The Annual Bike to the Bay Ride was a Splash!

The Wheels & Waterways series is funded by Valley Water’s Safe, Clean Water and Natural Flood Protection Program, and will use bike rides and litter removal events to showcase water infrastructure in Santa Clara County to people in the bike community. 

Wheels and Waterways is now officially 2/3 complete! The community has embarked on eight of our twelve planned rides in partnership with Valley Water and local community-based organizations. To be involved in our final year of Wheels & Waterways rides, please email programs@bikesiliconvalley.org.

October 14th, 2023 - Two Routes, One Destination

Bike to the Bay is the annual group bike ride designed to bring attendees sustainably with fun and music to Day on the Bay, a resource fair and fall festival that Santa Clara County hosts at Alviso Marina County Park. Day on the Bay is among the South Bay’s premier annual events bringing health, wellness, information, support systems, nonprofits and community involvement opportunities to residents of Santa Clara County and beyond. The Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition is overjoyed to carry on this tradition and host this ride, which has historically been led by both San José Bike Party and SVBC.

Traditionally, the ride has begun from the County Headquarters at 70 W. Hedding St. Given SVBC’s strong local presence in Sunnyvale, last year’s ride started from Plaza del Sol, making its way east to Alviso. This year we were able to host two group rides totaling 51 riders that started from both Sunnyvale and San José, and met up en route before finishing the very end of the ride to the event. This was made possible by the teamwork of SVBC staff and experienced group ride leaders. It’s amazing what we can accomplish with more group ride leaders trained up than ever before. Thank you to the group ride leader of the Sunnyvale leg, Sharlene Liu, and ride support volunteers: Richard Wang, Leia Mehlman, and Gerard Barry!

With riders ranging from ages pre-teen to over 60, residents from 11 different cities, and an almost-equal split between male/female riders, we were so thrilled to embody our goals of inclusive programming that connects community members to fun, healthy activities, and to each other.

This event was made possible by this year’s partners, including Santa Clara County District 3 Supervisor Otto Lee, the Wheels & Waterways sponsors at Valley Water, and Santa Clara County Parks who allocated space for us to park 68 bikes at the Day on the Bay event! We would also like to thank Sunnyvale Mayor Larry Klein and Santa Clara County District 3 Communications Manager, Eric Stroker, for joining the ride as well.

Thanks to resources provided by the nonprofit wetlands ecosystem advocacy group Citizen’s Committee to Complete the Refuge (CCCR), we were also able to share information about the wetlands restoration project happening in Alviso - the South Bay Shoreline Protection Project. CCCR produced the video resource we shared with all Bike to the Bay participants at the Alviso Education Center. To view that video, please click here.

Thanks to all who rode with us. We’re looking forward to seeing you in the bike lane again soon!