A growing number of North State residents bicycle to their jobs, errands and the grocery store, but a variety of roadblocks prevent many more from doing the same. A News Cafe resumes its cycling series, Taken By Two Wheels, with Day 4: a look at safety on Shasta County’s bikeways, how regular bike commuters make it work, and what new trails cyclists can expect to ride in the future — both for recreation and transportation.
Click on any of the headlines below to read the full stories, or click here to catch up on last week’s articles.
Mixing with Motorists: Bicycles as Transportation on Shasta County Streets
By Jon Lewis and Paul Shigley
The irony is rich: Anne Wallach Thomas was planning for the next day’s monthly meeting of the Shasta Cascade Bicycle Coalition and, once again, confronting the fact that she would have to drive to the Redding meeting from her Palo Cedro home. “I can’t ride my bike into Redding — I could get killed,” she said. “It drives me crazy, but I see things changing.” Her optimism stems from the fact that there is a Shasta Cascade Bicycling Coalition, and from the progress its members … Read more here.
Dream Bike Projects: What’s Coming? What’s Not?
By Paul Shigley
Will the perfect trail or connecting route you’ve been hoping for ever be built? Checking into a “High Route” through Whiskeytown, a path along the ACID canal, and a possible bike lane on Deschutes Road, Reporter Paul Shigley investigates a dozen projects the cycling community has been dreaming up — and whether they’ll ever be laid out on Shasta County soil. Read more here.
Bicycle Journal: Day Care to Work to Yoga – Sara Sundquist Rides On
Motherhood didn’t stop Redding’s Sara Sundquist from her 12-year bike commuting habit. In fact, she revels in the fuel- and time-savings that comes from riding to her job at Shasta County Public Health, in addition to less hours spent at the gym and more with her baby.
Sundquist’s bike panniers have cradled crock pots full of food, gallons of milk, farmers’ market produce and just about anything else she wants to transport by bike. Read more here.
An Engineer in the Bike Lane: Commuting with Chris Gaido
Caltrans Project Engineer Chris Gaido brings an engineer’s perspective to potholes and storm runoff while he commutes by bike. Gaido knows plenty of “secret bike passageways” through Redding’s streets, and he shares them in between rides to a friend’s lunchtime triathalon training session, peeks at the eagle’s nest near Turtle Bay and Sunday travels to church with his wife and children. His advice: “Don’t take a ‘Not a Through Street’ sign seriously if you’re on your 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.
