ABC Rides Tour de Trash

9th Edition of the ABC Rides-Spring 2010 (Click here for more pics)

2010-05-19T12:43:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a while since I updated the blog from our last successful Tour de Trash in Spring 2009, but not to despair, we have continued our noble cause despite public sector budgetary constraints and a dismal overall economy.

Jonathan Lee managed to get out in late April to cover the usual trash spots and came back with the expected waypoints localizing the exact areas that needed roadside cleaning.

As financials continue to crumble at a global level, it is not surprising to hear about the public sector cutting back on spending. As most of you probably heard from local news broadcasts, Sonoma County Public Works officially lost their budget to collect roadside litter in late April. Given the ever growing cycling community in Sonoma County, it is also no surprise that the ensuing road rage incidents are on the rise. The cycling community feels that it is even more imperative to get involved at all levels with the community now more than ever. Cyclists want to give back to the community that offers us our cherished back roads. SCBC and local cycling organizations recognize that cyclists need to make every effort to keep the delicate balance of sharing the road with everyone else.

Therefore, the ABC Rides are going roadside for the first time to collect the trash ourselves in an effort to continue to serve the community that allows us to ride some of the most beautiful roads in the world. The cyclists themselves will drive out to Jonathan's waypoints with volunteer pickup truck owners and collect the litter. We will then return all the trash items to a dedicated bin that Janine Crocker from the Sonoma County public works has managed to provide just for the ABC Rides.

The scheduled date for the roadside cleaning is Sunday, June 20. Whole Foods came through for us with awesome snacks for our efforts.

Petaluma Roadside Crew Report

The Petaluma crew met over at Sonoma Elementary School on Rainier, Sunday, June 20 8:00AM.

We had 4 pickup trucks available courtesy of:

Jason "Climber" Clymer, NAPA Auto Parts-Novato
Eric "Big E" Schleth, Lee's Body Shop-Petaluma
Keith "Red Neck" Marchando with trailer

We hit the road early Sunday morning and headed for the first pick of the day, a dryer on Sonoma Mountain Road. We had scouts helping us clean the roadside litter while we rigged up the first catch of the day. After some trial and error we finally got the trash over in the trailer and headed out to San Antonio Road for a 42" TV.

Much to our surprise and ironic disappointment, someone actually picked it up ahead of us. There is hope...

Not be outdone we pursued our way to our next stop onto I-street. The mattress that was rotting away for many months drew the unfortunate realization that there was no way that it can be removed from the creek without totally disintegrating into a million pieces. We opted to leave it as a natural rodent habitat much the same way aircraft carriers are becoming underwater diving museums. Have at it, you rats!

With 3 pickup trucks almost all empty, we felt that maybe our cause was in vain. We headed up Red Hill for the scrap yard that no one knows about. Much to our satisfaction, we hit the big one! Litter strewn all along the steep embankment. We had our work cut out for us but we had the Dream Team. As the kids started having fun with all the trinkets that we plucked out from their lodgings in much the same way that abalone is fished, the trucks started getting filled up fast.

We headed over to the next turnout less than 50 feet from the first find and...Bam! Even more trash...Now we were at a point that we had no more room in the trucks to fill. Although it felt like giving up as we crawled back up the ridge and still much litter remained, we knew we had done our part and there will always be another Tour de Trash.

One more stop on Wilson Hill and we were on our way to "STS", the Santa Rosa airport where the bin awaited our prized collections. It was obvious when we arrived that our Santa Rosa brothers and sisters finished their 9th edition ahead of us. We piled our litter on their findings and ate the Whole Food snacks with well deserved appetite.

We took a few looks at that bin and felt good once again that Sonoma County can continue to count on the "good" people to keep the county clean.

Santa Rosa Roadside Crew Report

The Santa Rosa crew met at Norcal Bikeshop where Jonathan Lee led his crew to his familiar trash holes found from his April ride.

From Jonathan...

"Fathers’ Day 2010, 7:30 am.

A small group of dedicated cyclists gathered at NorCal Bike Sport in Santa Rosa. Coffee in hand, we did a quick briefing on what we were there to do. Up to this moment, Cyclists in Sonoma County, had twice per year, participated on Trash Dump identification rides on Sonoma County’s back roads. On these rides, the riders would carry GPS units and search the road sides for large trash dump sites. Furniture, Tires, appliances, cars, major litter dumps, all took up residence on the sides of the roads throughout the year. One in the Fall and once in the Spring of the past 5 years, these riders would identify these sites and log them into their GPS unit to send along to the County clean up services to come and remove afterwards. This year, with the County budget cuts, the cyclists faced a dilemma, we could identify the sites ( which we did) but then who would we give these coordinates to for removal? The answer was sadly no one.

Undeterred, the cyclists decided to put out the call to their greater community of riders and ask for help in the form of Trucks or trailers to go out and pick these sites up.The initial response to help was large with a lot of trucks offered and helping hands volunteering. But the only date that worked for the ride leaders, turned out to be June 20th, Father’s Day. So the overall turnout was small but high powered nonetheless!

On the Santa Rosa-based group we had 3 trucks and 6 helpers:

Brian Mischke and his adorable son Ike
Virginia Luke (who drove all the way out from Napa to help us!)
Dean Wallace (taking this Fathers Day morning away from his understanding family to help out!)
Jonathan Lee
Mark Wisecup (Neither of them Fathers yet at least to their current knowledge).

