May 10, 2024 • 59 mins
Remember the freedom of your first bike ride? Our latest episode takes that youthful joy and rides with it into an in-depth exploration of cycling's transformative power in the bustling city of Fremont. We're joined by Daniel Karpolevich, whose early 200-mile pedal from Fremont to Lake Tahoe sparked a lifelong passion, leading him to the local Mobility Commission, where he advocates for a bike-friendly cityscape. We share stories of self-powered commutes, the ins and outs of law enforcement along our trails, and the profound personal growth found on two wheels.
As we pedal further into the conversation, we unpack the broader implications of a bikeable and walkable city. Fremont's Niles district serves as a microcosm of potential, illustrating how community-centric urban planning can foster safer, more lively neighborhoods. We tackle the challenges of non-vehicle friendly infrastructures like railroad underpasses, gleaning insights from local advocacy groups. It's not just about the bike lanes; it's about reimagining our streets as conduits of connection and community well-being.
Whether you're intrigued by the intersection of urban life and outdoor escapades or contemplating a tech career amid Silicon Valley's backdrop, this episode gears up to take you on a memorable journey. Join us as we navigate the landscapes of cycling, community, and the choices that steer our lives in Fremont.
For more information about the biking routes and trails check out our city website.
For bike Fremont information, check out the Facebook page here.
If you would like to contact The Fremont Podcast, please text us here.
Petrocelli Homes has been a key sponsor of The Fremont Podcast from the beginning. If you are looking for a realtor, get in touch with Petrocelli Homes on Niles Blvd in Fremont.
Haller's Pharmacy is here to help. They have been in our community for decades.
Founder: Ricky B.
Intro and outro voice-overs made by Gary Williams.
Editor: Andrew Cavette.
Scheduling and pre-interviews by the amazing virtual assistant that you ought to hire, seriously, she's great: your.virtual.ace
This is a Muggins Media Podcast.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
I ride my bike everywhere.
Right, that's my main form oftransportation.
That, and you know, transitBART trains et cetera, and I
think that's like a good thingfor people to have that option.
Right, I'm not saying everyoneneeds to sell their car, but I
think I'm really passionateabout thinking, hey, we should
(00:22):
at least make that a viablechoice for people, right?
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Coming to you straight from Fremont,
california.
This is the Fremont Podcast,dedicated to telling the stories
of the past and present of thepeople and places of the city of
Fremont, one conversation at atime.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
It's a little past five in the evening, the wind is
picking up and I am at theAlameda Creek Regional Trail and
as beautiful as it is out here,with the water, the sunlight
and the wildlife Ooh, there's anegret.
As beautiful as it is out here.
This is an example of anenforcement quagmire in Fremont.
(01:04):
If that egret were up here onthe trail and committed a crime,
the police department withinthe East Bay landed here and
(01:31):
committed the same crime.
The Fremont police would haveto get involved.
And if the egret landed downhere in the creek itself, the
enforcement would come from theAlameda County Water District.
With three enforcement bodiesin less than 100 feet.
(01:55):
Enforcement can be complicated,to say the least, and seemingly
those three enforcement bodieswant to make really sure that
the violation, the crime, ishappening on their part and not
one of the other two.
As a resident, it makes it alittle difficult to report
(02:30):
things.
If you were to see someonelittering or, more importantly,
dumping toxic material into thewater supply, someone harassing
the wildlife, simply someonetrespassing, and while taking a
(02:51):
swim where you shouldn't isprobably not a priority.
If it were any more serious,like back in the drought when we
had the rubber dam slashed,lost all that water if someone
had seen it while it washappening.
And the follow-up question waswhere exactly on the slope are
(03:14):
they?
At any rate, with a littleempathy, I'm sure that much
jurisdictional division makes itdifficult for everybody.
That egret just landed on arock in the middle of the creek
and you are listening to episode117 of the Fremont Podcast.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Now here's your host, Ricky B.
Speaker 5 (03:37):
I'm going to introduce you.
I'm with Daniel, and how do yousay your last name?
Karpolevich Karpolevich.
Good luck with that.
And how do you say your lastname?
Karpolevich Karpolevich.
Good luck with that.
So, daniel, you and I met whenI worked at REI, so we ran into
each other recently at BillyRoy's for an event there.
But I remember you lookedfamiliar because I worked there
(04:01):
and I sold camping gear andcycling gear and all the stuff,
and I remember you being aregular customer and so when I
recognized you at Billy Roy's Iwas like wait a minute, I
haven't seen him in a while.
So that was kind of cool.
But when we met at REI you wereinto hiking, backpacking all
(04:21):
that stuff.
Yeah, and cycling and cycling.
Did you start doing that young,or was that something that
started later on?
Speaker 1 (04:27):
um, yeah, so I my intro to cycling was road
cycling.
Um, and I think one of myfriends in high school, or
actually a friend from middleschool, but that I knew in
middle school and then we wentto different schools and and um,
we were, we were hanging outand he had started cycling.
He was like hey, let's go on abike ride and so I took my like
dad's like old, like kind ofcrappy road bike and it was too
(04:53):
big for me and you know, Ididn't really know.
I mean I knew how to ride abike but it wasn't like sure I
didn't know how to ride likewell, or you know how many.
I mean, I was like fit, but Iwasn't.
I was like 14, I was sure ascrawny little kid like I wasn't
really into cycling and and weme and two other friends you
know it was a group of three ofus and we, we like kind of fell
(05:15):
in love with it over a summer, Ithink, maybe like between
freshman and sophomore year inhigh school, and we just started
riding a whole bunch all aroundum, and then we actually capped
that off with a bike ride fromFremont to Lake Tahoe.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Oh, my, oh, wow yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
That's incredible.
I think it's like 200 somethingmiles.
We did it over five days.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Wow, that's cool.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Yeah, those Sierra Nevadas, I think we had one
whole day where we did nothingbut go up Wow For the whole day.
Did nothing but go up wow, umfor the whole day.
Wow, that's crazy.
After that I was hooked.
Yeah, how old were you?
I think I was 14.
Okay, yeah, I was.
I think I was 14.
I was like a, like a betweenfreshmen and who all?
Were you with?
Uh, yeah, me and two of myfriends, I think were they also
(05:59):
14 and 15?
Speaker 2 (06:00):
I think maybe they were a year older.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Yeah, um and one of one of their dads, like drove
behind us in his minivan likewith like food and snacks and
stuff that's cool.
Speaker 5 (06:09):
You got into, obviously, the cycling, riding
races and stuff like that, andum, and you, uh, came here to
this interview today riding abike.
Yeah, pretty cool bike yeah notnot a road bike.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Not a road bike, not a race bike hybrid hybrid uh I'd
call it a city bike, a commuterbike, yeah, yeah you know,
after high school, racing justbecame.
It's like six days a week oftraining, like you know, 12
hours a week of you know writinglike and like, not just like
fun writing necessarily.
It's like you're doing repeats,you're doing sets, up and down
(06:44):
the hill yeah you're doingsprints and workouts and you
have a schedule and it's it.
It and that's just to be, likeat the base level of
competitiveness, like that's notlike oh, I'm an elite athlete
like I was just like I'm havingfun.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Basically that's cool and you know I went.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
I started going to aloni and I you know life got in
the way so I've kept riding.
It's ebb and flowed, but racingis probably not in the cards
for me in the near future.
I like to say I'm retired there, you go.
Speaker 5 (07:18):
I'm a retired racer, that's good.
That's good.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Yeah, but I fell in love with, I'll say, biking, not
cycling, but just riding a bike.
Yeah, but I've, you know, I,I'm.
I fell in love with with, I'llsay biking, not cycling but just
riding a bike.
Okay, right, like that, that'smy, that's my current love.
Yeah, I still have a road bike.
I still ride it with the raceteam, I still ride it with, you
know, ffbc, which is like thelocal cycling club.
But nowadays, like like my, mypassion is really just for
(07:48):
riding to the grocery store, tothe coffee shop, to work, to the
train station, to see familyand friends.
Like that's what I'm reallymore interested in now and now I
have a bike that you know.
Yeah, it's reliable and it's gota belt drive and it's got
fenders and it's you know, comfyready, ready to go.
Speaker 5 (08:02):
Yeah, take the city, that's cool.
Uh, you're a part of acommission, volunteer commission
, yeah, um, that was one of thethings that kind of like
connected us because you were atBilly Roy's at an event and you
, you had heard about it throughthe city promotion and stuff
like that.
But, um, I, I, I thought it wasinteresting to have you.
I wanted to have you on thepodcast just to kind of catch up
(08:25):
as somebody who lives here inFremont.
But in our discussions andeverything, what is your
position when it comes tospeaking for your commission or
for the city or anything likethat.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Yeah, so I absolutely do not speak for the city.
I don't speak for the MobilityCommission.
Everything I'm sharing is justmy own personal thoughts and
opinions.
Speaker 5 (08:46):
Um, yeah, yeah, so I like the distinction, then, that
you made between cycling andthen, uh, you like riding your
bike, or bike riding or whateverbiking, um, so what does that
mean for you?
What does that look like foryou?
Like, um, um, if it's somethingthat you fell in love with, you
have a passion for, like, whatkind of things do you love about
(09:11):
riding your bike in the city?
I know you said you like goingto the grocery store and all of
that, and then, like, maybe,coupled with that, like, what
are some of the things that youfind to be a joy about riding in
the city of Fremont versusthings that maybe are not so
great about riding in the cityof Fremont versus things that
maybe are not so great aboutwriting in the city of Fremont?
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Yeah, so I fell in love with just the idea of, like
being able to get around, youknow, powered by myself, my own
two feet or my own two legs, youknow.
And I like the idea of you know, obviously being good for the
environment, right, like beinggood for, you know, safety,
public safety, you know airpollution.
(09:51):
Those things are very importantto me.
I also just like have been, youknow, kind of had my eyes open
to the you know the negativeeffects of of car ownership, car
, you know car use.
I don't own a car anymore.
Uh, so I I still own amotorcycle.
(10:11):
Um, that's my backup.
I barely ride it, I ride mybike everywhere, right, that's
my, that's my main form of formof transportation.
Um, that, and you know transit,bart, trains, etc.
Um, and I think that's like a agood thing for people to have
that option, right, I'm notsaying everyone needs to sell
their car.
That's right, but I think I'mreally passionate about thinking
(10:33):
, hey, we should at least makethat a viable choice for people,
right?
Speaker 5 (10:37):
We'll be right back.
You can hear the rest of thisconversation in just a moment.
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Speaker 5 (11:51):
And now back to our conversation.
I have a kind of a souped upe-bike that I use for getting
around on, like, when I need toget somewhere fast and I don't
have a vehicle because my wife'susing the car, then I use this
and I actually can take thatonto the BART.
(12:11):
I've taken that, uh out toMountain View and Sunnyvale and
other places just taking it onthe on the transit lines, um,
but then I can also get aroundhere pretty well on it.
But I also have a pedal bikethat's just, you know, manpower
um that I use for um, bothexercise and for commuting if I
need to.
(12:32):
If the time is not the issue,then I enjoy riding that and
getting the exercise in that aswell.
So there are certain placesaround Fremont that I think are
remarkable when it comes tobiking.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Absolutely.
Speaker 5 (12:49):
But there's also some places we were just talking
about before.
We were even recording about.
There were some places thatwere not so enjoyable when it
comes to biking Absolutely, butthere's also some places we were
just talking about before wewere even recording about there
were some places that were notso enjoyable when it comes to
biking.
Yeah, so talk to me a littlebit about, like, what are some
of the things that Fremont hasdone that you've seen growing up
here and as you've gotten intocycling?
What are some of the thingsthat Fremont's done that's been
good for biking, for people whowant to get out and would rather
(13:12):
commute by bike than than drivecars?
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Yeah, I mean something that happened before
you know.
I was born before you know.
Most of us were born as, likeAlameda Creek trail, like that's
a a, a gold star example of,like fantastic infrastructure
that's.
You know it gets it's a wholebig long trail.
Right, it has underpasses underhighways and roads.
It connects, you know it gets,it's a whole big long trail.
Right, it has underpasses underhighways and roads.
It connects, you know, peoplevery safely.
(13:36):
Right, it's completelyseparated from traffic.
Um, things like that very hardto build these days.
Right, there's not enough room,there's not enough money to
build, you know, big underpassesand bridges and that sort of
thing.
Um, so that's kind of the focushas been more on making the
streets and the roads safer, andI make that distinction between
streets and roads purposefully.
(13:57):
You know roads are kind of thebigger ones, right, multiple
lanes.
The point is to get people frompoint A to point B right.
Like.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Mission, mission Boulevard, fremont, st Padre,
maori, those kinds of thingsright.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
And we have have, you know, tons of them, but the
thing is like they're not alwaysvery safe, so things have like
walnut avenue right, that's beenlike that was a big project
over five years ago.
Speaker 5 (14:22):
There's like a video out with like drone shots and
everything of that being like aum kind of like an example of
what like a good bikinginfrastructure would look like
it really is yeah, so it that's.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
That's one of those things, right.
It's on like the bikeways areelevated right so they're
completely protected from fromcars, just like a sidewalk is
right and, more importantly, theintersections are protected,
because you'll often see bikelanes, especially in um, in
fremont.
