Some rode top-of-the-line cruiser bikes. Others rode refurbished old clunkers. Some hauled panniers full of equipment and work clothes. One hauled a burly dog in her bike trailer.
Participants in Bike to Work Day, part of the 24th annual Santa Cruz County Bike Week, formed a large and enthusiastic group on Thursday, ranging from teenagers to AARP members. They took part in a festive community day that promotes healthy living, diminishes stress, and cuts down on auto emissions.
"Our motto for this season is ‘A Well-Rounded Commute,’" said UCSC alumna Hannah Hodgson, who works for Ecology Action, the private nonprofit environmental group that is hosting the Santa Cruz County Bike Week in conjunction with UCSC’s Transportation and Parking Services (TAPS.)
"When you bike, you’re out in the community," said Hodgson, who was volunteering at the Bike to Work table in front of New Leaf Community Market’s Westside store on Fair Avenue in Santa Cruz. "You are more aware of your neighbors. You’re another familiar face. You’re removing cars from the road, and reducing emissions."
The market was mobbed. At 8:45 a.m. Thursday, more than 50 bicyclists were snacking, drinking coffee, and listening to live acoustic music. Some had free bike tune-ups courtesy of employees from the nearby Another Bike Shop on Mission Street.
Bike To Work Day is the cornerstone of the Bike Week program, which emphasizes safety, community and fun.
With this goal in mind, organizers set up breakfast stations from 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. throughout the Santa Cruz area, including several stations located on or close to the UCSC campus.
One station, at UCSC’s Seymour Discovery Center at Long Marine Lab, offered hot whole-grain apple-cinnamon swirl bread, preservative-free bagels, organic cream cheese, sage honey, Odwalla orange juice, and coffee to participants.
The Seymour Center station drew biking enthusiasts including Shivano Ross. She works in information technology services, serving as tech lead for University Relations at UC Santa Cruz, but when it comes to commuting, she prefers a low-tech method: the vintage 1970s Gitane bike she plucked from a Dumpster.
"There was a big neighborhood clean-up," Ross said. "People were taking stuff out of their basements."
After rescuing the bike, she patched it up a bit, wrapping the handlebars and changing the brakes.
Since then, she’s had many bike-commuting adventures with that hardy Gitane. Once, during a busy summer day, she rode her bike from her offices on Delaware Avenue to Pleasure Point. Her friend drove a Prius on the same route.
"I got there first," Ross said. "There was all kinds of traffic that day, but I just zipped right through. I passed so many cars."
