​Over 3,600 Bay Area Riders Participated In Bike To Work Day 2020

BAY AREA, CA — More than 3,600 riders across the Bay Area participated in this year's Bike to Work Day 2020, matching previous years' numbers, organizers said.

Originally planned for May 14, the event was rescheduled to Sept. 24 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in hopes that individuals would be resuming their normal work activities.

Because of people's inability to resume normal working schedules, the event was renamed Bike to Wherever Day, and was managed online, with riders tracking their miles, competing for prizes and more via the online Love to Ride platform.

Prizes included plane tickets provided by Alaska Airlines, Timbuk2 bike bags, a Surly Pugsley bike frameset, gear and gift certificates from local bike shops, bicycle gear from Patagonia and Marin County Bicycle Coalition, laminated trail maps from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, and more.

Riders were encouraged to ride their bicycles not only to work, but to parks, to run errands, or other activities.

Despite the poor air quality due to fires in and around the Bay Area, participants from every Bay Area County participated in the event, with the number of participants on par with numbers from previous years.

A friendly competition between the organizers of the event took place, based on distance and number of people encouraged to ride, with the Marin County Bicycle Coalition taking first place, Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition pedaling into second, and the board of the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition riding into third.

Overall, adjusted for population, Santa Clara County had the largest percentage of riders, followed by San Mateo, Marin, San Francisco and Alameda counties.

"Even with the challenges, Bay Area residents got out and showed how important biking is, said Scott Hagerty, MTC chair and Alameda County supervisor. "It bodes well for biking as an everyday mode for people to get to destinations, which helps reduce greenhouses gases, while improving physical and mental health."

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