"He was browsing a record store in Santa Monica when he found an album by the Puerto Rican artist José Feliciano, sending him down a rabbit hole into the singer-songwriter’s 60-year career. Yes, there’s the Christmas classic 'Feliz Navidad,' but there are also 19 Grammy nominations, 56 albums, and his stripped-down, folksy take on 'The Star-Spangled Banner' in 1968 that was met with such outrage that racists began calling for Feliciano to be deported, even though ­Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens.

“'It struck me that I think a lot of younger people don’t know how big he was,' Martínez explains. “People are like, ‘Oh, Bad Bunny is breaking ground with gringos!’ No, papi — José ­Feliciano was breaking ground with gringos since the Seventies, you hear me? He was doing worldwide tours, he was in London, singing in ­English, singing to Anglophone audiences.” https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/bad-bunny-coachella-el-apagon-controversy-future-interview-1234770225/
#JoséFeliciano #LightMyFire #BadBunny #PuertoRicans

Kick rocks!

That’s what we started to do, attempting to use our feet to clear the west shoulder of Olmsted Rd near Hwy 68 / CA SR 68. Then we noticed the east shoulder and travel lanes were likewise strewn with many rocks! Don’t know what mishap left that mess, but we’re reporting to road cleanup crews : https://bikemonterey.org/where-to-report-a-bikeway-maintenance-need-in-monterey-county-plus-maintenance-needs-for-california-state-highways.html.

#RoadMaintenance #MontereyCounty #Rockslide #TrafficSafety #ActiveTransportation

Lighthouse to lighthouse — Harbor Point / Twin Lakes Beach and Ligthouse Point / Steamers Lane, Santa Cruz, Monterey Bay, 5 December 2025.

One of our favorite #NPR Tiny
Desk Concerts.
Robert Plant: vocals, harmonica
Suzi Dian: vocals, accordion
Matt Worley: guitar, banjo, cuatro, background vocals
Tony Kelsey: guitar
Barney Morse-Brown: cello
Oli Jefferson: drums

"Gospel Plough"
"Higher Rock"
"Everybody's Song"
"It's a Beautiful Day Today"
"Gallows Pole"

Wonder how much time it takes the dusters to maintain those packed shelves

https://www.npr.org/2025/11/21/g-s1-97414/robert-plant-tiny-desk-concert

Giving thanks for #NationalPublicRadio : https://www.npr.org/donations/support

#Aurora just now, New Berlin, Illinois - photo by my sis-in-law

**SAVE THE DATES**
Annual only!
#OpenStreets #SalinasValley #MontereyCounty

Sunday, October 12, 2025 (rescheduled from Oct 5)
10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Ciclovía Salinas

Sunday, October 19, 2025
Noon – 4 p.m.
King City Ciclovía

History of Monterey County’s Open Streets locations: https://bikemonterey.org/resources/ciclovia-salinas-resources

#DondeLasCallesSonSuyas #WhereTheStreetsAreYours #Ciclovía #Salinas #KingCity #MontereyCounty #CondadoDeMonterey #CiclovíaSalinas

"How do you begin to quantify what is owed to Black Americans descended from enslaved people, or to #Indigenous Americans?...the #Esselen Tribe of Monterey County has acquired at least 3,206 acres of land, alone or in a partnership, since 2020. They’ve also entered into comanagement agreements on more acreage.

"The latest chapter is the 1,760-acre Tularcitos Creek property in Carmel Valley, which on July 18 was sold from The Wildlands Conservancy to the nonprofit tribal entity, and is the subject of a news story in the current issue of the Monterey County Weekly.”— Sara Rubin, #MontereyCountyNow #LandBack #MontereyCounty https://www.montereycountynow.com/blogs/opinion_blog/spurred-by-state-funds-the-land-back-movement-is-alive-and-well/article_6b6d1ca7-d5a5-4e93-8624-cb1114582e3c.html

After 13 yrs on Twitter, @bikemonterey stopped posting on that platform in Nov 2022.
We are also no longer posting on Meta platforms; we do have a @bikemonterey Instagram account, but it refers people to this Mastodon account.
We set up a @bikemonterey BlueSky acct; it likewise refers to this Mastodon acc).

