Movers and Shakers ride report

Today is Bike to Work Day in the San Francisco Bay Area, and we make a pretty big deal out of it. I joined this morning’s downtown San Jose VIP ride of city and county officials. Besides bike advocates like you and I, the usual crew of avid cyclists showed up, including San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, Santa Clara County Supervisor Ken Yeager, City of San Jose Deputy City Manager Kim Walesh, VTA GM Nuria Fernandez, and others.

I was happy to see San Jose 3rd District Council Member Raul Peralez make an appearance during his second annual car-free May, in which he challenges himself, his family, and his staff to go without a car for the month of May. I was also pleased to see Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez make what I believe is her first appearance at a Bike to Work Day event. She’s in the gray top in this photo, next to Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition Director Shiloh Ballard.

County Super Cindy Chavez w/ Shiloh Ballard

50 or so people gathered at MLK Library in downtown San Jose for this ride up the Guadalupe River Trail to North San Jose. That number dwindled to fewer than 30 by the time we got to Trimble Road as people peeled off to their various destinations.

Thank you to VTA and the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition for organizing this Movers & Shakers Ride.

FlyBys

Many of you know I log my rides to Strava. Strava allows you to find others who biked past you with their “Flyby” tool. Normally, I see seven to ten of these “Flybys” during a morning commute, which means of the dozen or so people I might see during the commute, seven to ten logged their rides to Strava and made their rides public.

This morning, I had 57 Flybys, of which three were people on this Movers and Shakers Ride.

57 Strava FlyBys BTWD 2016

Some of my online friends who use Strava report they see similar big differences between their typical vs BTWD Flyby numbers.

I guess Bike to Work Day really can encourage people to try a bike commute at least one day of the year.

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