We opted to cover roads closer to Santa Rosa at first and headed out Olivet and Trenton. The first site we suspected to be a high-value target did not disappoint. As we approach Mark starts yelling “jackpot baby”! We roll up to the discarded shell of a VW bug and a few tires/litter. Out we scramble and throw the lot into Mark’s Truck. We continue to canvas the western county, Vine Hill, Harrison Grade, Morelli lane, Monte Rio, and Wohler Rd to Westside. Oddly we found very little trash sites throughout this corridor. But once onto Lytton Springs rd, Mark again find s a jackpot of sweet trash. Along with aggressive ants swarming our lower legs and biting everyone, and a wild boar carcass (with very cool tusks I might add) we gathered up the mess and off we went.

On Chalk Hill I knew of a swath of road where I always see big things dumped over the edge. Sure enough, Washer, TVs, Mattresses, more tires galore. We semi-rappelled down to hook a line around the washer and pull it out of the gully with Mark’s Truck. More ants, lots of whooping and hollering, and we were done with three full truck loads.

The County did provide us with a large dump bin at the airport which is were we headed next. We dumped our respective truck loads, grabbed some goodies that Whole Foods provided ( thank you Ario and Whole Foods!) and soaked in the day that was still just shy of half over. Afterwards the Petaluma gang came along and filled the rest of the bin with their removal loads!

Great day of outreach: 3 Large Truck Loads of trash that would still be out on our roads, Half a Large Dump bin filled, 80+ miles covered. But best of all. The fact that little Ike Mischke had seen what outreach looks like, personified by his Father working tirelessly alongside his other smiling friends and cyclists!

That to me is of a worth greater than simply removing trash. We will continue on in the Fall of this year, We’d love your support and/or trucks and strong hands and backs!! Stay tuned and thank you for reading."

8th Edition of the ABC Rides-Spring 2009 (Full pictures here)

2009-03-24T12:15:00.000-07:00

We have reached the final dates for our 8th edition of the Tour de Trash. The A-Ride will head out from the downtown Petaluma Helen Putnam Plaza on June 13. The B-Ride will be headed out by Jonathan Lee on May 16 from the Norcal shop.

We are reverting back to a format that includes longer rides for the Spring edition in order to get back to the Tour de Trash roots and focus only on large litter items. In addition, given the efforts by Sonoma county to keep I-Street litter-free, there is now a lack of "safe" littered roads for our kids to ride on.

The good news is the Petaluma A-Ride route will include plenty of turn-offs back into Ptown for those riders with little time on their Saturday hands.

The even-better news is that I-street has been free of large waste ever since the Sonoma County Grant Efforts has added signage and cameras to our would-be criminals warning them of law enforcement. The Spring rides will uncover whether these efforts are effective or whether our "trasholes" are just getting relocated to another area.

A-Ride Petaluma June 13 (9:00AM)

The A-Ride promises to bring back some excitement to the route itself other than finding the large items amassed by the road side. We will have 5 KOM's and 2 Sprint's in which the winners will collect swag. The route itself will also include plenty of turn-offs for any of our fellow cyclists that need to head back into town earlier.

Out I-Street from Helen Putnam Plaza
San Antonio Road towards D-Street
Up Red Hill onto Hicks Valley Road
Up Wilson Hill and onto Chileno Valley Road
Take Petaluma-Tomales Road up to Alexander Road
Climb up Carmody and onto Valley Ford Road
Climb up Gericke Road and onto Fallon Two Rock Road
Continue on Whitaker Bluff Road and turn onto Middle Road
Take Marsh Road and onto Valley Ford Estero Road
Climb up Valley Ford Franklin School Road
Dillon Beach Road into Tomales
Take Tomales-Petaluma Road and onto Twin Bridge Road
Back onto Fallon Two Rock Road
Valley Ford Road onto Walker Road
Pepper Road towards Bodega Avenue

One group takes Spring Hill Road back to Petaluma
Other group takes Middle Two Rock Road back to Petaluma

King of Mountain:

KOM#1 Crest of Red Hill-(Brand new pair Kaenon Gauge)
KOM#2 Lookout on Wilson Hill-(Clif Bloks)
KOM#3 Top of climb to Dillon Beach-(Della Fattoria Breakfast Gift Cert)

Sprints:

Sprint #1 Chileno Valley Road (section after pond)-(CamelBak Hydration Pak)

"Smells like victory..."

We had a group of 10 eager trash hunters collect at Helen Putnam Plaza last Saturday as we waited well past 9:00AM for the stragglers to roll in from their groggy Saturday morning rituals. Even a call from Eric Schleth claiming to have forgotten his riding shoes did not deter the zeal for the day's mission. Last to arrive was a pale looking Red Neck that succumbed to the virus for a brief period but through his dedication to our "Tour de Trash" managed to put his physical weakness in the parking lot.