You'll still see them,definitely, but oftentimes and
kind of cities that kind of wantto just check a box yeah, let's
(14:54):
say we put in a bike lane,they'll put in a bike lane on
the on the roadways and then assoon as it gets to the
intersection it just ends.
Yeah, and intersections like themost dangerous parts right.
So many crashes happen right atintersection or when people are
turning and merging and allthese sorts of things.
So having protectedintersections like we see on
Walnut and they're building themin more places now in Fremont
(15:16):
um, those make it really, reallysafe.
Um you know, and we have tonsof opportunities for trails that
are you know that we could have, that we could build right on
like water corridors, like waterpipe or you know, electrical
line corridors or old railways,that sort of thing.
Speaker 5 (15:33):
Um, that's actually one of the things that I've
enjoyed.
I mentioned it on a previousepisode, I'm trying to remember
which one I mentioned it on but,um, one of the things that I
enjoy about, uh, going the bikeroute, like riding a bike from a
place to place is that when I,when I put my phone up and I
pull up the GPS and I put in thecycling option, even coming
(15:57):
back from Mountain View orSunnyvale or even going out to
I've been out to Union Landinghere in Union City and I'm like,
take me to Union Landing on abike.
There's this whole San Francisco.
I don't know what it's calledsan francisco creek trail or
something like that.
I didn't even know it existedand like it says nick, you know,
(16:19):
on the on the gps it was liketake this, um, this shared trail
or this you know creek, sanfrancisco creek trail, and I was
like this is the coolest trail,like I really really, really,
really fun.
But then when I got down to,like, um, Santa Clara and
Sunnyvale and stuff, there'slike all these aqueducts that
have these trails along therethat are just super fun to ride
(16:42):
on and they're just really safeand comfortable to ride on.
And so I think you're exactlyright me to.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
creek trail is a gem that we have where a lot of
people can get out there andride and walk or you know
whatever, and have it be aprotected area that gets you
around, if I mean, if you'rewanting, if that's where you if
it happens to be on your route,right, if you're trying to go
through central fremont likeyou're going to be on a road,
yeah, um, because even thestreets, the smaller streets,
(17:08):
you know they don't reallyconnect right, we're all we're
kind of little islands ofneighborhoods connected by these
big roads and so, you know,seeing things like Walnut Avenue
is a really really you knowawesome um development and I
know the you know the city hasbeen, you know, working on on
those kinds of things allthroughout Um, and I you know
I've heard a lot of oppositionto it, but I think once people
(17:32):
actually start to use it andstart to write it, it really
sells people on it.
Speaker 5 (17:39):
Yeah, you know it's interesting.
There's like an organizationcalled Blue Zones.
I don't know if you've heard ofit, but it was something that
another person that Iinterviewed on the podcast a
couple years ago, liz Ames sheis the current.
She just got re-elected as thebart director for this
particular area.
She worked for palo alto andhelped design, like their
(18:02):
walking pedestrian areas, theircycling areas, the city layout.
She also worked for a littlewhile in union city but now she
works for the.
Now she works for BART, but shewas really influenced by the
Blue Zones and the people whowrite for Blue Zones.
(18:23):
But I say all that to say theydo big studies about these Blue
Zone cities and these are reallyreally happy places where
people just are.
They love living there.
Like for like one of the citiesif I can't remember I remember
correctly one of the cities thatthey focused on that was just
like a really great place forpeople to live.
(18:45):
I think it was like Pismo Beachor like Santa Luisa Bisbo or
something like that.
And one of the things that theyhighlight, that they say that
really makes a happy place forpeople to live, is the ability
to get around on a bicycle.
Like riding a bike is like abig thing that helps make the
people that live in a particularcity like happy, and so I think
(19:07):
it is interesting that, eventhough we've been ranked the
happiest city in America for youknow, however, city in America
for the last three years, I dothink that it's interesting that
we still get opposition aboutcreating the kind of
infrastructure that would allowfor better bike travel around
the city, because I do thinkthat would.
If we really leaned into thatand I'm getting into some
(19:29):
opinion here, but we reallyleaned into that as a as a city,
it might actually continue tofortify that opinion that we are
a happy that one of thehappiest cities to live in in
America.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
You know, I think being, you know being a city
where someone or a lot of peopleare feel safe riding a bike.
I think that's not necessarilythe thing that makes people
happy.
It might make someone like mehappy, right, but I'm I
recognize I'm an outlier, right,but I think a city where people
feel safe riding a bike, that'slike an indicator of like other
things that are harder tomeasure, of how how happy that
(20:05):
city is yeah, I think yeah it'sgreat yeah, I would say probably
the same thing, as you know,being a walkable city, right
it's the same thing.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
It goes hand in hand.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
If you're somewhere that's easy to walk, it's also
going to be somewhere that'seasy to bike as well.
Speaker 5 (20:17):
Which I'm going to throw this out there as one of
my own opinions, but it's one ofthe reasons why I think that
Fremont ought to lean more intohelping their districts develop
as a city of districts, asopposed to trying to unify us
around like one particulardowntown area, like I think we
ought to give strength to ourindividual districts, districts
(20:40):
let the people be able to walkaround Niles, which I think
Niles is probably the bestexample of one of our districts
that's really owned that.
But then you know, the peoplelive in Mission, san Jose.
Let's really lean into thatbeing a hub where people can
walk and bike to and get to allthe places that they need to get
.
And what about same thing withCenterville and warm.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Springs and Irvington yeah.
Speaker 5 (21:02):
If we were to help make those hubs like really
strong places where people canwalk, foot traffic, ride their
bikes and all of that, I thinkit could.
It would actually do good forour city absolutely um and
trying to build up that abilityto walk and commute and um and
feel safe doing all of that.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Yeah, exactly, you know, I, I think, um, you know
we we started as those fivelittle villages.
You know small little towns,right, and I think you can still
see the bones of that um left.
If you go through irvington orthrough centerville, like
through that like you know mainstreets of those little villages
you can.
You still see the remnants ofthat kind of like small, dense,
(21:45):
bustling little town where youknow people were because people
weren't driving their carsaround in 1901 or whatever right
.
Whenever those cities werearound?
Yeah, before World War II,right.
Speaker 5 (21:58):
When, like Fremont, was founded.
I think that Niles actuallyjust celebrated it or they have,
like, their birth date.
I can't remember, but it's likeclose to 150 years old or
something like that.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
So, yeah, you're exactly right, I mean nowhere is
it more obvious than Niles,right, because here it's not
just the main street that stillhas, that you know, remnants of
density.
But you go out, you know out,two or three blocks, all the way
to the park and it's the houselots are small, right, and it's
there's, you know it's dense.
It's not these giant parkinglots and giant, like you know,
(22:29):
super wide streets, right, it's,it's actually meant for humans
right, it's a human scale, notjust purely prioritizing, like
the movement of cars as fast aspossible.
That's good.
Speaker 5 (22:42):
Yeah, I love that.
I love that.
So, um, so, one of the one ofthe areas that we talked about
as being problematic.
I like to come to Niles, but toride my bike with my family, if
I take Mallory all the way down, I have to go under these two
railroad underpasses that arethey're horrible, for I mean,
even driving a car down therecan be feel a little scary, if
(23:04):
you know.
but to ride a bike down thereand especially, you know, I have
kids that I'm trying to protect, so it's not easy to get from
where I live.
I mean, I'm probably less thana, I would say for sure less
than a mile, but probably lessthan half of a mile from where I
live right now, but it I haveto go way out of my way to find
a way around in order just toget down to Niles here.
(23:28):
Um, but the reason I'm bringingthat up is I just want it to be
noted that it's problematic andthat it's frustrating, but the
other thing is is that when Iwas saying that, you made a note
to me that, um, this wassomething that we were talking
about before we startedrecording.
I said you know, I either haveto go all the way down to the
(23:48):
the, you know the walking bridgeor the bike bridge that's down
across the elmita creek trail,down by quarry lakes, or we have
to go all the way, uh, downwalnut to mission and even
coming down mission crossingdown that way just gets really
sketchy, for uh you know youngkids riding their bikes yeah,
but then you said who suggests adifferent route, and like that
(24:10):
was news for me.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Yeah.
So I wanted to kind of give alittle shout out to an
organization called Bike Fremont.
So they're like a localadvocacy organization and
there's another one called BikeEast Bay.
That's also kind of on a morebroad level.
But yeah, bike Fremont, we werejust talking about that and the
route they recommended and itwas shared for the Niles Canyon
(24:32):
Stroll and Roll.
No-transcript.
Speaker 5 (24:56):
And then from there you can catch, like the Alameda
Creek Trail or something fromthere Exactly, yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Or you can just go down Niles Canyon into Niles.
Yeah, it's longer, but at leastit's a safe alternative yeah.
Yeah, and that's definitelysomething that, like we have
barriers in freemont, right, wehave the highways, we have the
creek, we have railroads andthey kind of, you know, become
these barriers that, if we don'tdo anything about it, like it
really narrows down to pointswhere you can cross those
(25:21):
barriers.
Yeah, yeah that's cool.
Speaker 5 (25:23):
So um kind of back to your story.
You got from, you know, cyclingto biking yeah and then like,
um, but one of the things.
So when we ran into each otherat Billy Roy's the other day, I
found out that you're a part ofa commission, part of the city.
What you're doing volunteerwork for the city.
(25:43):
What exactly is that you'redoing?
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Yeah, so I'm on an appointed commission called the
Mobility Commission.
So it's like it's purelyvolunteer, no actual power, but
it's appointed by the mayor of acitizen commission to kind of
help promote all forms oftransportation.
It's not just bikes, it'swalking bikes, transit drivers
(26:09):
and people in wheelchairs orother accessibility issues.
And you know we meet with thecity staff and we, you know,
share our thoughts, our opinions, our experiences.
You know we have some inputinto, you know, things that
happen, you know what projectsget prioritized, that sort of
thing.
And yeah, I feel very lucky tobe on that.
(26:32):
Yeah, on the commission and um,um, yeah I just what was?
Speaker 5 (26:37):
what was it that?
What was it?
What did it look like?
Or what was it exactly that gotyou to the point where you're
like I want to be involved in acommission like this.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Yeah um, you know, I've I started.
I kind of it happened.
It started when I moved out ofmy out of my mom's house, yeah,
moved to Brookvale with mygirlfriend.
And you know, it was just anarea that was very slightly more
dense, more you know, morethings around that I could walk
to or bike to.
I started biking to the trainstation to go to work in San
(27:07):
Jose and I kind of just, youknow, started noticing a lot
more um riding on like a bike,not not cycling, and I I want to
be clear, not everyone makesthat same distinction, and I do
both.
Speaker 5 (27:20):
I'm glad that you do.
I'm glad that you do.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
I wear Lycra on the weekends and I ride at 20 miles
an hour, and then I put on at-shirt and on Monday I'm I'm
riding my bike to work, um, butyou know, I started noticing
those.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
You know kind of things like hey, there's a gap
in this bike lane, like thisbike lane just ends when we're
coming up to this intersection.
Or hey, the way this isdesigned is, you know, it's not
safe.
Or you know someone drew it upand they thought it was good,
but no, no one actually ever,you know, test rode it after
they built it and hey and hey,this actually doesn't work very
well, or there's all these sortsof things that I just started
(27:52):
noticing.
I started having suggestions andI started participating in all
those community outreach eventsand surveys, and the city does a
pretty good job of doingcommunity outreach at all these
events the Fremont Arts and WineFestival or whatever.
And I started just talking tothem, asking questions, kind of
(28:13):
getting more involved.
I started going to like citycouncil meetings and that sort
of thing good, that's cool.
Speaker 5 (28:18):
Yeah, good for you, that's great.
So then the opportunity came upfor you to be on this
commission.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
Yeah yeah, one of my, uh, one of my, one of the
people I know pretty well, who's, uh, the mother of a bike racer
?
Okay she was on the commissionand she was moving to Sunol and
she was like hey, you know this,uh, slots opening up, you
should apply for it.
Um, and I did, and um, that'scool, yeah, that's awesome, very
good.
Speaker 5 (28:42):
Well, I think you'll have to um share some of what we
talked about uh with with theuh with with whoever um.
I think it's great that greatthat people who are really,
truly invested and people whodon't just have opinions but
actually are the people outthere riding their bikes are
people in those positions to beable to help influence those
(29:06):
decisions that are being made.
I think that's really cool.
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(29:26):
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Speaker 4 (29:35):
Fremont Bank has been around for 60 years and they
sponsor a lot of stuff, and nowincluded on the list of things
they sponsor is this podcast.
Thank you, fremont Bank.
Hey, ricky, so you're going towant to get onto Walnut and
you're going to want to headtoward the hub?
Use the bike path to go pastthe BART station and then you'll
(29:57):
go past the Kaiser and theRaley Shopping Center.
Then you'll cross over theintersection and you'll pass by
the Smart and Final ShoppingCenter.
Keep going over one moreintersection and you'll be able
to turn right onto the StateStreet Plaza.
Go through it and that will putyou out on State Street.
Go up State Street for just alittle bit and then turn left
(30:19):
onto Capitol Avenue, and that isthe best way to bike to one of
our sponsors, banter Bookshop onCapitol Avenue in downtown
Fremont.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
There's actually a local bike racing team in
Fremont called Team Fremont andthey were kind of recruiting new
riders and they're like hey,you're into cycling, Come join
us.
