In spring 2008, soon-to-be-graduated Mike Roos tried something new in the world of bicycles at UC Davis found at the Bike Barn What was Roos checking out? (Dave Jones/UC Davis photo)
Put the pedal to your mettle for this cycle quiz
UC Davis has so many bicycles that some people think the campus mascot ought to have two wheels and a U-lock. With bicycles on our minds, we created a bicycle quiz to have you test your knowledge of UC Davis’ bike culture.
How to score yourself:
- 9-10 correct: You are a true UC Davis cycling professional. Raise your arms in victory as you cross the finish line at the front of the pack.
- 6-8 correct: Very good. You can probably fix a flat tire in less than five minutes, and twice a year you repack your hub bearings just for fun.
- 3-5 correct: Come on, you can do better than that! Pedal 15 laps around the arboretum and then try again.
- 0-2: You’re riding the wrong way through the bike circle between classes! Sign up for bicycle traffic school before you get hurt!
1. UC Davis briefly held what bicycle-related Guinness World Record?
Incorrect: a
There’s no Guinness World Record involving a pedal-powered desk, but that didn’t stop a team of UC Davis student engineers from inventing one anyway. In the spring of 2007, graduate students Jason Moore and Tai Stillwater, and undergraduates Matt McCorkle, Arlen Abraham and Josh Gould received a $900 campus sustainability grant to design and build a pedal-powered electricity generating station into a table. The desk, which was built from mostly salvaged and recycled materials, generates enough energy to power a laptop computer, and it’s now on display in the campus’s Memorial Union, near the Griffin Lounge. To see it in action, watch this video that the students made about their project.
Incorrect: b
No, UC Davis doesn’t hold the land-speed record for a human-powered vehicle, but student teams do design and race the vehicles. These aren’t just bicycles — they’re aerodynamic, highly engineered land vehicles. UC Davis students have won the American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ human powered vehicle national championship twice, and they also hosted the event in 1994 and 2003. More recently, UC Davis students have designed human-powered vehicles to compete in the World Human Powered Speed Challenge, held annually in Battle Mountain, Nev. At the 2007 competition, student Steve Day piloted UC Davis’ vehicle to 50.8 mph. A human-powered vehicle designed by UC Davis students is on display at the California Bike Museum.
Incorrect: c
There’s no Guinness World Record for largest bike auction, but if there were, UC Davis’ would surely be on the short list. Run by the campus’s Transportation and Parking Services, the twice-yearly bike auction is an example of recycling on a grand scale. Every year, TAPS picks up about 1,000 abandoned bikes across campus, and each October and May, about 450 are sold through the auction. The average price is $40. TAPS also provides the campus Bike Barn with scrap bikes that they can rebuild or strip for parts to use on other bikes. TAPS uses proceeds from the bike auction to fund campus bike programs.
Correct: d
On March 3, 2007, the UC Davis Aggie Pack spirit squad organized a bicycle parade that broke the Guinness World Record for the largest bicycle parade: 822 bicyclists. The previous record — 641 cyclists — had been held by the Netherlands. But in July 2007, Taipei City, Taiwan, broke the Aggie Pack record with a parade of 1,901 cyclists. The Aggies tried again on March 1, 2008, but they fell short at 1,838. Aggie Pack organizers say their bike parade — a 2.5 mile route that starts in Aggie Stadium and finishes at the Pavilion — is an annual event, and they’re planning another record attempt for 2009.
2. Which faculty member is credited with founding the city of Davis’ bike lane movement, after being inspired by European bike lanes?
Incorrect: a
No, Emil Mrak, UC Davis’ second chancellor, did not dream up citywide bike lanes while visiting Europe. But in a paper about bicycle policy in Davis Ted Buehler and Susan Handy of the Institute of Transportation Studies note that when UC Davis became an autonomous University of California campus in 1959, the new chancellor had to plan for huge enrollment increases in the next decade. He “directed his architects ‘to plan for a bicycle-riding, tree-lined campus.’ … In acceptance letters to new students, Mrak instructed them to ‘bring a bicycle to campus so you can get to classes on time’ on the sprawling campus. Under Mrak’s leadership, bicycle use became almost universal on campus, and resulted in increased bicycling in the city.”
