Last Saturday, I joined a hundred or so other environmentally-minded souls for a relaxing bike tour of central San José. The Moving Planet Day bike ride was organized by local advocate, SVBC member, and KKUP on-air personality Diane Solomon, with help from SVBC, San José Bike Party, TransForm, the Loma Prieta Chapter of the Sierra Club, and others.
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A few humans and a giant rabbit get ready for the day at Children's Discovery Museum.
The ride was part of a global movement promoted by 350.org to raise awareness about carbon emissions and climate change. In practice, it was simple: a bunch of us rode our bikes around for the day. We visited the Luna Park Chalk Festival, stopped by city hall, and took a break at Kelley Park. Everyone we passed waved hello and asked us what we were up to. It was ridiculously idyllic.
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We're such dedicated advocates, we hit up city hall on a Saturday!
SVBC encourages biking on two fronts: we work to make it safer and easier to ride a bike (bike facilities), and we work to encourage people to get on a bike and give riding a try (bike culture). The Moving Planet Day bike ride was a slam dunk for the latter. We actually made people envious of us as we pedaled peacefully through the streets on a perfect Saturday. We showed people all over San José how much fun you can have on a bike! Not only that, but I burned off the calories from my kimchi-and-chipotle-laden hot dog that I bought at the chalk festival. Take that, climate change!

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