - take a moment and ask yourself, "Is this errand something that I could do on my bike?" If the answer is yes, just do it! It's fun, it good for you and it's good for the planet. Besides, it sets a great example for the kids that are working hard at this already.

Well, folks, that's all for this year, see you all in the fall!

---
Every Ride Counts!
Jon

Time To Lose Some Weight...

We are going to be heading out on a 10 day cruise to Alaska starting on the 3rd of July. This is one of those family affairs and while we are all looking forward to it, 10 days is a long time to be on a cruise ship with nothing much more to do than eat! Last time I went on one of these cruises, it took me years to lose the weight I had gained. This time I want to have my body moderated before we even start - hopefully these simple lifestyle changes will carry over on the trip and it will keep me from going on a 10 day binge...

MY Goal: Get my body weight below 180 lbs before July 3rd!

That is roughly 10 lbs that I have to lose in 2 and 1/2 weeks... can it be done? I think so - that is about 4 lbs a week and I know I'm capable of that if I need to get it done. Here is my simple lifestyle routine that I think will get me over the hump.

1. Eat 3 meals a day - no snacks. It is OK to be hungry.
2. One helping at dinner time. No more!
   
3. When given a choice, eat low fat foods.
4. 1 glass of wine per day with dinner!
5. No dessert. Period!
   

and ride at least 20 miles per day on my bike!

I'll keep you posted on my progress every couple of days and we'll see where I end up by July 3rd. Wish me luck!

Go By Bike !

In my previous posting I challenged you to stop and think every time you are about to hop into the car to travel downtown. "Can I do this errand on my bike?"

The embedded video does a much better job than I could ever do of explaining why it is so important to think about your choice of transportation options and the message it sends to your kids. Please consider the 2 Mile Challenge for a day, a week, a month or.. just may... as a lifestyle.




When I first started the Freiker program at Almond, I was a sport cyclist meaning I rode my bike for fitness only. If I needed to actually go somewhere, 95% of the time I did that in a car. I can attest that, with a little discipline, you really can loose 30 lbs of weight by riding it off. I did just that! But after being involved with the program for the last 6 months, I am beginning to see the value in bicycle commuting and how to do that more efficiently. I'm trying to make the 2 mile challenge a lifestyle choice. Wish me luck!

Every Ride Counts!
Jon

A Special Thanks To The Freiker Sponsors

The following sponsors have supported the Freiker program at Almond School this year. Some of them gave money and some gave merchandise but all have contributed whatever they could to to make this fun and rewarding for the students. If you are in need of any of the products or services that they offer, I ask you to shop with them first this summer.

Without the donations of the following 3 sponsors, this program would have never happened! I think we all appreciate what they have done for the school and I, for one, am a committed customer (and have been for many years).

• The Bicycle Outfitter
• Palo Alto Bikes
• Monta Vista Velo Cycling Club (MVV)
  

The following sponsors should be recognized for their more than generous donations. It takes a lot to fuel the Almond Freikers. Without pizza and ice cream they could never have walked or ridden 9,000 miles!

• Baskin-Robbins on State St. in Los Altos donated 475 ice cream cones!
  
• Spot Pizza on Main St. in Los Altos donated 60 large pizzas!
  

The following sponsors have given to the program in various and important ways and have made it just that much more special for everyone!

• Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition (SBVC) for all of the bike to work bags! These make great shopping bags as well.
• REI for donating some water bottles and gifts for the Bag-O-Goodies!
• Rick's Cafe for helping with some much need funding along the way.
• JambaJuice for helping with some much needed funding along the way.
• Specialized Bicycles for all those cute little Freiker water bottles!

And, of course, I'd like to thank the folks at Freiker.org for giving us such a cool program to work with and helping me get through the last 3 months. Great job everyone!

It's been a fun 3+ months for me and (I hope) for the kids at Almond School. Please say thank you to our sponsors when you are in the area - we need them all back next year :)

Here is your summertime challenge... If you find yourself about to hop in your car to drive downtown - take a moment and ask yourself, "Is this errand something that I could do on my bike?" If the answer is yes, just do it! It's fun, it good for you and it's good for the planet. Besides, it sets a great example for the kids that are working hard at this already.