And we're definitely amateurlevel, not pro racers or
anything.
But I started riding with themand I'm still with them to this
(30:53):
day.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
That's cool.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
So I raced bikes um from like 14 or 15 until I was
like 18 or 19 so I, I was uhracing, I mean bike racing was
brutal, like I was training sixdays a week wow to keep up in
like the lowest level, likeamateur.
Speaker 4 (31:11):
How old were you when you?
Speaker 1 (31:12):
were doing that like like a, like high school, like
15 oh, wow like 18 or 19 um yeah, it was, um, it was crazy.
Uh, I I love bike racing.
Okay, it's probably the mostdifficult, most like
exhilarating thing I've everdone, right like your shoulder,
shoulder with like 40 otherpeople going like 25, 30 miles
(31:34):
an hour through corners.
Speaker 5 (31:35):
What's the biggest race you've?
Speaker 1 (31:36):
done Like, in terms of like the most people or the
most.
Speaker 5 (31:41):
The race that you look at and you're like that's
like my pinnacle so far, likethat was the race that I felt,
like this was just an awesomeexperience or just felt, I don't
know.
It's the one that you want totell people about first um, oh
man.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
So I would say how about this, the only race I've
actually won?
Okay, because I was never, Iwas never actually all that good
okay, I was I was, you know,very into it but I wasn't like
to be a like a successful bikeracer is pure genetics but yeah,
okay, it's probably truethere's a yeah, yeah, it was it
was down in salinas and it was aa criterium.
(32:20):
Which is a criterium is like atype of race where you're
basically on like a short courseI mean like a mile long or so
when you're doing laps, um, forlike an hour or so, um, as
opposed to like a road race,which is like a longer, 50-mile
loop or 100-mile point-to-pointrace, that type of thing.
So it's flat laps around someabandoned business park or
(32:43):
something.
It's usually nowhere exciting.
Sometimes they're cool downtowncriteriums, but this one was
kind of boring and on a whim,being the immature 17-year-old.
I was like I'm just gonna gunit off the line, just to you
know.
Play around, you know like,yeah, it wasn't anything that
like I wasn't that those typesof moves and do not win right.
Speaker 5 (33:05):
You don't win, that's right.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
That by like sprinting from the line.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
But somehow no one reacted in time and I got away
and I held that lead lead.
It was 30 seconds right andwhen you're in cycling, like if
you're not drafting behindsomeone, you're at a huge
disadvantage.
So a big group of people thatwere, you know there's one
person in the wind, it's kind oflike a flock of birds right
sure you're much more efficientthan a solo rider yeah that's,
(33:29):
you know ahead of you, um, andsomehow I just kept it going for
45 minutes, or however long itwas, and they were barely right
behind me.
I could, you know, see them, seethe, the, the, the front of the
chase group, like you know,around the corner every time I,
you know, was on a long straightpiece of road and, and you know
, it got closer and closer andthe last lap, like they were
(33:51):
right on me and somehow I still,uh, eat out a win.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
But that was probably .
Speaker 1 (33:56):
That was probably a highlight.
Speaker 3 (33:57):
Yeah, Um.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
I've done some, some cool races.
You know there's some roadraces around that are, um, you
know, in, really scenic.
You know mountain areas, um,there's another cool criterium
in San Francisco on.
You know tight streets, tightcourse, um, anything with hills,
that's cool.
It's always a lot of fun.
Speaker 5 (34:16):
So my brothers and I, we, so I have two brothers.
One is about seven yearsyounger than me and the one's
almost 15 years younger than me,and we found ourselves quite a
while back.
It's actually been seven years,because I just saw Google
Photos memories pop up andremind me that this was seven
years ago.
But we wanted to do visit allof california's national parks
(34:37):
in nine days, so it was eightnational parks in nine days.
We wanted to like do thismassive road trip and we started
.
It was very ambitious and wecould have done it.
We had planned out.
Well, it's just that when we gotabout four parks into it, we
were realized that we, um werenot really able to enjoy the
parks themselves.
Like we were just driving thewhole time.
(34:59):
We'd get to the campsites lateat night and then, um, we would
get up and do an early hike andthen we'd head out.
Um, but we brought our bikeswith us as well, um, so, anyway,
we ended up doing six of theeight national parks.
So we did Redwood National Park, lassen, volcanic National Park
(35:20):
, yosemite, sequoia, kingsCanyon, channel Islands and then
Pinnacles, and we decided to goback later and do Death Valley
and Joshua Tree.
But we.
It's stupid, stupid is likevery stupid.
But when we were went to DeathValley and I don't know if
you've been there, if anybodyyou know people listening have
(35:42):
been there but we went to DeathValley.
There's this place where youcan enter the valley when you go
going down into Badwater Basinand it's like this 16 mile
downhill ride from from the topand you're just going all the
way, you're just going downhillfor forever.
And my brothers, um, got on thebikes and they just rode
downhill, um, and we're theywere not like good bikes as far
(36:06):
as like their road, you knowroad worthy and stuff, and my
brothers were not wearinghelmets, I mean it was.
It was like the like all thedangerous things that we could
have done.
And I actually have it on atime-lapse video of coming down
from this high part all the waydown to the Badwater about 16
miles of just downhill coastingthat's awesome and it was a lot
of fun.
Yeah, they did it, not me.
(36:28):
I just filmed them so I had iton record in case something
happened to them.
You said you grew up on Missionnear Morrison Canyon.
Yeah, right off of MorrisonCanyon.
I lived there since I was likefive.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
My parents moved here right before I was born.
Speaker 5 (36:45):
Okay from Russia, yeah from Russia, Wow.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
What brought them here?
Opportunity.
Speaker 5 (36:50):
Work, yeah, work.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
I mean Russia in the 90s wasn't exactly a great place
to be, that's right.
Speaker 5 (36:57):
Yeah, yeah.
So have you ever visited Russiathen?
Speaker 1 (37:01):
Oh, yeah, yeah, I used to visit every other year
up until I got a little bit yeah.
Yeah, not the best place to benow either.
Speaker 5 (37:10):
Okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
So I haven't been back in about a decade, but I
speak fluent Russian.
Wow, yeah, that's awesome whenyou were living off of near
Morrison.
Speaker 5 (37:14):
Canyon there, okay, okay, so I haven't been back in
about a decade, but I speakfluent russian and wow, yeah,
that's awesome when you wereliving off of uh, near morrison
canyon, like, um, what do youremember as being enjoyable
about that neighborhood to livein?
Speaker 1 (37:24):
you know, one thing I really liked about the
neighborhood was um I mean itwas kind of really quiet, you
know, not a lot of things goingon really residential, but um
the abandoned railroad tracksokay uh, that go up uh, from.
You know like they go that bigbridge across mission um, and
then you know it goes out northup to niles canyon.
(37:46):
You know there's no tracksthere anymore.
It's been abandoned for forever.
But it's like a unofficialwalking trail that's cool.
It's like right by my house.
That's cool, my old house, oldhouse, and yeah, yeah, I really
love that when I was a littlekid in.
Speaker 5 (37:57):
So I was born in Wisconsin and um lived there
until I was about nine or 10.
Um, but there was a railroadtracks that was near my house
that we would go.
So we would.
There was a store that we wouldgo get our groceries at and we
would walk up the road from ourhouse and take the railroad
tracks on.
They were not abandoned.
So there were many times that myparents would be like, okay,
(38:17):
get off the tracks.
And we'd have to get off inorder for the trains go by.
Uh, but we didn't have to inorder to get to the um, in order
to get to the grocery store.
We didn't have to stay on thetracks very long, but I do
remember as a child like therailroad tracks being a fun
place to like take a walk as afamily, to go to the store and
stuff.
But you had the fortune of nothaving or having abandoned
(38:41):
railroad tracks to walk on.
So that's great.
Tell me a little bit about yourlife, how you grew up here in
Fremont, what were some of thethings you know that brought you
into REI, that when I first metyou.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
And then let's go from there, yeah, uh, so I was
born and raised in Fremont, um,I had.
I feel like I have had a prettynormal childhood all things
considered.
Uh, when we met at REI, I wasum at alumni college and.
I was working at Campo de Bocce, right across the street from.
Rei at the Italian restaurantBocce Place.
(39:13):
It's unfortunately closed now.
And just like REI is now,unfortunately.
Speaker 5 (39:18):
I know Pour one out for that.
So you worked there at Campo diBocce?
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
Yeah, and just while I was in college, while I was at
Ohlone, I was just on a hugehiking and backpacking.
All the stuff all kick.
Yeah, I was just on on all ofthat where did you like to?
Speaker 5 (39:39):
where did you like to go?
What were some of your favoriteplaces to hike or backpack?
I?
Speaker 1 (39:42):
mean all time go is mission peak okay, I got it like
I know some people hate it likesome, like some people.
You know it's hot.
Yeah, not a lot of shade.
Speaker 5 (39:50):
Yeah, you know it gets windy at the top, but I
think a lot of those it'samazing well, the wind maybe not
so much, but I was gonna say alot of those other things are
are due to the people's choicesas to what time they go yeah,
that's true too, because I'vebeen there in all those
conditions as well, but I thinkmost of the time, if I was ever
up there in a hot, exposed day,it was because I made the bad
choice of leaving late in the inthe in the daytime when it was
(40:13):
going to be hot anyway yeah, yougotta go early in the morning.
Speaker 1 (40:15):
You gotta go on a weekday, if you can.
You gotta go, like you know,maybe sometimes even in the
evening it's good yeah, that'sright it can be a good time um,
actually there was a.
Speaker 5 (40:26):
There's another rabbit trail, but there was a
russian group that used to meetup there, like on wednesday
nights.
It was like dude, did you go?
Speaker 1 (40:32):
there.
So I, I I've been there oncebut my mom is like like, not
like the lead organizer oranything, but she's like part of
the core group there.
Speaker 5 (40:40):
Okay, yeah, that's so funny, yeah, no, I I.
I kind of put it all togetherjust because it was one time I
was hiking back and all thesepeople are russian and then I
stopped one of them and I waslike they're like, yeah, we go
up there.
I think at the time this wasyears ago, but it was like at
the time it was like everywednesday night they go up there
, and they were still going isit every, every wednesday?
Speaker 1 (41:03):
I mean, I don't want to say rain or shine, but like
those russians are crazy man sowhat do they do like?
Speaker 5 (41:08):
what is that they?
Speaker 1 (41:09):
go up there that you know the little bathroom where
the two trails merge.
There's like some benches there.
Uh, they uh bring a bunch offood up.
They play like guitars and singsongs and like that is so cool.
It's wild it's crazy, it makesno sense, but uh, yeah, uh
that's awesome, yeah, so yeah.
Speaker 5 (41:27):
When you were saying, uh, mission peak, and you're
russian, I was like, wait aminute.
I have a vague memory of that.
That's funny.
I'll have to go up there on aWednesday night.
We'll have to get some footagefor the podcast of them up there
.
Speaker 1 (41:39):
Yeah, I don't know what time the park technically
closes, so no, one said anything.
Speaker 5 (41:44):
That's right.
Well, you know, the thing is isthere's actually and I've never
actually camped there, butthere is backpackingground, yeah
, campsite, like right behindthe peak, like yeah, I think
it's called like eagle, eaglespring, I think, eagle yeah,
something like that.
Speaker 1 (41:58):
Yeah, I've I've actually camped there.
Okay, um, how was that?
Part of is amazing.
Part of the reason I likemission peak so much is because
it's actually the first part ofmy favorite backpacking trip
which is the ohlone trail delval, and have you done that a
couple times.
Yeah, I've done it twice.
I've done it once solo in twodays like one night, and then I
(42:21):
went with some friends for twonights.
Okay, so I think from.
Speaker 5 (42:25):
I was just talking with some friends about this.
So this is one of the thingsthat I did when I worked for REI
is I would help everyone getready for their trips, wherever
they would go, and so I'd helpthem.
I'd pull out a map and plan it.
I think I planned a number oftrips for people doing the
Ohlone Wilderness Trail and youcan go from Del Val to Sonol or
(42:47):
all the way to Mission Peak, oryou can do the opposite you can
go from Mission Peak all the wayout to Del.
Speaker 1 (42:51):
Val.
I've done it from Mission Peakto Del Val of want to do.
I was actually thinking aboutdoing it um this weekend oh
really yeah and then uh it, itrained, so I was like no, so
saturday was horrible.
Speaker 5 (43:05):
Yeah, it was terrible , so I was actually camping at
del val on on um.
We went out thursday night andI had I had campsite for th
Thursday and Friday night atDelVal and we stayed late
Thursday night or Friday night.
But I had been looking at theforecast and I was like I'm not
gonna be packing up in the rain,so we we stayed Thursday night
and then late Friday night andit got out before the park
(43:27):
closed and then it poured rainon Saturday.
But I don't think I'd want togo uh in the rain either.
Speaker 1 (43:35):
Yeah, I'm not that kind of crazy.
Speaker 5 (43:39):
So so, yeah, so Ohlone, the Ohlone wilderness uh
trail, you can get there fromum Michigan.
I've never done it, but I'veseen pictures and I've talked to
people who've done it.
Uh, what are some of yourfavorite things about that?
Speaker 1 (43:52):
trail.
Um, I mean, I like first firstof all how close it is like you
know I don't want to drive threehours out to wherever to go on
a backpacking trip.
