Who has two thumbs, pedals beneath his feet and thinks every month is Bike Month? (Points thumbs at self then puts hands back on handlebars.) This guy!
So I was stoked to hear Biketober 2025 is a thing, and rolling on with its month-long, free and fun challenge to get Surf City souls aboard, connecting with their community and treading lighter on the climate.
Prizes for logging rides include happiness, health, grocery gift cards and cash (up to $1,000 for an individual and $2,000 for a workplace), and neighborhood events include group rides, e-bike demos and repair opportunities.
More—including tips, trips and ways to connect—at lovetoride.net/santacruz.
The same organizers behind Biketober, namely Modo and its nonprofit parent Ecology Action, are also celebrating the completion of the Santa Cruz Bikeway.
SCB traces an 11-mile bike route through five Santa Cruz districts designed to minimize exposure to traffic and maximize enjoyment, scenery, safety, flow and efficiency, and shares the glory with walkers, skaters, bladers and scooters.
As the Bikeway website puts it, “Less stressed, more connected, less road noise, more bird songs, less honking, more waving.” letsmodo.org
KEEP ’EM COOKING
Efforts are ongoing to mitigate effects of the Murray Street Bridge closure for repairs.Free two-hour parking is in play at Seabright metered spaces, and a free water taxi traverses the waterway 5–9pm Thursdays, 3–8pm Fridays and 11am–6pm Saturdays and Sundays. Speaking on the condition of anonymity after Seabright Social shuttered, one restaurant veteran told me, “They were the first [bridge area] business to go because of the closure, and they won’t be the last.” It would be awesome if we could prove that prediction wrong, santacruzharbor.org.
PLEASING CHEESE
The 10th Annual San Francisco Cheese Fest did its sublime stinky thing this time last month and this curd bird was there to volunteer, an awesome way to get a peek behind the curtain, meet cheese legends, and gain free entry. The world debuts included several revelations: Petite Breakfast Chive, Petite Breakfast Everything, and 8 oz Big Breakfast by Marin French Cheese Co. (Petaluma); Princess Pride (cream cheese style), Rocky (Esrom semi-soft style), Heritage (gouda style) and Heiress (hoop style) by Rocky Oaks Goat Creamery (Clovis); Triple Cream Brie by Cowgirl Creamery (Petaluma); and fresh sheep cheese, farmer cheese, Portuguese topo cheese and goat cheese by JUSTCreamery (Saratoga). Next up: The 20th Annual California Artisan Cheese Festival March 20-22, 2026 in Sonoma County. (Volunteer with me!) Meanwhile, current Executive Director Valerie Miller is resigning her post to start her own business, so the California Cheese Guild is looking for a chief cheesehead, cacheeseguild.org.
FLEET FIXINGS
Fieldworker justice superhero Dolores Huerta returns to Watsonville to speak at a “No Kings” rally and march starting 10am Saturday, Oct. 18, at San Lorenzo Park. I was there for her last area appearance in the spring and at 95 she’s still exuding energy, heart, advocacy and action, indivisiblesantacruzcounty.com…“An Evening with Alice Waters,” presented by Bookshop Santa Cruz and The Humanities Institute, happens Oct. 30 at Rio Theatre and hinges on her new cookbook, A School Lunch Revolution, thi.ucsc.edu/event/an-evening-with-alice-waters…The Michelin Guide has announced it will introduce a world-wide wine-ranking system, the latest frontier beyond its noted restaurant ratings, guide.michelin.com…From The-Future-Is-Now Files: Some dairy cows in the Central Valley now wear high-tech collars with sensors and WiFi that track biometric health, milk load and location…Huerta, please march us out: “If people don’t vote, everything stays the same. You can protest until the sky turns yellow or the moon turns blue, and it’s not going to change anything if you don’t vote.”
