Bike to Work Day in the San Francisco Bay Area has seen an increase in bicycle traffic on Bike to Work Day this year by 20%. The increase of interest in bike commuting and active transportation in the Bay Area is evident in the numbers of riders on this sunny spring day.
Energizer Stations in Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo, Marin, Sonoma, Solano, San Francisco, Santa Clara, and Napa counties were ready with coffee, reusable canvas bags and staffed with encouraging volunteers were bustling with bike commuters in the early morning hours. Bike riders and key elected officials, including a record number of East Bay Mayors headed to work on bicycles. Mayors Quan (Oakland) and Bates (Berkeley), Mayor Gayle McCaughlin (Richmond), Mayor Farid Javendal (Albany), Mayor John Chiang (Piedmont), Mayor Jennifer West (Emeryville), Mayor Stephen Cassidy (San Leandro), Mayor Mark Green (Union City), and Mayor Tim Sbranti (Dublin) all rode this morning. In San Francisco, MTC Commissioners David Campos and Scott Weiner joined nine of their colleagues on the Board of Supervisors in bicycling to the San Francisco Civic Center.
Echoing the sentiments of riders across the Bay Area, Dr. Todd Weizenberg, Director of Sports Medicine at Kaiser Permanente in Santa Rosa said, "Exercise is the prescription to a better life. Exercise on a regular basis can increase your mood, allow you to sleep better, improve your memory and concentration and decrease the chances of developing a chronic disease. Essentially, if you exercise more, and cycling is a great way to do it, you will live longer and have a better quality of life."
Other National Bike Month programs are receiving attention, including Bike Commuter of the Year (BCOY) awards. A person in each of the nine Bay Area counties is recognized for their dedication to riding their bike for everyday transportation. They are a testament to the benefits of bicycle commuting: from improving their health to bringing families together. Nominations were accepted, evaluated and awarded by each county’s Bike to Work Day representative. The 2012 winners of the Bike Commuter of the Year award include: Kara Vuicich of Alameda County, a mom that transports her kids to school by bike; Curtis Corlew of Contra Costa, a college professor known by his bike; Terry Seaton of Marin County, an avid cyclist with her dog Lucy as her co-pilot; Dolores Chrisco of Napa County, an every day bike commuter that doesn’t shy away from inclement weather; Selena Kyle of San Francisco County, a lawyer that promotes everyday biking; Paul Mernyk of San Mateo County, an everyman bicyclist that inspires others with his enthusiasm; Ian Emmons of Santa Clara County lives a fun, car-free lifestyle; Tom Crowl of Solano County, enjoys saving money at the pumps, one ride at a time; and Pauli Frey of Sonoma County, a friendly cyclist that logs over 200 miles a week.
Team Bike Challenge, presented by Chipotle, a friendly competition to increase bicycling mileage throughout the month has seen an increase of over 25% participation and a 30% increase of actual mileage biked from 2011.
The success of Bike to Work Day 2012 and its associated programs bodes well for the rest of National Bike Month in May and makes the wait for next year’s Bike to Work Day seem even further away than Thursday May 9, 2013.
Bike to Work Day 2012 is presented by 511.org, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and Kaiser Permanente, with additional support from Bay Area Air Quality Management District, Beyond Pix Studios, Clif Bar, Chipotle, Adobe, Typekit, REI, and Bike MS.
The Bike Commuter of the Year (BCOY) award recipients are recognized for their dedication to riding their bike for everyday transportation. They are a testament to the many benefits of bicycle commuting: from improving their health to bringing families together. Nominations were accepted, evaluated and awarded by each county’s Bike to Work Day representative. Here are the 2012 winners of the Bike Commuter of the Year Award. Many of the Awards will be presented at an event on Bike to Work Day. Check your local Bicycle Coalition for after work events.
Congratulations to all the Bike Commuter of the Year winners!
Obstacles like rain or transporting children might cause others to hang up their helmets and reach for their car keys, but transportation planner Kara Vuicich of Albany keeps on pedaling. When it pours, she dons her raincoat, rain pants, and waterproof boots and bicycles as usual to ride to the BART, says David Radwin, Kara's husband. Her whole family gets into the act. She takes her three children to school and other activities on the back of her extra-long bicycle and bicycles to the grocery store and for other errands. Even being pregnant was no deterrent—a few years ago she bicycled until the very last day before starting her maternity leave. In her work, she promotes bicycling and other alternative transportation modes including walking, transit, and carpooling. She works with public agencies and private organizations to make these alternative modes faster, safer, efficient, and more pleasant. Day in and day out, Kara proves that there is no excuse not to take your bicycle.