That just doesn't seem sure tome.
Yeah, I like being able to justlike, basically, you know, go
right outside and start hiking,that's right I love the.
It starts with a big challenge.
Right, you start with missionpeak.
(44:13):
It's a nice little intro to it.
And I love just how freakingempty it is Like once you're out
there, once you're past Sunol,Sunol Regional.
Wilderness it's just there's I.
Literally the first time I went, I went solo.
I don't think I spoke or saw asingle person for like over 24
hours.
Speaker 5 (44:28):
Wow, that's awesome yeah.
Speaker 1 (44:31):
I camp like right in Sonol and I woke up and I like,
basically after Sonol regionalwilderness, you don't see anyone
until you're right at like,right at the lake in Del Val.
Speaker 5 (44:42):
That's cool.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
And that's like, that's awesome, because you're
like, you're right there, you'relike you can see your house
from there, basically.
Speaker 5 (44:48):
That's awesome.
Middle of nowhere that's cool,I think.
The one, two things that Iwould note, in case anybody's
listening to this and gets theidea that they want to go, which
I think they should.
But number one, it is thosecampsites you have to get
registrations for.
So you can't just like I'mgoing to go tonight and go
without preparation.
(45:10):
I think they've changed it toan online yeah, service.
Speaker 1 (45:13):
Well, kind of I would say.
The only way you can do it ifyou want, if you don't have
reservation, is you're ready togo 30 miles in one day yeah,
that's actually is, they do anultra marathon, or at least they
did oh yeah, I remember thatthey used to do an event yeah,
um from mission piquedale valleythat's right in one day and my
mom actually did that oh wow manyour mom yeah, she's like
leading all the the Russiancrazies and then also running.
Speaker 5 (45:34):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (45:34):
Yeah, her first ultra marathon was more or less on a
whim, and the longest run shedid before that was a half
marathon.
Wow.
Speaker 5 (45:42):
Wow, that's really cool.
Yeah, that's a great.
I think it's a great trail.
Yeah, I actually had a friendof mine that did it in one day
because she wanted to do it aslike a personal challenge.
I think she was turning 30 orsomething like that.
She was like this is my goal.
I want to do the OhloneWilderness Trail in one day.
So I think from Del Val toSenol is about 22 miles, and
(46:07):
then I think the extra.
I think it's an extra like sixor seven miles to Mission Peak.
So I think it's like overalllike it's 28 miles I think, if
you yeah, 20 is what I saw onthe map.
Speaker 1 (46:18):
I think once you actually you know, do it and you
you know, zigzag a little bit,you can get to 30 pretty easily.
Speaker 2 (46:24):
Yeah, but it's right around there.
That's good you know, three-dayhike.
Speaker 1 (46:27):
If you're, you know, okay, a moderate hiker, I think
is great.
Okay, very cool.
Speaker 5 (46:34):
I'm going to kind of wrap things up a little bit, but
I was going to just kind of goa little bit different direction
and I'm kind of curious.
So I find that a lot of peoplemove to the Bay Area for tech
jobs.
I find that a lot of peoplecome from all over the world to
come here to work for tech jobsand then I find that there are I
(46:57):
think it's interesting to talkto people who've grown up here
and have been here for a longperiod of time.
I know that your parents yousaid your parents moved here
before you were born foropportunity that maybe they
didn't have in Russia, or moreof an opportunity that they
would have here than they did inRussia.
But I always find itinteresting to hear what it was
(47:18):
like for people who, for kidswho grew up here.
And I think there's two parts tothis.
I guess question that I'mgetting to is that you don't
have to get into what you do forwork or whatever, but you do
work in the tech industryBroadly speaking yeah, Broadly
speaking okay.
So I just find it interestingthat a lot of times people grow
(47:39):
up here and tech is not whatthey pursue.
Growing up here, they'll findretail work or maybe service
industry or whatever.
What was it that got you intowhat you're doing now?
And then I think, secondly, Ithink one of the other, and
maybe I should wait and ask thesecond part of this question,
(47:59):
but I'll go ahead and throw itout there so you can be thinking
about it.
I think it's people your age,kind of that millennial
generation, the younger, the 20sto early 30s.
I find that when we've askedaround, we've done minimal
surveys or minimal conversationswith people, they don't find
(48:20):
Fremont to be a great place tostay.
I think Fremont ends up being agreat place for families kind
of like, maybe older parents,middle-aged parents and then
young kids.
But when you get into thatmillennial age, gen z age, like
I don't, I feel like a lot ofthose, uh, people your age just
(48:42):
don't end up staying aroundfremont.
And so I'm just curious whatare your thoughts about, like,
what is it that got you intodoing tech?
Broadly speaking?
and then, what is it that youfeel about being somebody your
age living here in Fremont?
Speaker 1 (48:56):
Yeah, you know, I grew up always being a
tech-minded person.
Right, I was, you know.
I don't remember a time where Iwasn't into technology of some
sort.
So it came naturally to me, Ithink, wanting to do something,
you know, related to tech.
I, you know, found my passionat Ohlone College with like
networking.
So, like you know, my passionat albany college with like
(49:17):
networking.
So, like you know, makingbetter network.
Uh, it's not, so not not not tooversimplify, but I basically, I
basically do that, but for uh,a tech company you know, at
events and at their events andtrade shows and that sort of
thing.
So I get to travel quite a bit,which is nice.
Um, you know, I think what kindof what's kept me in freremont
(49:37):
so far is obviously like family,right, like my grandparents
live here, my, my mom lives here.
Um, like you know, all myfriends live here.
Um, so I, you know, I thinkthat's a big part of it, like I
would love to move to somewhereelse and you know, kind of
experienced that.
But I love Fremont right, likeit is quiet, that.
But I love fremont, right likeit is quiet, but also like
(50:00):
bart's right here, and I can goto that stuff whenever I want,
or down to oakland or san joseor whatever like it's always.
It's not, it's not too far fromanything um and it is, you know,
pretty quiet and um and andcalm.
Yeah, for the most part rightyeah, I think a lot it.
Speaker 5 (50:17):
I think a lot of those opinions probably depend
on the type of environment thatpeople are looking for.
You know, if you are lookingfor something that's always
hopping and always having, youhave many options to choose from
and you can, you know, do allthese things.
I think that Fremont does haveoptions and I think there are
great places for free for peopleto enjoy being, you know, out
(50:39):
and about in fremont.
But I think if you're lookingfor like a city life, like san
francisco, you're not going toget it.
But, like you said, you're closeenough to where you can go
downtown san francisco or you godowntown um san jose and enjoy
um being in those kind ofcommunities.
Speaker 1 (50:55):
Yeah, fremont's pretty quiet for the size of
city that it is, but it beatsyour sleepy suburb that doesn't
even allow commercial buildingsat all.
They're just purely residential, just like houses after houses.
It's got character, it's gotculture, it's got all these
things going for it.
I think still, even though Iguess if you were comparing it
(51:17):
to a city that's been around forlonger, that's more urban, it
doesn't quite compare.
But yeah, I don't think itneeds to right.
It's not not everyone wantsthat and I I love that I'm.
Speaker 2 (51:29):
I consider myself an urbanist you know in every sense
of that word.
Speaker 1 (51:32):
I love being able to visit, you know, Europe for work
.
Where I can, you know, you know, be in these like super dense
cities that are super lively andbustling?
Um, but you know, like I think,I think Fremont's great too.
Speaker 5 (51:46):
Yeah, that's great, that's great.
So, um, I guess maybe finalquestion, like what, um, as you
look forward to the life ahead,the next five years, 10 years,
20 years, what is it that youhope to do?
What would you like toaccomplish with, with your life?
What would you enjoy?
Maybe, let's just say, youstayed in Fremont long-term,
like what are?
Some of the things that youwould love to see happen around
(52:06):
here.
Speaker 1 (52:07):
You know I would love to, to kind of see a city
that's more, um, less, carcentric.
You know, I think that's that'ssomething that'd be great for
me.
Personally, I love that, but Ithink it'd be great for just our
community, our society as awhole, right, having more places
that we can, you know, meet andgather and, you know, enjoy our
(52:29):
life in.
I think we are on our way to,you know, being a very safe city
, um, in terms of, you know, our, our, our, streets.
We're doing a great job.
We're already a very safe citycompared to, you know, the
people around us.
Speaker 2 (52:45):
Right.
Speaker 1 (52:45):
Um, I think you know continuing on that path, um, and
I would love to see more.
You know more options fortransit, right?
I like our bus system is notvery good, not very great it's
true.
No, you're not going to use itunless you're you're stuck,
unless that's your only optionyeah, although I did actually
take it to mission peak thisweekend.
(53:07):
Okay, uh, yeah, I live right onfremont boulevard and nice took
me all the way to mission peak,so that's great, you know, I I
try to, I try to use the busnice uh, sometimes, you know,
but I think we need more optionstoo, I was just in a city in
Germany for work, uh, last month, and it's a city slightly
larger than than Fremont, butthey've got full Metro and tram
(53:29):
system everywhere.
Yeah, and it's like, well, whycan't we have that in Fremont?
Yeah, yeah, that's good, that'sgood.
Speaker 5 (53:37):
Yeah, I actually.
The other night it was cold andwindy and my wife was trying to
get some stuff done at thehouse, trying to clean up a
little bit.
My son was kind of reading, andthen I have almost a
two-year-old so not quite twoyears old, but he was super
(53:57):
rambunctious and you know, mywife was like maybe you could do
something with him.
And it was cold and windyoutside so he wanted to go
outside and the space inside wasa little too small.
So I just said let's go for atrain ride, let's just go.
You know he loves Thomas thetrain, and so I was like let's
just go for a train ride.
(54:17):
So we rode over to the BARTstation and hopped on the train
and I was like I don't even knowwhere we're going, like I don't
know what we're going to do,but all I know is that we're
going to ride on a train andhe's going to love it, and you
know.
So we hopped on.
(54:39):
This was like I'm going to godown to the Embarcadero, go down
to San Francisco, and then comeback, you know, and just ride
the train back and forth andpoint out all the cool things on
the way down there.
Anyway, we ended up going downto San Jose, to our friend's
house, and I, like rode the BARTthat you know.
Here I am with my toddler.
We rode from Fremont stationdown to uh Milpitas and then
(55:00):
hopped on the VTA and took thatover, you know, towards like, um
, uh, great America, and I goton another VTA and went down to
Japantown.
It took us, I don't know, maybean hour and 20 minutes to get
there, but we rode the whole wayand had a good old time.
Um, yeah, it took a lot of time, but I think it was a lot of
fun being able to just say Itook my baby in a train down to
(55:25):
San Jose and then we spent sometime with them, maybe an hour
down there, and it was dark bythe time we left the house, and
so they were like, do you wantus to just take you to the
Berryessa BART station?
And that way you can just shootback up to Fremont.
I was like, oh man, that wouldsave a lot of time.
And so anyway they did, theygave us a ride over to Berryessa
(55:45):
and we rode up.
But you know, I do think thathaving that transit
infrastructure whether it's aBART or whatever it is around
here would be fantastic, and Ithink maybe stepping up the bus
opportunities as well would bereally good, Exactly, yeah, I
can't wait for the San Joseextension of BART right once it
goes into downtown, they'regoing right down to Santa Pedro
(56:07):
Square, I think right.
Speaker 1 (56:07):
Yeah, they're going through downtown all the way to
Dyrton Station, which is likethe main train station Amtrak.
Speaker 2 (56:14):
yeah, cal Train.
Speaker 1 (56:15):
Amtrak go, you can go anywhere that's cool from there
, yeah, that'd be great.
Uh, it's going to be awesomeyeah, I think it's great, daniel
.
Speaker 5 (56:23):
Thanks for joining me , man, this has been really cool
thanks for having me, yeah it'sbeen good catching up with you
from years ago and, um,hopefully we it's not years
before we see each other again.
We'll get to cross paths alongthe way, so so thanks for
joining me.
Keep in touch.
Speaker 3 (56:37):
This episode was hosted and produced by Ricky B.
I'm Gary Williams, andrew Kvetis the.
We had to catch one more thingbefore we go.
Speaker 1 (56:45):
Yeah, I'm like Steve Jobs.
One more thing.
If it's still May when thiscomes out.
Happy bike month everyone.
May is bike month and City ofFremont, you know, does some
cool things, uh for that.
Speaker 5 (56:58):
Yeah, what are some of the things that come to your
mind, that, uh, that peoplecould take advantage of?
Speaker 1 (57:01):
that uh three things.
First of all, actually today isa city council meeting where
they're gonna, you know, do aquick like ceremony for uh
celebrating bike month.
Okay, um, this saturday, may11th I don't know if it's too
late you know what?
Speaker 5 (57:16):
I'm planning on putting this out on May 10th.
So okay, perfect.
Speaker 1 (57:19):
Yeah, so people are listening to it when it comes
out on May 10th, then they cancatch this Perfect May 11th,
there is a ribbon cuttingceremony for Fremont's latest
protected intersection atLiberty street and Walnut Avenue
as part of the extension ofWalnut out towards Fremont.
So that's exciting.
I think that's part of theextension of walnut out towards
fremont, um, so that's exciting.
I think that's in the morningand there's a bit of a bike ride
(57:42):
tour of bike infrastructure aspart of that.
Um, I think info is on the citywebsite and may 16th is bike to
wherever day, nice, formerlyknown as bike to work day.
