A small but visionary few have shaped — and continue shaping — the network of North State biking trails we know today. Here’s how it all started, how one Redding family celebrates their cycling time together, and how our community’s youngest riders can begin a lifetime of blissful bicycling. We hope you enjoy Day 3 of A News Cafe’s continuing series, “Taken By Two Wheels.”
Click on any of the headlines below to read the full stories, or click here for Day 1‘s features and here for Day 2.
A Shared Vision, Spanning Decades: The Redding Area’s Trail System
By Paul Shigley
Back in the 1970s, the only thing resembling a “Sacramento River Trail” in Redding was an old railroad grade on the hillside between the river and some west Redding neighborhoods. Much as today, a thick layer of medium-sized rock covered the former railroad line’s surface. About the only people who ventured there were runners and hikers looking for a hard workout, and the occasional transient.
So when the Redding City Council nearly 35 years ago insisted that the developer of the Lake Redding Estates subdivision provide an easement along the Sacramento River’s northern bank to accommodate a future bike path, the developer “screamed bloody murder…” Read more here.
Q&A with Phil Noll: Family’s Tykes Like Bikes
By Doni Greenberg
Doni Chamberlain-Greenberg interviewed Philip Noll, a renowned bike enthusiast, about how he and his wife Christine have passed on the couple’s love of bicycling to their children.
Originally from the East Coast, Philip and Christine Noll have lived and biked around the Redding area for 10 years … Read more here.
Lesson 1 for Kids Learning to Ride: Ditch those Pesky Pedals
By Kimberly Ross
For most bike riders, graduating from tricycle to two-wheeler involved a set of training wheels — and often, tears, frustration and scraped skin, too. But many parents are finding their kids have an easier and safer transition riding a balance bike instead.
These no-pedal bicycles for toddlers and children go by many names: walking bike, kick bike, push bike. And they can be “ridden” as soon as a child can confidently walk. For Redding mom Heather Waldrop, “It’s the only way to get your kid to learn how to ride a bike…” Read more here.
A News Cafe, founded in Shasta County by Redding, CA journalist Doni Greenberg, is the place for people craving local Northern California news, commentary, food, arts and entertainment. Views and opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of anewscafe.com.