Would you like to attend a Bicycle Safety Class taught by the League of American Bicyclists (LAB)?  The LAB is considering teaching a class in May in Flagstaff and would like to know if you’d like to come!  This is a great way to gear up for Bike to Work Week!  The cost is $15/per person.

Please contact Connie Rosenkranz at crosenk1@aol.com for more information.

October 3rd’s Loop Trail Day once again returns to Skunk Canyon/Ridge.

DIRECTIONS: Take Lone Tree Road south to J.W. Powell Blvd and turn left/east. Go to the barricades and turn into Pine Canyon Club’s NORTH entrance: Important! Get a visitor’s pass at the booth. Follow signs: take an immediate left on Clubhouse Circle, drive 1.3 miles and turn left/east on Del Rae, following it 0.6 miles to the end circle. We will stage in front of “Lot 191″. Try this mapquest MAP.

 Please come with sturdy shoes, long pants, water, sunscreen, and a hat or bike helmet; and gloves if you have some. Consider bringing raingear, weather is changesome. We will provide hard-hats, tools and equipment, guidance and training. Kids under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.

You can help us prepare for the Loop Trail Day by pre-registering now so we can estimate lunch, coffee and equipment quantities. Contact Looptrail@flagstaffbiking.org with questions.  THANKS!

Board of Supervisors

Listed below is an abbreviated schedule of the week’s events; for further information and details please visit http://www.flagstaff.az.gov/index.aspx?NID=1724

• Wed Sep 30 7:30 am -> Breakfast Walk City Hall
• Thu Oct 1 9 am-4 pm -> Safe Routes to School Workshop – Kinsey School Church of the Resurrection. CANCELLED, RESCHEDULING POSSIBLE
• Fri Oct 2 8:30-11 am -> Sunnyside Fourth Street Walkability Audit: Coconino Co Health Dept
• Fri Oct 2 4-7 pm -> Downtown Scavenger Hunt downtown Flagstaff
• Fri Oct 2 4-7 pm -> Pedestrian Awareness Booth Heritage Square
• Sat Oct 3 9 am-noon -> Community Sidewalk Clean-Up Day Kinsey School parking lot
• Sun Oct 4 9 am -> Hike the FUTS/Ride the Bus Sechrist School parking lot
• Mon Oct 5 All Day -> Try Transit Day All Mountain Line bus routes
• Tue Oct 6 9-11 am -> Southside Accessibility Audit Downtown Transfer Center
• Tue Oct 6 noon – 1 pm -> Brown Bag Lunch Presentation on Complete Streets Community Federated Church
• Wed Oct 7 7:30 – 9:30 am -> International Walk to School Day Killip, Kinsey, Marshall, Sechrist, and Thomas Elementary Schools

PAW may not have all the great raffle prizes, but all of us self-propelled folks know that every walk and ride is replete with beauty, views, fresh air, great health and inner calm.

See ya on the FUTS!

Our Sept 19th Loop Trail Day had to be moved from Observatory Mesa to Skunk Canyon.

Legal issues with the easement will delay, but not prevent, completion of our coveted link to Cheshire, so FEAR NOT! We have some great new trail to work above Skunk Canyon that will be perfect for the waning days of summer, which are forecast to be “partly cloudy- high 76″–perfecto.

We will be picking up where the CREC crew left off this summer… you’ll want to check out the sweet trail we have all built so far! There’s about a mile to go for us to reach the Fisher Point trail.

DIRECTIONS: Take Lone Tree Road south to J.W. Powell Blvd and turn left/east. Go to the barricades and turn into Pine Canyon Club’s NORTH entrance: Important! Get a visitor’s pass at the booth. Follow signs: take an immediate left on Clubhouse Circle, drive 1.3 miles and turn left/east on Del Rae, following it 0.6 miles to the end circle. We will stage in front of “Lot 191″. Try this mapquest MAP.

 Please come with sturdy shoes, long pants, water, sunscreen, and a hat or bike helmet; and gloves if you have some. Consider bringing raingear, weather is changesome. We will provide hard-hats, tools and equipment, guidance and training. Kids under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.

You can help us prepare for the Loop Trail Day by pre-registering now so we can estimate lunch, coffee and equipment quantities. Contact Susan@flagstaffbiking.org with questions.  THANKS!

