Walking & Biking News & Ideas
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We hope you are staying healthy!
Spring is heading into summer with our first hot days! Here's some great information about south bay trails, how safe is hiking locally, how to use the Regnart Trail to get to schools and elsewhere, a student ride which shows Homestead bike lanes are needed full time, why shifting to the center of the lane when biking is legal and might be a good idea for adults, how WBC is making a difference locally, and lots of news about our community. Stay safe while you are walking and biking in your neighborhood and beyond on these beautiful summer days to come.
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All Creek Trails (will) lead to Cupertino
Get almost anywhere by using one of the planned trails
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Cupertino sits at an average elevation of 236 feet above sea level with steep hills on its western and southern borders. The land slopes gently down from there to the bay. Its unique location means that Cupertino is near the headwaters of several creeks in the South Bay. If these creeks are developed as trails, Cupertino residents will be able to use a creek trail to get pretty much anywhere in Mountain View, Sunnyvale, and Santa Clara. |
Click on the maps for larger views. |
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Santa Clara County Trails Master Plan
The Santa Clara County Trails Master Plan envisions creating a connected network of trails throughout the county. One of the components of this master plan is to develop the creek trails wherever possible, working with the individual cities to implement the projects. Given its unique location, Cupertino will benefit more than any other city from developing these creek trails, connecting our residents to much of the South Bay with protected nature trails, away from cars and traffic. Read more...
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How WBC is making a difference
Community work this month & local events
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WBC Board members Seema Lindskog and Jennifer Shearin along with Bicycle Pedestrian Commission Vice Chair Marcy and Chair Wolf at the Cupertino BIke Ped Commission's Energizer Station on May 18. |
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Walk-Bike Cupertino is proud to give back to our community. We volunteer our time, advocate to local governments for better bike lanes, sidewalks, and trails, and support events around the local area. Here are three ways that we’ve made a difference in the past month: Bike to Work Day, the new De Anza College E-bike Program, and Cupertino's Earth Day Celebration. Read more...
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⇧ The De Anza e-bike ribbon cutting and celebration included WBC Board members Seema Lindskog, Larry Dean, Dino Sakkas, and Helene Davis with Mayor Hung Wei, FUHSD Board members Stanley Kou and Rod Sinks, Cupertino Rotary President-Elect Alysa Sakkas, and De Anza administrators. |
⇩ WBC Board members Stuart Rosenberg, Meenakshi Biyani, and Helene Davis share advice and give out helmets at the Cupertino Earth Day Festival. |
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Bike to Work Day
May 18 was the South Bay Annual Bike to Work or Wherever Day. The Cupertino Bicycle Pedestrian Commission held their annual Energizer station on Stelling and McClellan roads. As in previous years, Walk-Bike Cupertino partnered with the Commission to staff the station and bring snacks to share. More...
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De Anza College E-bikes
On May 3rd, De Anza College inaugurated its first e-bike loaner program. The program will initially loan out (for free) 23 e-bikes to disadvantaged students that need a way to commute to campus.
Our community working together made this great program a reality. Walk-Bike Cupertino provided helmets so the new cyclists could ride safely. Sponsors of the e-bike program were the Cupertino Rotary, Hammond Climate Solutions, the BQuest Foundation, and college administrators from De Anza.
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Cupertino's Earth Day Festival
Walk-Bike Cupertino celebrated with the City of Cupertino at their Earth Day Festival on April 22, 2023.
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At the festival, WBC gave out 39 helmets for free to local residents of all ages who need them to ride their bikes and scooters safely. As always, the helmets came with a free fitting and instructions. The WBC booth also had information on local trails–including the newly opened Regnart Creek Trail, just steps away from the booth location–and updates on local projects.
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How Safe is Hiking?
(and how to stay safe while enjoying it!)
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by Jian He, WBC Boardmember |
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Are you afraid of hiking just by looking at this photo? It was taken during our family reunion hike at Yellowstone National Park in 2019. We explored different trails for 10 days with great courage and came back safely!
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Since then, we still encouraged each other to continue our weekly hikes, but changed to a different route with fewer trees near the trail. In May, the weather finally became drier and warmer, we got back to Coyote Loop Trail to hike under trees and along creeks, staying alert for closure notices or any signs of danger, like dying or leaning trees. Last week, one friend alerted us that a hiker got bitten by a rattlesnake and was airlifted to a hospital. This second incident made my hiking group worried again about safety on the trails, but it also motivated me to do a little research on hiking risks.
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Is Hiking Dangerous?
First of all, please don’t get discouraged by these reported incidents. In general, hiking is considered a very safe activity with great benefits. According to a survey conducted by NPS from 2014 to 2016: “the mortality rate is 0.1 deaths /100,000 recreation visits which is very low when compared to the mortality rate of the overall U.S. population (844 deaths/100,000 people)”. Among these deaths, 53% are unintentional, 17% unintentional cases were due to fall/slips during hiking, and 0.01% were due to wildlife/animals. Read more...
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Data from the NPS survey. Click on the image for a larger view. |
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"Hike Smart" Safety Tips
Many online resources offer great advice on hiking safety, but personal experiences are always helpful. Below are some of my tips for smarter and safer hiking that I've learned online and while hiking with my family.
