In Marin / CURRENTS
CON TINUED FROM PAGE 29
BY THE
NUMBERS
MARIN’S C YCLING LEGAC Y is undeniable. The county is the birthplace of mountain biking, home to many reputable bike shops, and the setting for success- ful annual racing events like Tour de MALT, Cykelscramble and Biketoberfest. All these facts add up to one truth: if you ride and have a taste for adventure, Marin is your place. And the quality of biking here is continually advancing: various groups
are working on a number of bike-related projects seemingly all the time. Here are some recent updates
and soon-to-completed upgrades. marinbike.org KASIA PA WLO WSKA
CONCUSSION
REPERCUSSIONS
Chronic traumatic
encephalopathy
(CTE), also known
as concussion,
has been getting
a lot of press recently. Soccer player
Mia Hamm, who has had numer-
ous incidents, announced that after
her death her brain will be donated
for research so doctors can fully as-
sess the damage. President Barack
Obama has said that
if he had a son he
would not let him play
professional football
because of the risk. The degenerative
disease, which is common among
athletes who play contact sports,
leads to deterioration in attention and
to progressive dementia. Earlier this
year the Marin County Civil Grand
Jury recommended that schools take
extra precautions to protect young
athletes. Among the suggestions
are using impact sensors to monitor
head blows and collecting head injury
data to create a centralized database.
Already, Marin General Hospital is
providing certified athletic trainers
to three area high schools. Here are
national stats on concussion from the
CDC. marincounty.org K.P.
Inner Beauty
In the United States, 40 percent of food produced goes to waste at some stage in the supply chain:
from farm to fork to landfill. The most food — about 1 in 5 items — is squandered on farms just
because it’s not pretty enough to be sold in supermarkets. Ben Simon, Ben Chesler and Ron Clark
took issue with these alarming figures and founded Imperfect Produce. Imperfect Produce is a service that takes cosmetically challenged fruits and vegetables (wrong shape, size or color or simply
surplus) and ships them to homes and offices at a significant discount. “By sourcing the produce
straight from farmers we pass on the savings to consumers,” Chesler says. The produce tastes exactly
like store-bought, but may merely look a little off. “We have 50 farms we source from, split pretty
evenly between organic and conventional,” he adds. Recently, Imperfect Produce began to deliver to
the whole Bay Area, including Marin. By 2017 the company plans to be delivering to every address in
California and it hopes to expand to every major city U. S. city by 2019. imperfectproduce.com K. P.
1.5 MILLION
Americans have sustained
traumatic brain injuries
1.6 TO 3. 8 MILLION ANNUAL
CONCUSSION OCCURRENCES
10% CONTACT SPORT
athletes who suffer concussions annually
87% PROFESSIONAL BOXERS
WHO ENDURE BRAIN INJURIES
90% Concussions
that don’t involve a
loss of consciousness
• In San Rafael,
the County of Marin
painted buffered
bike lanes and added
new curb returns at
each corner on Miller
Creek Road between
Las Gallinas and
Marinwood avenues.
The changes shorten
crossing distances for
pedestrians and the
new striping makes
it easier for bikers to
access the Pacheco
Hill Pathway.
• The Marin County
Open Space team is
rerouting “the Plunge”
on Old Railroad Grade
trail near White Hill
in Fairfax. This work
includes a gentler
grade and a bridge to
replace the steep and
erosive drop.
• Farther west in
Fairfax, crews are
working on the two-
mile Contour Trail
Complex, which
includes three trails
that will make a
good loop option in
the Giacomini Open
Space Preserve.
• In Mill Valley, the
multiuse connector near the summit
of Camino Alto and
a hiker/biker trail
from Escalon Fire
Road down to Del
Casa Road are
being improved.