--
Every Ride Counts!

Stevens Creek Trail Dedication Ceremonies

The Mayor and City Council of Mountain View

cordially invite you to attend the

DEDICATION CEREMONIES

FOR THE STEVENS CREEK TRAIL AND

WILDLIFE CORRIDOR

Saturday, June 13, 2009

MOFFETT BOULEVARD OVERCROSSING DEDICATION at 10:00 A.M.	EL CAMINO REAL TO SLEEPER AVENUE DEDICATION at 11:30 A.M.

PROGRAM OF EVENTS

DEDICATION OF MOFFETT BOULEVARD OVERCROSSING

10:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.

Event parking available at the Whisman Park or La Avenida trail heads

GUIDED 2.5 MILE COMMUNITY WALK

TO SLEEPER AVENUE BRIDGE

10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

Provided by the Friends of Stevens Creek Trail

DEDICATION OF EL CAMINO REAL TO SLEEPER AVENUE

11:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon

Parking available at the Yuba Drive or Landels School trail heads

Refreshments, group photo and entertainment will follow the dedications

For more information, contact the Shoreline at Mountain View office at (650) 903-6392.

To fill the one hour walk time, at 10:30 am adult bicyclists will be invited to ride first to trail mile marker 0.0 at Shoreline Park before heading to Sleeper Ave. More ambitious bicyclists will then be invited to circle Shoreline Park on their way to Sleeper Ave.

Aaron Grossman, Executive Director
Friends of Stevens Creek Trail
22221 McClellan Road
Cupertino, CA 95014
cell 408-202-2802

Almond Freikers Arrive in L.A. !

Week #12 is now in the record book - and what a week it was! The Almond Freikers continue their trek around the United States and the goal for the final week is to make it back to the Almond School parking lot before school lets out on Wed. I think they can do it!


Stats For Week 12 !

Well, the second to the last week of school was a remarkable week for the Almond Freikers! Here is how they did...

• Amond School remains the #1 school in the nation by almost 400 round trips!
• The Almond Freikers logged a total of 559 round trips for the week.
• Total round trips since March 16 is 5,681.
• Total miles since March 16th is 8,521 miles.
• 2.85 Tons of C02 emissions were prevented from reaching the atmosphere.
• 426,000 kids calories were burned.
  

Almond Freikers Arrive In Los Angeles !

After slogging their way across the US to the Lebec, ME, then down the east coast to Key West, FL, the Almond Freikers have now traversed the US a second time and landed in Los Angles, CA! I'm sure the kids are enjoying themselves on the beach right now in the land that is too hot, too smoggy, too crowded and too everything!

Los Angeles is the largest city in the state of California and the second largest in the United States (next to New York, NY). Often abbreviated as L.A. and nicknamed The City of Angels, Los Angeles has an estimated population of 3.8 million and spans over 498.3 square miles in Southern California. Additionally, the Los Angeles metropolitan area is home to nearly 13 million residents.

Los Angeles!

The Los Angeles coastal area was first settled by the Tongva (or Gabrieleños) and Chumash Native American tribes thousands of years ago. The first Europeans arrived in 1542 under Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, a Portuguese-born explorer who claimed the area as the City of God for the Spanish Empire. However, he continued with his voyage and did not establish a settlement. The next contact would not come until 227 years later, when Gaspar de Portola, along with Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí, reached the present site of Los Angeles on August 2, 1769. Crespí noted that the site had the potential to be developed into a large settlement.

In 1771, Franciscan friar Junípero Serra built the Mission San Gabriel Arcangel near Whittier Narrows, in what is now called San Gabriel Valley. In 1777, the new governor of California, Felipe de Neve, recommended to Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa, viceroy of New Spain that the site noted by Juan Crespí be developed into a pueblo. The town was officially founded on September 4, 1781, by a group of forty-four settlers known as "Los Pobladores".

New Spain achieved its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821, and the pueblo continued as a part of Mexico. During Mexican rule, Governor Pío Pico, made Los Angeles Alta California's regional capital. Mexican rule ended during the Mexican–American War: Americans took control from the Californios after a series of battles, culminating with the signing of the Treaty of Cahuenga on January 13, 1847.