We rolled out of Petaluma on I-Street where we posed for our victory picture after confirming that Sonoma's county's efforts in using signage and video surveillance has indeed had an effect on the would-be trash holes. With nothing to log into the failing GPS (due to overcast skies), we upped the pace in preparation for our first KOM climb up Red Hill. We unfortunately lost our more casual riders along the roads leading towards the first climb but suffice it to say that rumblings about "taking it easy on us" were churning at the rumor mill. Once the prem was announced, the riders had no lack of motivation as we set a high pace up the climb just like the well oiled professional teams over in Europe. Meanwhile, the objective of the ride was not lost as the early pace setters settled into a sub 200 heart rate pace and tracked the trash strewn on top of the hill for Marin county public works to come collect. KOM winner up Red Hill was Jason Mathies who battled hard with Charlie and a handful of other riders to lay claim to a brand new pair of Kaenons.
Around the bend and onto the base of Wilson Hill found the "gruppo compatto" and the second KOM was underway before we could even recover from the last blistering climb. Again the tempo was set high and only the Red Neck and Charlie from the Red Peloton could launch away from the rest of the pack with catapult force. Clearly the sick Red Neck showed no signs of weakness as his urge to win the Clif Blocks prem was well merited. Before the wheels got spinning too fast down the hill, a quick look over the side of the road proved that the classic trash sites are just that. More work for the Marin county public works and we were off to Chileno Valley Road where a sprint for the next prem awaited us.The "Cipo Soul" train was rolling hard as we neared the straight section of Chileno Valley Road and the prem was announced. Camelbak Hyrdation pack, hydrate or die...We sweeped up some Petaluma Chicken Pluckers along the way who were totally confused by the erratic pace we were setting. They looked for the Race Marshal's Audi A4 but found nothing of the sort. The tree trunk legs in our gruppo took over as the front of the train had riders popping off like rivets shearing off an airplane's skin undergoing extreme de-pressurization. By the time I got to the front all sprinters were spent as they went off too early except for Jason Hoorn who easily claimed the win and just as quickly donated the prize over to Demolition Derby Vanessa's High School MTB team.
Back to work after a couple of squids on their motorcycles distracted us, the Chileno Valley Kemmelberg hosted the usual trash sites with evergrowing litter added to the rusting rot in the ditches. This time we have a jet ski added to the pile.
Getting back to a more reasonable pace was a welcome change as we exited the backroads from the valley and headed towards the coast. But the "El Conquistador" who just turned 50 years old on the same day would have none of it. He constantly monitored his Polar watch in preparation for the Terrible Two this weekend but upped the pace nevertheless. And then, just like a mirage in the desert, a rider appeared in front of us with the unmistakable silhouette of a real Soulcraft rider. It was none other than Eric Schleth himself. He made it afterall, just in time to help track the usual litter at the top of Carmody Road.
Onwards towards Dilon Beach was no small task as every rider's legs were starting to feel like lead reminiscent of Grasshopper rides. Attempts to break early were teased upon us as we neared the HC climb of the day but ended up nowhere. This time Norcal Velo's Patrick found his rythm and dropped everyone like they were standing still claiming the prem to a breakfast for two at Della Fattoria. Well done.
Back into Tomales and after some local delicacies from the Bakery, everyone agreed to take the short way back home without losing the opportunity to track the usual litter on Spring Hill Road. As expected, we were not disappointed.
Most of the riders showed up for a BBQ at your's truly place except for the Director Sporty (of course). Nonetheless, we had a screaming time and it was great to see everyone smile and enjoy themselves after a hard day's work. Amazing how a few beers in the body makes one forget all about the lactic acid bubbling in the legs. See you in Fall for the next Tour de Trash.

B-Ride Santa Rosa May 16 (9:00AM)

Jonathan Lee will continue to lead this ride out of the Norcal Shop. Jonathan will be awarding cyclists who stick it through until the end of the ride with swag from CLIF, Marmot and Taylor Maid coffee.

Post Ride Comments from Jonathan Lee
Full pictures here

"Well the 2nd abc trash ride for this year went off very well this past Saturday morning.

We actually had more gals than guys at the start with Hilary Bartels, Renee Coverston, Emily, June, and Catharine Grace rolling out with Tom Buckley, Alex, Dale, and Patrick zahn. While on the road we met up with Jim ( out local Look regional manager) Jim Whitford of 2wheel racing, and then our very own Joe Feng.

Clifbar, Marmot, and Taylor Maid had all kicked in some serious prizes, so the eyes were on the road ways and road shoulders as we headed out up West dry Creek.

Jonathan and Renee won the First Dump Site of the day prize by simply picking up where Pzahn and Joe Feng failed in being the two front riders yet passing a huge furniture dump site :)

Then while rolling quite speedily along Westside Rd, Catharine Grace made a terrific spot on an appliance way down next to some vineyards.

Some times when you do these rides you get a lot of trash sites but this day all the usual dump sites seemed bare with the exception of Chalkhill rd.

Jim told us of a secret climb off of West Dry Creek called Mountain Home. He described it as a 'little thing" and very pretty. well of course it was way too steep for conversation but still nice to find a new climb in our own backyard nonetheless. the road was very smooth and quite a few steep sections.

On our way back to civilization, Joe feng won the Geyserville sprint for the Marmot Backpack. Jim Whitford would have won the Redpeloton Sprint ( at the southern end of Chalkhill right before it meets Faught rd) but he crossed the white line and was relegated :) so Patrick Picked up 2 boxes of clifbars and some Clifblox for a nice 2nd place.

Tom Buckley and catherine Grace picked up a cool Marmot Jacket and Taylor Maid Gift box for their work in spotting the Chalk Hills Dump sites.

All in all Great day, fun group and an even better cause!

Not a huge day for trash sites but 5 major dump sites were found and will be removed within the next few weeks

Special thanks to Clifbar, Marmot and Taylor Maid farms for their amazing support

Their additional products are going to the other ABC ride that are going on in the next few weeks."

7th Edition of the ABC Rides-Fall 2008 (Full Pictures)

2008-09-22T20:44:00.001-07:00

All three rides were completed by October 19th with significantly less trash spotted on the A & B rides. A true sign that the Tour de Trash is deterring our "trash-holes" to cease their littering activities? The cleanliness is more likely stemming from the county's grant to put efforts in place to prevent illegal dumping with the help from several agencies supporting the cause. Please check out the Keep Sonoma Clean efforts for the latest news.

