This post is about a quarterly ride series called Wheels and Waterways. This project is funded by the Santa Clara Valley Water District’s Safe, Clean Water and Natural Flood Protection Program, and will use bike rides and trash cleanup events to showcase water infrastructure in Santa Clara County to people in the bike community. SVBC’s social rides are hosted to provide fun opportunities for cyclists of all abilities to build confidence in riding for everyday use. These rides will be part of SVBC’s monthly First Saturdays Social Rides – check them out on our SVBC Events Calendar! To stay apprised of all SVBC events, sign up for our e-bulletin, and mark your calendars for our next Wheels and Waterways ride on Saturday, April 2, 2022 – Eventbrite link coming soon!

On the second day of 2022, SVBC bicyclists rode headlong into the future reality of our local environment. At 10:30 AM, the highest tides of the new year were coming in fast, and we set out to Alviso Marina County Park to see the unusually deep waters around the docks and the levees. If one word stands out about the January 2nd King Tide Bike Ride, it is “FLOOD!” For a thorough explanation of what celestial happenings caused these high tides, I recommend this Exploratorium video.

This was the section of the Guadalupe Trail at the 237 underpass. Yes, it floods regularly – but none of us had seen a flood on the trail this long and deep before. Welcome to the future…coastal water levels will begin to intrude on the land we’ve “re”claimed from the Bay, and areas of our home will flood more regularly as sea level rise advances in the coming decades. Seeing the impacts of the day’s unusually high tides – a glimpse of tomorrow’s regular high tides – was a primary goal of organizing this event, and we certainly got our wish.

Flooding around the region is why preservation and restoration of the remaining wetland ecosystems, which absorb seawater like sponges, is so important. The community partners who joined our event reinforced the need for healthy wetlands. Guest speakers and community partners Eileen McLaughlin and Sirena Lao shared information with us about the work they are doing to preserve the health of the wetlands, one of our strongest ecological defenses against sea level rise.

Eileen shared with us that we have paved and developed NINETY PERCENT of the original wetlands ecosystems around San Francisco Bay – reclaimed for development of residential, business, and industrial areas like Foster City, SFO airport, and hundreds of other square miles of bayshore properties. Her work with Citizens Committee to Complete the Refuge focuses on leveraging the land-use authority of the Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge to ensure the preservation of the wetlands so critical to sea level rise resiliency.

Sirena represented San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory, an organization that runs volunteer and educational events around the Bay Area that advance their mission to conserve birds and their habitats through science and outreach. Sirena says, “the King Tides gave us a glimpse of what Alviso may look like with sea level rise, reinforcing the need to improve the resilience of our marshes for the health of the ecosystem and for people living in these areas. We hope you’ll check out our upcoming events for habitat restoration volunteer days!!”

An additional goal of the Wheels and Waterways ride series is to train new ride leaders – confident urban cyclists who are capable of leading group rides around the South Bay. Say hello to the ride leaders in training from the King Tide Ride, April and Sophie! They are the individuals wearing high-viz yellow in our group photo from our group shot at the beginning of the ride..