Happy Valentine’s Day from the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition! Keep reading to join the celebration of bicycle love stories that have taken place within our coalition and our larger community.

A Ride to the County Building

SVBC Executive Director Shiloh Ballard and her husband Dan have been friends since childhood and bicycling partners throughout the entirety of their decades-long relationship. Together, they rode their bicycles to request their marriage license, and rode back home with cyclist visibility leg wraps in place of rings. She says:

“We had been happily unmarried for 20 years but on our 20 year anniversary, we rode our bikes up the trail to the County building and fifteen minutes later, we were married. We rode home and he went back to playing video games and messing around in the kitchen. We still don't have wedding rings and prefer the bike pantleg bands as a much more functional demonstration of our love for each other.”

A Tandem Bike for Life

For our Program Manager Tim Oey, biking has been foundational for his shared life with his wife, Patty. Among our staff, Tim is notorious for having been on multiple bicycling adventures — but the greatest journey by bike for him has been marriage. From Tim:

“When we met my friends warned Patty that I loved to bike (I was the VP of Rides with the Charles River Wheelers in Boston at the time). She got her first serious bike while we were dating and we became engaged on the last day of a 2 week bike tour from Boston to Montreal and back. We have biked throughout our marriage and have done 5 bike tours together in Europe with our kids. In the US, we now ride a tandem bike that is a recumbent in front for Patty and an upright captain position for me in back so we both can have a great view.”

Long Bike Rides on the Beach

Our Administrative Manager Deanna Chevas and her partner John use biking and car-free adventures as the launchpad for creative ways to spend quality time together. Deanna shares a picture of her and John bicycling on vacation together, saying:

“In this picture we are at a resort in Mexico that is car-free. We rode down to the shore one day to kayak and snorkel in the warm lovely sea.

John and I love to bike to dates. Wherever we live, we have used our bikes to ride to dinner or brunch dates. Now that we are in San Jose we are also exploring the city and the many trails by bike.”

Do you have a bicycle love story of your own?

Share it with us by emailing svbc@bikesiliconvalley.org - we want to hear about how biking and access to bicycling opportunities has made an impact in your life and strengthened your most important relationships!