Contra Costa County : Curtis Corlew
12 years ago, after becoming huge, Curtis got back on his road bike to join his wife their respective commutes to work. After 12 years of bike commuting, using a car to get to work is a very rare occasion. Curtis teaches Graphic Design at Los Medanos College in Pittsburg, where everyone knows him by his bicycle and ask him for advice on purchasing a commuter bike, bike routes, and bicycle trips. Bike commuting morphed into vacation cycling: he and his wife cycled Oregon, Washington, Canada, Idaho Montana and Wyoming last summer. Curtis's life has changed for the better because he started riding his bike to work.
Marin County : Terry Seaton
Terry leaves her home at 4:30AM, layers on, helmet and light, and bikes to work. She is active in getting others to bike to work too. Cycling to work is a daily activity, not just a yearly event. She has a car, but who would know it! Terry departs from West Corte Madera and makes her way on bike paths and well lit roads to Kaiser in Terra Linda where she works. Terry has taken action to keep herself safe by attending MCBC’s Basic Bike Skills class, wearing her helmet at all times, and sports an orange safety vest for visibility by motorists. When she’s not commuting to work, look for Terry bicycling through the towns in Marin with her dog Lucy, who happily rides in the back basket.
Rain or shine, day shift or evening, Dolores Chrisco rides her bike to work, a 15 mile round trip. Though she faces high winds, torrential rains, heat waves and distracted motorists, Dolores has made a long-term commitment to save energy and to "Go Green." She doesn't have a fancy bike and isn't an overt advocate for cycling. She knows the benefits to her health, the health of our community and acts independently. Dolores is a welcome role model who encourages others when they enquire and has helped to bring on additional commuters simply by her actions.
As a lawyer at a nonprofit environmental firm, Selena often has to carry boxes of paperwork for her job, but that never stops her. Selena commutes every day to work regardless of weather, inspiring others by being a safe, courteous rider. Selena is a true bicycle ambassador!
For the past three consecutive years, Paul Mernyk has been cycling to work. It doesn’t matter what the weather is like, Paul rides to work in rain, wind or shine and he does this every single day of the year. Paul is the everyman bicycle enthusiast. He rides his bike to the Palo Alto Caltrain Station, travels by train to the Hillsdale Station, then cycles the rest of the way to work. On the way home, he cycles the entire 15 miles from Foster City to Palo Alto Paul is helping to lead the first ever Bike to Work Day at Rearden Commerce and will help map routes, conduct a Bike Safety Clinic and get the rest of the company excited about bicycling. Paul may not be the “overachiever” cycling champion; he’s the “everyman” bicycle enthusiast. He’s humbly doing his part to consistently help the planet and inspire his fellow co-workers and community. "
Ian Emmons commutes exclusively by bicycle. Rain or shine, he always makes his ten-mile round-trip commute by bike. In addition, he embraces the car-free lifestyle by using pedal power to get around no matter what his errands require. “There’s a ton of great reasons to ride a bike but mine are pretty selfish,” says Ian. “I ride first and foremost for fun, followed by all the money we save by only having one car. After that, the health benefits are pretty awesome. Anything else is just gravy.” Ian is also active in many bicycling-related causes. He repairs bicycles at the SVBC Bicycle Exchange and is a volunteer with San José Bike Party, where he inspires non-riders to get off the couch and ride and helps educate new riders in navigating the roads safely and legally. He believes “The best way to encourage cycling is to show people how fun and safe it can be.” Ian has also led teams in building bikes at the annual Turning Wheels for Kids event, and he's recruited volunteers for numerous other bicycling-related charity events.
Tom works at Genentech in Vacaville and rides his bike just about every day to and from work. The only days he does not ride is when there is torrential rain. He uses his bike on errands and will ride to and from home for lunch. Tom is fortunate that he lives close by Genentech. He has logged over 93,000 miles on his bike since 1987 and logs around 2500 miles every year. Tom says biking has saved him at least one new car and over 3000 gallons of gasoline in the past 25 years. While he does not ride an extreme distance to and from work, his consistency is impressive.
Sonoma County : Pauli Frey
Pauli Frey is committed to biking not only to work, but everywhere he goes – regardless of the weather! He has not owned a car for about 15 years. Pauli commutes from Sebastopol to Petaluma to work with kids with learning disabilities THEN commutes from Petaluma to Northwest Santa Rosa to work in a bike shop before going home to Sebastopol, easily logging 220 commute miles a week. Pauli is that friendly cyclist that you see on the streets and paths that will wave to you every day even if you pretend to ignore him. He will stop to make sure you have everything you need if your bike is broken down even if he's running late. Pauli puts his heart into cycling and encourages everyone he meets to get on a bike and ride. For several years, Pauli has organized and motivated a team for Team Bike Challenge. Commutes every day to work regardless of the weather, logging 220 miles a week on the commute alone! In addition Pauli spends one morning a week running a Bike Club at a small school for at-risk teens with disabilities, teaching basic bicycle care & maintenance along with the environmental and health benefits of riding. He also donated bike so the teens could build them up. Beyond commuting, Pauli is an avid recreational rider, and mentors Isaiah, an 11 year-old member of the Team Swift race development team.
