A looming threat of rain was not enough to dissuade a number of Petalumans from taking part on Thursday, May 14, in Bike to Work Day, an annual event held throughout the country to encourage and raise awareness of commuting by bicycle.
Riders from as far away as San Francisco stopped by a Walnut Park “energizer station” for snacks and coffee, shrugging off the patches of clouds gathering in the morning sky.
“Even though there was a threat of rain, I wanted to come out and support the cause,” said Steve Newell, a Petaluma resident who said he regularly commutes by bicycle to his job off South McDowell Boulevard.
There were 65 riders who stopped by the station this year, said Karen Langdon, a communications specialist for Kaiser Permanente, who has volunteered on behalf of the company at the location for several years.
Riders mingled and swapped stories of their commutes, with many picking up the canvas “musette” bag that Langdon said has become a coveted souvenir each year.
While describing herself as an avid recreational cyclist, Mary Bardell, of Santa Rosa, said that Bike to Work Day was her first pedal-powered attempt at her Petaluma commute.
“It was good. Lots of traffic, but good,” said Bardell, who rode in via Petaluma Hill Road, a popular cycling route.
Some riders said they’ve been encouraged to take up bicycle commuting on a regular basis after recent improvements to the region’s cycling infrastructure, including the 2014 completion of a bike path and frontage road connecting San Antonio Road south of Petaluma and Novato along Highway 101.
Previously, riders between the two cities would either have to tackle a hilly detour into western Marin County or ride on a permitted shoulder on the highway itself.
“I’ve been biking to work about once a week,” said Petaluma resident Nancy Moock, who travels the new route to work at Birkenstock’s offices in northern Marin.
The new stretch is considered part of the multi-use pathway planned as a component of the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit project. Gary Helfrich, executive director of the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition, said his group is watching closely for a timeline of completion for the pathway.
“There are people who are more excited about the trail than the train,” he said.
Sipping a cup of coffee at the rest stop, Newell agreed.
“I’m looking forward to the day when I can hop on a bike path and ride down to San Rafael without ever having to deal with a car,” he said.
For Petaluma, Helfrich said that extending the crosstown Lynch Creek Trail across the SMART tracks to connect with Lakeville Street will be a major boost for local bicycle travel. The trail currently dead-ends at the tracks behind the Clover Stornetta facility off of Lakeville Street.
Helfrich said he expected Bike to Work Day participation to roughly match last year’s 3,200 riders.
Touting a bicycle helmet augmented with large Viking horns, Becky Schuerman Choi was on hand to lead a group of students from Valley Vista Elementary on a one-mile ride to school.
It was the second such event for Schuerman Choi, a former bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure planner with a child at Valley Vista. Nearly half of the school’s students took part in a “Bike and Roll” event in October, she said.
“We call ourselves ‘The Biking Vikings,’” she said with a smile, noting the school’s Viking mascot.
(Contact Eric Gneckow at eric.gneckow@arguscourier.com.)
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