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Start photos from Friday’s professional women’s individual time trial race from Bailey Road to Metcalf Road in San Jose

Click on each photo to ID the riders.

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1. Pro women’s time trial today in San Jose
2. Beijing Olympics: Individual Time Trial
3. Three days of pro cycling in the San Francisco Bay Area this weekend

It’s 1 AM Saturday morning. On Friday, I covered the Amgen Tour of California time trial in San Jose and San Jose Bike Party. I’m wiped out right now, so I’ll just point you to my Flickr stream, Youtube channel and personal Google Plus page. I uploaded Bike Party photos but not many Amgen photos because I’m done for the night. The Google Plus page is where you can find most of my notes and updates from yesterday.

I’ll be at Mount Diablo Saturday, which I think is today. Saturday’s stage from Livermore finishes there. It should be fun. Ping me on Google Plus or on Twitter if you’re there too.

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1. Your Amgen Tour of California photos
2. SF Bike Expo
3. The National Bike Summit and Social Media

The pro women’s individual time trial begins at 12:45 PM just before the pro men’s time trial on Bailey Avenue just south of Santa Teresa Boulevard in San Jose during the Amgen Tour of California. The women will follow the same route as the men, including the finish at the County Motorcycle Park on Metcalf Road.

Metcalf Road is closed all day today between Highway 101 and the park. The rest of the time trial course closes at noon.

View Stage 6 details here.

Related posts:

1. Solvang Women’s Time Trial
2. Santa Cruz in 2012 Tour of California?
3. Beijing Olympics: Individual Time Trial

Join the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition and Dishcrawl for a “Bikes Mean Business” bike ride visit to San Jose restaurants this weekend.

On Saturday afternoon, May 18th, riders will gather in San José for a short tour through downtown with four delicious restaurant stops along the way. The “Bikes Mean Business” Bikecrawl is designed to highlight the important and growing role that a well designed bicycle transportation system plays in supporting local businesses. The Bikecrawl ride will include the Guadalupe River Trail and the new bike lanes on South Fourth and Tenth Streets.

This Bikecrawl will include tasty food from Dishcrawl’s favorite spots in downtown San Jose as well as San Pedro Square, Japantown and Naglee Park.

Tickets are $25 and the ride begins at 2 PM on Saturday. For more details and to buy tickets, visit Dishcrawl.com. Dishcrawl is a national startup founded on the premise that communities can be brought together through good food and good company.

Related posts:

1. New bike lanes San Jose downtown
2. San Jose Slow Roll to Maker Faire
3. San Jose Coffee Crawl

The Amgen Tour of California bicycle road race will pass through the several cities throughout the San Francisco Bay Area beginning Friday, with a final stage out of San Francisco on Sunday.

Unlike past years, the Tour of California has moved from South to North. The race began last Sunday in Escondido in San Diego County, with stages passing through Palm Springs, Santa Clarita, Santa Barbara and up the coast to Avila Beach. The final three stages all take place in the San Francisco Bay Area. You can expect hordes of spectators at the starts, finishes, and KOM locations.

Friday – Stage 6 – San Jose Individual Time Trial: The racers will don skinsuits and aerodynamic helmets for individual races against the clock. The short 20 mile distance tests the riders’ sprint power, but this year’s course includes a twist – several 10% pitches on a climb to 1200 feet over the final two miles of the course.

The race begins on Bailey Avenue just south of Santa Teresa Road. The racers ride south, hang a left on McKean Road to Uvas Road. They’ll ride along Chesbro Reservoir then down Willow Springs Road to Hale Avenue just north of Morgan Hill. From Santa Teresa Avenue, the course crosses Highway 101 on Bailey Avenue. They’ll sprint alongside Highway 101 on Malech Road before turning right on Metcalf Road for the climb to the finish at the Santa Clara County Motorcycle Park.

An invitation only professional women’s time trial event begins at 12:45 PM. The race against the clock will be headlined by riders from top women’s teams, including Specialized-lululemon, TIBCO, Exergy Twenty16, NOW and Novartis for MS, Optum Pro Cycling presented by Kelly Benefit Strategies, and Vanderkitten, as well as several individual racers.

