More Bike Racing & Why in Santa Cruz Sunday 4/13

For those of you who can't make it all the way down to Monterey for the Sea Otter bike races,
there's still a lot of action right here in Santa Cruz. Sunday, April 13, marks the 33rd annual
Santa Cruz Classic Criterium. A criterium, with a start finish at 3rd and Younger just above the
lower end of Pacific Ave, this exciting race flies of the downtown side of Beach Hill, loops back
along the San Lorenzo River at Laurel Street Extension before it climbs back on 3rd to the
straight away.

Run like a well oiled machine, the action starts early at 8AM. And all of it has come and gone by
noon. So get there early!!

btw: Why am I promoting bike racing when I am trying to make cycling safe for transportation?
Well, over and beyond the simple fact that anything about bicycles merits my attention, a lot is
involved before a bike race ever hits the city streets. The permit process itself requires a lot
of close work with city officials as well as law enforcement. And it doesn't stop once the papers
are filed and then accepted. This relationship doesn't end until the last lap is completed and all
of the racing infrastructure (the trucks, barricades, loudspeakers, and signs, etc) goes away
until the planning process begins for the next year and the year after, etc. All of this has the
effect of education whereby local government learns about our special needs and we learn about
theirs. And in such a way, both a rapport and a mutual respect for one another's efforts is made
all the more greater.

--
MARTIN KRIEG: "Awake Again" Author c/o BikeRoute.com 79 & 86 TransAms, nonprofit Nat. Bicycle
Greenway CEO

Ever wanted anything so bad U were willing to die for it? Really die? By moving thru clinical death
and reversing paralysis, *I saw God* when I answered that question.