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Bike Light Blowout!

Bike Lights and Bike Kitchen Cards – Great Holiday Gifts

For the rest of the month of December our Bike SLO County light sets (One Clear Front Light, One Red Rear Light) are on sale for only $10 a set (normally $15 a set). These basic lights will help you be seen at night while also making your bicycle night ride legal. It’s hard to have too many lights on your bike, but with this set at least you won’t have too few. Batteries included? Heck yeah!

Also available now are our Bike Kitchen Cards, prepaid cards allowing the bearer to use the Bike Kitchen. Cards come in three different versions: KitchenCardHolidaysOne Visit Card ($5), Four Visit Card ($18) and 8 Visit Card ($35).

Bike Light Sets and Kitchen Cards make unique & useful holiday gifts or stocking stuffers and are both available at the Bike Kitchen, 860 Pacific St, Suite 105, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 at the corner of Morro and Pacific (map). The Kitchen is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday from Noon – 5 PM.

The Bike Kitchen is a program of Bike SLO County. We have all the parts, tools and knowledge you need to fix your bicycle! We can help you build a bike from the ground up, fix that junker you found at a garage sale, or simply tune up your bicycle. We serve all types of people, and are committed to creating a safe space for everyone. We have provided guided instruction to over 8,000 people since opening our doors in 2010.This bike not your cup of tea? Still looking to buy a gently used, ready to ride bicycle? We sell all kinds of bicycles! Come in and see us!Have a bike you’d like to donate? Your generous gifts help the Bike Kitchen thrive and give even more people the chance to experience SLO County by bike. Thank you!

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Giving Tuesday? 2 Wheeled Wednesday?

You’re probably familiar with Black Friday and Cyber Monday. But what about Small Business Saturday? And what’s the deal with Giving Tuesday? Two Wheeled Wednesday? Here’s the wrap up from Bike SLO County:

Black Friday

In the US Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving, noted as the first day of traditional ChriKitchenCardHolidaysstmas shopping, during which hordes of consumers are drawn to special offers by big box brick and mortar retailers. Bike SLO County’s Bike Kitchen will be closed on Black Friday! So we totally get it if you’re desperate for a used rear derailleur on Friday and go elsewhere. In honor of the spirit of Thanksgiving the Bike Kitchen will be closed the whole Thanksgiving weekend, and won’t reopen until the next Friday, December 4th. However, when we reopen we’ll be running a $10 December Special on our Bike SLO County Bike Light Sets, which let you bike legal and safe for very little cash. These bike light sets and our Bike Kitchen Visit Cards make wonderfully unique holiday gifts and stocking stuffers.

Cyber Monday

Cyber Monday is the Monday following Thanksgiving, promoted by online retailers like Amazon as a day for exceptional bargains. Bike SLO County doesn’t sell anything online. But if you shop at Amazon, your purchases can benefit Bike SLO County through their Amazon Smile program. What is Amazon Smile? It’s pretty much the same thing as Amazon (it is part of Amazon),  except when you use amazon smile_BSCAmazon Smile they donate a portion of your purchase price to Bike SLO County (or any of your favorite participating charitable organizations. To shop using Amazon Smile and benefit Bike SLO County use this link: https://smile.amazon.com/ch/75-3021545

Small Business Saturday

Small Business Saturday encourages holiday shoppers to patronize brick and mortar businesses that are small and local on Saturday, November 28th. Although Bike SLO County and our Bike Kitchen will be closed on Small Business Saturday, there are plenty of small businesses in SLO County who would love your business. Bike shops. Coffee shops. Shoppy shops. If you live in or are coming to the City of SLO for Small Business Saturday without a bike, the fine folks at SLO Transit are offering free bus service on Routes 2, 3, 4, 5, 6A and 6B from approximately 8am to 6pm. By riding transit for free, you can save money, help alleviate heavy traffic and the demand for parking, especially during the busy holiday shopping season.

Giving Tuesday

Giving Tuesday, often stylized as #GivingTuesday for purposes of hashtag activism, refers to the Tuesday after U.S. Thanksgiving, December 1st in 2015. It is a movement to create a National Day of Giving and Philanthropy at the beginning of the holiday and Christmas season.