Yes, bike to wherever For thosewho still bike to work, yeah,
or anywhere yeah.
Speaker 5 (57:59):
That's awesome.
Well, that's good, happy BikeMonth.
Speaker 1 (58:03):
Yeah, happy Bike Month.
Speaker 5 (58:04):
Yeah, enjoy getting out and finding places.
Speaker 3 (58:08):
Scheduling and pre-interviews by Sarah S.
Be sure to subscribe whereverit is that you listen so you
don't miss an episode.
You can find everything we make, the podcast and all of our
social media links atthefremontpodcastcom.
Join us next week on theFremont Podcast.
Speaker 2 (58:27):
This is a Muggins Media Podcast.
You.
I ride my bike everywhere.
Right, that's my main form oftransportation.
That, and you know, transitBART trains et cetera, and I
think that's like a good thingfor people to have that option.
Right, I'm not saying everyoneneeds to sell their car, but I
think I'm really passionateabout thinking, hey, we should
(00:22):
at least make that a viablechoice for people, right?
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Coming to you straight from Fremont,
california.
This is the Fremont Podcast,dedicated to telling the stories
of the past and present of thepeople and places of the city of
Fremont, one conversation at atime.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
It's a little past five in the evening, the wind is
picking up and I am at theAlameda Creek Regional Trail and
as beautiful as it is out here,with the water, the sunlight
and the wildlife Ooh, there's anegret.
As beautiful as it is out here.
This is an example of anenforcement quagmire in Fremont.
(01:04):
If that egret were up here onthe trail and committed a crime,
the police department withinthe East Bay landed here and
(01:31):
committed the same crime.
The Fremont police would haveto get involved.
And if the egret landed downhere in the creek itself, the
enforcement would come from theAlameda County Water District.
With three enforcement bodiesin less than 100 feet.
(01:55):
Enforcement can be complicated,to say the least, and seemingly
those three enforcement bodieswant to make really sure that
the violation, the crime, ishappening on their part and not
one of the other two.
As a resident, it makes it alittle difficult to report
(02:30):
things.
If you were to see someonelittering or, more importantly,
dumping toxic material into thewater supply, someone harassing
the wildlife, simply someonetrespassing, and while taking a
(02:51):
swim where you shouldn't isprobably not a priority.
If it were any more serious,like back in the drought when we
had the rubber dam slashed,lost all that water if someone
had seen it while it washappening.
And the follow-up question waswhere exactly on the slope are
(03:14):
they?
At any rate, with a littleempathy, I'm sure that much
jurisdictional division makes itdifficult for everybody.
That egret just landed on arock in the middle of the creek
and you are listening to episode117 of the Fremont Podcast.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Now here's your host, Ricky B.
Speaker 5 (03:37):
I'm going to introduce you.
I'm with Daniel, and how do yousay your last name?
Karpolevich Karpolevich.
Good luck with that.
And how do you say your lastname?
Karpolevich Karpolevich.
Good luck with that.
So, daniel, you and I met whenI worked at REI, so we ran into
each other recently at BillyRoy's for an event there.
But I remember you lookedfamiliar because I worked there
(04:01):
and I sold camping gear andcycling gear and all the stuff,
and I remember you being aregular customer and so when I
recognized you at Billy Roy's Iwas like wait a minute, I
haven't seen him in a while.
So that was kind of cool.
But when we met at REI you wereinto hiking, backpacking all
(04:21):
that stuff.
Yeah, and cycling and cycling.
Did you start doing that young,or was that something that
started later on?
Speaker 1 (04:27):
um, yeah, so I my intro to cycling was road
cycling.
Um, and I think one of myfriends in high school, or
actually a friend from middleschool, but that I knew in
middle school and then we wentto different schools and and um,
we were, we were hanging outand he had started cycling.
He was like hey, let's go on abike ride and so I took my like
dad's like old, like kind ofcrappy road bike and it was too
(04:53):
big for me and you know, Ididn't really know.
I mean I knew how to ride abike but it wasn't like sure I
didn't know how to ride likewell, or you know how many.
I mean, I was like fit, but Iwasn't.
I was like 14, I was sure ascrawny little kid like I wasn't
really into cycling and and weme and two other friends you
know it was a group of three ofus and we, we like kind of fell
(05:15):
in love with it over a summer, Ithink, maybe like between
freshman and sophomore year inhigh school, and we just started
riding a whole bunch all aroundum, and then we actually capped
that off with a bike ride fromFremont to Lake Tahoe.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Oh, my, oh, wow yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
That's incredible.
I think it's like 200 somethingmiles.
We did it over five days.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Wow, that's cool.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Yeah, those Sierra Nevadas, I think we had one
whole day where we did nothingbut go up Wow For the whole day.
Did nothing but go up wow, umfor the whole day.
Wow, that's crazy.
After that I was hooked.
Yeah, how old were you?
I think I was 14.
Okay, yeah, I was.
I think I was 14.
I was like a, like a betweenfreshmen and who all?
Were you with?
Uh, yeah, me and two of myfriends, I think were they also
(05:59):
14 and 15?
Speaker 2 (06:00):
I think maybe they were a year older.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Yeah, um and one of one of their dads, like drove
behind us in his minivan likewith like food and snacks and
stuff that's cool.
Speaker 5 (06:09):
You got into, obviously, the cycling, riding
races and stuff like that, andum, and you, uh, came here to
this interview today riding abike.
Yeah, pretty cool bike yeah notnot a road bike.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Not a road bike, not a race bike hybrid hybrid uh I'd
call it a city bike, a commuterbike, yeah, yeah you know,
after high school, racing justbecame.
It's like six days a week oftraining, like you know, 12
hours a week of you know writinglike and like, not just like
fun writing necessarily.
It's like you're doing repeats,you're doing sets, up and down
(06:44):
the hill yeah you're doingsprints and workouts and you
have a schedule and it's it.
It and that's just to be, likeat the base level of
competitiveness, like that's notlike oh, I'm an elite athlete
like I was just like I'm havingfun.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Basically that's cool and you know I went.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
I started going to aloni and I you know life got in
the way so I've kept riding.
It's ebb and flowed, but racingis probably not in the cards
for me in the near future.
I like to say I'm retired there, you go.
Speaker 5 (07:18):
I'm a retired racer, that's good.
That's good.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Yeah, but I fell in love with, I'll say, biking, not
cycling, but just riding a bike.
Yeah, but I've, you know, I,I'm.
I fell in love with with, I'llsay biking, not cycling but just
riding a bike.
Okay, right, like that, that'smy, that's my current love.
Yeah, I still have a road bike.
I still ride it with the raceteam, I still ride it with, you
know, ffbc, which is like thelocal cycling club.
But nowadays, like like my, mypassion is really just for
(07:48):
riding to the grocery store, tothe coffee shop, to work, to the
train station, to see familyand friends.
Like that's what I'm reallymore interested in now and now I
have a bike that you know.
Yeah, it's reliable and it's gota belt drive and it's got
fenders and it's you know, comfyready, ready to go.
Speaker 5 (08:02):
Yeah, take the city, that's cool.
Uh, you're a part of acommission, volunteer commission
, yeah, um, that was one of thethings that kind of like
connected us because you were atBilly Roy's at an event and you
, you had heard about it throughthe city promotion and stuff
like that.
But, um, I, I, I thought it wasinteresting to have you.
I wanted to have you on thepodcast just to kind of catch up
(08:25):
as somebody who lives here inFremont.
But in our discussions andeverything, what is your
position when it comes tospeaking for your commission or
for the city or anything likethat.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Yeah, so I absolutely do not speak for the city.
I don't speak for the MobilityCommission.
Everything I'm sharing is justmy own personal thoughts and
opinions.
Speaker 5 (08:46):
Um, yeah, yeah, so I like the distinction, then, that
you made between cycling andthen, uh, you like riding your
bike, or bike riding or whateverbiking, um, so what does that
mean for you?
What does that look like foryou?
Like, um, um, if it's somethingthat you fell in love with, you
have a passion for, like, whatkind of things do you love about
(09:11):
riding your bike in the city?
I know you said you like goingto the grocery store and all of
that, and then, like, maybe,coupled with that, like, what
are some of the things that youfind to be a joy about riding in
the city of Fremont versusthings that maybe are not so
great about riding in the cityof Fremont versus things that
maybe are not so great aboutwriting in the city of Fremont?
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Yeah, so I fell in love with just the idea of, like
being able to get around, youknow, powered by myself, my own
two feet or my own two legs, youknow.
And I like the idea of you know, obviously being good for the
environment, right, like beinggood for, you know, safety,
public safety, you know airpollution.
(09:51):
Those things are very importantto me.
I also just like have been, youknow, kind of had my eyes open
to the you know the negativeeffects of of car ownership, car
, you know car use.
I don't own a car anymore.
Uh, so I I still own amotorcycle.
(10:11):
Um, that's my backup.
I barely ride it, I ride mybike everywhere, right, that's
my, that's my main form of formof transportation.
Um, that, and you know transit,bart, trains, etc.
Um, and I think that's like a agood thing for people to have
that option, right, I'm notsaying everyone needs to sell
their car.
That's right, but I think I'mreally passionate about thinking
(10:33):
, hey, we should at least makethat a viable choice for people,
right?
Speaker 5 (10:37):
We'll be right back.
You can hear the rest of thisconversation in just a moment.
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(11:00):
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Speaker 4 (11:08):
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second Saturday of the monthfrom 9 am to 3 pm on Ohlone's
Fremont campus.
Can I ask you, what are youhoping to find today?
Speaker 5 (11:19):
It's just interesting to see what's out there, and
you never know what you'll findTreasures?
Speaker 4 (11:27):
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Speaker 2 (11:30):
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More information can be foundat aloniedu slash flea dash
market.
Speaker 5 (11:51):
And now back to our conversation.
I have a kind of a souped upe-bike that I use for getting
around on, like, when I need toget somewhere fast and I don't
have a vehicle because my wife'susing the car, then I use this
and I actually can take thatonto the BART.
(12:11):
I've taken that, uh out toMountain View and Sunnyvale and
other places just taking it onthe on the transit lines, um,
but then I can also get aroundhere pretty well on it.
But I also have a pedal bikethat's just, you know, manpower
um that I use for um, bothexercise and for commuting if I
need to.
(12:32):
If the time is not the issue,then I enjoy riding that and
getting the exercise in that aswell.
So there are certain placesaround Fremont that I think are
remarkable when it comes tobiking.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Absolutely.
Speaker 5 (12:49):
But there's also some places we were just talking
about before.
We were even recording about.
There were some places thatwere not so enjoyable when it
comes to biking Absolutely, butthere's also some places we were
just talking about before wewere even recording about there
were some places that were notso enjoyable when it comes to
biking.
Yeah, so talk to me a littlebit about, like, what are some
of the things that Fremont hasdone that you've seen growing up
here and as you've gotten intocycling?
What are some of the thingsthat Fremont's done that's been
good for biking, for people whowant to get out and would rather
(13:12):
commute by bike than than drivecars?
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Yeah, I mean something that happened before
you know.
I was born before you know.
Most of us were born as, likeAlameda Creek trail, like that's
a a, a gold star example of,like fantastic infrastructure
that's.
You know it gets it's a wholebig long trail.
Right, it has underpasses underhighways and roads.
It connects, you know it gets,it's a whole big long trail.
Right, it has underpasses underhighways and roads.
It connects, you know, peoplevery safely.
(13:36):
Right, it's completelyseparated from traffic.
Um, things like that very hardto build these days.
Right, there's not enough room,there's not enough money to
build, you know, big underpassesand bridges and that sort of
thing.
Um, so that's kind of the focushas been more on making the
streets and the roads safer, andI make that distinction between
streets and roads purposefully.
(13:57):
You know roads are kind of thebigger ones, right, multiple
lanes.
The point is to get people frompoint A to point B right.
Like.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Mission, mission Boulevard, fremont, st Padre,
maori, those kinds of thingsright.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
And we have have, you know, tons of them, but the
thing is like they're not alwaysvery safe, so things have like
walnut avenue right, that's beenlike that was a big project
over five years ago.
Speaker 5 (14:22):
There's like a video out with like drone shots and
everything of that being like aum kind of like an example of
what like a good bikinginfrastructure would look like
it really is yeah, so it that's.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
That's one of those things, right.
It's on like the bikeways areelevated right so they're
completely protected from fromcars, just like a sidewalk is
right and, more importantly, theintersections are protected,
because you'll often see bikelanes, especially in um, in
fremont.
You'll still see them,definitely, but oftentimes and
kind of cities that kind of wantto just check a box yeah, let's
(14:54):
say we put in a bike lane,they'll put in a bike lane on
the on the roadways and then assoon as it gets to the
intersection it just ends.
Yeah, and intersections like themost dangerous parts right.
So many crashes happen right atintersection or when people are
turning and merging and allthese sorts of things.
So having protectedintersections like we see on
Walnut and they're building themin more places now in Fremont
(15:16):
um, those make it really, reallysafe.
Um you know, and we have tonsof opportunities for trails that
are you know that we could have, that we could build right on
like water corridors, like waterpipe or you know, electrical
line corridors or old railways,that sort of thing.
Speaker 5 (15:33):
Um, that's actually one of the things that I've
enjoyed.