The men’s pro race begins at 1 PM. An amateur event at 12:30 PM gives local racers a chance to test their mettle against the pros.

Local organizers advise spectators that no parking will be available on Metcalf Road, with aggressive towing. Metcalf Road itself will be divided in half, with the uphill side used for the racing cyclists, and the downhill side reserved for team vehicles returning to the race start, so spectator viewing options will be limited. You need to arrive early, park at the bottom of the hill, and either walk or bike to the top of the hill.

Spectators at the race start can take part in the Lifestyle Festival, meet the teams, and catch a lot of the action at both the race start and at the turn to Bailey from Santa Teresa.

Saturday – Stage 7 – Livermore to Mount Diablo: This is the stage all of the locals are excited about. The climb to Mount Diablo is likely where this race will be won or lost, with over 10,000 feet of elevation gain over 91 miles. Morgan Territory Road through the East Bay hills is one of the more spectacular roads the race has ever used.

The race will also return to Patterson Pass Rd and the infamous wall before returning to Livermore for the first Sprint of the day. The route to Mt. Diablo from Livermore is the same that was used in 2012 where a portion of the climb was along the Stage 3 route. The crowds on Mt. Diablo were among the largest ever seen along a mountain route for the race.

In 2013, the race will add an additional five miles of climbing to the actual summit. Think Mt. Baldy with a 360-degree view.

The race begins in Livermore at 11:35 AM, with arrival on Summit Road expected by 3:20 PM and the finish line by 3:45 PM.

Mount Diablo is accessed via two roads: North Gate Road from Walnut Creek and South Gate Road from Danville, with a $10 entry fee for cars; pedestrians and cyclists are free. Both roads open at 8 AM and will close at 2 PM, but you can expect epic crowds on Mount Diablo and officials will close the road sooner when (not if) available parking fills up. Summit Road itself will be completely closed to vehicles, with a 4.8 mile walk or bike to the finish from the gate. I know several people who plan to camp overnight on Diablo.

Sunday – Stage 8 – San Francisco to Santa Rosa: The Tour begins its final stage at Marina Green in San Francisco 8:15 AM. The Golden Gate Bridge pedestrian walkways will be open so you can watch the racers whiz by over the bridge from the sidewalks, and I think we can expect much better weather than the last time the bike race traveled over San Francisco’s iconic bridge. The peloton stays on Highway 101 then exit to Highway 1 to Mill Valley then through Point Reyes National Seashore. Race is expected to finish at about 3:45 PM in Santa Rosa.

Mount Diablo near summit photo CC-BY Miguel Vieira. Golden Gate at Sunrise CC BY-SA Jamie Beverly. Race spectator photos by Yours Truly.

Related posts:

1. 2013 Amgen Tour of California – South to North!
2. Mount Diablo Challenge – October 5 2008
3. Santa Rosa cycling weekend

Our bike advocate in East Palo Alto (EPA), Andrew Boone, reports the city of East Palo Alto will discuss their Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) during a budget study session tonight at the EPA Government Center at 2415 University Avenue. The city will review, among other things, how to spend the $1.5 million the city received from Facebook as part of the social media company’s transportation impact settlement.

University Avenue resurfacing and signal upgrade

University Avenue is the main north-south thoroughfare for the city of East Palo Alto with 29,000 vehicles per day on a four lane divided road. University is one of the major roads for access between jobs at Stanford and Palo Alto to East Bay bedroom communities via the Dumbarton Bridge. Willow Road in Menlo Park is the more direct route for motoring commuters from Highway 101 to Facebook.

The city of East Palo Alto plans to spend $900,000 for long overdue pavement resurfacing, striping and intersection improvements. $600,000 of this budget will come from the Facebook Settlement fund. EPA will overlay the existing pavement on University Avenue with 1.2 inches of asphalt concrete. The city will also add bike lane signs and striping along University from Woodland Avenue (just south of Hwy 101) to Notre Dame Avenue at the northern city limit. University Avenue north of Notre Dame Avenue is within the city of Menlo Park.

EPA also plans to install bicycle loop detectors at all signalized intersections along University Avenue.

University is a crumbling mess, to be sure, but I think most cyclists prefer Pulgas Avenue, a parallel road to the east. Andrew lives there, though, and I don’t. I think he plans to speak out against the project in favor of projects that will more directly benefit cyclists.

