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The Alabama Bicycle Coalition, AlaBike, was formed in September of 2003, to promote cycling access, education and safety, to advocate for safer road environments for all users, and to act as a statewide voice to encourage bicycling in Alabama.

Hey All You Cyclists in Alabama…

…take a look at what cyclists in Montevallo have been up to.
Many thanks go to Aaron Traywick and his collegates for inspiring the rest of us.

Statewide Bike Plan

The 2010 Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan is available to the public for online viewing.
It's been over a year since the public meetings to review the draft and when it has become available to the public to reference and review.
Many cycling advocates around the state; people who want better facilities, conservative use of rumble strips, better bicycling and walking conditions in their towns have been asking 'to see the plan'. So, here it is.

Also ALDOT gave a nice presentation summary of the bike plan at the 54th annual Transportation Conference Feb 22-23rd, 2011.

To view the Alabama DOT 2010 Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan click here
To view the executive summary of the plan, click here.
To view a 2011 Transportation conference presentation that summarizes the plan click here.

Can You Make Your Own Sports Drink?

YES says Gayle Williams, editor of Consumer Reports on Health newsletter and it can save you money and calories compared with buying sports drinks, which aren't always good for you anyway.

Electrolytes are minerals in your body that help maintain proper muscle and nervous system function, and the best known are sodium, potassium, and chloride. Anything that seriously depletes your body's fluids, such as diarrhea, vomiting, or excessive sweating from exercise, can disrupt your electrolytes balance.

To make your own drinks:
Mix together:
4 cups of water
2 T of sugar
1/2 t salt

Optionally add lemon juice or sugar-free Kool-Aid flavoring to taste

And unless you do endurance sports, steer clear of electrolyte sports drinks like Gatorade. They're loaded with calories, plus add sugar, which can actually worsen diarrhea and nausea.

Source: ShopSmart (Consumer Reports) June 2011 page 12
Posted by Marjorie Holderer July 16, 2011

Complete Streets 2011 House Bill 342 - more to come

Alabama representative Joe Faust, Fairhope introduced the Complete Streets House bill 342 this spring of 2011.
It did not pass; but then most bills take 6-7 years to gain the traction to pass.

AARP in Alabama is actively pursuing its passage. AlaBike president Marjorie Holderer and the AlaBike board agrees with AARP Complete Streets is the transportation future for people and places.

Complete streets policies design transportation networks that routinely accommodate multiple modes of travel; public transit, train, motor vehicles, bicycles, walking, and freight. That does NOT mean that everywhere gets the super deluxe treatment.

Check out the bill and check out ALDOT's response (click here) to the bill. More details and discussion will certainly follow.

Alabike presents bicycling at Alabama
Public Works Conference.

June 8th, 2011 Alabike president, Marjorie Holderer was invited to speak about bicycling at the Alabama chapter's conference of the American Public Works Association. The location was the beautifully restored historic Battle House Renaissance Hotel. If desired, contact AlaBike for more information. Click here to see the presentation.

See the Complete Streets Policy Analysis

download the pdf here

Complete Streets policies formalize a community’s intent to plan, design, and maintain streets so they are safe for all users of all ages and abilities. Policies direct transportation planners and engineers to consistently design and construct the right-of-way to accommodate all anticipated users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, public transportation users, motorists, and freight vehicles.

Complete streets can be achieved through a variety of policies: ordinances and resolutions; rewrites of design manuals; inclusion in comprehensive plans; internal policies developed by transportation agencies; executive orders from elected officials, such as Mayors or Governors; and policies developed by stakeholders from the community and agency staff that are formally adopted by an elected board of officials. We group our evaluation of policies by type, to allow apples-to-apples comparisons.

race360
May 21-22, 2011 in Huntsville
Rocket City Criterium Races
Benefit AlaBike

First, a thank you to those who helped!

I want to take a moment between spasms of equipment sorting and post event debriefs to thank everyone who helped us pull off a safe and fun inaugural Rocket City Criterium here in Huntsville.