Railroads arrived when the Southern Pacific completed its line to Los Angeles in 1876. Oil was discovered in 1892, and by 1923 Los Angeles was producing one-quarter of the world's petroleum. By 1900, the population had grown to more than 102,000 people,^[15] putting pressure on the city's water supply. 1913's completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, under the supervision of William Mulholland, assured the continued growth of the city.

In the 1920s, the motion picture and aviation industries flocked to Los Angeles. In 1932, with population surpassing one million, the city hosted the Summer Olympics.

The post-war years saw an even greater boom, as urban sprawl expanded the city into the San Fernando Valley. In 1969, Los Angeles became one of the birthplaces of the Internet, as the first ARPANET transmission was sent from UCLA to SRI in Menlo Park.

Also in the 1980s, Los Angeles became the center of the heavy metal music scene, especially glam metal bands. In 1984, the city hosted the Summer Olympic Games for the second time. Despite being boycotted by 14 Communist countries, the 1984 Olympics became the most financially successful in history, and only the second Olympics to turn a profit – the other being the 1932 Summer Olympics, also held in Los Angeles.

Spots Pizza Awards !

The Spot Pizza Contest is now over... 57 Freikers will be receiving coupons this Tuesday for their hard efforts!

Freiker Award Ceremony !

• Almond Freikers:
• All Almond Freikers will receive a special canvas gift bag with few assorted goodies including a reusable water bottle and a Freiker bracelet! These will be passed out on Tuesday during class.

• Frequest Freiker:
• The following students walked or rode at least 75% of the time. This shows commitment to the cause and is deserving of a special recognition. Their will be a special assembly held at 1:45pm on Tuesday in the Multi. The following students will be asked to attend and will get to choose a special gift.

• Freiker Elites
• 12 Freikers registered during the first 3 days of registration (when we had the Freiker table set up in the front) and never missed a day from that point on. They will be recognized at a special assembly on Monday morning where they will receive their medals. In addition, they will be attending the special assembly at 1:45pm on Tuesday in the Muilti (see above). The three whose names are preceeded with a '*' represent a perfect Freiker record of registering on day 1 and never missing a day and will lead the assembly.

Freiker Rolls To Foothill College !

We will be leaving the Almond School parking lot today at 1:00pm to ride to Foothill College. We'll do a lap around the campus, pause for a rest and a drink of water and then it's off to Baskin-Robbins where we will cash in some of those ice cream coupons. After ice cream, it's back to Almond School to end the ride.

Unfortunately, I am going to be cancelling the Freiker Rolls to Hidden Villa next weekend! Sorry for getting everyone's hopes up on this but something has come up that I need to attend to and will therefore not be able to make the ride. Maybe some time this summer!

My Saturday MVV Ride !

Well, my Saturday we a butt kicker that took us on one of the hardest cycling climbs in the bay area... maybe even the world !! :) We road out of the The Bicycle Outfitter around 8:30am on Saturday morning and headed south towards Almaden Valley. Don't ask me the route because in the 25 times I've done it I still can't figure it out. It takes 3 maze routes through some beautiful residential neighborhoods down into Los Gatos. From there we go over Kennedy Rd. into the Blossom Hill area and this is where the fun starts.

We end up on Hicks road when circles Almaden Quicksilver Park. After going past Guadelupe Reservoir, you start up a 2.5 mile climb. At the base the uphill grade is about 15%, in mid-climb it pitches up to about 23% and then settles back down to 10% at the top! If none of this means anything to you let me give you some benchmarks to go by:

• Mt. Hamilton is a 5% grade for 22 miles. Considered a gradual uphill that starts to wear you out near the top.
• Old La Honda Rd. This is an 8% grade for 3.2 miles. Everyone knows this climb and knows their time to the top. It's steep... but not that steep.
• Moody Rd. This is a 12 % grade for .6 miles. It is just up past Hidden Villa. It's hard but doable given that is is relatively short.

When you are talking grades of 10%-23% for 2.5 miles you are talking 4 mph at best and grinding every pedal stroke out as if it is your last. If you are really brave, you can take a right at the stop sign at the summit and go up Mt. Uhmanhum Rd. which is more of the same for another 2 miles. Not me! Not this time! I did that once before and changed religions twice before I got to the top!

