One thing we should all try to remember is that all these bike lanes and bicycle paths and the rules that give cyclists the right to use the roads don't just happen.
They're the result of tireless work by bicycle advocates who hammer away at City Hall, appear before the county board of supervisors or lobby the legislators in the State Capitol.
One of those advocates — Berkeley's Alex Zuckermann — died recently at age 86. He founded the now-1,400-member East Bay Bike Coalition and fought for a bike path around Oakland's Lake Merritt, the right for cyclists to take their bicycles on BART, and a bike lane on the new east span of the Bay Bridge.
The Contra Costa Times wrote about Zuckermann's accomplishments and talked to those who worked with him. One is Robert Raburn, director of the East Bay Bicycle Coalition:
“He was a competitive spirit in every sense of the word. A tenacious advocate in the (bike) saddle and at the conference table.
“He totally embodied the advocacy message he was transmitting. He always showed up in a suit and a tie — on a bike. Always.”
Zuckermann's son said his father rode thousands of miles a year. His riding came to an end in 2002, however, when he suffered severe head injuries on the Bay Bridge where he was riding with Caltrans officials. (His roadie tire snagged an expansion joint, went flat, and he went down, cracking his helmet; Daily Journal.)
Information about a memorial service and other facts about his life are available at the AlexZHome website.
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