To mark this #givingtuesday, anyone who wants to celebrate the powerful positive role that giving plays in our world is being asked to donate and share their own ‘unselfie’ on their favorite social media sites and by email. What’s an #unselfie? To take an unselfie, write on a piece of paper the name of the charitable cause you’re supporting on Giving Tuesday. It could be as simple as “#Bike SLO County” or as involved as and “I support better bikeways in SLO County” or whatever reason you feel moved to give.

Getting ready for #GivingTuesday #UNselfie #bikeslocounty

A photo posted by Bike SLO County (@bikeslocounty) on

Add the tags #unsefie, #givingtuesday and #bikeslocounty, then hold the piece of paper in front of your self (or even in front of your face) and snap an unselfie. We’ll even have some preprinted sheets available in our office (map), or you can download PDF or JPEG color or black & white versions online: Color PDF version: Color JPEG version : Black & White PDF version : Black and White JPEG version

End of Year Campaign

Giving Tuesday kicks off Bike SLO County’s annual End of Year fundraising campaign. SLO County had a fantastic 2015, with lots of countywide bike projects completed (bike lanes in Paso Robles on Riverside, Union and Creston roads, a fantastic bike and pedestrian bridge & trail in Morro Bay, new bike lanes and green striping at Arroyo Grande High School, the very first blacktop bike safety course in California at Oceano Elementary, buffered bike lanes in Los Osos on LOVR, new green lanes on Broad, California & Madonna streets in SLO) and major projects funded for the coming years. We’re hoping you’ll help make 2016 even better. Our goal is to raise $25,000 for safer bikeways around SLO County by midnight, December 31st. Please consider a donation on Giving Tuesday, or anytime before the end of the year at bikeslocounty.org/donate

Two Wheeled Wednesday

What about Two Wheeled Wednesday? Two Wheeled Wednesday occurs…every Wednesday of the year for the foreseeable future! Give back to yourself by riding your bike on Wednesdays. Invite your friends to go for special Two Wheeled Wednesday rides. Invite anyone and everyone to go on Two Wheeled Wednesday rides! Did we mention that Two Wheeled Wednesday makes a healthy and fun New Years Resolution for you, your friends and family?

 

Help Expand Our Bike Education Program with a Year End Gift!

2012 has been a year of incredible progress for the SLO County Bicycle Coalition. With 641 members and growing, the voice for bicycles in SLO County is the strongest it has ever been. This 20% increase in membership comes in tandem with an increased public interest in bicycles and the role they play in SLO County. We know that our work is certain to inspire more people to take to the streets on two wheels and we welcome everyone into our joyful community.

In our ideal world, people aged 8 to 80 would feel comfortable riding on streets and paths designed specifically to help everyone ride their bike more often. This is our vision, but we also know that knowledge is power. In 2012 over 30% of our members told us they want more bike education to empower people with the confidence to ride on our existing roadways. Help us expand our Bike Education program by making a year-end gift to the Bicycle Coalition.

The Bike Education program is our longest standing program. It has brought the message of safe riding to thousands of people through community workshops, business lunches, and school assemblies. Our plan for a bigger and better program has been in the works for months and recent developments have assured us we are on the right path. The Bicycle Coalition recently received numerous local grants, bolstering our ability to reach high-risk groups like college students and low-income communities. Your additional contribution will empower us to capitalize on the momentum created by grant funding.

We have ambitious plans for the Bike Education program in 2013 that will have a long lasting impact for bicycle riders of all ages and abilities in SLO County.
     ENHANCING the educational element of Kidical Mass will help make smart riding a family activity giving more moms the confidence to ride with her kids to the park.
     INCREASING educational efforts to Cal Poly and Cuesta will make incredible safety improvements for the age group that is most likely to be involved in traffic collisions resulting in injury or death.
     IMPROVING our existing materials and resources so they can be shared across language and socio-economic barriers to deliver important information to underserved populations.

Your donation will make you an integral part of the legacy that establishes bike education in schools, businesses, and throughout our great community. 

Our ambition, innovation and drive are on behalf of our members; we can’t wait to make you proud again in 2013.


Dan Rivoire
Executive Director

Click here to make your donation online, and to find information to mail your donation. All donations are 100% tax-deductible.