Bicycle and Pedestrian Improvements

As part of the proposed University Avenue repaving project, the city plans to spend an additional $50,000 from the Facebook fund for bicycle and pedestrian improvements. Improvements include the installation of enhanced signage, striping and loop detectors for bicycles.

University Avenue Bridge over Highway 101

The city plans to seek state and federal funding to widen University Avenue over Highway 101 for safer pedestrian and bicycle travel and “more efficient vehicle travel.”

Another $8.1M is needed for a planned pedestrian bridge over Highway 101 near Clarke Avenue, which is just east (nominally “south”) of University Avenue. The city currently has $300K available for this project.

Euclid Tunnel Assessment

Old timers know about the Euclid Avenue Tunnel, a long closed pedestrian tunnel underneath Highway 101 adjacent to Highway 101. EPA proposes spending $30,000 to assess the tunnel to determine what it would take to restore and open it again.

Rail Spur Rail to Trail

The city budgets $79K of city money to complete construction of a rail to trail conversion of the rail spur that runs from Bay & Clarke to Pulgas Street betweek Weeks & Bay.

The Capital Improvement Plan budget workshop happens tonight in the East Palo Alto government center in the City Council Chambers at 2415 University Avenue. Meeting begins 6:30 PM. Public comments on budget items are allowed during the budget session. CIP available as a PDF download here. Thank you to Andrew Boone for the heads up on this. Comments and discussion on the University Avenue traffic signal plan on his Facebook page.

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1. Cyclist shot in East Palo Alto
2. Bay Road East Palo Alto
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A Colorado man recently arrested and charged with vehicular homicide is known for his anti-cyclist rants at town meetings, reports the Boulder Daily Camera.

47 year old cyclist Michel Van Duym was riding through Lyons, Colorado last Saturday when he was hit and killed by an SUV allegedly driven by Patrick Ward, according to the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office. Ward has been charged with vehicular homicide and careless driving resulting in death.

Ward, who lives in Lyons, had complained during a town meeting that cyclists “don’t belong in Lyons” and “They certainly don’t belong in the foothills around Lyons.” He reportedly has complained at other town meetings about scofflaw cyclists who don’t obey the rules of the road. According to the Sheriff’s office, Ward was driving the wrong way down Highway 36 when he hit Van Duym.

Details in the Daily Camera: Driver arrested in cyclist’s death had complained bicyclists ‘don’t belong’ in Lyons. Van Duym, whose stepmother passed just last March, is survived by his wife, two step-sisters and his father. He was an avid cyclist who put 150 to 200 rod miles in each week. Condolences to those who were close to him.

H/T Chico Bicycle Racing.

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1. Driver charged with killing cyclist flees to China
2. Los Gatos cyclist fatality: Driver arrested
3. Robert Paul Schiro arrested for cyclist hit and run

San Jose Bike Party Safety Ride takes place this Friday night, May 17 2013.

The route details won’t be posted until Thursday night, but my spies tell me the Safety Ride begins just five miles from Friday’s Amgen Tour of California individual time trail stage start on Bailey Road in San Jose, CA.

The May 2013 theme inspires me to write new lyrics for Men Without Hat’s “Safety Dance” song. If you can sing the song to a karaoke background I’d love to make a music video from this Bike Party’s ride footage.

San Jose Bike Party “>Safety Ride details here.

Related posts:

1. Peninsula Bike Party Earth Ride FRIDAY NIGHT from Menlo Park
2. San Jose Bike Party ride tonight
3. SubZERO Festival San Jose Friday night

The California DMV has a new bike safety resources web page that includes this safety video.

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1. California 3 Feet for Safety bill amended to address liability concerns
2. Cyclelicious Page at Google Plus
3. World War 2 bicycle safety pamphlet

This might be a perfect opportunity for those who need community service hours for school.

The Community Traffic Safety Coalition needs your help for the annual Santa Cruz County bike and pedestrian count. Regular bike counts are essential to measure the trends in active transportation use.

To sign up, please sign up here.

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1. (Almost) Real time Boulder bike traffic counts
2. Santa Cruz County transit corridors planning
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