Here are my ride stats!

• Distance: 65 miles
• Ride Time: 4 hrs 14 mins
• Ave Speed: 15 mph
• Max Speed: 47 mph
• Elevation Gain: 4,800 ft.
• Calories: 4,500 cals
• MotionBased Map: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/8388505

That's all for this week...

Every Ride Counts!

2008 James L. Oberstar Award

I wanted to share this with all of the readers. This is quite and accomplishment and something that I hope the students at Almond would be able to achieve someday. I think we are very, very close and the students at Almond should be proud of what they have achieved this school year!

December 10, 2008

Bear Creek Elementary School in Boulder, Colorado, wins Oberstar Award

CHAPEL HILL, NC — The National Center for Safe Routes to School announces that Bear Creek Elementary School in Boulder, Colo., is the recipient of the 2008 James L. Oberstar Award. The school’s Safe Routes to School program involves 70 percent of students in walking and bicycling activities throughout the year.

“All the applications were outstanding, but Bear Creek’s goals and achievements mirrored Congressman Oberstar’s intentions for sustained change in families’ travel habits when the Safe Routes to School legislation was passed,” said Lauren Marchetti, Director of the National Center for Safe Routes to School.

“We are trying to create a new culture of daily car-free habits in this young generation,” explains Vivian Kennedy, parent volunteer at Bear Creek Elementary. A City of Boulder study conducted during the first year of the school’s Car-Free Commute program (2007-2008) showed a 36 percent reduction in cars and corresponding traffic congestion. During the program’s second year, students accrued 4,800 miles from 6,600 Car-Free Commute trips in a single month (September 2008).

Bear Creek Elementary School, one of the first in the country to have walking school buses throughout the school year, keeps track of students’ travel through monthly tallies. Kent Cruger, principal at Bear Creek Elementary, challenges students daily with his own examples of car-free travel.

“We are grateful for the support of district personnel, the Safe Routes Program, the City of Boulder, and especially our parent community at Bear Creek,” said Principal Kent Cruger. “This team effort has had an incredibly positive impact on our students.”

"I am extremely proud of the Safe Routes to School program at Bear Creek Elementary,” says Congressman James L. Oberstar, after whom the award is named. “The students, parents, faculty, and staff have given us an outstanding example of how we can change the lifestyle habits of an entire generation. I heartily congratulate the Bear Creek community for its achievements and would like to see it become a model for Safe Routes to School programs across the country."

The award is named for Congressman Oberstar (D-MN) to honor his dedication to American school children as the pioneer for the National Safe Routes to School Program. Oberstar, current Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, sponsored the Safe Routes to School legislation that strives to create safe settings to enable more parents and children to walk and bicycle to school.

Organizations that promote pedestrian and bicycle safety offered their expertise in reviewing the applications received by the National Center for Safe Routes to School. America Walks, the Safe Routes to School National Partnership, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, the Governors Highway Safety Association, the Institute of Transportation Engineers, the National Center for Bicycling and Walking and Toole Design Group all were among the organizations that assisted the National Center for Safe Routes to School in the selection process.

The 2008 Oberstar Award sought to recognize outstanding achievement by a school or community in establishing a Safe Routes to School program with Federal funding. Safe Routes to School (SRTS) programs make it safer for children to walk and bicycle to school and encourage more children to do so. The Oberstar Award is given annually by the National Center for Safe Routes to School to an exemplary SRTS program in the United States.

In July 2005, Congress passed federal legislation that established a national Safe Routes to School program. The program dedicated a total of $612 million towards Safe Routes to School from 2005 to 2009. These funds are made available to individual States to develop and administer Safe Routes to School Programs through the Department of Transportation.

Established in May 2006 through funding from the Federal Highway Administration, the National Center for Safe Routes to School assists communities in enabling and encouraging children to safely walk and bicycle to school. The Center strives to equip Safe Routes to School programs with the knowledge and technical information to implement safe and successful strategies. The Center is located at the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center.

Please see entire case study on Bear Creek Elementary School at http://www.saferoutesinfo.org/case_studies/pdfs/CO.bearcreek.pdf.