We are so excited to honor Chris Parry and his unwavering dedication to making bicycling safer and more accessible for all. As a longtime leader and advocate within the SVBC community, Chris has played a meaningful role in advancing a more bike-friendly future. In recognition of his outstanding contributions and years of service, SVBC is recognizing him with the Wheel award for 2026.

We hope you will all join us to celebrate Chris and his accomplishments at our March 5, 2026, Membership Party!

About Chris

Chris Parry is a tireless bicycle advocate! As a semi-retired lawyer in his 50’s, he enjoys life with his wife with two kids (ages 23 and 14).

He grew up in the 1980s in Alamogordo, New Mexico. If you picture the town from the sitcom “Young Sheldon,” but set it in a desert, that would fairly describe his hometown. As a kid, he often rode his bike to school but stopped cycling as he got older. Chris spent the 1990s attending college and law school in Austin and Boston.

In 2000, he graduated from law school and moved out to Silicon Valley to work at a big law firm. Chris found himself working long hours and stretching his time even further after his kids were born. Like many of us, Chris was having trouble finding any time to exercise.

To use his time more efficiently, he took up bicycle commuting around 17 years ago. By biking to the office, grocery stores, and other destinations, Chris got some free exercise while lowering his carbon footprint. Over the past 17 years, he ratcheted up his level of bicycle commuting. So now, he can bike to destinations as his default mode of transportation – driving only when necessary.

Chris’s Contribution to SVBC and Cycling in Silicon Valley

Around four years ago, there was a fatal collision in Mountain View involving a middle school student who was biking to school. While Mountain View was grieving and trying to process how something like that could happen, Chris heard a pitch from Bruce England (a leader of the Mountain View local team) about SVBC and its efforts to promote safer bicycling. Bruce convinced Chris to join the cause. Ever since, Chris has looked for opportunities to volunteer at SVBC events – doing a mix of everything from tabling to bike parking to ride support.

For the past three years, SVBC’s own Collin Lim has led the organization of the annual Bike to the Future rides. During this time, Chris served as a member of Collin’s planning team, taking on the role of Rest Stop Chair. In this capacity, Chris coordinated rest stop operations across the routes, including volunteer staffing, supply management, and real-time communication with rest stop teams during the event.

What Chris had not realized beforehand is that successful Bike to the Future events require a small army of volunteers. For the Rest Stop function alone, there are all the folks needed to staff each rest stop, plus people to drive and load/unload the supply truck used to shuttle supplies back and forth. And there is a separate team of volunteers who load the supply truck the day before the event. Every year, it follows a similar pattern in staffing, from that initial optimism (“This year, we have it covered”) to the growing feeling of dread as we get closer to the event and realize we are still short-handed. Each year, things somehow manage to come together at the last minute – finding just enough volunteers just in time. Motivated by that sense of responsibility — and the gratitude he feels when challenges are successfully resolved — Chris has remained attentive to opportunities throughout the year where SVBC could benefit from additional volunteer support.

Much of Chris’ volunteering has been with the Mountain View local team. The team has ongoing efforts to promote bicycling at local farmers’ market events and to promote safe bicycling infrastructure. So to combine both, they organized a ride last year to the farmer’s market via the recently built parking-protected bike lanes along California Street. They are looking to continue these sorts of rides in 2026 – to encourage more bicycling commuting to the farmer’s market and to increase bicycling traffic on MV’s protected bike lanes.

The Mountain View and Palo Alto local teams also host an annual Christmas lights ride. Organized by Bruce England (for MV) and Frank Viggiano (for Palo Alto), the ride starts at the MV Caltrain station and heads down to Palo Alto’s Christmas Tree Lane and back. Every year, they’ve seen higher turnout. In 2025, over 150 cyclists showed up on a Saturday night, decked out in lights and filled with Holiday cheer. For these rides, Chris has been part of the ride support team, usually riding sweep or lead.

Chris is always happy to volunteer at SVBC events, most recently focusing on ride support. He has ridden sweeps for Bike Summit rides and supported community rides organized through the El Camino Hospital District and Bay Wheels.

When he is not volunteering or bicycle commuting, Chris is a bicycle wanderer. He owns a Trek 520 touring bike and a Brompton folding bike, which he often brings along when traveling. These days, he typically packs his helmet and relies on local bike-share or short-term rentals.

Chris is always willing to ride just about anywhere. One memorable example: during a family trip, he persuaded everyone to bike along Rome’s Appian Way — he describes it as “an unforgettable experience for me, though my family remembers it differently in the summer heat!”

Over the years, he has experienced a wide range of bicycling infrastructure. While Silicon Valley has made meaningful progress, many areas still lack safe, connected routes for riders of all ages and abilities. That’s why Chris deeply values SVBC’s work advancing safer, more accessible streets for our community.

In recognition of his long-time service to Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition and advancing its mission of making bicycling safe and accessible for everyone, SVBC is recognizing him with the Wheel award for 2026. We hope you will all join us to celebrate Chris and his accomplishments at our March 5, 2026, Membership Party.