How did you hear about BikingRoseville?

I received an email through our neighborhood association that provided the BikingRoseville contact for those interested in biking.

What kind of Riding do you do?

I only ride on the road, but I want to take up mountain biking. All my friends do it and they always leave without me. But mountain bikes are expensive!

I commute daily to the Franchise Tax Board in Rancho Cordova. 13 of us lease a van, we all drive to work together in the morning – catch up on some extra sleep – and then I commute home on my bike. I’ve added a bike rack to the van, so I can attach my bike to the van in the morning and ride home at night. It’s about 30 miles one-way.  I take the American River Bikeway and then East Roseville Parkway or Eureka Rd.  It’s a fun ride, there are a lot of deer on the bike trail and it’s so scenic. Sometimes, when I’m I thinking to myself, “Why am I doing this, it’s cold and dark out and I don’t feel like riding”, I just force myself on the bike and it quickly becomes pure fun.  I ride pretty much every day, even on days when I know it may rain (lightly). 

Weekends are for pleasure rides.  They range anywhere between 40 to 70 miles. I ride with my boyfriend, Mike and sometimes a group ride, like the Sunday morning rides from Spin City, although that one is almost too fast for me. It’s hard to find women who ride.

But currently a bike shop in Auburn – the Cambria Bicycle Emporium on Grass Valley Road - is putting together a women’s team/ride. It’s a no-drop ride and we’ll probably end up with three groups: beginners, intermediate, and racers. Each group will have a lead. Our inaugural ride will be December 2^nd.  I think this will be a great opportunity for the beginners to get started; it’s comforting to ride with a new group that’s just forming. We’ll have a jersey and our team will be called Bella Fiore. It’s going to be really cool! 

Why do you like to ride?

I love to be outdoors, I get my commute and exercise done all at once. And on the weekends, for the real rides, I like to push myself. I just love the feeling of being on the bike – it’s freedom for me. I feel unique as not many people do it, especially when I’m riding home in the dark and cold, I figure I’m about 1% of the population.

It’s kind of hard to explain, but sometimes, even when I don’t fell like riding, I quickly get into it. It just feels good to be on the bike.

Do you feel you have an impact on others?

Yes, my coworkers and people from my vanpool see me riding and ask questions, some have even started riding on weekends. I’m so excited when someone who hasn’t ridden before tells me they bought a bike and now rides 7 mile rides on the weekends.

I have a friend, who always made fun of me, then one day I talked her into riding with me and now she’s hooked! People should try it out for a few weeks and see for themselves how much fun it is.

Do you do any cross-training?

Yes, I lift weights, especially for my upper body. I also would like to get back into kayaking.

What was the nicest/longest ride you have ever done?

Oh, that’s easy, I just did it in October. We did the Lake Tahoe loop. We’ve done the lake loop in the summer, but it doesn’t compare to doing it in the fall. The colors are so pretty in the fall and the ride itself is beautiful, the majority of the ride has the lake in view and there are some great climbs.  We’re going to make it an annual ride in October now.  You should join us; it’s so beautiful!

I’ve done a few centuries. The longest I’ve ridden was 104 miles. Usually they put the last climb about 20 miles from the finish, so the last hour is really hard. You just want to get it done and over with.

If you could change two things about bike facilities in Roseville immediately, what would they be?

For one I don’t think Roseville is a biking community. I’d really like to live in Folsom, it’s not quite Davis, but you see bikes everywhere in Folsom.  The drivers are much more aware of cyclist. Roseville just isn’t there yet. When I travel through town, I usually see only one or two serious riders.

We need to get people off their butts and become more of a biking community. The more riders the City sees the more likely they’ll honor our ideas. They won’t do it for three or four people.                                   

Secondly, I’d change the two roads that I’m on so frequently with my commute.   This winter I’ve changed my commute from E Roseville Parkway to Eureka Rd for a safer ride home.   E Roseville Parkway has a special surface on the bridges that creates grooves; this makes it difficult to stay in the bike lane and forces me to move into traffic.  It’s very dangerous especially in the winter months when I’m riding in the dark. 

You have had contact with the City in regards to biking questions – what were your experiences?

I think Mike Dour is a great guy, he listens and the fact that he rides helps a lot. But I also think there is a lot of red tape at the city. Here is a non-biking example of the red tape with the city of Roseville: The City sent Franchise Tax Board employees a survey questioning the interest of a commuter bus, we completed the survey almost 8 months ago.  We just got word that we will receive a commuter bus but not for another 18 months. 

What were your thoughts on the Tour de Roseville?

Oh, it was fabulous. I liked that they put us into groups, though next time I think they should put us in groups with common needs. People who ride through their neighborhood will have different needs and concerns than those who commute long distances.  This would make it easier for the city engineers to understand the needs of the individual groups. 

