By Elizabeth Cloutman

Local cyclist group celebrates, participates in Bay Area Bike to Work Day

It was a beautiful spring morning last Thursday, but the weather wasn’t the main reason there were more than the usual number of bicyclists pedaling through residential streets and along Foothill Expressway. Thursday was the eighth annual Bay Area Bike to Work Day, meant to encourage commuters to cycle to their jobs as a healthy, environmentally friendly alternative to driving.

For the first time, some members of the Los Altos Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee began the day by offering food and drinks to passing cyclists at an Energizer Station in Lincoln Park. According to committee member Curt Riffle, theirs was among 156 Energizer Stations throughout Bay Area counties. Draeger’s, Peet’s Coffee, Le Boulanger and the Cookie Cafe donated food and drinks, including fresh fruit, juice, coffee, breads and pastries to the station.

RIDES for Bay Area Commuters, Inc., a publicly funded service that arranges car pools, donated commemorative canvas bags and decals to all the stations. The city sent Larry Lind, an associate engineer in the public works department, as a staff liaison to the station.

Bike to Work Day and the Energizer Station appear to have been a success in the Los Altos area. “We had 43 cyclists stop by our station from 6:30-9 a.m. (and) heard several comments that people thought it was one of the nicest stations they had seen,” Riffle said. “Since we only expected about 20-25 cyclists, we are very pleased by our first attempt.”

Riffle estimated another 100 cyclists on their way to work or school pedaled down Foothill Expressway past the station without stopping - a pleasing sight.

Committee members who helped at the Energizer Station included Riffle, Scott Vanderlip, Cathy Kearns, Bill Crook and Carl Hagenmeier. Avid Los Altos cyclist Peter Mills also helped out.

The Los Altos Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, which Vanderlip founded, has been an advocate for cycling and better bike routes in the area for the past six years.

Although the committee has no official connection with the city government, Lind said members offered their knowledge and valuable suggestions as city staff spent two years developing the Los Altos Bicycle Transportation Plan, adopted by the city council April 23. The plan is the first step toward receiving federal funding to develop up to 24 new bike routes through the city. The city plans to use the funds to hire a consultant to do a conceptual layout of the new routes.

“The committee was instrumental in developing ideas, including locations for recreational routes and additional bike racks, making the city even more bike-friendly,” Lind said.