Together we are making a difference to finally get our backroads back to the clean state they should be and only the next Tour de Trash rides will truly tell if we are all succeeding.

The fourth unannounced D-Ride out of Marin has confirmed that illegal dumping continues to thrive albeit in a much more random fashion perhaps indicating that Sonoma county's efforts of late are truly making a difference over Marin.

Check below for post ride comments.

A-Ride (Petaluma)-October 18

The A-Ride continues on the notoriously littered I-Street where the presence of trash never disappoints although recent rides are showing a significant reduction in litter. Meet us at Helen Putnam Plaza in downtown Petaluma for a 10:00AM start time on October 18, 2008.

The A-Ride continues with the same format, in which all cyclists participate in actual litter pickup along the roadside, and bag the trash for the county's public works to pick up at a later time.

Post Ride Comments

We had a skeleton crew to go out and clean up I-street relative to rides past given the attention that the BiketoberFest was attracting on the same day out in Fairfax.

Still, all six of us pedaled out of Helen Putnam Plaza to be joined by the Bigattini clan on the way to I-street. Once out on our cherished backroads with a beautiful morning warming our backs, we got down in the ditches to do our dirty deeds. Interestingly, the Canadians, Venezuelan, Pakistani, South African and fellow Americans had no rivalry amongst themselves unlike world politics or economies other than to pick up as much trash as they can see. Take that G8!

With six garbage bags fulls of bottles and cans, we missed our recyling friends on this ride to take the A-ride over to the green side. Latest update from our circle of friends confirmed that all bags were picked up 2 days after our ride.

B-Ride (Santa Rosa)-October 19

Claire House from the Norcal Velo women's team will depart from the Triumph Life Center at 131-A Stony Circle on Sunday October 19 at 10:00AM. The route will be Hall Road, Occidental Road, Harrison Grade and back to Santa Rosa.

Post Ride Comments

Claire reports that not much trash was spotted on her local ride this time much to our disdain but nothing but good news to our county public works and Keep Sonoma Clean friends. Even after additional coverage from Claire's extended ride, still not much illegal dumping spotted in Santa Rosa.

C-Ride (Santa Rosa)-October 18

Jonathan Lee with red peloton will also lead a ride out of Santa Rosa's Norcal Bicycle shop on October 18 at 9:30AM.

Post Ride Comments

Jonathan Lee's ride proved that there still exists plenty of illegal dumping sites no matter where we ride. 15 waypoints were reported into the Sonoma county public works after Jonathan's measely 60 mile ride.

D-Ride (Petaluma)-November 15

I took the initiative to complete the D-Ride solo this edition in order to see how Jonathan Lee's trash rides are experienced. With lots of ground to cover I made sure that Daylight's savings was on my side by leaving Petaluma at 1:00PM and headed out to the coast.

As expected, illegal dumping is alive and well in our neighboring Marin county as crime sees no boundaries. Over 10 significant dumping sites were reported into the public works as some of the more pervasive waypoints were truly a site for sore eyes ironically surrounded by picturesque back drops.
Check out the Sonoma county grant effort's web site for all phone numbers and dumping information.

6th Edition of the ABC Rides Spring 2008 (Click for full pictures)

2008-03-18T13:12:00.001-07:00

Spring Tour de Trash rides are back with several flavors of various rides that allows for different types of community service. Some of the rides will allow for cyclists of all capabilities to join us and actually pick up strewn litter from the roadside and report the trash sites into the county public works. Other rides will involve more skilled riders to comb wider areas of the county and simply report waypoints of large road wayside dumping.

The Tour de Trash is also getting great support from various other organizations with similar interests in helping clean up the community's roads. We are working with Sonoma County's grant program, "Keep Sonoma Clean", to leverage some help from their exposure to the litter cause. Additionally, 53x11 Coffee has also tracked us down and is interested in helping expose the ABC Rides. Marin county continues to support the same format as last Fall's ride in helping them identify illegal dumping.

A-Ride (Petaluma)-June 1 RESCHEDULED!!!

The A-Ride continues to take on the notoriously littered I-Street where the presence of trash never disappoints. Meet us at Helen Putnam Plaza in downtown Petaluma for a 10:00AM start time on June 1, 2008.

The A-Ride continues with the same format, in which all cyclists participate in actual litter pickup along the roadside, and bag the trash for the county's public works to pick up at a later time.

Post Ride Comments

Do you remember the episode from "American Chopper" when the Paulie Sr. builds a chopper to ride in the Xmas parade and makes the bike resemble Santa's sleigh? Well, during the typical times of duress throughout the build, he always used to keep saying, "Come on guys, it's for the kids" to encourage the team to finish the project.

Well, the A-Ride was all about kids this spring. It was an unbelievable turnout on another beautiful Sonoma county day that included families with plenty of little hands to help clean up the notorious I-street out of Petaluma. The ride was made even more successful with the support from avid aluminum can and glass collectors that joined our ride equipped with numerous trailers and bike racks to help not only clean up but recycle the litter we found. Now that's green, Baby! Even the Grand Pubbha brought his Bob trailer to supply the garbage bags and rubber gloves to all the cyclists.

We also finally had the chance to distribute the swag that the good folks from 53x11 coffee graciously donated to the ABC Rides. Here's to you, Evan!

