Ready to ride: Shasta Bike Depot and Redding Bikeshare prepare for Friday launch

REDDING, Calif. — The Shasta Bike Depot is about to get rolling—pardon the pun—on the "Bike Launch" this Friday, May 12.

Work is being done at a feverish pace at the bike depot on California and Shasta streets in downtown Redding as workers try to get it ready for Friday's celebration.

This is the culmination of 10 years of planning, preparation and production. It uses reclaimed bricks from The Bell Rooms that once stood here, transforming them into the bike depot and an eventual restaurant.

“It’s a ‘pinch me’ moment because we’ve all worked long and hard—especially Anne Thomas and Shasta Living Streets—to bring micro-mobility to our community," McConnell Foundation COO Shannon Phillips told Mangas on Tuesday. "And this is just going to be an exciting moment for pedestrians and people who enjoy bike riding, of all types—whether it’s an e-bike, mountain bike or standard, old traditional bike—to have this hub right in our downtown area.”

It's a big moment for Shasta Living Streets Executive Director Anne Thomas who is ready to get "Redding Bikeshare" cycles in downtown streets.

“The vision for the Shasta Bike Depot as a place of multiple services and amenities for people who want to get around living a ‘car-light’ lifestyle—it doesn’t mean no cars, it means we have these other ways," Thomas told KRCR.

Bay Area Artist Mona Caron is painting murals of local plant life on panels on the south side of the building. She's had to deal with rain, but is confident she'll complete the job by launch day.

“Actually, something that I finally got to do is really focus and do a, kind of, hand painting that I sometimes don’t get to do anymore when I do really huge projects, which is what I usually do," Caron told KRCR. "It’s been very meditative; really getting to know these local, native plants that I’m portraying and it’s been really great.”

Again, the Shasta Bike Depot, at 1322 California Street in Downtown Redding, Calif., is set to open this Friday, May 12.

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