BikeAbq at UNM\’s Earth Day Festival

Good news for the Paseo del Norte Multi-Use Path where it runs adjacent to Paseo del Norte Boulevard.  NMDOT has completed their study and determined a concrete wall barrier will provide the best safety option to protect path users.  They are planning construction of this barrier from east of the Rio Grande to just west of where the bike path crosses Rio Grande Boulevard.   Debra Bauman from NMDOT made this announcement at the monthly Greater Albuquerque Bicycle Advisory Committee (GABAC) meeting on Monday, May 10.  The estimated cost of this project is around $85 thousand dollars, with a portion of the funding coming from Bernalillo County ($20k) and the remainder from the State of New Mexico.  Construction should be completed sometime this summer.

Gail Naomi Ryba (Robey)
November 30, 1962 – May 7, 2010
Gail was born in Seattle, Washington, and passed at home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, following a courageous battle with cancer.  Gail’s vibrant smile, keen mind, joyful spirit, and melodious voice will remain in the hearts of all the many who knew and admired her.  Gail is survived by her devoted husband Thomas Robey, her beautiful daughter Lynn, her loving mother Frances (Joyce) Ryba, siblings David, Eric and Diane, and numerous loving friends.  Gail was a graduate of Reed College and of the California Institute of Technology, and worked at Sandia National Lab for several years before devoting her life to bicycle advocacy, clean energy and sustainable lifestyles.  She co-founded the Sandia Bicycle Commuters Group, founded the Albuquerque bicycle advocacy group and founded the Bicycle Coalition of New Mexico.  She has served on numerous committees including the Greater Albuquerque Bicycling Advisory Committee (GABAC/GASP), the NMDOT’s Bicycle, Pedestrian and Equestrian Committee (BPE), and was Executive Director of the New Mexico Coalition of Clean and Affordable Energy (NMCCAE).  She received the League of American Bicyclists 2009 Phyllis Harmon Volunteer of the Year Award for her contributions to bicycle advocacy.

Gail would be honored with remembrances to the Bicycle Coalition of New Mexico (PO Box 3326, Corrales, NM  87048) or Gerard’s House (PO Box 28693, Santa Fe, NM 87592).

Services will be held on Saturday, May 15 at 5:00 pm at the United Church of Santa Fe, 1804 Arroyo Chamisa (corner of St. Michaels and Arroyo Chamisa), Santa Fe, NM; Rev. Talitha Arnold presiding (505.988-3295).  Please consider supporting Gail’s memory by walking, biking, or carpooling!

Gannett Fleming West, Incorporated is having a series of open houses to present their preliminary findings on the Bikeways and Trails Master Plan Update.

Meeting times and locations are as follows:

• Tuesday, May 18 – 4:00-7:00 pm at the Cesar Chavez Community Center (7505 Kathryn SE)
• Wednesday, May 19 – 6:00-7:30 pm at the Erna Fergusson Public Library (3700 San Mateo NE)
• Thursday, May 20 – 6:00-7:30 pm at the Taylor Ranch Community Center (4900 Kachina NW)

Download this flyer as a PDF:  Public Open House flyer 05-03-2010

It’s coming!  Bike to Work Day 2010 is fast approaching.

We’ve expanded our operations now to EIGHT locations across the city!

• Intel – near the main entrance
• El Pueblo – Rail Runner Stop
• West Side – Montaño and Coors
• Erna Ferguson Library
• Downtown – Rail Runner Stop
• Uptown – Indian School Road
• Los Lunas – Rail Runner Stop
• Kirtland Air Force Base – Truman Gate

Join us at any one of our breakfast stops between 7 and 9am on Friday 21-May for breakfast, swag, a big pat on the back, and the chance to win LOTS of loot from local bike shops- lights, pumps, water bottles, gift certificates, socks, leg bands, tubes, patch kits, hats, bells, and even a battery-free light set!  We have lots to raffle off, thanks to the following bike shops:

• The Bike Coop
• Bike World
• Fat Tire Cycles
• Fixed and Free
• REI
• Two Wheel Drive

And while supplies last, grab one of our t-shirts with these cool designs:

For more information, please contact Don Andrews or David Candelaria.

See you there!

This is from Silda Mason who did an outstanding job manning the BikeABQ table ALL DAY Sunday at the Food C0-Op Earth Day Fair.

She said “Thanks to all participants who helped set up the BikeABQ tables, talked to and answered questions from people visiting the BikeABQ “booth”, brought and distributed materials, and loaded materials back into my smallish CR-V.  Craig, Cliff, Brendan, Brian, Jennifer and Steve were incredibly helpful in set-up.  Ben took some pictures and Diane collected funds from a few memberships and a hat sold.  I believe Ben did a membership on his cell phone!  Martha and Clay fought with the wind and expertly helped pack up.  Martha counted $34.50 in the donation jar.  She said a boy wanted to donate fifty cents. All participants fielded questions, planned bike routes and expertly answered all kinds of bike-related questions. We were kept pretty busy.  The Fair had great attendance; thus we ran out of all city bike maps. I hope I didn’t forget to thank anyone who helped out.  Chuck, Julian and others (from the City of Albuquerque’s Parks and Rec Department) had many children participating in the Bike Rodeo .  “

Santa Fe cycling news from the Independent.

Earth Day sees many expos and fairs and this year was no exception.  BikeABQ is typically asked to participate in many of these activities and yesterday board members were at three different events. Don Andrews and his daughter (pictured) were at the VA Hospital.  There they spoke to about 70 people.  Don as well as Craig Degenhardt and Silda Mason gave out BikeABQ membership forms, City of Albuquerque bike maps, National Rally info along with BikeABQ stickers and “Share the Road” bumper stickers.  Craig and Silda were at the Army Corp of Engineers Earth Day event.  Brendan Picker and Martha Hardman helped Jennifer Buntz at the UNM Expo.  The gave out 81 bike maps, 23 membership forms (one returned with payment!) along with promoting the National Rally, Bike to Work day and Traffic Skills 101.

Sunday, there will be a huge Earth Day event behind La Montanita Food Co-Op where BikeABQ will again be strongly represented.  Come by and check it out between 10 and 3.

To volunteer to help e-mail Silda

sirqmason@yahoo.com

If you are able on Tuesday April 27th you should watch KOB-TV Channel 4 NBC in Albuquerque NM. The “Good Day New Mexico” show between 11:00AM and 11:30 AM has a 3 minute piece on the multi-use Trails in Albuquerque.

They interviewed Bicycling Magazine and BikeABQ President Craig Degenhardt about why Albuquerque was rated the 17th most Bike Friendly City in America. The interviewon the Bosque Trail took 3 hours and several retakes.  Craig says:

No, we didn’t really pedal 10 miles before the first shoot, more like 10 yards. But before it was over we did have 5 miles pedaled. There was a lot of repeating, changing, shortening of the interview and I’m sure there will be tons of editing so I cringe at what little might actually make it to the broadcast. They seemed to be more interested in my taking a drink out of the water bottle ( 5 takes) than being info on being safe on the trails ( 2 takes).

The show can be seen online at KOB’s website.