When we did some updates today to Summer Bike Buzz https://bikemonterey.org/bike-buzz-summer-2025-news-from-bicycling-monterey.html, we pointed out what a chief information officer of a Monterey County transportation agency posted on Mastodon on July 6, 2025:
“Change isn’t easy. And transformational change requires perseverance and dedication. It doesn’t have to be fanatical. Honestly medium-level relentless will do.” https://mastodon.world/@NoRomBasic/114808599939418491

#SystemsChange #SocialMedia #Mastodon #democracy #PowerToThePeople

@ascentale @bikenite #BikeNite A1
Rural unincorporated Monterey County. It’s been mostly a “June gloom” day (as many locals call such grey June days).

We appreciate @ascentale and all participants keeping bike nite alive in the fediverse! :)

We missed bike nite—absorbed in helping a teen in https://bikemonterey.org/bike-equity-project-alternative-to-fine-for-traffic-citations.html.

Ophelia "Ophie” Chavez
10 July 1943 - 8 June 2025

Ophie was known and loved by the bike community as part owner of Winning Wheels Bicycle Shop in Pacific Grove 1986-2024. Many were unaware of her talents, e.g., “her patience and kindness with the children earned her the Anne Sullivan Award – a county-wide peer nominated award for educators who exemplify compassion and guidance with children with disabilities.” Learn more about Ophie: https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/pacific-grove-ca/ophelia-chavez-12411170

Memorial mass Wednesday, June 25, 10 a.m. at St. Angela Merici Church, Pacific Grove https://stangelamericipacificgrove.org/find-us, followed by burial at El Carmelo Cemetery on Asilomar Ave https://www.cityofpacificgrove.gov/our_city/departments/cemetery/index.php. Immediately after a celebration of Ophie’s life will follow at American Legion Hall Post 41 at 1110 Veterans Drive, Monterey.

#RIPOphieChavez #MontereyCounty #BikeShops #PacificGrove

Latest caller, at 8:10 pm, had questions about bicycle lockers in city of Monterey. We referred her to section 13 of our Tips for Bicycling Monterey County guide, https://bikemonterey.org/tips-for-tourists/valet-parking-service-for-cyclists. And we updated our related link to City of Monterey website, which led to error message following their site redesign.

We love web designers/developers who manage to preserve links year after year, e.g., Monterey Salinas Transit! Their expertise saves everyone who refers to their site a lot of time.

"Website and public outreach" is one of four options for Bicycling Monterey donors to specify if they value this grassroots volunteer work, now in its 17th year.

https://bikemonterey.org/about/financial-donations

https://kion546.com/news/2025/05/13/new-concerns-comes-as-bike-safety-becomes-an-issue-in-salinas/ Reminder to people who bike on sidewalks in the Monterey County seat and its largest city, Salinas. Sidewalk riding is generally allowed in Salinas, except where signs give notice it is prohibited. But it must be done with due caution and reasonable speed, and the person biking must yield to pedestrians and give an audible signal before overtaking and passing. Learn more in our 90-second audio and related post, "BIKING ON SIDEWALKS, plus examples of ordinances from Monterey County, California” https://bikemonterey.org/biking-on-sidewalks-plus-examples-of-ordinances-from-monterey-county-california.html — also available in Spanish, "ANDAR EN BICICLETA EN LAS ACERAS además de ejemplos de ordenanzas del Condado de Monterey, California”: https://bikemonterey.org/andar-en-bicicleta-en-las-aceras-ademas-de-ejemplos-de-ordenanzas-del-condado-de-monterey-california.html.

One of the instructors for Monterey County Probation Department Youth Center bike tech class (founded in 2012 by Bicycling Monterey) https://bikemonterey.org/probation-dept-youth-center-bike-education.html, Luciano, is an employee of Rancho Cielo. His duties there are heavily focused on bicycling. This video shows one example!