On we went into the county backroads with spirits high as the kids' energy to immediately start collecting litter into trash bags sparked the boys inside the men and the girls inside the women to do the same. Shielded by Rox's blinking Toyota, we still had to deal with the usual road rage as some"cagers" pouted about losing precious seconds in their gaz guzzlers while our presence on two wheels hopefully reminded them about the price of gas. Settling down in to the more quiet roads we definitely had the numbers as cyclists swarmed all over the roadside collecting litter that had countless stories to tell. The classic one being the stash of clothes that could only have been worn by a particular "type" of lady as Vanessa demonstrates. Cinderella, Cinderella...

As we continued to gather litter and neatly place the garbage bags for the county public works to pick up, we did hear several words of encouragement from locals about helping keep their roads clean. Maybe they will look at all cyclists in a different light now. If so, mission accomplished by Ghost Rider, Redneck and all the riders' support we continue to get.
The conclusion to the A-ride took us to the familar end of I-street and San Antonio for the traditional photo finish as we were all entertained by the tunes jamming out of the Ghost Rider's amplified backpack.

As Ghost Rider and Vanessa and I thought about how successful the ride was this spring, I thought, "Could it have been all the planning, the organization, the timing?" No. This year it was all about the kids. They made the difference.

B-Ride (Santa Rosa)-May 4

Claire House from Norcal Velo Women's Team continues to lead the B-Ride on the same route as last Spring. This ride will depart from the Norcal Bike Sport in Santa Rosa at 10:00AM on May 4, 2008. Inspired to do more, Claire will be changing the format of the B-Ride to follow the same "hands-on" approach as the A-Ride in Petaluma. This new format should also allow for more varied cyclists to join the B-Ride.

Post Ride Comments

Claire reports that litter on the B-Ride was down! Good news for our cherished backroads. Not to worry about the longevity of the ABC Rides, however, as Claire and her posse were busy picking up trash found roadside along her B-Ride out of Santa Rosa.

Who needs to be in a Gatorade commercial when there's nothing like the "Tour de Trash" to get a perfect photo op for the Team!

C-Ride (Santa Rosa)

The Red Peloton cyclists will also ride out of Norcal Bike Sport in late April or early May to cover more ground and identify the larger dumping sites.

Post Ride Comments

Jonathan Lee solo'ed his C-Ride on April 23rd as a true show of support to help keep Sonoma clean and returned from the C-Ride with 4 waypoints identified in the northen part of the county. Sonoma County Public Works already responded to his "sightings" with their continued generous support to our cause.

D-Ride (Petaluma)-May 18

The Soulcraft Team will head out to Marin County given the continued support we have with Marin County Public Works. We will head out or P-town via Spring Hill Road and enter Marin county from Chileno Valley Road following the county line onto Wilson Hill. The D-Ride will then head out towards the coast and climb up onto Marshal Wall and return to Petaluma on D-Street Point Reyes Road.

Post Ride Comments

Well, it wasn't easy but we managed to convince ourselves that the D-Ride was on for the same date albeit with a 10:00AM late start. The late night Cage Fighting up in Santa Rosa on the eve before the D-Ride was not enough to deter Redneck from still finding motivation to get on his Soulcraft for a long spin through Marin county. I was sure that the Lake Sonoma Grasshopper final race was surely going to put him out as with the 50 other brave MTB'ers that suffered through more than 100 degrees of heat and brutal climbing only to say that they survived the Series.

Me, well I did not ride like the Redneck on Saturday but I managed to burn my back weeding! Embarassing and nowhere near as impressive as saying that I raced for 3.5 hours in 100 degree heat but the common denominator was that motivation was not where it should have been.

Our 3rd-string punter, Jason the "Diesel" managed to put his back out after crashing on the Tour of the Unkown Coast and failed to complete a short circuit from his home on Saturday that again did not help our motivation factor seeing that it was obvious that he could not ride.

Somehow, somewhere in the Spring time, Redneck and I found ourselves in his garage and ready to ride out on that fine Sunday morning. We rolled out and it was apparent that Redneck gave it his all at the Grasshopper and may have accidentally left some body mass back at the lake seeing that turning the pedals on mild climbs was killing him. Not to worry, this was the Tour de Trash and time only matters to punch in waypoints and not racepoints. Climbing up Red Hill revealed pathetic litter sites once you looked beyond the turnouts by the hillside. This was Marin county and we knew that county lines meant nothing to the pundits that litter our backroads. At the crest of the hill, while Redneck swallowed some energy bites, we came across a site that only locals could appreciate. This is the kind of humor that road warriors can relate to.

Grinning on the way down, we continued to find the assorted litter by the roadside. Scenes we were getting too accustomed to, transmissions, couches, mattresses, etc...

We finally made it to the Marshall Wall and climbed out to the coast where low fog was welcoming us with cooler weather. On the way up, Redneck passes a local cyclist who is organizing the Fairfax Fat Tire Festival and invites him to race the Friends of Tamarancho Invitational Mountain Bike Race. Cool. Stopping to reload on energy nibblets for the consumed Redneck, our local promoter rides down by us and yells that Marin County has no trash!

I would have paid money to see his face 100 feet down from where he yelled at us and surely saw the same.

Onwards from the coast and back into P-town after a well deserved chow at the Tomales Bakery where Redneck cleaned out the Saturday leftovers, we stumbled on an ironic litter site. Here are a pair of cyclists that are trying to make a difference for other cyclists and we find that bicycles are also part of the laundry list of trash items...the horror, the horror...

At least this one looked like Yuri's pink 29'er. Hmmmm, where was Yuri on the 18th afterall?