Matt works four blocks from where he lives, but bikes to work daily.
"I like to have my bike because I like to take it out during my lunch break so that I can ride further outside the neighborhood, just to explore my food options."
I try to ride as much as I can. My commuter bike is out of commission at the moment. This is a GT Track bike.
I moved up here from Los Angeles about 10 months ago. Commuting there by bike is almost non-existent because you need to travel far, the roads there are dilapidated/ aren’t set up with bike lanes, and just traffic in general.
My work encourages bike commuting by providing bike storage.
Featuring Rebecca Dharmapalan, Jaz and Mixman Shawn
Director: Tony Welch
The San Francisco Bay Area’s 18th Annual Bike to Work Day’s video is being broadcast to 2M+ Twitter Followers. Produced by award-winning Beyond Pix and Emmy award winning director, Tony Welch, the video is aimed at spreading the word about bicycling in the Bay and will encourage more riders to participate in the annual Bike to Work Day which attracts hundreds of thousands of riders annually and will be held on May 10, 2012. This promotional piece is a three minute music video called ‘The Cycle Beat’ which blends a soft pop song with rap.
‘The Cycle Beat’ was created as a part of the San Francisco Bay Area's annual Bike to Work Day which involves all nine Bay Area counties and is part of National Bike Month. Bike to Work Day couldn’t happen without the generous support of our sponsors. Bike to Work 2012 is presented by 511.org, Metropolitan Transportation Commission and Kaiser Permanente with generous additional support by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, Chipotle, Clif Bars, Beyond Pix, REI, TypeKit, Adobe, BikeMS and the Bay Area Bicycle Coalition.
Twitter @biketoworksfbay
#SFbiketowork
Credits:
DirectorTony Welch
Executive Producers Ray Santiago & Diana Rohini LaVigne
EditorTony Welch
Producer Danielle Cheifetz
Director of Photography Sean Karlin
Gaffer Patrick Wong
GripIan Micklewright
Camera OperatorJeremy Widen
Camera OperatorRobert Fitzgerald
Production AssistantsLaura Hart &
Ragini Momi
Media Manager Woody Griffin
Cast
Main Artist Giju John
DJ Mixman Shawn
SingerRebecca Dharmapalan
RapperJaz Mueller
Special Guest AppearanceVeronica Belmont
Bike Sales RepAndrew Chagaris
Bike Shopper Chris Baty
Helmet Shopper Darya Pino
Businessman Rider Evan Bailyn
Cycling ChampFaye Steiner
Group BicyclistJoseph Steinberger
Trick Rider Joh Rathbun
Trick Rider Jorge Luzuriage
Bike Demo Specialist John-Paul Rutledge
Bike ShopperLadiie V
Bike ShopperMaggie Mason
Trick Rider Michael J. Henry
Trick Rider Nick Chiaverini
Bike Rickshaw Rider Paulo Serna
Group Bicyclist Patricia Benson
Group Bicyclist Robert Prinz
Bike Shopper Ragini Momi
Bike Shopper Sheetal Doshi
Bike Sales RepSam Salzeider
Bike Sales Rep Tommy Nguyen
Group Bicyclist Tammy Camp
Music
Recording ArtistGiju John
Music Producer Mixman Shawn
Vocals Rebecca Dharmapalan
Rap Artist Jaz
MasteringKosta Cross
LyricsDiana Rohini LaVigne
Rap Lyrics Jaz
Studio Courtesy of The Diamond Lane Records
CastingDiana Rohini LaVigne
Casting Assistants
Mai Le
Kim Baenisch
JP Rutledge
Ken Nishimura
Bill Brier
Fel Phillip
Locations
Mike’s Bikes of San Francisco
Crocker Amazon Park
Golden Gate Park
Marina Green Park
Special Thank you
Andrew Casteel
Agi Wojciechowska
AJ Singh
Davin Pukulis
Erin Hagstrom
Heather Gold
Hamsa Ramesha
Jacqueline Dharmapalan
Kristen Nolan
Loic Le Meur
Lexi Baugher
Mark Headley
Noah Kravitz
Pete Brandt
Raj Mathai
Vikramaditya Gupta
Diamond Lane Records
Fremont Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC)
Golden Gate Pedicab
Marin County Bicycle Coalition
North Bay BMX (Napa)
No bicycles were harmed in the making of this video.
Twitter @biketoworksfbay