NOTE: You may want to do as we do: make use of Duck Duck Go’s Duck Player. The Duck Player “lets you watch videos on YouTube without privacy-invading ads, and keeps what you watch from impacting your recommendations.” Details: https://duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/duck-player/

duck://player/wS1P5MGHGsA / https://youtu.be/wS1P5MGHGsA?si=tPL4AN9Ap9DXRDmH

May 7, 2025, 6 p.m. Transportation Agency for Monterey County Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) meeting in GONZALES. Public welcome to attend, in person or via Zoom or phone. https://bikemonterey.org/monthly-meetings-tamc-bicycle-pedestrian-facilities-advisory-committee-public-welcome.html Note agenda items https://www.tamcmonterey.org/files/9348f6ef3/BPC+Agenda+May+Packet.pdf include a presentation on the Pajaro to Prunedale Corridor Study and current progress on safety improvement projects along the G12 Corridor; and a presentation on the King City San Antonio Drive/Broadway Street Bike Path and
Safe Routes to Schools Improvements Project, including progress on the roundabout designs
and environmental review process.

#MontereyCounty #SalinasValley #Gonzales #Pajaro #Prunedale #KingCity #SafeRoutesToSchool #ActiveTransport

We stop for wildflowers.

From this eve’s ride.

#BloomScrolling #Wildflowers #MontereyCounty

Over 70K people attended the 4-day Celebration of Cycling in Monterey County this month, Sea Otter Classic.

Our Bike Buzz, Special Edition shares the viewpoints of some of those people, in four posts — including youth, women, first-time and long-time attendees, people speaking languages other than English, and people visiting from other countries:
https://bikemonterey.org/reports-from-sea-otter-classic-2025.html

#BikeTooter #MontereyCounty #PeopleWhoBike #cyclists #cycling #bicycling #biking #BikeAdvocacy #BicycleFestival #BicycleRaces #BikeExpo

Added today to Cycling to Monterey County’s History Spots (https://bikemonterey.org/tips-for-tourists/for-history-buffs), another article about Vine Cycle Tours - "An e-bike tour of the former Fort Ord brings the military and natural history of the area to life” by Erik Chalhoub, #MontereyCountyNow / #MontereyCountyWeekly https://www.montereycountynow.com/people/831/an-e-bike-tour-of-the-former-fort-ord-brings-the-military-and-natural-history/article_14187d95-571e-424a-a500-cca5aa4875af.html

We notice @ternbicycles hasn’t posted on Mastodon about this, so we’re sharing this news with the Fediverse: Tern Bicycles has a new model, Tern GSD, "Our Best Cargo eBike for Families.”

If our kids were still young, and budget allowed, we’d love to have one! Check them out: https://www.ternbicycles.com/en/bikes/473/gsd?utm_campaign=gsd-g3&utm_source=mc-reg&utm_medium=email&utm_content=email1&mc_cid=8c4ba2b09a&mc_eid=1473c4e3fb

#Family #Bicycles #MiniVan #CargoBike #TernGSD #TernBicycles #ClimateAction #transportation #ActiveTransportation #ebike

Viewed and recommend: “Food and Country.” https://www.foodandcountryfilm.com/

Ask for it at your local library, e.g., it’s at Monterey Public Library https://www.montereylibrary.org/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=460084&query_desc=kw%2Cwrdl%3A%20food%20and%20country.

"NorCal Interscholastic Cycling League starts its season at Fort Ord every year….Executive Director Terry Curley says part of the appeal of biking is its #inclusivity—there are no benches, so everyone gets to ride.”

https://www.ksbw.com/article/students-mountain-bike-race-fort-ord-march-3/64020276

A partial local history: https://bikemonterey.org/monterey-county-teens-who-bike-including-mountain-bike-at-the-2017-california-state-high-school-mountain-bike-championships-and-elsewhere.html

#NationalInterscholasticCyclingAssociation #NICA #NorCalLeague #MoreKidsOnBikes #FortOrd #MontereyCounty #FortOrdNationalMonument #MountainBiking #MTB #HighSchoolAthletics #Salinas #Monterey #SalinasHighSchoolCowboysRacing #MontereyBayCompositeLightfighters #RanchoSanJuanHighSchoolMountainBiking #Athletics #TeensBike #YouthBike