5th Edition of the ABC Rides-Fall 2007(All Photos Click Here)

2007-06-07T11:55:00.000-07:00

The Tour de Trash returned on a beautiful November 3rd day with an impressive show of hands for the rewarding A-Ride that took us through familiar littered backroads that border the Petaluma City limits. Once again, I-Street stood up to its true and tried reputation of harboring large litter items and plenty of strewn trash all over the road. Not to worry, we had the "Power to the People" this time when 15 bicyclists decided that I-Street would shine at least for that Saturday.

Sean and Lainie from Soulcraft were the converted as they took part in their first Tour de Trash. Vanessa's dad, Dave, was on a rampage trying to pick up everything that was not organic from I-Street, so much so, that he is eyeing Napa County next year. Jaseem, the return of Jason "The Diesel" Clymer (aka Is that Shayne?), Jason Holmes and Hunt also showed up. Vanessa brought her usual Casa Grande "young ones" with her that always show great enthusiasm and dedication. Fellow History teacher, Eric showed up with an extra trailer and daughter being the ABC Ride's youngest solo 8-year old rider. Of course, the soul of the "Tour de Trash" was led by World MTB Endurance Rider, one Mr. Yuri Hauswald, and the Redneck who is close in Yuri's wake. The Bigattini clan contributed to the A-Ride with full Broom Wagon support this Fall.

No one feared the litter we collected even though we had plently of questionable items dispersed in the roadside ditches that offer perfect refuge to the trash that motorists love to toss out while their iPODs provide them the comfort of not caring.

This time, we had Vanessa's Girl Power MTB posse, that experienced two flat tires on a defunct Old School Cruiser but would not deter them from plowing ahead. They displayed true get'in der' attitude that made RedNeck look like an amateur. They did pay the price for being a little too brave as Mother Nature gave them a first hand lesson on Bacteria. Hey, it will only make them smarter for the next time. And Redneck? He did redeem himself however.

The caravan of motorists and fellow cyclists seemed to appreciate the effort everyone was putting in as they drove by. Even one motorist stopped and picked up one of our garbage bags as he drove by. That was a first!

Check out Yuri's Blog for his account of how it all went down on the A-Ride at:

http://www.ride424.com/yuri/

Sometimes I wonder if people are actually getting what the "ABC Rides" are all about? Sometimes I wonder...I am convinced that they will listen to our youngest ABC Rider tell the tale of the "Tour de Trash".

A-Ride (Petaluma)

The A-Ride will take on the notoriously littered I-Street where the presence of trash never disappoints. Meet us at Helen Putnam Plaza in downtown Petaluma for a 9:30AM start time.

B-Ride (Santa Rosa)

The B-Ride will also be the same route as last Spring led by Claire from Norcal Velo Women's team. This ride will depart from the Norcal Bike Sport in Santa Rosa on November 3 at 9:00AM.

C-Ride (Santa Rosa)
Jonathan Lee from the Norcal Bike Sport Men's team will lead the longer C-Ride also starting the Norcal Bike Sport in Santa Rosa at 9:00AM.

4th Edition of the ABC Rides Spring 2007 (more pics here)

2007-03-15T11:04:00.000-07:00

Well, another successful series of ABC Rides completed and the "feel-good" effect definitely impacted all the riders that rode with us. I am not only impressed with the familiarity that most people now associate our ABC Rides (more aptly know as Trash Rides) with bicycles and communiity, but more so by the genuine commitment that goes into making a difference from each rider that participates in our rides. The A-Ride was a rewarding format that got all the riders to go knee-deep into the roadside trenches filled with questionable trash and observe how by-standers would marvel at the effort all the riders put in on I-Street. I could not help but feel total pride upon our return as I saw the "ABC Rides Were Here" stickers on the piles of trash we neatly organized roadside for the crews to pick up. Just for a moment, I actually thought we are saving the world. Unfortunately, it only took a few weeks to see illegal dumping continue on I-Street with the same fervor that seems will never go away. We will be back for another Fall mission in 2007.

After realizing that it took the better of 2 hours to haul all kinds of litter out of the ditches on the short 10 mile A-Ride , I was again blown away to see 36 illegal dumping sites logged into the GPS from the longer B-Ride led by Eastside's Tony Madrigal. I was equally impressed with the vigor and commitment taken on by Tony and his posse as they truly scrutinized the classic-littered Petaluma backroads as if they were convinced that maybe they too were saving the world for a couple of hours.

And the next day, we hit Marin county. Tim McCraken and crew showed up in Nicasio as Jason Clymer and I were admiring an old-school original Ciocc lugged frame complete with Nouvo Record, but alas no sew-up tires. As we head into Point Reyes, Jason and I begin to feel embarassed as we have no waypoints to report. Could it be? No trash in Marin county but plenty in Sonoma county? Deep down inside I could not come to grips that there was absolutely no illegal dumping in a neighboring county? Were Marinites really that much better than Sonomans? Coming to a stop in Point Reyes with nothing to show for, I quickly revamp the backup plan to prove them wrong. So Jason and I decide to take Marshal Wall back into Petaluma to dig up some trash. Saluting our inaugural Marin counter parts, we head for north in a blistering headwind that I had to shield poor Jason against given his 200miler the day before in Davis (Did I mention commitment above?). As we pass Walker Ranch, still nothing. Then we start finding the traces of illegal dumping and we are both relieved to start finding trash worth noting for. And so we do, tires, cribs, tires etc...and then we hit it! The Motherlode and yes it is in Marin County!