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How to use the Regnart Trail
Get to local schools and to free things to do
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Many people are using the newly opened Regnart Trail for enjoyable walks and bike rides.
Did you know that it is also a great connector to our neighborhood schools and free places for fun?
Click on any of the maps to see a larger view of the best way to get to local schools and some great places using only the trail and smaller residential streets.
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Click on the maps below to see the best way to reach each school using the trail. |
Eaton Elementary is very close to the western-most trailhead of the Regnart Creek Trail.
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Cupertino High School is 800 feet from the Creekside Park trail, which connects to the Regnart Creek Trail.
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Lawson Middle School is a few blocks away from the trail, but the trail is a convenient way for your child to bike to school from many of the neighborhoods in Lawson’s enrollment area.
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Sunnyvale student ride shows need for full-time Homestead bike lanes
by Jamie Nguyen, Homestead High Student
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On Friday, May 12th, students from Homestead High and Fremont High came together to participate in the second annual Bike for Boba ride.
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Hosted by Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition (SVBC) and Sunnyvale Youth Climate Action Team (SYCAT), the event took 45 students and 10 adults through popular bike lanes around Homestead High School and Fremont High School, aiming to raise awareness for the unsafe conditions in many of the lanes students take to school.
One of the largest concerns of bike advocates in the area is the part-time status of the bike lanes on Homestead Road—from 6 PM to 7 AM, they become parking lanes. This means that students biking home from after-school extracurriculars have to weave into traffic to avoid parked cars, subsequently creating an extremely dangerous environment to bike home in. SVBC and SYCAT advocate for full-time bike lanes to promote the safety of biking students, which in turn will encourage more students to bike to school. Read more...
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➤ Lawson Middle School Bikeway moves forward from BPC
Cupertino Bike Ped Commissioners agreed (with Commissioner Ganga dissenting) to recommend to the City Council to build the two-way separated lane bikeway at Lawson Middle School.
The bikeway was heavily supported by the Lawson community, getting the majority vote by a wide margin in both meetings and online polls. The price tag is $115K, one tenth of the cost of the second most popular option of a multi-use sidewalk, which was encouraged by local neighbors concerned about the loss of parking on one side of Vista.
Most or all of the cost will be covered by an Apple grant from a few years ago that covers school projects to increase biking and walking safety for our students.There is no set date yet for the council to hold a vote on the project, but we will let you know in a newsletter when the vote is coming up.
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Click for a larger image. Here is Greene Middle School in Palo Alto, which has the same lanes.
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➤ Cupertino Budget: Your voice is important
Last week, the city held both a Budget Forum and a Budget Town Hall to give residents easy opportunities to give their input into how to solve Cupertino's budget crisis. Three councilmembers attended the Town Hall: Mayor Wei, Vice Mayor Mohan, and Councilmember Fruen. They listened carefully to residents who gave their input in person and by calling in. Residents can also give input via the online survey here until May 30. We encourage everyone to give their input to the budget survey to NOT cut the public works budget for biking and walking projects to continue to move Cupertino forward by reducing traffic, encouraging community & being greener.
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➤ Coming to a school near you
Faria Elementary will be holding their Kinder Parade on June 4. Clap for the new kindergarteners along Pepper Tree Lane! Watch for new bike, walk and dropoff instructions for Homestead High School to be released this month for fall 2023.
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Why Shifting to the Center of the lane can be safer
(and is legal!)
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Many people are leery about biking in the center of a lane, and many drivers think that bikes shouldn’t be there. It’s actually one of the best places for adults to bike (kids should use the sidewalk) if the street has no bike lanes or only bike "paint stripe" lanes, especially if you are concerned about being visible to cars. It’s legal in almost all circumstances, too. Read on for more about why it is a great option for many cyclists. |
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Bike lanes like these on Bollinger Road can easily cause a cyclist to be be 'doored". |
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You are less likely to be hit
Physically separated and protected bike lanes are the best way to keep safe when sharing the road with motor vehicles (see this article), but very few roads have them yet. Most roads have painted stripes, a bike symbol (“sharrow”) in the middle of the lane, or nothing at all marked... (read more)
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It is legal effectively everywhere
California law says people who ride bikes must ride as close to the right side of the road as practicable, but there's many exceptions which in effect make it legal in almost all circumstances for bikes to ride in the center of the lane. These include when passing, preparing for a left turn, avoiding hazards, if the bike lane is too narrow to share, or if approaching a place where a right turn is authorized. Read more...
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Bike lanes such as this one on Rodrigues are often block by trucks, debris, trash cans, etc. |
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Numerous studies show that the safest biking infrastructure for all ages are trails and physically separated and protected bike lanes. Make the best informed choices you can. Stay safe out there! |
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click the image for more information! |
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We'd love to hear YOUR voice!
Do you know a great walk, ride, run or hike? Want to share an issue about walking, biking, city planning, or interesting idea?
Walk-Bike Cupertino would love to spotlight it in our newsletter and on our website! Articles should be 400 words or less, and should include a picture. All submissions are subject to approval and editing, and can be used by Walk-Bike Cupertino in future publications. Contact us here.
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Happy Walking and Biking,
Your friends at Walk-Bike Cupertino
Find much more, including maps, safety data, and information on all the city projects at: walkbikecupertino.org
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