Rider compliments were many, and both the Saturday Criterium and Sunday Circuit routes were cited as being fast and fun. Save for some Saturday morning set-up issues, an errant over-the-road structure and the minor inconvenience of a full-on tornado warning at the start of the P123 race Sunday afternoon, all races went off with hardly a hitch. Even the Sunday P123 event went on after a 45 minute delay, albeit shortened to 35 minutes. None of this would have happened without our volunteers hitting their marks and using their heads to help us have a successful event. We generated good rider buzz and have laid the foundation for a bigger race next year, thanks to you all.

Chris Cundiff, Jamie and I thank you for your tireless support and head’s up work this weekend.
Special thanks goes to local master’s racer Joe Ruf for not only feeding and watering the entire work crew, but for racing Sunday’s P123 event after ballasting himself with several slices of Mellow Mushroom pizza about 20 minutes before delayed, nearly cancelled and then shortened race..
Also thanks goes to Mike and Allison Callahan, Amelia Baldwin and John and Barbara Rigby for officiating the entire event and cranking out results for all categories and state championships within minutes of the race finish.

Special thanks to all of our sponsors, especially Sharp Communications. Sharp provided 10 high-end, repeater handset radios for the weekend. More than any sponsor, those radios did the most to assure a safe and smooth event. We had several incidents where riders and workers were directly affected and we were able to inform the entire event staff and take action instantaneously. Namely, a wind-induced equipment failure on Saturday and the pop-up thunderstorm on Sunday proved the worth of a functional radio network.

Stay tuned for an upcoming cookout/bash on our patio for volunteers, sponsors and racers on an upcoming weekend. We’ll have meat, beer and fun without the onus of another race start or errant, confused drivers wandering into the yard.

Morgan Andriulli
Spring City Cycling Club
Alabama Bicycle Coalition
Huntsville, AL

Now info on the event:

See an article and photos from the Huntsville Times
See a video from the Huntsville Times.

The Alabama Bicycle Coalition (AlaBike) is joining forces with the Huntsville Sports Commission (HSC), both 501(c)3 non-profit organizations, to host a new premier cycling event: the Rocket City Criterium Races sanctioned by the USA Cycling Federation (USAC).

This race weekend features a purse of over $5000 and will include a Saturday criterium race, a Sunday circuit race, and the ERC Kid’s Rocket Races on Saturday during the criterium races. The RCC races will benefit AlaBike.
Saturday, May 21, will be the Alabama State Criterium Championship in downtown Huntsville , located within walking distance of the host hotel. It’s a great location for spectators and a fast course for the racers.

The ERC Kids Rocket Races will be held Saturday on the Criterium course in downtown Huntsville . In the past, this FREE race for unlicensed young racers has been extremely popular and is envisioned to be one of the highlights of Saturday’s events.
On Sunday, a 3.1 mile circuit race course will loop through Research Park.

Online registration by May 18 is at Race360.

Volunteers are needed, mostly as corner marshals, to ensure a safe event. It’s an easy job, you’ll get to see some exciting racing and get a free lunch! Please contact Jamie Miernik, jamorgan10@comcast.net, if you can volunteer for the RCC for part of either day
.

New League Cycling Instructors!

Congratulations to our newest League Cycling Instructors (LCI) certified by the League of American Bicyclists (LAB) Ffeb 26, 2011 in Birmingham ! With these LCIs, the number of instructors in the state has quadrupled including 4 cities that did not have them before.