Jonathan Lee showed that it's not about quantity but quality as it seems that the Sonoma county crews got a bulk of the litter as the D-Ride got underway. Nevertheless, you can always count on trash to be there for the ABC Rides. Claire House also got her Norcal Velo Women's Team to join her in the C-Ride that found the usual trash expected around Santa Rosa. It seems that we got our wires crossed with some Santa Rosa Cycling club riders that showed up to join the ride but no one was present. I will make sure this is avoided for the next time.

Oh and thanks Ponch for giving the Mayor of Petaluma a hard time for not joining the ABC Rides this year.

A-ride (Petaluma)
The Soulcraft led "A-ride" will head out of Helen Putnam Plaza in downtown Petaluma on May 19 at 10:00AM. The format for this ride will change slightly and have us actually pick up strewn litter into garbage bags and log them into our GPS as waypoints in addition to the usual dumping sites found. Same course as always.

IStreet, San Antonio Road, DStreet

B-ride (Petaluma)

Eastside Cycles will lead the "B-ride" from the Eastside Cycles downtown Petaluma shop on May 19 at 10:00AM.
Western Avenue, Chapman Lane, Eastman Lane, Middle Two Rock Road, Pepper Road, MechamRoad, Roblar Road, Canfield Road, Bloomfield Road, Gericke Road, Fallon Two Rock Road, Carmody Road, Walker Road, Spring Hill Road.

C-ride (Santa Rosa)

Claire House and her Norcal Velo Women Team's "C-ride" will head out of the Santa Rosa Norcal Velo bicycle shop on College Avenue on May 19.

Hall Rd, Occidental Rd, West County Trail, Guerneville Hwy, Green Valley Rd, Harrison Grade Rd, Graton Rd.

D-ride (Santa Rosa)

Eastside Cycles will lead another "D-ride" out of Santa Rosa's downtown Railroad Square on May 19. Hopefully ColaVita can join in. This longer ride will include:
Fulton, Wood Rd, River Rd, Slusser Rd, Wohler bridge, Westside Rd, Healdsburg Ave, Alexander valley Rd, Chalk Hill Rd, Faught Rd.

E-ride (Fairfax)
Soulcraft will partner up with our Marin County counterparts for the "E-ride" on May 20 at the Java Hut in downtwon Fairfax at 8:45AM. The short portion of the E-ride will depart from Java Hut in downtown Fairfax at 8:45AM on May 20. We will be looking for trash heading out on Sir Francis Drake up White’s Hill towards San Geronimo. Right onto Nicasio Valley Rd onwards to Nicasio.
E-ride continued (Nicasio)
The longer portion of the E-ride begins in Nicasio at 9:30AM on May 20. Continue on Nicasio Valley Rd and head towards Nicasio Reservoir, left onto Petaluma-Point Reyes Rd to Point Reyes Station. South on Highway 1 to Bolinas, left on Bolinas Fairfax Road up to 3 corners then down past Alpine Dam and back to Fairfax.

Sir Francis Drake, Nicasio Valley Rd, Point Reyes-Petaluma Rd, Hwy 1, Bolinas Fairfax Rd

F-ride (Sonoma)
Paul Luca will spearhead the "F-ride" out of Sonoma again this Spring so kudos to "Il Re". His ride will start in the Sonoma Square on May 26 at 9:00AM.

Meet in Sonoma Plaza on Saturday, May 26 at 9:00AM. Get onto East Napa Street from Sonoma Plaza and head towards 7th Street East. Leave East Napa Street and turn right onto 7th Street East. Leave 7th Street East and turn left onto Denmark Street. Leave Denmark Street and turn right onto Burndale Road. Continue straight on Burndale Road and turn right onto Hyde Road. Leave Hyde Road and turn left onto Napa Road. Continue straight on Napa Road as it turns into Leveroni Road. Leave Leveroni Road and turn right onto Arnold Drive. Continue straight on Arnold Drive through Glen Ellen. Leave Arnold Drive and turn left onto Warm Springs Road. Leave Warm Springs Road and turn left onto Sonoma Mountain Road. Leave Sonoma Mountain Road and turn right onto Enterprise Road. Leave Enterprise Road and turn right onto Bennett Valley Road. Leave Bennett Valley Road and turn right onto Warm Springs Road. At the end of Warm Springs Road, turn right onto Arnold Drive. Leave Arnold Drive and turn left onto West Verano Avenue. Continue straight on West Verano Avenue as you pass Maxwell Farms Regional Park. Leave West Verano Avenue and turn right onto Sonoma Highway. From Sonoma Highway, turn left onto the bicycle path that leads you to 1st Street West. From the bicycle path, turn right onto 1st Street West and head back towards Sonoma Plaza.

3rd Edition of the ABC Rides Fall 2006(Full Pictures)

2006-09-15T10:57:00.000-07:00

The third edition of the "Tour de Trash" was held on October 1, 21 & 22, 2006. We were able to get great Sonoma County wide coverage given the new format we tried this Fall. Sonoma Valley Cyclists, Norcal Velo Women's Cycling Team, Eastside Cycles Team and Soulcraft all led their own ABC Ride by picking their own route that they knew was notorious for dumping sites. Check out below for the great cycling turnout and wonderful dumping sites found. Looks like Claire and her Norcal Velo team win the prize for the biggest site located. I would like to thank everyone who showed up and rode with us this October and look forward to your continued support next Spring. Ride safe! Big many thanks to CamelBak, Buff and Sportsbasement for the raffle prizes.

A-Ride out of Helen Putnam Plaza held on October 22 at 10:15AM

The official public awareness "A-Ride" left Helen Putnam Plaza downtown at 10:15AM following last Spring's short 15 mile route with 11 riders strong. I-Street never disappoints as we found 7 dumping sites of substantial size including an entire workout Gym.

