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Teacher Appreciation Day & Bike Month

Did you know that May 6 was National Teacher Appreciation Day?

Dan Rather once said, "The dream begins, most of the time, with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you on to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called truth."

I have to say that few other professionals touch as many people as teachers do.

We are fortunate here in Ukiah that, from kindergarten to junior college, our community hosts a wide array of educational opportunities taught by incredible, dedicated teachers who devote their entire careers to helping our children develop the skills that allow them to achieve so many great things.  

I am truly grateful for the dedicated and committed teachers within our community, and National Teacher Day is a great time to celebrate the many contributions our educators make to our community every day.

May is also a month to celebrate National Hamburger Month, National High Blood Pressure Education Month, and National Bike Month.

So, after you have taken time to thank that most special teacher in your life, remember we have a whole month to celebrate how great a hamburger tastes, to watch our blood pressure, and–as the spring time sun warms the air–to get back on our bikes.

Maybe biking will help us reduce our blood pressure and burn the calories from those hamburgers, who knows?

National Bike Month is sponsored by the League of American Bicyclists, and has been celebrated in communities from coast to coast since 1956. May is an ideal time to showcase the many benefits of bicycling—and encourage more people to give biking a try.

Whether you use a bike to travel to work or school, run your errands, for exercise, or just for fun, National Bike Month is an opportunity to celebrate the unique benefits of the bicycle and the many reasons we ride.

Here in Ukiah and throughout Mendocino County, our local organization, Walk & Bike Mendocino, is promoting a host of Bike Month activities.

If you bike to the farmers’ market or the Natural Foods Co-op this month, you can enter raffles for a chance to win a bike from Dave’s Bike Shop.

On May 7, join the League of American Bicyclists in celebrating Bike-to-School Day. This is a great day to encourage kids to ride their bikes to school. If your children choose to ride to school on May 7, be sure to remind them of these safety tips:

  • Ride in the same direction as traffic (with the flow) in a single file.
  • Ride on the right side of the road (not the left), far enough from parked cars to avoid open car doors.
  • Obey traffic laws. Follow all traffic signs, signals and lane markings.
  • Be predictable. Ride in a straight line, not in and out of cars.
  • Use hand signals.
  • Always wear a helmet

The week of May 12-16 is Bike-to-Work Week. If you can only bike to work one day, make it May 16! Special events will make May 16 really fun (as well as one of the healthiest countywide bike events of the year)!

On the way to work, Ukiah bike riders are invited to stop in at “Energizer Stations” at Ukiah Natural Foods Co-op, Schat’s Bakery, and other participating locations. Energizer Stations will host breakfast foods, coffee, tea, 5-minute massages, bike repair advice, and fun activities.

After work, everyone is invited to attend a street party and the Bicycle Fashion Show beginning at 5:30 p.m. on Church Street (between School and State Streets). Local “celebrities” will participate in Bike-to-Work Day as well as the Bicycle Fashion Show. It promises to be an exciting day!

Many of us live within a few miles of our jobs or school, making bicycling a fun way to get to around. With increased interest in healthy, sustainable and low-cost transportation options, it’s not surprising that the number of bicycle commuters in the U.S. grew by more than 47 percent from 2000 to 2011.

Many of the people who participate in Bike-to-Work Day activities as first-time commuters become regular bike commuters.

If you’d like more information about Bike-to-Work Day and other Bike Month activities, you can “Like” Walk & Bike Mendocino on Facebook or go to www.walkbikemendo.org. To get involved in Bike Month, contact Jen Dalton, Program Coordinator, at jen@jendalton.com.

If you’re ready for a true biking adventure, Ukiah Rotary just might have the answer for you. On June 8, 2014, Ukiah Rotary is hosting its annual Mendocino Monster Century Bicycle Ride.  

The event includes three rides again this year: the Scary Monster is 100 miles (160 kilometers) and includes 9200 feet of climbing. The Hairy Monster is 62 miles (100 kilometers) and includes 6900 feet of climbing, and the Merry Monster is 26 miles (41 kilometers) with 750 feet of climbing.

All rides depart and finish from Mendocino College, just north of Ukiah. Both the Scary Monster and the Hairy Monster take you over quiet country roads and include challenging ridge top climbs with stunning panoramas of Mendocino County. Both the Scary and Hairy travel through beautiful redwood groves and pastoral farmland, and if you choose the Scary Monster, you’ll also get to ride along the Pacific Ocean.

The Merry Monster is a relatively easy ride that goes through some beautiful countryside with vineyard views and the peaceful farmlands of Redwood Valley.

Regardless of which ride you choose, along with fantastic riding roads and majestic views of Mendocino County, at the end of the ride you’ll be treated to a first class barbeque meal. 

This is a fundraiser for the Rotary Club of Ukiah. The club uses proceeds from this event to fund local scholarships for students, repair park playground equipment, create local parks in the Ukiah area, as well as contribute to the worldwide effort to eliminate polio and develop and build water projects in India, to name a few. To sign up for this great biking event, visit http://mendocinomonster.com.

As always, our mission at UPD is simple: to make Ukiah as safe as possible. If you have any suggestions or comments about how we can improve, please feel free to call me, complete our online survey, or leave a crime tip on our website: www.ukiahpolice.com.  


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