My own happy Bike to Work Day

Bike to Work Day finally materialized! After months of hard work to get the event organized, our four staff members ventured forth on independent Energizer Station adventures.

As always, Palo Alto participated wholeheartedly.

I rode the train up to Palo Alto and disembarked at University Avenue. After saying hello to Jeff Selzer at the Palo Alto Bicycle Energizer Station and chatting with the National MS Society folks, I rolled over to the station at the City of Palo Alto.

The Octo-Bike strikes!

At the City’s Energizer Station on Bryant and Hamilton, I chatted with Kathy Durham, Bike to Work Day Palo Alto organizer along with her colleague Jaime and others. About 10 minutes later Ellen Fletcher showed up (she’d ridden down the bike boulevard named after her) and laughed when she saw me there. I gave her a big hug. Then Mayor Sid Espinoza and City Manager Jim Keene rolled up. After some chit chat, photo ops, and a run in with the Google octo-bike, I joined Sid, Jim, and Kathy on their ceremonial ride over to California Avenue, having a great chat with them along the way about Palo Alto bike facilities, and how SVBC can support building more of them.

Palo Alto Mayor Sid Espinoza talks bikes with a young constituent.

During the ride down the Ellen Fletcher Bryant Street Bike Boulevard, we saw lots of kids on bikes--one of my favorite things. The kids were streaming by the Cal Ave Energizer Station, too. I hung out until the Mayor presented the 200th visitor to the Energizer Station with an award.

Next I rode down the future Park Blvd bike boulevard, which will provide a good N-S connection on the west side of the tracks through south Palo Alto, eventually getting to the Wilkie Way Bike Bridge—an amazing wooden bridge running parallel to a creek for quite a ways. It just keeps on going long after you think it should dump you back onto pavement! I stopped for a quick hello to Rob Robinson, SVBC member, running the Energizer Station for the City there.

Then the long ride over to Castro Street in Mountain View. No, it’s really not far—but my legs were very tired from the 38-mile training ride I’d done the day before in an attempt to prepare myself for the Webcor/SunPower King of the Mountain Ride on Wednesday, May 18th.

I stopped for a few moments to thank the nice folks at Fenwick & West Law Firm on Castro, and then headed down to the Mountain View BPAC’s station at the Mountain View Transit Center, where I chatted with SVBC members and REI staff. After visiting 6 Energizer Stations I jumped back on the train and returned to the office to take a nap.

After catching up on some email (a task never done, as those of you who are still awaiting a response can attest), I rode down to the 88 in downtown San Jose for the Bike Away from Work Bash. Nice digs! I enjoyed the bluegrass band Slim Pegs and the great cyclists company, and had fun giving the Bike Commuter of the Year award to our friend Nick Laskowski. But really, everyone deserves an award—way to go all you bike commuters!

After helping the staff clean up from the party I finally toppled into bed at around 10 pm—exhausted yet happy with another successful Bike to Work Day under our belt. This year was my 6th BTWD as SVBC’s executive director. They just keep getting better, thanks to our amazing staff and volunteers!