People also should be grouped by abilities, and slower groups may choose to do a smaller route. Some groups were forced to ride past dark and I felt like we didn’t have the time to address all the problems that needed addressing.

But I think part of the problem may have been that there were more people than the City expected.  So it shows that there are riders in Roseville and that we could become a stronger biking community if we all join together.  We could begin with a group ride to assess everyone’s abilities and strengths, then on subsequent rides we ride within the established groups.

Are you aware of the November 28 workshop?

I am now! I’ll try to make it. It is important that many people show up to voice their input.

You had an accident earlier this year. What happened where and have you fully recovered?

It was in February on my way home. It was 6pm, so already dark. It happened on East Roseville Parkway, crossing Douglas. Like many boulevards crossing in town when you are past the intersection the bike lane continues and on the right hand side there is a merge lane. Now, drivers are not supposed to cross the solid line of the bike lane, but a lot of people do. They merge immediately instead of making use of the full merge lane. Luckily they have a sharp turn, so they slow down, but I had this weird feeling that something was going to happen. So I slowed down and the driver slowed, but we still ran into each other.

Fortunately I didn’t make the mistake to swerve to the left into the traffic lane. Instead I just tried to tuck and fall in a way to minimize my injuries. My bike was ok for the most part and my biggest injury was a big bruise on my leg – created by my handle bar hitting me.

While I was lying on the ground and I had some not so kind words as the driver stayed in his car and didn’t even help me! But eventually he gout out and apologized, saying that he was in his wife’s brand new car and couldn’t figure out how to open the door or lower the window. I realized he was really sorry and I calmed down a bit. He then helped me get my bike ready again and offered to drive me to the Park & Ride parking lot. I was ok though so I rode back to my vehicle.

He said he was new to town and didn’t know his way around. I told him “Listen, I’m on this road every single night and you need to start looking for me”! He promised he would.

It could have been worse, so I was lucky – and I hope that lightning never strikes twice and that was my only car crash.

I do want to add that for the most part drivers are very courteous. You have to be a bit careful with young drivers though. Another thing that favors me is being female. Motorists tend to be more relaxed. I have a very tall male friend who gets cursed at and things thrown at him. I do notice it more when I ride with other male riders, but by myself or with other female riders, we never get harassed - well, in other ways sometimes…

Did you participate in the Million Mile Challenge in May?

I did – hey, by signing up with BikingRoseville; I lost a free lunch, free water bottle, and free T-Shirt (maybe BikingRoseville will have some prizes next year)!

I signed up with my employer, but all the subdivisions at the Franchise Tax Board signed up as groups. I came in fourth as far as overall miles within the FTB, but I had the most miles in my division and every division leader got specially recognized and stories printed about them 

I had 596 miles, which is actually lower than usual. May was very rainy and I didn’t have my bad-weather hybrid bike set up yet. I also missed some of my regular 70-mile weekend rides due to family sickness. But while 596 is low for me, I have this plaque at my desk for high miles, sometimes people stop by and admire how many miles I rode and it gets us talking. I can then tell them how to get started.

I hope it will be less rainy next May and I am looking forward to the event already.

Any thoughts on how to get more people involved in biking?

It’s tricky. The May Month activities are good, but I think we could do more. We tried a buddy program at work, where designated people would help out those who haven’t ridden before, but instead of the anticipated two dozen who signed up, we only had two interested riders. Part of that was the weather – since it rained a lot that month.

Maybe we can go through BikingRoseville next year. I’d be willing to lead a ride.

There is no bigger advertisement than people in colored spandex. So even if we don’t have large numbers right now, I think getting together and riding would be big – it will make people aware of our group. And having people ride together with a common, colorful T-Shirt would send a good message. Maybe at some point BikingRoseville should step it up a notch, charge a yearly fee that helps with those kinds of projects, though I think it’s too early right now. There needs to be a bigger base before we get that going.

You went to the Tour of California this year. How was it?

Yes, the first and second day. We saw the time trial up Coit Tower, which was so much fun. We were at the steepest part of the climb. You could see the pain in the faces of the riders. And the guys who had finished came down the stairs with their bikes. It’s not like in the NBA where someone would carry the equipment for them. Even the top riders would walk right by us with their bikes.

The second day we watched the ride in Santa Rosa. As a fan, you don’t feel quite as involved in the ride as you do in the time trial.  In the time trials you see every rider go by; but for the mass race, you only see them twice for a few seconds. They are so damn fast!

It’s nice that you can get so close, especially when they warm up prior to the race. Mike got a couple of pictures with David Zabriskie!

I’ve already booked my days off from work for 2007! And this time they are coming to Sacramento too!  (NDLR: www.amgentourofcalifornia.com)

Maybe BikingRoseville could go as a group!

Another race that’s a lot of fun is on Father’s days in Nevada City. They do criteriums all day long. They are so fast that it blows your hair back.