Members of Palo Alto’s enthusiastic bicycle community are expected to put on their helmets, put away their car keys and come out en masse Thursday morning for the city’s the annual “Bike to Work Day.”
City leaders, residents, workers and bike advocates will be pedaling all over the city throughout the morning hours, making occasional stops along the way at “energizer stations” to refuel. These stations will be set up at City Hall, near the south entrance of Wilkie Way bridge and near the tunnel entrance to California Avenue.; and the Alma Bike Bridge near the intersection of Alma Street and Palo Alto Avenue.
Other organizations, such as the Silicon Valley Bicycle Association, will also have energizer stations in the area.
Mayor Greg Scharff, City Manager James Keene, Councilman Marc Berman and Chief Transportation Official Jaime Rodriguez are among the city officials who plan to visit each station and greet bicycles. The stations will be set up between 6:30 and 9 a.m.
The Thursday event will be the 19th annual Bay Area Bike to Work Day. This week, the Palo Alto City Council passed a resolution commemorating May as “Bike Month” and officially proclaiming May 9 as “Bike to Work Day” in Palo Alto. The resolution recognized bicycling as “a highly beneficial transportation mode that promotes healthy living and a vibrant local economy, alleviate traffic and parking congestion, improves the quality of our air and reduces the production of greenhouse gases.”
Downtown businesses are also stepping up to mark the annual event. Patagonia in downtown Palo Alto will be serving free smoothies made from a bike-powered blender to commemorate the day. Palo Alto Bicycles will continue its tradition of setting up an aid station at the downtown Caltrain depot.
If you plan on biking on Bayshore Blvd, please stick to the bike paths off to the side of traffic. With the construction crowding the roadside bike paths, there is no room for you.
Worth mentioning that the tunnel under 101 is at last open!
Bay Area bike commuters, this is your day! I know many of you bike regularly anyway, but this is the day we celebrate you. Ride where it is convenient and safe for you, and ignore advice like that above to ride on the sidewalk. There is pleny of room in the road for bikes, although there may not be enough room for cars.
Ernest, it’s not the sidewalk. There is a dedicated bike lane on the side of the road. The bike lane on the road itself is blocked by fences, so riding on the already crowded 2-lane Bayshore Blvd. is not only dangerous for yourself, but for other drivers.
Also, drivers: the speed limit is 35 mph. If you wanna drive faster than that, use the freeway.
I wonder if the folks near the California Ave tunnel might encourage their fellow bikers that the big “Walk Bikes” signs in the tunnel apply people riding on bicycles.
I go through there with my bike a few times a week and the bikers who actually walk through the tunnel are a definite minority. I think that’s inconsiderate to the pedestrians who try to dodge us as they walk through.
Either that or I am just jealous because I can’t ride through the barriers, especially uphill. But seriously, the signs aren’t just there to keep bad bikers from hurting themselves, but to keep all bikers from endangering the pedestrians who share the tunnel.
My bike shoes have plastic cleats on them and they are too slippery to walk safely up and down the steep ramps. I always go slowly and I am courteous and yield to pedestrians, so I don’t see a problem.
Sheesh, tomorrow’s gonna be a nightmare.
Tomorrows going to be a lot of fun.
Yeah, this morning was a nightmare. I’m all for biking, but if you go in a group, please ride SINGLE FILE, not an entire car length across.
Yawn .. get a life!
What’s next? Skate to work?
Any adults in this crowd?
Thanx to MS, I can no longer ride, or walk far. Funny, after all the years of biking, I cannot do it on Bike to Work Day, I have to be driven.
Good work every one. More bikes means less pollution and less traffic congestion for everyone. Hope you can keep it up year round.