Get inspired by 4Wheel Bob!

Now that winter is winding down, BCC team member Bob Coomber is getting us motivated to get out there on the bike or any other human-powered contraption on wheels. In fact, affectionately known as "4Wheel Bob," Bob uses a wheelchair to get around. After acquiring juvenile diabetes in his early 20’s, Bob struggled with leg, ankle and knee fractures. The solution? A wheelchair!

Since then Bob became the first person in a wheelchair to summit California’s 3rd highest peak: White Mountain, at over 14,200 feet. Bob is also the first in a chair to summit Mt. Diablo and its companion, North Peak, as well as Mission Peak in Fremont.

Inducted into the California Outdoors Hall of Fame in 2007, Bob was one of only 27 Americans to receive the President’s Council on Physical Fitness Community Leadership Award in 2008. He’s also been featured in every Bay Area newspaper, as well as the CBS “Early Show,” ABC’s “World News with Charles Gibson” and the Hallmark Channel.

In October of 2010, Bob plans to summit Africa’s highest peak, Kilimanjaro, and be the first unassisted wheelchair to make the journey. The trip will also serve to distribute 200 wheelchairs in Arusha, Tanzania, in partnership with The Wheelchair Foundation of Danville. A potential spring warm up summit attempt of Mexico’s Orizaba (18,490’) is being pondered.

An inspiring motivational speaker, Bob is popular with everyone from schoolchildren to senior hikers. He loves to inspire others to reach for their goals, no matter what the “perceived” obstacles. Bob has been married to wife Gina for 14 years. They spend what he calls "way too much time" finding new trails to explore all over California and the West.

So when you find yourself thinking the car is easier to take than hopping on the bike, remember Bob climbing up a rocky trail, making his way to the top of some peak somewhere using only his powerful arms...

Check out Bob's new feature page through the East Bay Parks website at http://www.ebparks.org/bobcoomber.

Be the change! Commute by bike (or wheelchair)!

Cold and rainy weather does not deter BCC!

Okay, well maybe the cold and rainy weather the past few months has detered some BCC cyclists, but not all!

I've had reports of miles commuted from Ursula Goldstein who rode an amazing 180 miles in December and 122.5 miles in January, from Steve Sherman, Greg Pinter, Melissa Ott, Mike Centrelli, Karen Swift, and the Casamajors. (My apologies if I overlooked anyone!)

During the winter, BCC goes into a bit suspended animation (since some of us hang our commuter bikes in the garage!) We don't track miles from December through February, so we'll start officially recording miles again in March.

Nonetheless, kudos to those BCC troopers who get out there in spite of the cold, rain, and fog!

Cycling in Copenhagen

Thanks to team member Mark Szymczak for passing along this inspiring clip about Cycling in Copenhagen

Let's do it in our Tri-Valley cities!

October and November Updates!

October and November 2009 were excellent months for BCC!

October results:
October was our highest month ever for total trips and miles, saving 317 car trips and riding 1,763 miles by bicycle. This beat September’s 232 trips and 1,683 miles.

Helping us reach October's totals were nine new members who joined our team:

Greg Pinter, Founder of NetInformer, writes:”I commute from home in Danville to my office in San Ramon. It helps the environment PLUS, I just feel better! I appreciate what you folks are doing - it definitely helps to provide encouragement and see others doing the same.”

Russ Riley writes: “Since I retired two years ago from education, I have constantly used my bike to run errands as well as exercise.”

Paul O'Flynn, Software Development Manager at Oracle, says:”I cycle almost every day to work, a mere 3 miles from Dublin to Pleasanton but a ride nonetheless.” As I relayed to Paul, many of our cyclists have short commutes. Every mile matters!

The Gillette Family of Pleasanton: Audrey Gillette emailed to say: “I already cycle the boys [Colin and Decker] to and from preschool 2 days a week, and I even made it on Tuesday in the downpour!“

The Meyer Family of Livermore: Crystal Meyer homeschools her two girls Shannon and Bridgette. They ride their bicycles constantly on errands, to sports practices, to church and all over town. She read my column about BCC in the newspaper and writes, “Our awareness has been heightened tremendously. In fact, Shannon and Bridgette (ages 8 and 10) are planning to work on a Livermore bicycle transportation safety problem/solution with their Lego team this year. They will be consulting the Be The Change Cyclists website and other resources for their research.”

Bekki Livingston writes: “I ride my bike to work as an elementary school librarian in San Ramon. The students love it! I’d like to join your group.”

Don Johnston, Senior Editor, External Relations & Communications, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory states, “As an avid cyclist and occasional bike commuter I enjoyed your column. Count me in. I hope this distinguished group will not only lead by example, but put its considerable collective civic experience to work improving safety for bike commuters as well as leisure cyclists.”

Mark Szymczak: Pleasanton volunteer, Backyard Farmer, Environmental Activist, and Business Owner. In October Mike commuted and ran errands totaling 317 miles!