I mentioned it on a previousepisode, I'm trying to remember
which one I mentioned it on but,um, one of the things that I
enjoy about, uh, going the bikeroute, like riding a bike from a
place to place is that when I,when I put my phone up and I
pull up the GPS and I put in thecycling option, even coming
(15:57):
back from Mountain View orSunnyvale or even going out to
I've been out to Union Landinghere in Union City and I'm like,
take me to Union Landing on abike.
There's this whole San Francisco.
I don't know what it's calledsan francisco creek trail or
something like that.
I didn't even know it existedand like it says nick, you know,
(16:19):
on the on the gps it was liketake this, um, this shared trail
or this you know creek, sanfrancisco creek trail, and I was
like this is the coolest trail,like I really really, really,
really fun.
But then when I got down to,like, um, Santa Clara and
Sunnyvale and stuff, there'slike all these aqueducts that
have these trails along therethat are just super fun to ride
(16:42):
on and they're just really safeand comfortable to ride on.
And so I think you're exactlyright me to.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
creek trail is a gem that we have where a lot of
people can get out there andride and walk or you know
whatever, and have it be aprotected area that gets you
around, if I mean, if you'rewanting, if that's where you if
it happens to be on your route,right, if you're trying to go
through central fremont likeyou're going to be on a road,
yeah, um, because even thestreets, the smaller streets,
(17:08):
you know they don't reallyconnect right, we're all we're
kind of little islands ofneighborhoods connected by these
big roads and so, you know,seeing things like Walnut Avenue
is a really really you knowawesome um development and I
know the you know the city hasbeen, you know, working on on
those kinds of things allthroughout Um, and I you know
I've heard a lot of oppositionto it, but I think once people
(17:32):
actually start to use it andstart to write it, it really
sells people on it.
Speaker 5 (17:39):
Yeah, you know it's interesting.
There's like an organizationcalled Blue Zones.
I don't know if you've heard ofit, but it was something that
another person that Iinterviewed on the podcast a
couple years ago, liz Ames sheis the current.
She just got re-elected as thebart director for this
particular area.
She worked for palo alto andhelped design, like their
(18:02):
walking pedestrian areas, theircycling areas, the city layout.
She also worked for a littlewhile in union city but now she
works for the.
Now she works for BART, but shewas really influenced by the
Blue Zones and the people whowrite for Blue Zones.
(18:23):
But I say all that to say theydo big studies about these Blue
Zone cities and these are reallyreally happy places where
people just are.
They love living there.
Like for like one of the citiesif I can't remember I remember
correctly one of the cities thatthey focused on that was just
like a really great place forpeople to live.
(18:45):
I think it was like Pismo Beachor like Santa Luisa Bisbo or
something like that.
And one of the things that theyhighlight, that they say that
really makes a happy place forpeople to live, is the ability
to get around on a bicycle.
Like riding a bike is like abig thing that helps make the
people that live in a particularcity like happy, and so I think
(19:07):
it is interesting that, eventhough we've been ranked the
happiest city in America for youknow, however, city in America
for the last three years, I dothink that it's interesting that
we still get opposition aboutcreating the kind of
infrastructure that would allowfor better bike travel around
the city, because I do thinkthat would.
If we really leaned into thatand I'm getting into some
(19:29):
opinion here, but we reallyleaned into that as a as a city,
it might actually continue tofortify that opinion that we are
a happy that one of thehappiest cities to live in in
America.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
You know, I think being, you know being a city
where someone or a lot of peopleare feel safe riding a bike.
I think that's not necessarilythe thing that makes people
happy.
It might make someone like mehappy, right, but I'm I
recognize I'm an outlier, right,but I think a city where people
feel safe riding a bike, that'slike an indicator of like other
things that are harder tomeasure, of how how happy that
(20:05):
city is yeah, I think yeah it'sgreat yeah, I would say probably
the same thing, as you know,being a walkable city, right
it's the same thing.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
It goes hand in hand.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
If you're somewhere that's easy to walk, it's also
going to be somewhere that'seasy to bike as well.
Speaker 5 (20:17):
Which I'm going to throw this out there as one of
my own opinions, but it's one ofthe reasons why I think that
Fremont ought to lean more intohelping their districts develop
as a city of districts, asopposed to trying to unify us
around like one particulardowntown area, like I think we
ought to give strength to ourindividual districts, districts
(20:40):
let the people be able to walkaround Niles, which I think
Niles is probably the bestexample of one of our districts
that's really owned that.
But then you know, the peoplelive in Mission, san Jose.
Let's really lean into thatbeing a hub where people can
walk and bike to and get to allthe places that they need to get
.
And what about same thing withCenterville and warm.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Springs and Irvington yeah.
Speaker 5 (21:02):
If we were to help make those hubs like really
strong places where people canwalk, foot traffic, ride their
bikes and all of that, I thinkit could.
It would actually do good forour city absolutely um and
trying to build up that abilityto walk and commute and um and
feel safe doing all of that.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Yeah, exactly, you know, I, I think, um, you know
we we started as those fivelittle villages.
You know small little towns,right, and I think you can still
see the bones of that um left.
If you go through irvington orthrough centerville, like
through that like you know mainstreets of those little villages
you can.
You still see the remnants ofthat kind of like small, dense,
(21:45):
bustling little town where youknow people were because people
weren't driving their carsaround in 1901 or whatever right
.
Whenever those cities werearound?
Yeah, before World War II,right.
Speaker 5 (21:58):
When, like Fremont, was founded.
I think that Niles actuallyjust celebrated it or they have,
like, their birth date.
I can't remember, but it's likeclose to 150 years old or
something like that.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
So, yeah, you're exactly right, I mean nowhere is
it more obvious than Niles,right, because here it's not
just the main street that stillhas, that you know, remnants of
density.
But you go out, you know out,two or three blocks, all the way
to the park and it's the houselots are small, right, and it's
there's, you know it's dense.
It's not these giant parkinglots and giant, like you know,
(22:29):
super wide streets, right, it's,it's actually meant for humans
right, it's a human scale, notjust purely prioritizing, like
the movement of cars as fast aspossible.
That's good.
Speaker 5 (22:42):
Yeah, I love that.
I love that.
So, um, so, one of the one ofthe areas that we talked about
as being problematic.
I like to come to Niles, but toride my bike with my family, if
I take Mallory all the way down, I have to go under these two
railroad underpasses that arethey're horrible, for I mean,
even driving a car down therecan be feel a little scary, if
(23:04):
you know.
but to ride a bike down thereand especially, you know, I have
kids that I'm trying to protect, so it's not easy to get from
where I live.
I mean, I'm probably less thana, I would say for sure less
than a mile, but probably lessthan half of a mile from where I
live right now, but it I haveto go way out of my way to find
a way around in order just toget down to Niles here.
(23:28):
Um, but the reason I'm bringingthat up is I just want it to be
noted that it's problematic andthat it's frustrating, but the
other thing is is that when Iwas saying that, you made a note
to me that, um, this wassomething that we were talking
about before we startedrecording.
I said you know, I either haveto go all the way down to the
(23:48):
the, you know the walking bridgeor the bike bridge that's down
across the elmita creek trail,down by quarry lakes, or we have
to go all the way, uh, downwalnut to mission and even
coming down mission crossingdown that way just gets really
sketchy, for uh you know youngkids riding their bikes yeah,
but then you said who suggests adifferent route, and like that
(24:10):
was news for me.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Yeah.
So I wanted to kind of give alittle shout out to an
organization called Bike Fremont.
So they're like a localadvocacy organization and
there's another one called BikeEast Bay.
That's also kind of on a morebroad level.
But yeah, bike Fremont, we werejust talking about that and the
route they recommended and itwas shared for the Niles Canyon
(24:32):
Stroll and Roll.
No-transcript.
Speaker 5 (24:56):
And then from there you can catch, like the Alameda
Creek Trail or something fromthere Exactly, yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Or you can just go down Niles Canyon into Niles.
Yeah, it's longer, but at leastit's a safe alternative yeah.
Yeah, and that's definitelysomething that, like we have
barriers in freemont, right, wehave the highways, we have the
creek, we have railroads andthey kind of, you know, become
these barriers that, if we don'tdo anything about it, like it
really narrows down to pointswhere you can cross those
(25:21):
barriers.
Yeah, yeah that's cool.
Speaker 5 (25:23):
So um kind of back to your story.
You got from, you know, cyclingto biking yeah and then like,
um, but one of the things.
So when we ran into each otherat Billy Roy's the other day, I
found out that you're a part ofa commission, part of the city.
What you're doing volunteerwork for the city.
(25:43):
What exactly is that you'redoing?
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Yeah, so I'm on an appointed commission called the
Mobility Commission.
So it's like it's purelyvolunteer, no actual power, but
it's appointed by the mayor of acitizen commission to kind of
help promote all forms oftransportation.
It's not just bikes, it'swalking bikes, transit drivers
(26:09):
and people in wheelchairs orother accessibility issues.
And you know we meet with thecity staff and we, you know,
share our thoughts, our opinions, our experiences.
You know we have some inputinto, you know, things that
happen, you know what projectsget prioritized, that sort of
thing.
And yeah, I feel very lucky tobe on that.
(26:32):
Yeah, on the commission and um,um, yeah I just what was?
Speaker 5 (26:37):
what was it that?
What was it?
What did it look like?
Or what was it exactly that gotyou to the point where you're
like I want to be involved in acommission like this.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Yeah um, you know, I've I started.
I kind of it happened.
It started when I moved out ofmy out of my mom's house, yeah,
moved to Brookvale with mygirlfriend.
And you know, it was just anarea that was very slightly more
dense, more you know, morethings around that I could walk
to or bike to.
I started biking to the trainstation to go to work in San
(27:07):
Jose and I kind of just, youknow, started noticing a lot
more um riding on like a bike,not not cycling, and I I want to
be clear, not everyone makesthat same distinction, and I do
both.
Speaker 5 (27:20):
I'm glad that you do.
I'm glad that you do.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
I wear Lycra on the weekends and I ride at 20 miles
an hour, and then I put on at-shirt and on Monday I'm I'm
riding my bike to work, um, butyou know, I started noticing
those.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
You know kind of things like hey, there's a gap
in this bike lane, like thisbike lane just ends when we're
coming up to this intersection.
Or hey, the way this isdesigned is, you know, it's not
safe.
Or you know someone drew it upand they thought it was good,
but no, no one actually ever,you know, test rode it after
they built it and hey and hey,this actually doesn't work very
well, or there's all these sortsof things that I just started
(27:52):
noticing.
I started having suggestions andI started participating in all
those community outreach eventsand surveys, and the city does a
pretty good job of doingcommunity outreach at all these
events the Fremont Arts and WineFestival or whatever.
And I started just talking tothem, asking questions, kind of
(28:13):
getting more involved.
I started going to like citycouncil meetings and that sort
of thing good, that's cool.
Speaker 5 (28:18):
Yeah, good for you, that's great.
So then the opportunity came upfor you to be on this
commission.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
Yeah yeah, one of my, uh, one of my, one of the
people I know pretty well, who's, uh, the mother of a bike racer
?
Okay she was on the commissionand she was moving to Sunol and
she was like hey, you know this,uh, slots opening up, you
should apply for it.
Um, and I did, and um, that'scool, yeah, that's awesome, very
good.
Speaker 5 (28:42):
Well, I think you'll have to um share some of what we
talked about uh with with theuh with with whoever um.
I think it's great that greatthat people who are really,
truly invested and people whodon't just have opinions but
actually are the people outthere riding their bikes are
people in those positions to beable to help influence those
(29:06):
decisions that are being made.
I think that's really cool.
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(29:26):
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Speaker 4 (29:35):
Fremont Bank has been around for 60 years and they
sponsor a lot of stuff, and nowincluded on the list of things
they sponsor is this podcast.
Thank you, fremont Bank.
Hey, ricky, so you're going towant to get onto Walnut and
you're going to want to headtoward the hub?
Use the bike path to go pastthe BART station and then you'll
(29:57):
go past the Kaiser and theRaley Shopping Center.
Then you'll cross over theintersection and you'll pass by
the Smart and Final ShoppingCenter.
Keep going over one moreintersection and you'll be able
to turn right onto the StateStreet Plaza.
Go through it and that will putyou out on State Street.
Go up State Street for just alittle bit and then turn left
(30:19):
onto Capitol Avenue, and that isthe best way to bike to one of
our sponsors, banter Bookshop onCapitol Avenue in downtown
Fremont.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
There's actually a local bike racing team in
Fremont called Team Fremont andthey were kind of recruiting new
riders and they're like hey,you're into cycling, Come join
us.
And we're definitely amateurlevel, not pro racers or
anything.
But I started riding with themand I'm still with them to this
(30:53):
day.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
That's cool.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
So I raced bikes um from like 14 or 15 until I was
like 18 or 19 so I, I was uhracing, I mean bike racing was
brutal, like I was training sixdays a week wow to keep up in
like the lowest level, likeamateur.
Speaker 4 (31:11):
How old were you when you?
Speaker 1 (31:12):
were doing that like like a, like high school, like
15 oh, wow like 18 or 19 um yeah, it was, um, it was crazy.
Uh, I I love bike racing.
Okay, it's probably the mostdifficult, most like
exhilarating thing I've everdone, right like your shoulder,
shoulder with like 40 otherpeople going like 25, 30 miles
(31:34):
an hour through corners.
