新澳门六合彩内幕信息

新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis Bike Expert David Takemoto-Weerts Retiring

When 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis bike guru David Takemoto-Weerts takes a vacation trip to a city, he doesn鈥檛 photograph the usual landmarks.

鈥淚鈥檒l ask to see his pictures and they鈥檙e all of bike racks,鈥 said his wife, Barbara Takemoto-Weerts.

David is retiring next month after 29 years as the university鈥檚 Bicycle Program coordinator, a job in which he determines the best size for bicycle roundabouts, thinks up better parking arrangements, encourages riders to register their bikes, collects abandoned bicycles and auctions them off, and generally serves as an expert on all things two-wheeled.

Cliff Contreras, director of Transportation Services (TAPS) and David鈥檚 longtime supervisor and friend, said transportation officials from other universities think of him as a resource.

A Tandem Retirement

David Takemoto-Weerts with a tandem bicycle.
David Takemoto-Weerts secures his and Barbara Takemoto-Weerts' tandem bicycle in Tiburon.

When David Takemoto-Weerts retires in June, it will be a few days after his 39th wedding anniversary. It鈥檚 only fitting, then, that his wife retires from 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis on the same day. She's been working here 22 years 鈥 some of it part-time 鈥 and he's been here for 30.

The two met as undergrads at 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Santa Cruz, but started dating as grad students at 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis. David鈥檚 love affair with cycling, inspired by one epic day of cycling as a freshman (see video above), grew in Davis when he worked as a student mechanic and then manager of the Bike Barn.

David Takemoto-Weerts and Barbara Takemoto-Weerts at their wedding in 1976
David Takemoto-Weerts and Barbara Takemoto-Weerts at their wedding in 1977 in Santa Cruz, with a young wedding guest.

Married under the redwoods at 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Santa Cruz, they moved around California before returning to Davis to raise their son and daughter. Barbara spent several years working as an accountant at the 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis bookstore before joining the Shared Services Center, where she now works as a purchasing coordinator.

While bicycles have shaped the course of her husband鈥檚 life, Barbara is interested in them 鈥渙nly by association.鈥 They do complement each other on two wheels, though: They鈥檝e ridden a tandem bicycle together since before they were married, and Barbara has always been the stoker, or rider in the rear.

鈥淚t takes a special person to be the stoker,鈥 she said, explaining that she doesn鈥檛 have any control over when they stop or where the bike goes (although David said he defers to her if a decision comes into question). But that doesn鈥檛 mean she wants to switch saddles.

鈥淚鈥檓 not interested in that.鈥

鈥淥ftentimes if somebody is grappling with an issue that鈥檚 bike-related, someone will say, 鈥楯ust ask Dave,鈥欌 Contreras said.

David has worked to make the university more cyclist-friendly, and along the way the number of people who ride to campus has grown to nearly 50 percent. The League of American Bicyclists also named 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis a platinum Bicycle Friendly Business and platinum Bicycle Friendly University under his watch, both in 2013.

While his position is no longer part of the Police Department where it originated, one of his proudest achievements is the recent collaboration between TAPS and the police to create , an online course for riders who receive citations 鈥 similar to taking traffic school instead of paying hefty fines.

David is analytical and detail-oriented. Anyone asking about bicycle parking is likely to get a long story about the advantages the campus鈥檚 newer racks have over the old concrete 鈥渨heel benders鈥 he and Contreras are working to phase out before his retirement. David's wife warns that when he says, 鈥淭o make a long story short,鈥 settle in for a long explanation.

Outside of bicycles, his passions include the history of aviation and space exploration 鈥 topics he fell in love with during a trip to a library in his native Long Beach when he was 15. He often walks the TAPS hallways wearing a NASA cap or a shirt bearing images of vintage aircraft. He鈥檚 one of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory鈥檚 volunteer , who explain and promote NASA missions to the general public, and set up a telescope on Hutchison Field for passers-by to use during a recent partial eclipse.

He has a penchant for vintage bikes, too. He prefers the style and construction of bicycles of the 1970s, and one of his other career-defining moments can be seen just off campus at the corner of Third and B streets, inside the former Davis Teen Center.

In 2000, David won a federal grant for the university to purchase a collection of . , so named for its former owner, formed the foundation of a bicycle museum that helped convince the U.S. Bicycle Hall of Fame to move to Davis from New Jersey in 2009.

David continues to work as the head docent at the museum, explaining the evolution of the bicycle to visitors. And if they happen to ask any questions about bicycling on campus, he鈥檒l know the answer.

鈥淲e鈥檙e doing all these things to promote bicycle use and he鈥檚 got his hand in all of them,鈥 Contreras said. 鈥淗e鈥檚 been a wealth of info for us and the campus, and the campus is better off for it.鈥

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Cody Kitaura/Dateline, Dateline, 530-752-1932, kitaura@ucdavis.edu

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