New Instructors:

Jamie Miernik, LCI# 3099, Huntsville
Marjorie Holderer, LCI# 3100, Huntsville
Alan Everett, LCI# 3101, Scottsboro
Jim Reynolds, LCI# 3103, Huntsville
Larry Maurice, LCI# 3104, Birmingham
Pixie Hicks, LCI# 3105, Tuscaloosa
Morgan Andriulli, LCI# 3106, Huntsville
Flo Bradley, LCI# 3107, Birmingham
Sam Rombokas, LCI# 3108, Tuscaloosa
Jacqy Stone, LCI# 3109, Huntsville
Jo Harding, LCI# 3110, Birmingham
Rex Sorrow, LCI# 3111, Cullman
Randall Chambers, LCI# 3112, Huntsville
Clint Patterson, LCI# 3113, Huntsville
Tracy Hale, LCI# 3114, Birmingham

You can find contact info for all of the LCIs under Programs\Education on the LAB website, www.bikeleague.org

National Bike Summit
Three AlaBike members attended the NBS 2011, in Washington DC , Mar 8-10. Michael Holderer, Peter Wolf, and Kirk Iverson.

Check Out the Latest AlaBike Newsletter
By Marjorie Holderer, AlaBike President

It's spring into May; National Bicycle Month. Ride your bike with friends and family! Ride to Work, more than once. Check out our May newsletter.

Cycling surges in the land of the automobile

Read article from the BBC

Next Statewide HWY map - request bike laws,
tips be included

AlaBike asks Department of Tourism to work with ALDOT to include cycling information on the next official Alabama Highway map 2011-2012. For 2009 and 2010, Alabama is rated the 50th (worst) state for cycling. We have a wonderful climate, beautiful places, and lots of cool things to see. Adding cycling information that a maximum number of tourists and residents will see and use is just one small step in changing that reputation. These maps are printed every two years and are given away for free to tourists at rest stops and everywhere else that tourist materials are displayed. For decades no cycling information has been included. We are available to help. Read on. See the attached letter.


Pro Walk /Pro Bike 2010 Chattanooga, TN

AlaBike was at PWPB, Sept 13-16!
Jamie Miernik prepared at poster with Jo Somers, traffic engineer for the City of Huntsville. The poster, entitled: “A Square Peg (Educational Grant) in a Round (DOT) Hole Success Strategy for Non-Infrastructure Transportation Enhancements (TE) Grants.” See 3 page pdf of poster here.

Alabama Trails Act

The Alabama Trails Act was passed July 9, 2010
This act establishes the Alabama Trails Commission within the Department of Economic and Community Affairs to advance development, interconnection, and use of trails throughout the state, and also establishes an advisory board to advise the commission.

Automobile Association of America -
Alabama supports creating safe schools.

This September/October issue of Alabama Journey starts off with an article from Al Gibbs, the V.P. and General Manager called "School's Open: Please drive safely".
His article moved me to write a letter to encourage his interest in promoting safe routes to school. Perhaps you might be moved to write to someone you think would appreciate the vision of having kids walk, ride, and arrive at their schools on their own independent steam.

Marjorie Holderer President AlaBike

Mr Gibbs article reads:

School is back in session, so it's a good time to remind ourselves of the hazards children face on their way to and from school. Incidents with cars are still a leading cause of death and serious injury for school-age children, whether they're walking, riding their bikes, being driven, or driving themselves to school.

We can all do a number of things to help out. The most important is to slow down and pay attention while driving near schools. Recent studies indicate that as many as two-thirds of drivers speed in school zones. Next, follow basic safety rules. Parents taking kids to and from school often put them at risk: not securing them with a seat belt, car seat, or booster seat; failing to yield to pedestrians when entering a school driveway; or jaywalking across busy streets with their kids in tow.

If you have school-age children, talk with them about the importance of traffic safety. Teach them to cross the street at corners and in crosswalks, where cars can see them more easily. Tell them to be sure to stop their bikes at street corners and stop signs. Walk with young children to school for the first few days to familiarize them with the route and to point out possible traffic hazards.

If you have teen drivers, take an active role in helping them learn to drive responsibly, and coach them on these school zone safety basics. Also, be a good role model, since teens tend to model their parents' driving habits. Finally, be patient and caring with your teen-helping him or her become a good driver doesn't happen overnight.

Please do your part to ensure our children's safety on their way to and from school Nothing is more important.

Read Marjorie's letter here.

 

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May 19-20
Rocket City Criterium Races
benefits AlaBike

Thanks to our Sponsors and Coalition Partners!

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