1. Biketoberfest rolls into Fairfax, Saturday, Oct. 16
Handmade bike show and brewfest now offers race, rides, outdoor movie, and more

Biketoberfest Marin is an all-day celebration of the bicycle held in Fairfax, Marin County’s premier cycling destination and the birthplace of the mountain bike.

This handmade bike show and brewfest now offers a cyclocross race, celebrity group rides, an outdoor movie (KLUNKERZ) and more.

The festival offers something for every cyclist: there will be beautiful handmade bicycles on display, celebrity group rides for road and mountain bikers, a cyclocross race (Lion of Fairfax), a brewfest featuring 30 beers from 22 West Coast brewers, and an outdoor screening of KLUNKERZ in the evening. In addition, there will be live music, a family fun zone and amazing food!

Admission is free. Tickets for beer tasting are $20 in advance or $25 the day of the event, and include a commemorative 8 oz. Biketoberfest glass. Proceeds benefit bicycle advocacy in Marin County. Tickets are on sale now!

• Handmade bike show – 15 West Coast builders!
• Bike Expo – Over 50 bicycle companies
• Brewfest – Over 30 beers from 22 breweries!
• Cyclocross race – Lion of Fairfax at White Hill School
• KLUNKERZ outdoor movie – introduction by stars of the mountain bike documentary
• Group rides – Road ride with Alison Starne, mountain bike ride with Joe Breeze and Charlie Kelly, Luna Chix ride and NorCal High School ride
• Family fun! – Slide, Jumpy, Little Rollers, face painting, teen band and “Breakfast with Enzo”!
• Live music – Dogtown Ramblers
• Food – Pizza Politana, The Fabulous Frickle Brothers Pickles, Venga Paella, The Juicery, Donna's Tamales, Brittany Crepes and Galettes and the Sausage Booth!

Free beer tasting will be provided to all volunteers over 21. Numerous opportunities to support MCBC await you. MCBC t-shirts also provided for the volunteers; please indicate your size. Sign up early for the shift of your choice. Click here for details.

When : Saturday, October 16, 11 am to 6 pm (group rides at 9:30 am)
Where : Fair-Anselm Plaza parking lots, 765 Center Blvd, Fairfax, CA 94930 (next to Java Hut and Iron Springs)
Info : www.biketoberfestmarin.com

2. Are you following the Bike Locally Challenge?
6 Marinites inspire hundreds to try biking to work, school and for shopping

In May MCBC outfitted 6 novice cyclists with Globe bicycles, mentors and accessories to see if they can change their ways and take the bike for some of their local trips. If they ride their bike 50 miles a month and inspire others to ride with Facebook posts and blogs, they get to keep the Globe bicycles at the end of the 6-month challenge.

The riders are now halfway through their journey and all are on track to keep their bikes. However, some are starting to experience challenges. BLC rider Peter Meringolo said in a recent blog post reflecting on the end of summer …

The peaceful lazy days where I got ready for work while the rest of the house slept or watched television are over. Replacing them is chaos — making lunches, waking up the kids, getting them dressed and fed. I ran late and jumped in the car. One day off of the Globe. Luke asked me to drive him to school on Friday. Another day bike day lost. I feel the dominoes begin to fall; I have visions of MCBC repossessing my Globe.

Can the 6 Bike Locally Challenge riders make it to the finish line? Watch all our riders and root them on at our Facebook page. To learn more about the riders and to read interviews with each of them visit the Bike Locally Challenge webpage.

And be sure to check out the October issue of Marin Magazine for a story on the Bike Locally Challenge.

3. Dirt Rag magazine special offer for new members
Join MCBC and receive free 1-year subscription to Bicycle Times or Dirt Rag

Dirt Rag publisher Maurice Tierney stopped by the office last week to join the Marin County Bicycle Coalition and to make a super sweet offer to encourage others to do the same. From now until Thanksgiving, all new members are entitled to a 1-year subscription of either Dirt Rag magazine or Bicycle Times magazine.

As a bonus, new members can join for as little at $25 thanks to a matching grant from the Deal Witter Foundation. Membership includes the Marin Bicycle Map, discounts at bike shops and manufacturers, a 1-year subscription to the Pedal Press, more bike paths and safer roads. The magazine subscription and bicycle map alone are worth $25, so join today!

This offer is valid for new members only (or members who’ve been lapsed for 18 months or more).

After you join MCBC simply send an email to Jo Ann Richards with your name, mailing address and choice of Dirt Rag or Bicycle Times.