We would like to see Flag’s dedicated cyclists show up (with helmets in hand) in the Council Chambers at City Hall (211 W. Aspen) tonight at 5:30 pm– the council can’t ignore the need to protect kids, and kids in Flagstaff will get a head start on good bike riding habits … And ALL of us will get a pay off down the road in safer cyclists and better habits as more and more bike commuters take to the streets. To read more on FBO’s position on the helmet law, go HERE.

Thanks! See you there!

Valet bike parking was an outstanding success Labor Day when 270 cyclists pedaled to the Coconino County Fair with a free entrance for cycle-commuters. Our fair commuting cyclists then enjoyed decorative prize-winning chickens, deep-fat fried everything, and wild inverting rides; in addition to their refreshing and scenic commute along one of Flagstaff’s beautiful FUTS out to the Fair Grounds at Ft Tuthill.

The 4 day fair saw nearly 400 folks take advantage of Flagstaff Biking Org’s first ever “Valet Bike Parking Service” with reduced or free fair tickets. Friends of Coconino County Park’s also helped run the Ramada’s booth. In conjunction with the booth, Jack Welch lead a hike each morning of the fair that garnered 160 hikers free admittance to the fair.

That was a great deal for cyclists and hikers, and given the cost of building and maintaining parking lots, not a bad deal for the county either. The response was overwhelmingly positive and many grateful folks expressed the hope the service would continue next year! YOUR WELCOME… We hope to!

Drive up Snowbowl Road to Freidlein Prairie Road and follow the signs to the work site meeting location. If you do not have a high clearance vehicle, please come a little early and park a Freidlein Prairie and Snowbowl and catch a ride with another participant.

See here for a Google Map.

JOIN THE CHALLENGE! Let’s see which trail user group can show up in the greatest numbers for this great trail! A lovely trophy is on the line for thewinning group… they will hold that trophy until next year’s challenge.

Project: New West Secret Trail construction with Coconino Trail Riders, Coconino Horsemen’s Alliance and The Sierra Club

(Fliers showed FS164B as the meting location, which has changed to Freidlein Prairie. We will have someone redirecting folks to the correct location from FS164B. Sorry for the confusion.)

Join this fun event… we ALL WIN when we work together to build good trail and strong trail-user relationships. That said, we really need to get that trophy back from the Coconino Trail Riders!

All Trail events start at 8:00 am and conclude with lunch at 1:00 pm.
Coffee will be served between 8:00 am and 8:30 am, and snacks,
beverages, tasty lunch and FUN are all provided.

Please bring long pants, sturdy shoes, sunscreen and water, and if you
have them, work gloves and a bike helmet. Tools and trail crew
instructions are provided, as well as some gloves and hard-hats.
Children under 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
You provide the enthusiasm.

Contact Anthony at trails@flagstaffbiking.org or (928) 526-7704 with any questions.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Friday through Sunday the bicycle parking will be free, and you will get a $1.00 off the entry fee into the fair on those days. On Monday riding to the fair and using the valet bicycle parking will entitle you to free entry into the fair.

There are also 4 hikes scheduled on each day of the fair that will entitle you to free entry into the fair.

All the hikes (3-5 miles long) will start at 8:00 AM from the Cochise Ramada lead by Jack Welch. 

• Friday Sept 4: ~5 miles on the FUTS to FR 532 to the old dam in Sinclair Wash
• Saturday Sept 5: ~4 miles on the Soldiers Trail behind the Race Track and Amphitheater
• Sunday Sept 6: ~4 miles using the Bridge Trail off the Soldier trail
• Monday Sept 7: ~5 miles on the Highland Trail to the Kachina Village wetlands

Ride your bike to the fair – do a hike – and get free parking for your bicycle plus free entry into the fair.

Fair Opens daily at 10:00 AM

Bicycle Parking Available from 9:30 AM until 3:00 PM

Questions? Contact  Jack Welch,  928.714.0504 or at ADILLLO@aol.com

Aug 19th, 2010 UPDATE: the City Council meeting of Aug 18th passed the FBO/SafeKids-supported Helmet law for Minors 4 to 3. This law will go into effect January 10th, 2010, and will be preceded by FBO’s ongoing education campaign and the effort to provide low or no-cost helmets to kids will be sustained and enhanced with a possible grant supporting that effort.