Correct: b
In the mid-1960s, newly arrived economics professor Frank Child and his wife, Eve, began calling for bike lanes in Davis similar to those they had seen in the Netherlands. Starting with a letter to the editor, Child founded an advocacy group, and after the group’s first proposal to city planners was turned down, they circulated a petition calling for bike lanes. In the fall of 1966, Child endorsed pro-bicycle candidates for city council. In a paper about bicycle policy in Davis Ted Buehler and Susan Handy of the Institute of Transportation Studies write: “Bike lane supporters won a landslide victory. Now, with a problem, a proposed policy, and political will, a policy window was opened. Within a few months, council voted to instruct Public Works staff to create bike lanes on city arterial streets.” In 1983, Child left for UC Santa Cruz to become dean of social sciences, retiring in 1987. He died in January 2008.
Incorrect: c
No, psychology professor Bob Sommer was not the first Davis bike-lane advocate, but he’s widely recognized as one of the city’s early bike lane pioneers. A 2003 article in the Davis Enterprise notes that his contributions to Davis bike lanes include “behind-the-scenes developmental research in the ’60s.” Sommer “worked as part of a team of engineers and activists that did research on people’s riding habits and gave suggestions to the city on how to lay out lanes to encourage their use.” Sommer and other developers experimented with bike lanes sandwiched between sidewalks and parked cars before settling on the roadway configuration familiar today.
Incorrect: d
No, animal behaviorist Dale Lott was not very first to advocate for bike lanes in Davis, but along with Frank Child, he was one of the founding members of the Bicycle Safety Committee. In a 2003 retrospective in the Davis Enterprise, Lott wrote: “I didn’t know Frank, and I’d never heard of separate bicycle facilities — at that time there were none anywhere in North America — but his letter got me all excited.” Later, he and psychology professor Bob Sommer conducted research on the city’s bike lanes to quantify how they were being used by cyclists. Lott died in 2004.
3. In the California Bicycle Museum, you can find this 1823 antique bicycle. Commonly called a “hobby horse,” it featured two inline wheels and a steerable front wheel, but lacked pedals and brakes. What other name does this earliest bicycle go by?
Correct: a
This first known bicycle was invented by German Baron Karl von Drais in 1817, and it came to be known as a Draisienne. Von Drais offered his invention as a practical vehicle for stewarding forest lands — a task that involved traveling quickly over varied terrain. The Draisienne was powered by kick-propulsion, and it was also known as a “swift walker.” Pedals weren’t added to the design for another 40 years.
Incorrect: b
Close, but still incorrect! The velocipede is the name given to the next step in the evolution of the bicycle, when pedals were added to the hub of the front wheel. Its nickname was the “boneshaker,” which pretty well describes the ride. Invented around 1863, this machine was the center of a two-year craze in the United States from 1867 to 1869 — New York City alone boasted more than 5,000 velocipedists. But the velocipede was soon supplanted by a new bicycle called the high wheel, which featured a large front wheel that gave riders greater speed and range.
Incorrect: c
The penny farthing is another name for the high-wheel bicycle, which was popular from the 1870s through 1880s. The large front wheel gave riders great speed — one turn of the pedals moved the big wheel one revolution — but it also brought a new danger. A sudden stop could launch the rider forward and over the handlebars in a devastating crash called a “header.” Still, high wheelers were immensely popular for 15 years until they were supplanted by the safety bicycle, which added gearing and a drivetrain to bring high-wheel speed back down to ground level.
Incorrect: d
The safety bicycle first appeared in 1885, and it is so-named because it solved the major safety flaw of its predecessor, the high-wheel bicycle: crashing and falling from a dangerous height. The safety bicycle has two small wheels, and it uses a geared system with a drivetrain to get the speed of a high wheel without the risk of falling from a height. While it looks like an antique, the basic design of this bicycle is not all that different from the bicycles we ride today — spoked wheels, pneumatic tires and chain-operated drivetrains are still around more than 100 years later.
4. This bicycle, on display at the California Bicycle Museum, was ridden in the Tour de France by what famous cyclist?
Incorrect: a
No, this bike didn’t belong to Major Taylor, but the California Bicycle Museum does own a bicycle that belonged to this legendary athlete. Marshall Walter “Major” Taylor was an African American bike racer, who in 1899 won the one-mile world track championship. He was also the holder of seven world records in 1898. Raised on a farm in Indiana, Taylor earned his nickname for performing bicycle stunts while dressed in a soldier’s uniform. He retired in 1910 at the age of 32. The Peugeot track bike on display in the California Bicycle Museum is one of several that Taylor raced while in France.