1) Helen Putnam Plaza 2) Istreet 3) San Antonio 4) Dstreet

B-Ride out of Helen Putnam Plaza held on October 22 at 10:15AM

Jonathan Lee and his posse turned into the plaza at 10:15AM with beautiful clear azure skies overhead as an impressive number of roadies showed up with him ready to hunt down the littered backroads. Surprisingly, the longest ride of the day yielded minimal results. Is it a sign that the awareness raised from the ABC Rides is enough to deter our backroad criminals from creating illegal dumping acts? Or are the Sonoma County Public Works crews so in tune with the criminal mind that they are now one step ahead of the game and finding dumping sites is no longer a trivial matter for roadies? Only time and more ABC Rides will tell...

1) Helen Putnam Plaza 2) Out on Western Avenue 3) Spring Hill Road 4) L on Bodega Avenue 5) R on Petaluma Valley Ford Road 6) L on Fallon 2 Rock Road (out Sonoma) 7) L Hwy 1 (out Sonoma) 8) Tomales Break Point

9) Out Dillon Beach Road (out Sonoma) 10) R on Middle Road (out Sonoma) 11) S on Whitaker Bluff Road (out Sonoma) 12) R on Valley Ford Franklin School Road (out Sonoma) 13) R on Marsh Road (out Sonoma)

14) L on Middle (out Sonoma) 15) L on Petaluma Valley Ford Road (out Sonoma) 16) R on Valley Ford Freestone Road 17) R on Bodega Highway 18) R on Barnett Valley Road 19) R on Burnside Road 20) L on Bloomfield Road 21) L on Petaluma Valley Ford Road 22) L on Roblar Road 23) R on Stony Point Road

24) R on Mecham Road 25) L on Pepper Road 26) R on Liberty Road 27) L on Skillman Lane 28) R on Thomson Lane 29) L on Magnolia Avenue 30) R on Keokuk Street 31) L on East Washington Street

C-Ride out of Downtown Occidental on October 22 at 10:00AM

Claire House and her Norcal Velo Cycling Women's teamates proved that it's not quantity but quality that matters. Check out the largest dump recorded on the ABC Rides as of yet.

1) Bohemian Highway North 2) R on Highway 116 3) R on Mays Canyon Road 4) R on Gureneville Highway 116

5) R on Green Valley Road 6) R on Harrison Grade Road 7) S on Facendini Lane 8) R on Occidental Road

D-Ride out of Windsor on October 1 at 9:00AM.

Team Soulcraft was 5 riders strong (Yuri, Tim, Keith, Jason, Ario) and completed the "D-Ride" out of Windsor on October 1 with 20 waypoints logged in over 50 miles. Weather fantastic, safe ride with the exception of Jason's pain. Quote of the ride, "I want some Tamales that smell like death". It is November 3 and Jason has still not yet recovered from this ride.

1) Windsor 2) R Windsor River Road 3) L on Eastside Road 4)R Wohler Road 5)R Westside Road 6) R Yoakim Bridge 7) L Canyon Road 8) R Geyserville Ave 9)Healdsburg 10) R Alexander Valley Road 11) S 128 12) R Chalk Hill Road 13) R Windsor River Road

Here are some samples of what we found on our ride.

E-Ride out of Downtown Sonoma Plaza on October 21 at 9:00AM

Paul Luca (aka "il Re") took charge of the Sonoma Valley Cyclists and left Sonoma from the Basque Cafe in the Plaza at 9:00AM on yet another beautiful Sonoma county day. The usual suspects showed up to help Paul initiate his first ABC Ride but in typical ABC Ride fashion, only the roadies with a strong stomach and a keen sense for hunting down trash stuck it out with Il Re. Next year, a separate day will be chosen in order to eliminate the faint at heart and weed out the posers.

1) Get onto East Napa Street 2) R on 7th Street East 3) L on Denmark Street 4) R onto Burndale Road 5) R onto Hyde Road 6) L onto Napa Road 7) S into Leveroni Road 8) R onto Arnold Drive 9) L onto Warm Springs Road 10) L onto Sonoma Mountain Road 11) R onto Enterprise Road 12) Ronto Bennett Valley Road 13) R onto Warm Springs Road 14) R onto Arnold Drive 15) L onto West Verano Avenue 16) R onto Sonoma Highway 17) L onto the bicycle path that leads you to 1st Street West 18) R onto 1st Street West

2nd Edition of the ABC Rides Spring 2006

2006-04-15T13:48:00.000-07:00

2nd Edition of the ABC Rides "Tour de Trash" was held on April 15, 2006. We had a half decent turn-up in downtown Petaluma's Helen Putnam Square for our inaugural Spring A-ride despite the dismal weather. Surprisingly only 50 waypoints were identified and logged into Sonoma County Public Works database.

Check out the Press Democrat's Tobias Young's coverage on our story.

Cyclists on Trail of Trash Sites

1st Edition of the ABC Rides Fall 2005

2005-10-22T09:12:00.000-07:00

1st Edition of the ABC Rides "Tour de Trash" was held on October 22, 2005. The rides received phenomenal support from the community and great coverage from the Press Democrat's Tobias Young and Jeremy Hay.

Check out their article from the Empire News section.

Trash Hunters.

We were able to complete 8 rides and returned 200 waypoints identifying most of the dumping sites in Sonoma County and neighboring counties. The Sonoma County Public Works stepped up and were able to pick up most of the trash found at the locations identified by the numerous cyclists that were able to join the ABC Rides.