August 13th: Join FBO at the City Council Meeting on August 18th to support the proposed Helmet Law Ordinance. The meeting is at City Hall (Aspen Street) and starts at 4:30pm. Below are points that FBO will be presenting to the Council in support of this Ordinance:

Flagstaff Biking Organization has worked collaboratively with the Coconino County Safe Kids Coalition for the past six years to promote bicycle safety rodeos and a free and discounted helmet distribution program through local schools and other community organizations and events.

As part of the presentation and clinic that we do for children in the schools and at other public events throughout the year, we informally poll kids on how many own helmets and wear them when they ride their bikes. We are often astounded at how few even own helmets, let alone how few are encouraged to wear them while riding.

A mandatory helmet law for kids would at bare minimum raise awareness amongst parents and kids as to the importance of this inexpensive, simple step towards preventing serious injury and potentially death from what might otherwise be a minor accident. An enforceable law is often the best way to get kids to act in a more responsible manner than they might otherwise when outside of the oversight of their parents.

We disagree with those who insist that requiring helmets will cause parents to view cycling as too dangerous an activity for their children. Our efforts have shown that by encouraging children to ride safely and use appropriate safety equipment, we are able to generate more enthusiasm amongst the kids for cycling. Parents have many times thanked us for giving their kids more reasons to wear their helmets. Never have we been made aware of a scenario in which a parent discouraged his or her child from riding a bike because we had stressed the importance of wearing a helmet and obeying traffic laws while riding. We are first and foremost cycling advocates and we would not support this law if we felt that its implementation might adversely affect the perception of cycling as a safe, attractive and fun means of transportation and recreation.

We also find fault with the argument that this law’s enactment would be adding encumbrance to the legal system or that this ordinance would be an infringement on a person’s civil liberties. There are numerous laws that presume that a child’s well being lies ultimately with the community. For example, children are required to receive some sort of schooling and are required to travel in a child seat when in a motor vehicle. None of these laws are implemented with the intent of interceding in the deliberate intent and direction of a parent in raising his or her child. Rather, these laws are intended to protect the greater good of the community and/or the well being of the child in lieu of poor decisions on the part of an ill informed or misguided parent. We also point to the fact that this ordinance has the support of the Flagstaff Police Department in spite of any addition workload that it might create.

Flagstaff Biking Organization will continue its efforts in promoting safe bicycling and helmet use to children and adults in the greater Flagstaff area. Given appropriate funding and support, we are amenable to an increase in these efforts that might include assisting in a broader discounted or free helmet distribution program.

As Flagstaff continues to grow as a bicycle friendly community, it becomes increasingly important to act proactively in matters such as this. Bicycles are a safe and attractive means of transportation and recreation, and focusing on keeping this activity as safe as possible will help to promote bicycling in our community, thereby making Flagstaff even more livable, environmentally friendly and fun!

For more information, please contact Melissa at melissa@flagstaffbiking.org.

We got a great start on this trail in June; but we will need more volunteer trail builders to reach our goal to sew the trail into a Loop by this fall! So please help us! Trail building is fun, you meet great folks who share your love of Flagstaff Trails, and you become part of the legacy of the Loop Trail in this great town. Saturday’s cooling forecast = “Partly cloudy, High 77″.–Perfect!

We are staging once again on Observatory Mesa. Follow our signs 1.8 miles from Thorpe Rd near the Bark Park, north to Kinlani Dr, R on Curling Smoke Rd, R on Hogan Dr to cattle guard on left. Here’s a google MAP. The quarter mile of road after the cattle guard is a little rough. Our passenger car did fine, but some may prefer to hike or bike that last bit or carpool with other trail volunteers.

We will serve coffee at 8am, followed by a short trail safety talk. Work begins at 8:30 and goes until lunch time and a raffle drawing.

Please come with sturdy shoes, long pants, water, sunscreen, and a hat or bike helmet; and gloves if you have some. Consider bringing raingear, weather is changesome. We will provide hard-hats, tools and equipment, guidance and training. Kids under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.

You can help us prepare for the Loop Trail Day by pre-registering now so we can estimate lunch, coffee and equipment quantities. Contact Looptrail@flagstaffbiking.org with questions.  THANKS!

If there is interest (and energy), we will do a short 5-10 mile Mt Bike ride on Observatory Mesa following the trail event around 2pm.

Thanks to County Supervisor Matt Ryan for sponsoring this trail day.