Incorrect: b
No, this bike didn’t belong to Ironman Dave Scott, but the California Bike Museum does have a Dave Scott Ironman bicycle, manufactured for the triathlon market by Centurion. Scott, a UC Davis alumnus with a bachelor’s degree in physical education and exercise physiology, won the Hawaii Ironman triathlon six times between 1980 and 1987. He was the first man to break the 11-hour, 10-hour and 8.5-hour marks in the Hawaii event, and he was the first inductee into the Ironman Hall of Fame. In an Ironman triathlon, racers complete a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride, and a 26.2-mile run.
Correct: c
This Cinelli Laser time trial bicycle was ridden by Eric Heiden in the 1986 Tour de France. Does the name sound familiar? He’s the same Eric Heiden who won five gold medals in speed skating at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y. These days he goes by Dr. Eric Heiden, orthopedic surgeon. After medical school, he served his residency at UC Davis Medical Center and stayed on to practice medicine here for many years. He founded the UC Davis Sports Performance Center, and he also served as team physician for the Sacramento Kings and Monarchs. He recently moved to Salt Lake City.
Incorrect: d
No, this is not Greg LeMond’s bike, but the campus does have an interesting connection to the three-time Tour de France winner. Less than a year after his first tour win in 1986, LeMond was accidentally shot while hunting turkeys in the Sierra Nevada foothills. He was treated at the UC Davis Medical Center, and while he was recuperating there, he agreed to collaborate on a bicycle safety poster sponsored by the UC Davis Medical Center and helmet manufacturer Giro. The poster, which is on display at the California Bicycle Museum, carries the tagline “Father knows best” and features LeMond posing with his son on a bicycle.
5. Did you know that all bikes on campus must have a current California Bicycle License? Where do you go on campus to get one?
Incorrect: a
No, the Bike Barn doesn’t sell bike licenses. Located in an old dairy barn next to the Silo, the Bike Barn was founded in 1971 by the Associated Students of UC Davis. Initially, it was a place where students, faculty and staff could come and fix their bikes or have repairs done for them. Today, the Bike Barn performs more than 10,000 repairs per year. A full-time general manager oversees a staff of more than a dozen UC Davis students. The Bike Barn also sells new and used bikes, along with bike parts and accessories — such as tires, tubes, lights and saddlebags — and it has a rental fleet of more than 150 bikes. And, if you’re a do-it-yourself type, you can still bring your bike there and borrow the tools you need to fix it. For more information about the Bike Barn, see this NewsWatch video.
Incorrect: b
No, you can’t get a bike license at the UC Davis Police Department, but you should file a report there if your bike is ever stolen on campus. When you buy a bike license, your bike is entered into a statewide system that law enforcement uses for identification, recovery and notification. Displaying a license on your bike also sends a warning to would-be thieves: This bike is registered with law enforcement agencies.
Incorrect: c
No the Institute of Transportation Studies won’t sell you a bike license. They might ask you to participate in a travel survey, though. ITS-Davis conducts multidisciplinary research on emerging and important transportation issues, and it has more than 60 affiliated faculty and researchers, 80 graduate students, and a $6 million annual budget. Among the institute’s hundreds of research papers, you’ll find a number related to bicycle transportation.
Correct: d
Yes, if you bring your bike to the Transportation and Parking Services office, just south of the Activities and Recreation Center, you can buy a bike license. New licenses are $8, and renewals are $4. Both are valid statewide for up to three years. TAPS uses the revenue from the sale of bike licenses to support UC Davis bike programs.
6. Which of these UC Davis researchers was inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame this year, for designing and building his own “woodsie” bike decades before the mountain biking boom of the 1980s.
Incorrect: a
No, Professor Hull didn’t design the original mountain bike, but the mountain bikes we ride today have benefited from his research. At his Biomechanical Engineering in Sports Laboratory, Hull and his students study cycling biomechanics to optimize cyclist performance and prevent knee injuries as well as bicycle design to optimize structural components and suspensions. His research has been sponsored by industry leaders including Trek, Specialized, Shimano, GT and Rock Shox, along with the U.S. Olympic Committee. Hull, a professor of mechanical and aeronautical engineering and member of the biomedical engineering graduate group has a personal interest in the subject: he’s been racing bicycles competitively for more than 20 years.