Bob Belichak, a stay-at-home dad with three kids who lives in Pleasanton. His daily commute is 3 miles to take the kids to school, and his family does almost all their errands by bicycle.

Our big mileage stars in October were Mark Szymczak with 317 miles, Peter Norquist at 300 miles, Ursula Goldstein at 182 miles, and Steve Sherman at 94 miles.

Our most trip stars were Mark Szymczak at 59 trips, Karen Swift at 27 trips, the Meyer Family at 26 trips, Ursula Goldstein at 22 trips, and Steve Sherman at 20 trips.

Best new member showing award goes to Mark Szymczak who also had the highest trips (59) and miles (317) for the month.

Through October, our grand total saved car trips since April 2009 were 930, with 6,172 in emission free miles.

November results:
With the colder weather our trips and miles were down slightly for November, but we still had a good showing at 275 trips and 1,494 miles ridden.

Our big mileage stars were Peter Norquist at 250 miles, Mark Szymczak with 245 miles, Ursula Goldstein at 181.5 miles, Bob Belichak at 129, Russ Riley at 117, Steve Sherman at 90, and David Beals at 80 miles.

Our most trip stars were Mark Szymczak at 47 trips, Russ Riley at 38, Karen Swift at 22 trips, and Ursula Goldstein and Steve Sherman at 20 trips each.

Go team!

Greetings from BCC and Blog Action Day

Greetings to readers of Bay Area News Group newspapers! You may be visiting this site because you saw Jim Ott's column in your newspaper or online. We invite you to browse our posts below, and if you live or work in the Tri-Valley region of the East Bay in California and occasionally ride your bike to work or school, please join us! Just send an email to Jim Ott at jott@unclecu.org.

Today also happens to be Blog Action Day 2009! As of this post, nearly 10,000 bloggers around the world are writing about climate change today. Be the Change Cyclists is one of those blogs! After all, we were founded to reduce reliance on oil and make our environment and our bodies healthier. Check out the action at www.blogactionday.org.

For more about Be the Change Cyclists, click on the "Our philosophy" link in the right hand column of this blog page.

Happy cycling!

September 2009 sets new record!

September set a new record for miles and trips:

Miles: 1683 (1088 in August)

Trips: 232 (173 in August)

Contributors over 100 miles this month:
Peter Norquist 375 miles
David Beals 200 miles
Jim Van Dyke 164 miles – including a longest single commute record of 84 miles when he cycled to a workshop
Steve Sherman 138 miles
Ursula Goldstein 125 miles
Alan and Julie Casamajor 112 miles – This couple rides most errands together; the miles are counted like a car trip, and not doubled.
. . .
Top Trippers:
Steve Sherman 34 trips
Alan and Julie Casamajor 29 trips
Hilary and Kristie Gross 26 trips
Karen Swift 22 trips
And a tie between Ursula Goldstein, Julie Harryman, and Melissa Ott at 17 trips.
. . .
Our best new member showing award goes to Pat Walsh (referred by Julie Harryman) who commuted 14 times and logged 45 miles.
. . .
Inspiring messages from notable BCC team members:
Bob Coomber—whose two wheels consist not of a bike, but a wheelchair—writes: “I'm not commuting anywhere but am averaging 5 miles each day - weekends included (ESPECIALLY weekends!). Lots of trips downtown (4 mile round trip, once daily) and dozens more on paved and dirt trails. I make it a point to get to downtown Livermore while leaving the car at home. And once there, who knows where I'll end up? It may be Pleasanton for lunch (20 mile round trip), Shadow Cliffs (15) or points either direction on the regional trail network. Tomorrow it'll be Bollinger Canyon to Danville on the Iron Horse Trail (10) and a morning of working the East Bay Regional Park District's both at Danville's "Art in the Park".

Amador high school senior Melissa Ott writes in her Green Gal blog (www.greenbeangal.blogspot.com) that the majority of high school students drive “once they get their licenses or have their parents drive them because they don't realize how easy it truly is to ride. There does seem to be some change, though. I used to be one of only two girls at the bike racks. Now there are at least four of us who ride everyday and two or three more who ride every once in a while. And it feels like I see more adult commuters on bicycles, but it could be because I'm more aware of it now than I was before.”

Thanks for cycling. Together we can be the change.

New members and a fun quiz!

Let's give a hearty BCC welcome to two new team members:

Pat Walsh, Special Operations Sergeant, Pleasanton Police Department

Eric Harpell, Instructor of Physics and Astronomy at Las Positas College

Thanks for joining our efforts!
. . .

As Be The Change Cyclists, we pride ourselves on being “green” when it comes to cycling.

But are we really?

Here’s a fun and thought-provoking quiz submitted by team member Melissa.

http://connect.sierraclub.org/post/Groups/Bicycle/blog/how_green_is_your_bike_ride.html