Bici Centro and our Coalition are people powered. Our staff and board are just a few of the many volunteers and participants who make our community offerings -and our movement- great.

Staff:

Edward France,  Executive Director
Ed loves bicycling, engaging with people, and living in the wondrous place that is Santa Barbara. He thanks his lucky stars that he is fortunate to serve in a vocation that brings these all together. As a member of the community for more than 10 years, Ed has previously worked for the City of Santa Barbara as the Recycling Coordinator and briefly as an administrative assistant to the Sustainable Santa Barbara program. He was also extremely fortunate to meet a band of creative social entrepreneurs who put in the energy and talent to start up Bici Centro community Bike Repair Shop and Education Center. In his free time Ed goes on out of the way routes on his bike commute, Mountain Bikes, and splashes around doing ocean sports. Ed has previously been both an advisor and then board member of the Coalition as well as a volunteer and part-time staff for Bici Centro. If you would like to find a time to go on a ride and talk bike stuff, don't hesitate to call or email him.

(805) 203-6940 or Ed@sbbike.org

Christine Bourgeois, Education Director
Christine Bourgeois was born and raised in France. She started using a bicycle for everyday transportation more than 20 years ago when she moved to Washington DC. With a degree in education and a MA in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages), Christine taught all levels of French at Santa Margarita High School, CA. In 2000, she relocated to Santa Barbara with her husband Dave and they both became avid cyclists and world travelers.  Today, Christine is a certified League Cycling instructor who likes to work with youth and she is the education director for the Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition. For the last 3 years, she has been leading the development and implementation of a county wide education campaign to promote safe bicycling for transportation and recreation. She has been expanding successful after-school youth Earn-A-Bike programs (Pedal Power) and offering bilingual adult bike clinics for workplaces. Interested in offering a bike program at your school, organization or business? Give her a call or send her mail: (805) 699 6301 or edu@sbbike.org

Board of Directors:

Byron Beck
Hello all, I am Byron Beck. Well...... I am 56 years of age and have been married to my wife Robyn for 29 years last October. We have 3 boys, Charlie 25, Ross 22, and Sidney 16. We have lived in Santa Barbara for over 30 years. My wife and I are both Southern Californians.
We have a Contracting business by the name of Solid Rock Construction and Fine Carpentry. We have about 20 employees at this time and specialize in Fine Craftsmanship for the interiors of homes and businesses.
My love for bicycling started at a very young age. When I was young, bicycling for me was freedom, very similarly to how it felt to get my license at the age of 16. I had a paper route and threw papers from an old Schwinn Typhoon. During my junior high and high school years I worked for a local bike shop building and repairing bikes.  
I have been fortunate to enjoy bicycling all my life. When the mountain bike came into being, I turned in my road bike for about 15 years and finally returned to the skinny wheels for most of my riding now.
I have also been able to race in a Southern Cal mountain bike series the last 4 years. The first 3 years I raced for Platinum Mountain Bike team, and last year started with a new team called Foundation Roots.
I have enjoyed volunteering at Bici Centro on and off for the last couple of years. It is wonderful to be giving back to the community of biking that I have enjoyed for so many years. When I joined the Coalition Board last year, my hope was to bring some perspectives and ideas from the business owners point of view to the table, and to help with the growing bicycle community in which we are all involved.
We are very fortunate to live in a community in which we can ride almost anywhere, anytime we like. My hope is to see our town become even more adjusted to biking as a lifestyle not only for pleasure, but for business as well.

Dave Bourgeois
Dave Bourgeois has served on the board of the SBBC since 2006 and has been Treasurer since 2007. He chairs the Finance Committee and serves on the Executive Committee. As Treasurer, Dave has overseen considerable growth, both monetarily and in project scope. A proud co-founder of Bici Centro, Dave has enjoyed broadening the outreach and appeal of our countywide advocacy organization. He believes that more cyclists with a stronger common voice will create better conditions for all of us.
Dave works as a Software Engineer, and he volunteers managing Bici Centro's web site and computer systems. He is married to Christine Bourgeois, the Education Coordinator of SBBC.
Dave wants to inspire others to cycle for health, environmental benefit, fun and adventure around town and around the globe.

 Tim Burgess 

   Tim originally hails from Bermuda, and helps improve Santa Barbara's watersheds through his work at the City of Santa Barbara Creeks division. He is our advocacy chair and works to improve bicycling with routes that his kids can ride in mind.

Robert Caiza

Caiza was born in Ecuador, South America. At early age he was introduced to the bicycle world. Since then bicycles have been part of his life. He has lived in Santa Barbara county for about six years. He was introduced to the Santa Barbara bicycle community through Bici Centro.
As a volunteer in Bici Centro he has been sharing his skills and knowledge as a League Certified bicycle instructor, bicycle mechanic, and just recently became the chair of the Outreach Spanish Latino Community.
An entrepreneur for nature and his passion for helping people, alternative transportation and community building have brought him to become part of Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition and Bici Centro.
As a Coalition board member, he wishes to share his skills, knowledge, goals and aspirations helping out to build a Bicycle Friendly and safe community, and to continue expanding the Outreach Latino Spanish program as well as bringing more bicycle advocates into our community.