Incorrect: b
No, Professor Ramey was not a pioneer of the mountain bike movement. But the professor of civil and environmental engineering was a pioneer in the study of how cyclists use roadways and bicycle lanes. In 1976 he and co-author Bill Adams of the physical education department completed a seven-volume, two-year study of bicycle riding and bicycle pathway design for the federal Department of Transportation. They did extensive testing to quantify the physiological aspects of riding bicycles in smog, heat and wind. The bikeway design studies looked at traffic flow, intersections, grades and other factors to improve bikeway safety. One conclusion: Bikeway grades in areas with smog should be less steep than those in smog-free places, because smog impairs a rider’s lung function and ability to climb a steep grade.
Correct: c
As a sophomore in college in 1953, John Finley Scott designed and built a bike he named the “woodsie.” The original woodsie was later recognized as the earliest prototype mountain bike: a bike with flat handlebars, balloon tires and gears. A lifelong cycling enthusiast, Scott later provided financing to Gary Fisher and other mountain bike pioneers, enabling them to build and sell the world’s first production mountain bikes. Scott disappeared from his home in 2006, and a tree trimmer who worked on his property was convicted of his murder in 2007.
For more information about Professor Scott and his contributions to mountain biking, see Scott’s Mountain Bike Hall of Fame nomination and this tribute by John Schubert on the hall of fame’s Web site. You can also watch two film clips about Scott and his contributions to mountain biking from the 2006 documentary Klunkerz: A Film About Mountain Bikes in this article “A Posthumous Tribute to John Finley Scott”.
Incorrect: d
No, Tom Turrentine, director of the Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle Research Center at the Institute of Transportation Studies, does not design mountain bikes, either professionally or as a hobby. But the research anthropologist does study the role of travel and movement in the evolution of culture, society and lifestyle. He also studies travel behavior and road systems in environmentally sensitive areas, focusing on Yosemite National Park and the Sierra Nevada. One of his papers, co-authored with Sean A. Co and Kenneth Kurani is titled “A Study of Visitor Bicycle Use in Yosemite Valley,” and it found that about 600 visitors ride bikes on a typical August day in the park.
7. This trophy was awarded for what classic California cycling event, founded by UC Davis students?
Correct: a
Yes, the Davis Double Century, one of the most popular one-day 200-mile rides in the country, began right here on the UC Davis campus. The first ride was put on by the Cal Aggie Wheelmen in 1970 — 47 cyclists signed on, and 20 completed the ride. Since that first year, the Davis Bike Club has hosted the ride for most of its history. Early on, first-place finishers were immortalized on a trophy, but in 1982 the club ended the event’s race-like mass start and stopped recording finishing times. The ride is held annually on the third Saturday of May, and 2009 will mark the event’s 40th year.
Incorrect: b
No, the Aggie cyclists are not the founders of the Amgen Tour of California. But this world-class professional stage race, which has been held every February since 2006 has passed through Davis two times, and UC Davis students, faculty and staff lined up along Russell Boulevard to watch the race as it sped by. For the 2009 race, the city of Davis will host the start of stage 2, which will go from Davis to Santa Rosa, on Sunday, Feb. 15.
Incorrect: c
No, Foxy’s Fall Century is a ride hosted every October by the Davis Bike Club. The full century — a 100-mile ride — follows a loop that begins and ends in Davis and goes through Fairfield and the hilly roads near Lake Berryessa. There are also metric century (63-mile) and 30-mile options for those that don’t want to ride quite that far. All of the routes feature fully stocked rest stops and emergency support vehicles. Many students, faculty and staff at UC Davis participate on this ride, both as riders and as volunteers.
Incorrect: d
No, the Fourth of July Criterium is hosted by the Davis Bike Club’s race team. But many students on the UC Davis cycling team, along with UC Davis faculty and staff, have been involved with it — as racers and also as organizers and volunteers. The race takes place on the Fourth of July holiday, on a loop of downtown Davis streets that is closed to car traffic for the day.
8. Which of the following is NOT an incentive offered to the campus’s long-distance bike commuters?
Incorrect: a
Yes, one of the ways the campus supports long-distance bicycle commuters is free showers at the Activities and Recreation Center. The Bike Commuter Shower/Locker Pass gives cyclists who live outside Davis access to the center’s shower and locker facilities, along with a towel, between 6:30 and 8:30 a.m. The pass does not provide access to any exercise or fitness equipment.
Incorrect: b
Yes, if you ride a nice bike to campus and don’t want to leave it locked up outside, one option is to rent a bicycle storage locker from TAPS. The cost is just $20 per quarter, plus a refundable $20 key deposit. There are now bike lockers in all campus parking garages, and also near the Activities and Recreation Center and Mrak Hall.
