California Climate Ride 2013

Check out some of these great pictures from the ride.

Gearing up and riding off: May 18-23 is the California Climate Ride!

Donate to our team! Click here to make a general donation, or click on a rider’s name below to support a specific team member.

And they’re off! On Saturday, May 18, the TransForm Carbon Crushers will head up to Humboldt County to bike 320 miles down the California Coast.

Welcome the team home at a lunchtime rally May 23 at San Francisco City Hall featuring Paul Hawken on the final day of the Climate Ride to celebrate this amazing journey and call for immediate action to curb climate change. Or, if you want to be in on the carbon-crushing fun, you can join the ride for the last 3 miles from the Presidio to City Hall starting at 11:00 a.m.

Our 10-rider team is riding to raise money for TransForm’s work to win transportation choices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve public health, and promote livability in the Bay Area and California. Thanks to generous donations from friends and supporters, we’ve already pedaled past our $30,000 goal.

We will be tweeting with the hashtag #CarbonCrushers and posting updates on this page throughout the ride, and you can still donate while we’re pedaling up the hills. Nothing lifts a tired rider’s spirits like knowing she’s raised an extra $25 or so for great walking, biking, and transit options in the Bay Area!

In their own words, here’s why the Carbon Crushers are taking on this challenge:

Rachel Davidman, Safe Routes to Schools Education Coordinator and Team Captain: “I work for Safe Routes to Schools at TransForm. We work daily on these issues --global warming, improving public transit, making routes to schools safer, and advocating for more bike lanes.”

Autumn Bernstein, Director, ClimatePlan: “I started biking as a student at UC Davis because it was fun, convenient and healthy for me and the planet. I’ve been biking ever since, and I’ve been lucky enough to build a career advocating for sustainable, healthy, and equitable communities in California.”

Ann Cheng, TransForm GreenTrip Program Director: “It is the hottest year on record over the last 4,000 years. NOW is the time to work toward and support new systems for a sustainable future. Through the GreenTRIP certification program I helped create, we are now awarding and recognizing developers who offer 40 years of free transit passes or carshare memberships instead providing more parking than needed, in transit rich walkable communities. We are finding creative new ways to make homes more affordable starting with our assumptions about how much of that home needs to house a car.”

Stuart Cohen, TransForm Executive Director: “I’m riding because, quite frankly, I'm scared. I’m scared that we are truly entering a period of climate disruption -- "climate change" and "global warming" don't do this slow emergency justice. I’m also riding because I'm excited that we can make our cities, our country and our planet healthier while we come up with innovative solutions to reverse the climate trends.”

Dave Kemp, City of Davis Bike/Pedestrian Coordinator: “I'm fundraising for TransForm and also supporting efforts in Davis, CA by promoting the efforts of the Cool Davis Initiative - a network of citizens, community organizations, businesses and the City of Davis. I hope that through my efforts, TransForm and Cool Davis can build a local alliance to continue to positively affect peoples' choices to use sustainable transportation options.”

Dan Luscher, TransForm Board Member: “I will be riding for TransForm, a fantastic organization for which I have the pleasure of serving on the Board of Directors. I’ve done a lot of things over the years, from mountain climbing and ultimate frisbee to triathlons and ultramarathons, but I’ve never done a long-distance bike ride.”

Steven Oakes, TransForm Supporter: “It is very clear that there are a host of issues affecting the health of our planet and economy. Right now, it is more important than ever to work toward a sustainable and green future. I am proud to ride with the Carbon Crushers and pedal towards that future on Climate Ride.”

Wiley Osborn, TransForm Family Member: “TransFormers are a great bang for your non-profit buck. With your help they will transform pennies into billions of dollars of smarter, more affordable, sustainable and economically viable transportation and infrastructure spending.”

Erica Stephan, TransForm Communications Associate: “I have worked on climate change issues for many years now. I came to California because here people are actually doing something about it and trying to reform our transport, housing, and energy systems from the ground up. TransForm is a major force behind making that vision a reality in California – the laboratory and leader for the rest of the country.”

Shannon Tracey, TransForm Communications Director: “It was really in Humboldt County, where I lived for four years, that I first understood the connections between transportation, land use, climate, and open space. It's so obvious in a rural community where sprawl replaces farmland and forests before your very eyes, and where low-income people - including a significant number of American Indians and immigrants - can be truly stuck without transportation options if they don't own a car.”