4. Safe Routes needs bikes to fix – in any condition
For educational fleet, and for spring giveaways

Safe Routes to Schools (SR2S) Marin County has a partnership with the Marin County Bicycle Coalition and San Quentin State prison (SQ) to fix enough bikes to have a suitable fleet for school BikeEd programs and also to distribute bikes to needy children and families. Inmates at the SQ Fire Department are trained as mechanics to receive unwanted bicycles, fix them or recycle/reuse their parts and return them to SR2S for their elementary and middle school bike education programs.

SR2S needs more bikes to work towards building the educational fleet and to a spring giveaway to families that want to travel green but can't afford a bike.

Please bring a bike of any condition, it’s OK!

Either take bikes to SQ's West Gate (E. Sir Francis Drake Blvd. Larkspur) or to participating local county Fire Departments listed on the 10/10/10 event site (SQ will collect them) to help Marin County travel green!

For more information, click here.

5. New app tracks bike trips

From the Metropolitan Transportation Commission:

While May’s Team Bike Challenge and Bike to Work Day have come and gone, gung-ho cyclists can keep track of their mileage and minutes biked — and compare their stats with those of cyclists around the region — all year long using the new iBikeChallenge app. Register at youcanbikethere.com/user/register, then download the free iBikeChallenge iPhone app at the iPhone store and start recording your rides using your phone’s GPS.

No iPhone? No problem. You can record your trips at youcanbikethere.com/iBikeChallenge by logging in (or registering) and clicking on the “Create a Ride” link.

6. Upcoming MCBC events

Basic Street Skills
Tuesday, September 21, 6:30-8:30 PM
Marin General Hospital, Tamalpais/Magnolia Room, 250 Bon Air Road, Greenbrae

Riding with Youth
Saturday, September 25, 9:30 AM – 12 noon
Novato Youth Center, 680 Wilson Ave, Novato

Riding with Youth
Saturday, October 2, 9:30 AM – 12 noon
Community Center for the Tamalpais Community Services District, 203 Marin Ave., Mill Valley

Brookside Octoberfest with Valet Bike Parking
Saturday, October 9, 10 AM – 4 PM
Brookside Lower Campus, 116 Butterfield Road, San Anselmo

Riding with Youth
Saturday, October 16, 9:30 AM – 12 noon
Novato Youth Center, 680 Wilson Ave, Novato

Biketoberfest
Saturday, October 16, 11 AM – 6 PM
FairAnselm Plaza, 765 Center Blvd., Fairfax

Basic Street Skills
Tuesday, October 19, 6:30-8:30 PM
Sausalito City Hall, Edgewater Room, 420 Litho Street, Sausalito

See an expanded list of events

7. Tour de Fat is fast approaching
Sat, Sept 25, in Golden Gate Park

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition writes:

It's time to oil your chain, press your polyester and fluff that feather boa because Tour de Fat rolls back into town next Saturday, September 25th (11am-5pm, Lindley Meadow--new location, Golden Gate Park), with its ballyhoo of bikes and New Belgium Brewery beers! Two parts bike rodeo and one part circus, this all-day, all-green festival is full of fire-jumping bike acts, bicycle games, a bike parade through the park, live music from Mucca Pazza, Dovekins, The Daredevil Chicken Club Presents: A Honeymoon Cabaret, The Raspyni Brothers, Americaine: Stupide, tasty eats and of course, great beer! Registration for the Bike Parade begins at 10am, the parade departs at 11am, and the show ballyhoo begins at noon!

Come on out, and have a good time for a great cause (New Belgium Brewery donates the proceeds of the day to the SF Bicycle Coalition and the Bay Area Ridge Trail Council). Don't forget to ride your bike, as we'll be providing complimentary valet bike parking (of course).

Get a FREE beer token at Tour de Fat: are you, or someone you know, not yet a member of the SF Bicycle Coalition? Get a free beer token and make San Francisco a better place to bike and live when you become a member of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition at Tour de Fat!

8. San Anselmo Kids’ Bike Race #8
Sunday, September 26, 9:00 AM, at Memorial Park

Velo Club Fairfax announces:

The San Anselmo Kids’ Bike Race #8, presented by Velo-Club Fairfax and The Town of San Anselmo Recreation, in conjunction with Caesar’s Cyclery, Paradigm Cycles, and 3 Ring Cycles, will be held at Memorial Park in San Anselmo on Sunday, September 26. Registration opens at 9:00 AM; the first race (5- and 6-year-olds) is at 9:30 AM.

Entry is $5.00. Everyone wins something! The course is the perimeter of Memorial Park (one-half kilometer). There are four races, based on age group:

• 5 & 6 years (one lap)
• 7 & 8 years (two laps)
• 9 & 10 years (three laps)
• 11 & 12 years (four laps)

In memory of Cook Segale.

For more info, contact Chris Lang at (415) 457-8687, or San Anselmo Recreation at (415) 258-4649.