Speaker 5 (31:35):
What's the biggest race you've?
Speaker 1 (31:36):
done Like, in terms of like the most people or the
most.
Speaker 5 (31:41):
The race that you look at and you're like that's
like my pinnacle so far, likethat was the race that I felt,
like this was just an awesomeexperience or just felt, I don't
know.
It's the one that you want totell people about first um, oh
man.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
So I would say how about this, the only race I've
actually won?
Okay, because I was never, Iwas never actually all that good
okay, I was I was, you know,very into it but I wasn't like
to be a like a successful bikeracer is pure genetics but yeah,
okay, it's probably truethere's a yeah, yeah, it was it
was down in salinas and it was aa criterium.
(32:20):
Which is a criterium is like atype of race where you're
basically on like a short courseI mean like a mile long or so
when you're doing laps, um, forlike an hour or so, um, as
opposed to like a road race,which is like a longer, 50-mile
loop or 100-mile point-to-pointrace, that type of thing.
So it's flat laps around someabandoned business park or
(32:43):
something.
It's usually nowhere exciting.
Sometimes they're cool downtowncriteriums, but this one was
kind of boring and on a whim,being the immature 17-year-old.
I was like I'm just gonna gunit off the line, just to you
know.
Play around, you know like,yeah, it wasn't anything that
like I wasn't that those typesof moves and do not win right.
Speaker 5 (33:05):
You don't win, that's right.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
That by like sprinting from the line.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
But somehow no one reacted in time and I got away
and I held that lead lead.
It was 30 seconds right andwhen you're in cycling, like if
you're not drafting behindsomeone, you're at a huge
disadvantage.
So a big group of people thatwere, you know there's one
person in the wind, it's kind oflike a flock of birds right
sure you're much more efficientthan a solo rider yeah that's,
(33:29):
you know ahead of you, um, andsomehow I just kept it going for
45 minutes, or however long itwas, and they were barely right
behind me.
I could, you know, see them, seethe, the, the, the front of the
chase group, like you know,around the corner every time I,
you know, was on a long straightpiece of road and, and you know
, it got closer and closer andthe last lap, like they were
(33:51):
right on me and somehow I still,uh, eat out a win.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
But that was probably .
Speaker 1 (33:56):
That was probably a highlight.
Speaker 3 (33:57):
Yeah, Um.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
I've done some, some cool races.
You know there's some roadraces around that are, um, you
know, in, really scenic.
You know mountain areas, um,there's another cool criterium
in San Francisco on.
You know tight streets, tightcourse, um, anything with hills,
that's cool.
It's always a lot of fun.
Speaker 5 (34:16):
So my brothers and I, we, so I have two brothers.
One is about seven yearsyounger than me and the one's
almost 15 years younger than me,and we found ourselves quite a
while back.
It's actually been seven years,because I just saw Google
Photos memories pop up andremind me that this was seven
years ago.
But we wanted to do visit allof california's national parks
(34:37):
in nine days, so it was eightnational parks in nine days.
We wanted to like do thismassive road trip and we started
.
It was very ambitious and wecould have done it.
We had planned out.
Well, it's just that when we gotabout four parks into it, we
were realized that we, um werenot really able to enjoy the
parks themselves.
Like we were just driving thewhole time.
(34:59):
We'd get to the campsites lateat night and then, um, we would
get up and do an early hike andthen we'd head out.
Um, but we brought our bikeswith us as well, um, so, anyway,
we ended up doing six of theeight national parks.
So we did Redwood National Park, lassen, volcanic National Park
(35:20):
, yosemite, sequoia, kingsCanyon, channel Islands and then
Pinnacles, and we decided to goback later and do Death Valley
and Joshua Tree.
But we.
It's stupid, stupid is likevery stupid.
But when we were went to DeathValley and I don't know if
you've been there, if anybodyyou know people listening have
(35:42):
been there but we went to DeathValley.
There's this place where youcan enter the valley when you go
going down into Badwater Basinand it's like this 16 mile
downhill ride from from the topand you're just going all the
way, you're just going downhillfor forever.
And my brothers, um, got on thebikes and they just rode
downhill, um, and we're theywere not like good bikes as far
(36:06):
as like their road, you knowroad worthy and stuff, and my
brothers were not wearinghelmets, I mean it was.
It was like the like all thedangerous things that we could
have done.
And I actually have it on atime-lapse video of coming down
from this high part all the waydown to the Badwater about 16
miles of just downhill coastingthat's awesome and it was a lot
of fun.
Yeah, they did it, not me.
(36:28):
I just filmed them so I had iton record in case something
happened to them.
You said you grew up on Missionnear Morrison Canyon.
Yeah, right off of MorrisonCanyon.
I lived there since I was likefive.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
My parents moved here right before I was born.
Speaker 5 (36:45):
Okay from Russia, yeah from Russia, Wow.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
What brought them here?
Opportunity.
Speaker 5 (36:50):
Work, yeah, work.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
I mean Russia in the 90s wasn't exactly a great place
to be, that's right.
Speaker 5 (36:57):
Yeah, yeah.
So have you ever visited Russiathen?
Speaker 1 (37:01):
Oh, yeah, yeah, I used to visit every other year
up until I got a little bit yeah.
Yeah, not the best place to benow either.
Speaker 5 (37:10):
Okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
So I haven't been back in about a decade, but I
speak fluent Russian.
Wow, yeah, that's awesome whenyou were living off of near
Morrison.
Speaker 5 (37:14):
Canyon there, okay, okay, so I haven't been back in
about a decade, but I speakfluent russian and wow, yeah,
that's awesome when you wereliving off of uh, near morrison
canyon, like, um, what do youremember as being enjoyable
about that neighborhood to livein?
Speaker 1 (37:24):
you know, one thing I really liked about the
neighborhood was um I mean itwas kind of really quiet, you
know, not a lot of things goingon really residential, but um
the abandoned railroad tracksokay uh, that go up uh, from.
You know like they go that bigbridge across mission um, and
then you know it goes out northup to niles canyon.
(37:46):
You know there's no tracksthere anymore.
It's been abandoned for forever.
But it's like a unofficialwalking trail that's cool.
It's like right by my house.
That's cool, my old house, oldhouse, and yeah, yeah, I really
love that when I was a littlekid in.
Speaker 5 (37:57):
So I was born in Wisconsin and um lived there
until I was about nine or 10.
Um, but there was a railroadtracks that was near my house
that we would go.
So we would.
There was a store that we wouldgo get our groceries at and we
would walk up the road from ourhouse and take the railroad
tracks on.
They were not abandoned.
So there were many times that myparents would be like, okay,
(38:17):
get off the tracks.
And we'd have to get off inorder for the trains go by.
Uh, but we didn't have to inorder to get to the um, in order
to get to the grocery store.
We didn't have to stay on thetracks very long, but I do
remember as a child like therailroad tracks being a fun
place to like take a walk as afamily, to go to the store and
stuff.
But you had the fortune of nothaving or having abandoned
(38:41):
railroad tracks to walk on.
So that's great.
Tell me a little bit about yourlife, how you grew up here in
Fremont, what were some of thethings you know that brought you
into REI, that when I first metyou.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
And then let's go from there, yeah, uh, so I was
born and raised in Fremont, um,I had.
I feel like I have had a prettynormal childhood all things
considered.
Uh, when we met at REI, I wasum at alumni college and.
I was working at Campo de Bocce, right across the street from.
Rei at the Italian restaurantBocce Place.
(39:13):
It's unfortunately closed now.
And just like REI is now,unfortunately.
Speaker 5 (39:18):
I know Pour one out for that.
So you worked there at Campo diBocce?
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
Yeah, and just while I was in college, while I was at
Ohlone, I was just on a hugehiking and backpacking.
All the stuff all kick.
Yeah, I was just on on all ofthat where did you like to?
Speaker 5 (39:39):
where did you like to go?
What were some of your favoriteplaces to hike or backpack?
I?
Speaker 1 (39:42):
mean all time go is mission peak okay, I got it like
I know some people hate it likesome, like some people.
You know it's hot.
Yeah, not a lot of shade.
Speaker 5 (39:50):
Yeah, you know it gets windy at the top, but I
think a lot of those it'samazing well, the wind maybe not
so much, but I was gonna say alot of those other things are
are due to the people's choicesas to what time they go yeah,
that's true too, because I'vebeen there in all those
conditions as well, but I thinkmost of the time, if I was ever
up there in a hot, exposed day,it was because I made the bad
choice of leaving late in the inthe in the daytime when it was
(40:13):
going to be hot anyway yeah, yougotta go early in the morning.
Speaker 1 (40:15):
You gotta go on a weekday, if you can.
You gotta go, like you know,maybe sometimes even in the
evening it's good yeah, that'sright it can be a good time um,
actually there was a.
Speaker 5 (40:26):
There's another rabbit trail, but there was a
russian group that used to meetup there, like on wednesday
nights.
It was like dude, did you go?
Speaker 1 (40:32):
there.
So I, I I've been there oncebut my mom is like like, not
like the lead organizer oranything, but she's like part of
the core group there.
Speaker 5 (40:40):
Okay, yeah, that's so funny, yeah, no, I I.
I kind of put it all togetherjust because it was one time I
was hiking back and all thesepeople are russian and then I
stopped one of them and I waslike they're like, yeah, we go
up there.
I think at the time this wasyears ago, but it was like at
the time it was like everywednesday night they go up there
, and they were still going isit every, every wednesday?
Speaker 1 (41:03):
I mean, I don't want to say rain or shine, but like
those russians are crazy man sowhat do they do like?
Speaker 5 (41:08):
what is that they?
Speaker 1 (41:09):
go up there that you know the little bathroom where
the two trails merge.
There's like some benches there.
Uh, they uh bring a bunch offood up.
They play like guitars and singsongs and like that is so cool.
It's wild it's crazy, it makesno sense, but uh, yeah, uh
that's awesome, yeah, so yeah.
Speaker 5 (41:27):
When you were saying, uh, mission peak, and you're
russian, I was like, wait aminute.
I have a vague memory of that.
That's funny.
I'll have to go up there on aWednesday night.
We'll have to get some footagefor the podcast of them up there
.
Speaker 1 (41:39):
Yeah, I don't know what time the park technically
closes, so no, one said anything.
Speaker 5 (41:44):
That's right.
Well, you know, the thing is isthere's actually and I've never
actually camped there, butthere is backpackingground, yeah
, campsite, like right behindthe peak, like yeah, I think
it's called like eagle, eaglespring, I think, eagle yeah,
something like that.
Speaker 1 (41:58):
Yeah, I've I've actually camped there.
Okay, um, how was that?
Part of is amazing.
Part of the reason I likemission peak so much is because
it's actually the first part ofmy favorite backpacking trip
which is the ohlone trail delval, and have you done that a
couple times.
Yeah, I've done it twice.
I've done it once solo in twodays like one night, and then I
(42:21):
went with some friends for twonights.
Okay, so I think from.
Speaker 5 (42:25):
I was just talking with some friends about this.
So this is one of the thingsthat I did when I worked for REI
is I would help everyone getready for their trips, wherever
they would go, and so I'd helpthem.
I'd pull out a map and plan it.
I think I planned a number oftrips for people doing the
Ohlone Wilderness Trail and youcan go from Del Val to Sonol or
(42:47):
all the way to Mission Peak, oryou can do the opposite you can
go from Mission Peak all the wayout to Del.
Speaker 1 (42:51):
Val.
I've done it from Mission Peakto Del Val of want to do.
I was actually thinking aboutdoing it um this weekend oh
really yeah and then uh it, itrained, so I was like no, so
saturday was horrible.
Speaker 5 (43:05):
Yeah, it was terrible , so I was actually camping at
del val on on um.
We went out thursday night andI had I had campsite for th
Thursday and Friday night atDelVal and we stayed late
Thursday night or Friday night.
But I had been looking at theforecast and I was like I'm not
gonna be packing up in the rain,so we we stayed Thursday night
and then late Friday night andit got out before the park
(43:27):
closed and then it poured rainon Saturday.
But I don't think I'd want togo uh in the rain either.
Speaker 1 (43:35):
Yeah, I'm not that kind of crazy.
Speaker 5 (43:39):
So so, yeah, so Ohlone, the Ohlone wilderness uh
trail, you can get there fromum Michigan.
I've never done it, but I'veseen pictures and I've talked to
people who've done it.
Uh, what are some of yourfavorite things about that?
Speaker 1 (43:52):
trail.
Um, I mean, I like first firstof all how close it is like you
know I don't want to drive threehours out to wherever to go on
a backpacking trip.
That just doesn't seem sure tome.
Yeah, I like being able to justlike, basically, you know, go
right outside and start hiking,that's right I love the.
It starts with a big challenge.
Right, you start with missionpeak.
(44:13):
It's a nice little intro to it.
And I love just how freakingempty it is Like once you're out
there, once you're past Sunol,Sunol Regional.
Wilderness it's just there's I.
Literally the first time I went, I went solo.
I don't think I spoke or saw asingle person for like over 24
hours.
Speaker 5 (44:28):
Wow, that's awesome yeah.
Speaker 1 (44:31):
I camp like right in Sonol and I woke up and I like,
basically after Sonol regionalwilderness, you don't see anyone
until you're right at like,right at the lake in Del Val.
