Davis, already the nation’s most bike-friendly city, will welcome Stage 1 of the Amgen Tour of California Feb. 15. The city is one of 16 host cities of this year’s professional cycling event, which will feature Lance Armstrong in his first U.S. race after a three-year hiatus. The 750-mile race starts in Sacramento on Feb. 14 and ends in Escondido on Feb. 22.

Here are some UC Davis news tips related to this event.

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California Bicycle Museum

Learn a little bicycle history at the California Bike Museum in the basement of the Third and B Street building downtown. The temporary exhibit includes the Pierce Miller bicycle collection, which features bicycles from as far back as the 1800s, and will be open through the Amgen Tour. The museum, in which the city and UC Davis are partners, opened its inaugural exhibition in October 2008. The show had been scheduled to close in December, but organizers decided to keep it open through the Amgen Tour weekend.

Swiftwalkers to Streamliners, Bicycles 1823–2008, showcases the museum’s Pierce Miller collection, which includes some of the earliest bicycles ever built. One organizer estimated that as many as 4,000 people have visited the museum since its opening around the time of UC Davis’ Centennial Fall Festival last October.

The exhibition in the Third and B Street Building’s basement is open from 9 a.m. to noon every Saturday through Feb. 14, 4-7 p.m. Feb. 11 and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Feb. 15. Admission is free, with donations accepted.

To inquire about museum tours at other times, contact David Takemoto-Weerts, bicycle program coordinator at UC Davis, (530) 752-2453 or dltakemotoweerts.edu.

More information: http://californiabicyclemuseum.org

Media contact: David Takemoto-Weerts, TAPS bicycle program, (530) 752-2453, dltakemotoweerts@ucdavis.edu.

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Campus Bicycle Programs

Bicycles are a popular form of transport at UC Davis, with about half of all students and a quarter of faculty and staff riding to campus. Transportation and Parking Services offers a range of services to bicycle riders including education and classes, lockers, maps and directions, lock-cutting services for riders who lose their keys, and bicycle licenses. TAPS also holds auctions of abandoned bicycles, typically twice a year.

More information: http://taps.ucdavis.edu/bicycle/

Media contact: David Takemoto-Weerts, TAPS bicycle program, (530) 752-2453, dltakemotoweerts@ucdavis.edu.

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Campus Planning and Bicycles

Over the past year, UC Davis planners have been carrying out surveys and workshops to see how the campus can be made safer and more accessible for cyclists. The Bicycle Transit Network Study focuses on developing a flexible bikeway network that can accommodate growth in traffic, connect newly developing areas such as the planned West Village, and link up with other transit services.

The network of bike paths would run roughly parallel to sidewalks, giving people a place to walk without dodging bicycles, and bicyclists a place to ride without having to maneuver around pedestrians. These "separated" routes would run north-south and east-west across the main campus.

The study also calls for additional on-street bike lanes and a “bus-bike boulevard” along Hutchison Drive between Bioletti Way and A Street in the central campus, with bus and bike lanes clearly designated by pavement marking or different surfaces.

More information: http://www.ormp.ucdavis.edu/btns/

Media contact: Matt Dulcich, Office of Resource Management and Planning, (530) 752-9597, medulcich@ucdavis.edu.