Michael Chiacos
Michael Chiacos is a Santa Barbara native who fondly remembers riding his bike to Mountain View Elementary School. He lived a car free carefree life for 5 years in Portland, Oregon, while completing a BA with honors in Environmental Studies at Lewis and Clark College and working for the Climate Trust, a non-profit that funds environmental projects. In Portland he participated in the burgeoning bike culture and learned how a great city treats its bicyclists.
After a stint managing a coffee farm in Hawaii, Michael returned to Santa Barbara and currently works as the Transportation Specialist at the Community Environmental Council, a 40 year old non-profit that focuses on sustainable transportation, energy efficiency, and renewable energy. Michael is a member of the Measure A Citizens Oversight Committee, which oversees $1.5 billion in transportation spending, and is Mayor Schneider’s appointee to the Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District's Community Advisory Council. He also serves as the Transportation Chair of the Los Padres chapter of the Sierra Club and has been on the board of directors of the Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition since 2008.
While on the Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition Board, Michael helped guide the Coalition through an exciting period of growth and change as we added staff to our formerly board run organization, built new education and outreach programs, and integrated Bici Centro into the Coalition. He brings practical non-profit experience and a wide net of community connections to the Board. He’s most proud of his role instigating the 2010 Membership Drive, which is on track to reach its goal of 50% new members in one year, as well as his work on Walk and Roll, which encourages bicycling and other forms of alternative transportation at schools. He also enjoys being a lead volunteer for Bike Valet at the Santa Barbara Bowl, which in addition to being a lot of fun and a significant revenue generator, is an excellent opportunity for the Coalition to reach out to non-member bicyclists.

Courtney Dietz 

John Hygelund
I have been bike riding my entire life, I started racing in high school and raced as a domestic professional for three years following high school and one year racing internationally in Europe. From this experience I can relate to competitive cyclists, a group which is under-represented in the cycling community.
I love seeing people out on bikes and enjoying themselves; so in August of 2008, I started Bike Moves a fun, free social bike event that welcomes everyone and fosters good times while respecting the laws and community. It is an event in which any one of any level of cycling experience can feel comfortable and enjoy the comradery of other Santa Barbara cyclists. Over the course of 2 years the event has grown to include people from all ages, backgrounds and ability levels. Bike Moves now consistently has a turn-out of well over 100 people. The high numbers and the good standing that Bike Moves has, have generated fundraising and donations from local businesses are directed to the cycling community, including the SBBC.
This year, I represented my company, Las Cumbres Observatory, for CycleMaynia’s Commuter Challenge, I helped motivate 50% employee participation which was by-far the highest amongst the competition. Additionally, our company made the most bike commuter trips of all the company categories. In preparation for the Commuter Challenge, many people purchased bikes through my company’s bike purchase incentive program and now ride regularly.
Lastly, I am an avid mountain biker and currently am a board member of SB Mountain Trail Volunteers, a non-profit whose mission is to keep Santa Barbara trails safe, well maintained and open to bikes. The mountain biking community contributes the greatest number of volunteer hours of all the trail user groups. Their presence would be great to integrate throughout the cycling community.
Every cyclist faces the same safety and accessibility concerns. As a board member, one of my objectives would be outreach to all types of cyclists and bring cohesiveness and collaboration to the cycling community as a whole.

Carmen Lozano

Carmen is passionate about helping the “invisible cyclists” in Santa Barbara. She is a tireless advocate for the many low-income folks who use their bikes to get to work, school, and to shop. Until 2009, Lozano didn’t know how to ride a bike. She learned at the DMV parking lot on 

Buenaventura, on a 1971 Fair Lady Sting Ray. Biking was freedom and soon she was riding to Montecito to meet a friend, hike, and eat cupcakes. Today, Lozano is the heart and soul of the Bicycle Coalition’s Spanish Language Outreach Committee. She was one of the founders of the Mobile Bike Shop that travels to low-income Santa Barbara neighborhoods to repair bicycles for free to anyone who rolls up with a two-wheeler. To make the invisible cyclist visible at night, she helped organize the Light Up the Night campaign that distributed free bike lights on the West and Eastside. Lozano works hard to educate bicycle riders about their rights and responsibilities, providing accessible materials in both Spanish and English. 

Erik Wright
My name is Erik Wright, former co-owner and operator of WheelHouse Bikes here in town. I've been in the cycling industry for over a decade. I started at age 14 fixing flats at my local shop, Alki Bike and Board. From there I moved into a mechanics and sales position and worked with Alki Bike throughout high school. During college I continued the cycling trend and worked for Switchback Cyclery and rode mountain religiously. After college, my business partner Evan Minogue and I developed a business plan for a transport focused bike shop and moved to SB to implement it. I believe Santa Barbara has the ability to be a leading example of what a bike friendly city can be. I often refer to our beautiful city a "Pedal Paradise" because there is no where else I'd rather be riding my bike.
My personal and business goals are on the same wave length and I'd like to see our fair city become total immersed in cycling and eventually get to a point where the bike permeates all of SB culture and society and we no longer view those who ride and those who don't in separate categories, but rather see the bike as a piece of everyday life.

Mike Vergeer

Mike has been actively teaching in various capacities around Santa Barbara since moving to the area over ten years ago for graduate studies in geography at UCSB. His work reflects his concern regarding our land use choices, particularly in public spaces. He is active in bicycling education and events in Santa Barbara, and he works to carry and build that enthusiasm in his own neighborhood in Old Town and in the greater Goleta community. He regularly teaches as an LCI (League Certified Instructor) in street skills classes for adults, Pedal Power courses for junior high students, and in bicycle rodeos and other Safe Routes to School events for young children. His other day jobs are mostly food-related, including his work teaching public elementary school students and summer farm campers about growing food, kitchen management and bicycle deliveries for a local social business, and stone fruit orchard installation and maintenance. He also serves as co-chair of both the Permaculture Guild of Santa Barbara and the fledgling nonprofit Fat Earth Farms.