Speaker 5 (44:42):
That's cool.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
And that's like, that's awesome, because you're
like, you're right there, you'relike you can see your house
from there, basically.
Speaker 5 (44:48):
That's awesome.
Middle of nowhere that's cool,I think.
The one, two things that Iwould note, in case anybody's
listening to this and gets theidea that they want to go, which
I think they should.
But number one, it is thosecampsites you have to get
registrations for.
So you can't just like I'mgoing to go tonight and go
without preparation.
(45:10):
I think they've changed it toan online yeah, service.
Speaker 1 (45:13):
Well, kind of I would say.
The only way you can do it ifyou want, if you don't have
reservation, is you're ready togo 30 miles in one day yeah,
that's actually is, they do anultra marathon, or at least they
did oh yeah, I remember thatthey used to do an event yeah,
um from mission piquedale valleythat's right in one day and my
mom actually did that oh wow manyour mom yeah, she's like
leading all the the Russiancrazies and then also running.
Speaker 5 (45:34):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (45:34):
Yeah, her first ultra marathon was more or less on a
whim, and the longest run shedid before that was a half
marathon.
Wow.
Speaker 5 (45:42):
Wow, that's really cool.
Yeah, that's a great.
I think it's a great trail.
Yeah, I actually had a friendof mine that did it in one day
because she wanted to do it aslike a personal challenge.
I think she was turning 30 orsomething like that.
She was like this is my goal.
I want to do the OhloneWilderness Trail in one day.
So I think from Del Val toSenol is about 22 miles, and
(46:07):
then I think the extra.
I think it's an extra like sixor seven miles to Mission Peak.
So I think it's like overalllike it's 28 miles I think, if
you yeah, 20 is what I saw onthe map.
Speaker 1 (46:18):
I think once you actually you know, do it and you
you know, zigzag a little bit,you can get to 30 pretty easily.
Speaker 2 (46:24):
Yeah, but it's right around there.
That's good you know, three-dayhike.
Speaker 1 (46:27):
If you're, you know, okay, a moderate hiker, I think
is great.
Okay, very cool.
Speaker 5 (46:34):
I'm going to kind of wrap things up a little bit, but
I was going to just kind of goa little bit different direction
and I'm kind of curious.
So I find that a lot of peoplemove to the Bay Area for tech
jobs.
I find that a lot of peoplecome from all over the world to
come here to work for tech jobsand then I find that there are I
(46:57):
think it's interesting to talkto people who've grown up here
and have been here for a longperiod of time.
I know that your parents yousaid your parents moved here
before you were born foropportunity that maybe they
didn't have in Russia, or moreof an opportunity that they
would have here than they did inRussia.
But I always find itinteresting to hear what it was
(47:18):
like for people who, for kidswho grew up here.
And I think there's two parts tothis.
I guess question that I'mgetting to is that you don't
have to get into what you do forwork or whatever, but you do
work in the tech industryBroadly speaking yeah, Broadly
speaking okay.
So I just find it interestingthat a lot of times people grow
(47:39):
up here and tech is not whatthey pursue.
Growing up here, they'll findretail work or maybe service
industry or whatever.
What was it that got you intowhat you're doing now?
And then I think, secondly, Ithink one of the other, and
maybe I should wait and ask thesecond part of this question,
(47:59):
but I'll go ahead and throw itout there so you can be thinking
about it.
I think it's people your age,kind of that millennial
generation, the younger, the 20sto early 30s.
I find that when we've askedaround, we've done minimal
surveys or minimal conversationswith people, they don't find
(48:20):
Fremont to be a great place tostay.
I think Fremont ends up being agreat place for families kind
of like, maybe older parents,middle-aged parents and then
young kids.
But when you get into thatmillennial age, gen z age, like
I don't, I feel like a lot ofthose, uh, people your age just
(48:42):
don't end up staying aroundfremont.
And so I'm just curious whatare your thoughts about, like,
what is it that got you intodoing tech?
Broadly speaking?
and then, what is it that youfeel about being somebody your
age living here in Fremont?
Speaker 1 (48:56):
Yeah, you know, I grew up always being a
tech-minded person.
Right, I was, you know.
I don't remember a time where Iwasn't into technology of some
sort.
So it came naturally to me, Ithink, wanting to do something,
you know, related to tech.
I, you know, found my passionat Ohlone College with like
networking.
So, like you know, my passionat albany college with like
(49:17):
networking.
So, like you know, makingbetter network.
Uh, it's not, so not not not tooversimplify, but I basically, I
basically do that, but for uh,a tech company you know, at
events and at their events andtrade shows and that sort of
thing.
So I get to travel quite a bit,which is nice.
Um, you know, I think what kindof what's kept me in freremont
(49:37):
so far is obviously like family,right, like my grandparents
live here, my, my mom lives here.
Um, like you know, all myfriends live here.
Um, so I, you know, I thinkthat's a big part of it, like I
would love to move to somewhereelse and you know, kind of
experienced that.
But I love Fremont right, likeit is quiet, that.
But I love fremont, right likeit is quiet, but also like
(50:00):
bart's right here, and I can goto that stuff whenever I want,
or down to oakland or san joseor whatever like it's always.
It's not, it's not too far fromanything um and it is, you know,
pretty quiet and um and andcalm.
Yeah, for the most part rightyeah, I think a lot it.
Speaker 5 (50:17):
I think a lot of those opinions probably depend
on the type of environment thatpeople are looking for.
You know, if you are lookingfor something that's always
hopping and always having, youhave many options to choose from
and you can, you know, do allthese things.
I think that Fremont does haveoptions and I think there are
great places for free for peopleto enjoy being, you know, out
(50:39):
and about in fremont.
But I think if you're lookingfor like a city life, like san
francisco, you're not going toget it.
But, like you said, you're closeenough to where you can go
downtown san francisco or you godowntown um san jose and enjoy
um being in those kind ofcommunities.
Speaker 1 (50:55):
Yeah, fremont's pretty quiet for the size of
city that it is, but it beatsyour sleepy suburb that doesn't
even allow commercial buildingsat all.
They're just purely residential, just like houses after houses.
It's got character, it's gotculture, it's got all these
things going for it.
I think still, even though Iguess if you were comparing it
(51:17):
to a city that's been around forlonger, that's more urban, it
doesn't quite compare.
But yeah, I don't think itneeds to right.
It's not not everyone wantsthat and I I love that I'm.
Speaker 2 (51:29):
I consider myself an urbanist you know in every sense
of that word.
Speaker 1 (51:32):
I love being able to visit, you know, Europe for work
.
Where I can, you know, you know, be in these like super dense
cities that are super lively andbustling?
Um, but you know, like I think,I think Fremont's great too.
Speaker 5 (51:46):
Yeah, that's great, that's great.
So, um, I guess maybe finalquestion, like what, um, as you
look forward to the life ahead,the next five years, 10 years,
20 years, what is it that youhope to do?
What would you like toaccomplish with, with your life?
What would you enjoy?
Maybe, let's just say, youstayed in Fremont long-term,
like what are?
Some of the things that youwould love to see happen around
(52:06):
here.
Speaker 1 (52:07):
You know I would love to, to kind of see a city
that's more, um, less, carcentric.
You know, I think that's that'ssomething that'd be great for
me.
Personally, I love that, but Ithink it'd be great for just our
community, our society as awhole, right, having more places
that we can, you know, meet andgather and, you know, enjoy our
(52:29):
life in.
I think we are on our way to,you know, being a very safe city
, um, in terms of, you know, our, our, our, streets.
We're doing a great job.
We're already a very safe citycompared to, you know, the
people around us.
Speaker 2 (52:45):
Right.
Speaker 1 (52:45):
Um, I think you know continuing on that path, um, and
I would love to see more.
You know more options fortransit, right?
I like our bus system is notvery good, not very great it's
true.
No, you're not going to use itunless you're you're stuck,
unless that's your only optionyeah, although I did actually
take it to mission peak thisweekend.
(53:07):
Okay, uh, yeah, I live right onfremont boulevard and nice took
me all the way to mission peak,so that's great, you know, I I
try to, I try to use the busnice uh, sometimes, you know,
but I think we need more optionstoo, I was just in a city in
Germany for work, uh, last month, and it's a city slightly
larger than than Fremont, butthey've got full Metro and tram
(53:29):
system everywhere.
Yeah, and it's like, well, whycan't we have that in Fremont?
Yeah, yeah, that's good, that'sgood.
Speaker 5 (53:37):
Yeah, I actually.
The other night it was cold andwindy and my wife was trying to
get some stuff done at thehouse, trying to clean up a
little bit.
My son was kind of reading, andthen I have almost a
two-year-old so not quite twoyears old, but he was super
(53:57):
rambunctious and you know, mywife was like maybe you could do
something with him.
And it was cold and windyoutside so he wanted to go
outside and the space inside wasa little too small.
So I just said let's go for atrain ride, let's just go.
You know he loves Thomas thetrain, and so I was like let's
just go for a train ride.
(54:17):
So we rode over to the BARTstation and hopped on the train
and I was like I don't even knowwhere we're going, like I don't
know what we're going to do,but all I know is that we're
going to ride on a train andhe's going to love it, and you
know.
So we hopped on.
(54:39):
This was like I'm going to godown to the Embarcadero, go down
to San Francisco, and then comeback, you know, and just ride
the train back and forth andpoint out all the cool things on
the way down there.
Anyway, we ended up going downto San Jose, to our friend's
house, and I, like rode the BARTthat you know.
Here I am with my toddler.
We rode from Fremont stationdown to uh Milpitas and then
(55:00):
hopped on the VTA and took thatover, you know, towards like, um
, uh, great America, and I goton another VTA and went down to
Japantown.
It took us, I don't know, maybean hour and 20 minutes to get
there, but we rode the whole wayand had a good old time.
Um, yeah, it took a lot of time, but I think it was a lot of
fun being able to just say Itook my baby in a train down to
(55:25):
San Jose and then we spent sometime with them, maybe an hour
down there, and it was dark bythe time we left the house, and
so they were like, do you wantus to just take you to the
Berryessa BART station?
And that way you can just shootback up to Fremont.
I was like, oh man, that wouldsave a lot of time.
And so anyway they did, theygave us a ride over to Berryessa
(55:45):
and we rode up.
But you know, I do think thathaving that transit
infrastructure whether it's aBART or whatever it is around
here would be fantastic, and Ithink maybe stepping up the bus
opportunities as well would bereally good, Exactly, yeah, I
can't wait for the San Joseextension of BART right once it
goes into downtown, they'regoing right down to Santa Pedro
(56:07):
Square, I think right.
Speaker 1 (56:07):
Yeah, they're going through downtown all the way to
Dyrton Station, which is likethe main train station Amtrak.
Speaker 2 (56:14):
yeah, cal Train.
Speaker 1 (56:15):
Amtrak go, you can go anywhere that's cool from there
, yeah, that'd be great.
Uh, it's going to be awesomeyeah, I think it's great, daniel
.
Speaker 5 (56:23):
Thanks for joining me , man, this has been really cool
thanks for having me, yeah it'sbeen good catching up with you
from years ago and, um,hopefully we it's not years
before we see each other again.
We'll get to cross paths alongthe way, so so thanks for
joining me.
Keep in touch.
Speaker 3 (56:37):
This episode was hosted and produced by Ricky B.
I'm Gary Williams, andrew Kvetis the.
We had to catch one more thingbefore we go.
Speaker 1 (56:45):
Yeah, I'm like Steve Jobs.
One more thing.
If it's still May when thiscomes out.
Happy bike month everyone.
May is bike month and City ofFremont, you know, does some
cool things, uh for that.
Speaker 5 (56:58):
Yeah, what are some of the things that come to your
mind, that, uh, that peoplecould take advantage of?
Speaker 1 (57:01):
that uh three things.
First of all, actually today isa city council meeting where
they're gonna, you know, do aquick like ceremony for uh
celebrating bike month.
Okay, um, this saturday, may11th I don't know if it's too
late you know what?
Speaker 5 (57:16):
I'm planning on putting this out on May 10th.
So okay, perfect.
Speaker 1 (57:19):
Yeah, so people are listening to it when it comes
out on May 10th, then they cancatch this Perfect May 11th,
there is a ribbon cuttingceremony for Fremont's latest
protected intersection atLiberty street and Walnut Avenue
as part of the extension ofWalnut out towards Fremont.
So that's exciting.
I think that's part of theextension of walnut out towards
fremont, um, so that's exciting.
I think that's in the morningand there's a bit of a bike ride
(57:42):
tour of bike infrastructure aspart of that.
Um, I think info is on the citywebsite and may 16th is bike to
wherever day, nice, formerlyknown as bike to work day.
Yes, bike to wherever For thosewho still bike to work, yeah,
or anywhere yeah.
Speaker 5 (57:59):
That's awesome.
Well, that's good, happy BikeMonth.
Speaker 1 (58:03):
Yeah, happy Bike Month.
Speaker 5 (58:04):
Yeah, enjoy getting out and finding places.
Speaker 3 (58:08):
Scheduling and pre-interviews by Sarah S.
Be sure to subscribe whereverit is that you listen so you
don't miss an episode.
You can find everything we make, the podcast and all of our
social media links atthefremontpodcastcom.
Join us next week on theFremont Podcast.
Speaker 2 (58:27):
This is a Muggins Media Podcast.
You.
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