Correct: c
Sorry, the campus isn’t giving away jelly beans to bicycle commuters. However, the UC Davis Sports Medicine Program did conduct a research study about them, with 16 cyclists and triathletes serving as the lab rats. The athletes performed 80 minutes of moderately intense exercise, then completed 10-kilometer time trials, while ingesting different carbohydrate supplements or water only. The researchers found that Jelly Belly’s Sports Beans performed as well as sports drinks and gels. Sports-formulated jelly beans contain electrolytes and vitamins that standard jelly beans do not. The recommended serving: about half of a 1-ounce-sized bag for every 20 minutes of exercise, depending on body size.
Incorrect: d
Yes, the campus really does help serve breakfast to bicycle commuters — once a year. TAPS is a co-sponsor of a Sacramento-area regional challenge called May Is Bike Month, which provides resources to people who want to make the switch to bicycle commuting. And one of the big May Is Bike Month events is a breakfast for cyclists, held in Central Park in downtown Davis, complete with coffee, bagels and other snacks.
9. The UC Davis cycling team has won the overall title at collegiate national road championships three times in the last 15 years. When was the last time the Aggies were collegiate national road champs?
Incorrect: a
No, the Aggies didn’t win the national collegiate title in 2008, but they did win one event at nationals: the men’s team time trial. The team time trial is a race against the clock by teams of four riders who work together over a fixed course. Teams are not allowed to draft other teams, and the team with the shortest elapsed time over the course wins. In the 2008 national event, held in Fort Collins, Colo., the men’s squad — Tyler Dibble, Paul Mach, Philip Mooney and Shawn Rosenthal — covered the 20-kilometer course in 23:18.490, beating second place University of Colorado by nine seconds.
Correct: b
Yes, the Aggies won the overall title at the 2006 national collegiate championships, held in Lawrence, Kansas. The overall title, or omnium, is awarded to the team that accumulates the most points in all races at nationals. The Aggies scored 531 points in eight events, and their 122 point margin over second place Fort Lewis College was the largest point spread for the omnium in the history of collegiate nationals. The Aggies also won the overall title in 2001 and 1994. Watch this video to learn more about the UC Davis cycling team and their 2006 national title.
Incorrect: c
No, the Aggies didn’t win the overall title in 2004, but UC Davis’ Marc Collard won the men’s road race at collegiate nationals, held in Madison, Wisc.
Incorrect: d
No, the Aggies didn’t win the overall title in 2002, but UC Davis’ Jeff Angermann won the men’s criterium race that year. The criterium is a race made up of multiple laps of a closed loop on city streets, often featuring frequent and technical turns.
10. Busted! An officer with the UC Davis Police Department Bike Patrol just wrote you a ticket for violating 21201(d)(1) of the California Vehicle Code on your bike. What did you do?
Incorrect: a
No, running a red light actually violates CVC 21453 — whether you are riding a bike or driving a car. Bikes must follow all the rules of the road: “Every person riding a bicycle upon a highway has all the rights and is subject to all the provisions applicable to the driver of a vehicle…” (CVC 21200 (a)). You have to stop at stop signs, too.
Incorrect: b
No, riding in the wrong direction gets you in trouble for violating CVC 21650.1: “A bicycle operated on a roadway, or the shoulder of a highway, shall be operated in the same direction as vehicles are required to be driven upon the roadway.” Not only is it against the law to ride on the wrong side of the road — it’s dangerous. Motorists aren’t looking for cyclists riding on the wrong side of the road, and many other hazards threaten the wrong-way rider — including the danger of colliding with cyclists who are riding in the correct direction.
Correct: c
Yes, CVC 21201(d)(1) requires that a bicycle operated during darkness be equipped with a “lamp emitting a white light that, while the bicycle is in motion, illuminates the highway, sidewalk, or bikeway in front of the bicyclist and is visible from a distance of 300 feet in front and from the sides of the bicycle.” You’re also required to have rear, pedal and side reflectors. Inexpensive lights and reflectors are available at most bike shops, so there’s no excuse for getting this citation. The final indignity about getting a ticket for riding without a light? You have to walk your bike home.
Incorrect: d
No, but CVC 27400 states that a “person operating a motor vehicle or bicycle may not wear a headset covering, or earplugs in, both ears.” So, if you want to enjoy the tunes on your iPod when you ride your bike, make sure you only use one earbud.