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Official Bike To Work Day
May. 12th, 2011 08:59 pmHas come and gone.
Commuting at the time of day that I do, I didn't figure any of the "energizer stations" would be open. Besides, my time windows for getting to work on time mean not loitering. Saw two more riders than usual on the ride to Fruitvale station, both men, both opting to ride on the sidewalk across the bridge. You know, the one that has signs posted saying not to ride bikes on the sidewalk.
Saw maybe two or three different bike riders on the platform, and there may have been more bikes on more BART cars, but couldn't tell for sure. There was at least one more muttering weird guy, however.
To my astonishment, there was an energizer station set up and functioning just outside the turnstiles at the San Leandro BART. I eschewed the coffee and pastry - like I said, I have eleven minutes to get from the station to my desk - and collected an "I biked to BART" sticker which didn't stick terribly well to my fleece jacket and a more-or-less useless canvas musette bag. Said bag has a very long strap for cross body slingage, is open topped with no way to close it and too small to carry much. It was found to contain a Clif Bar*, a tiny little tire patch kit, and a bunch of literature on being green and healthy and granolacrunchyawesome in the Bay Area. (*I read the ingredients and seriously, I'd just as soon have an apple or something.) There was also a raffle entry form which will have to go into the mail as there was nowhere to drop it off on my return run in the afternoon.
There was a raffle by our company's "green committee" just before lunch. Despite the fact that I was the only person on the property actually locked up at our cheesy little bike rack, there were probably ten people who showed up for the raffle. (I spotted at least one bike parked in the owner's cubicle on my way to the mail room in the main building, who knows where the rest got stored. Though riding mass transit also qualified one for a ticket whether bikes were involved or not.) I won no swag, (water bottles, gift certificates for a local deli or a bike shop), however, folks have noticed the recent appearance of a spiffy little two tone vintage bike parked at the back of the building several days a week and there were several positive, "Oh, that's YOURS?" comments.
Saw no additional bikes on the road or the platform, though I did have to walk Mimi toward the back of the BART to find a car that had space for her, indicating a few more bikers taking that route. Saw precisely two strange bikes on the Alameda leg going home, one a guy who was carrying something large in front of him and moving slowly ahead of me, the other, a tiny middle aged Asian woman on a cruiser with wicker pannier baskets.
Despite the whining on the Chronicle's bike blog about "amateur hour," I didn't see any massed hordes of newbies on bikes. Granted, my rides are between 6:15-7:00 AM and 4:00-4:45 PM.
Commuting at the time of day that I do, I didn't figure any of the "energizer stations" would be open. Besides, my time windows for getting to work on time mean not loitering. Saw two more riders than usual on the ride to Fruitvale station, both men, both opting to ride on the sidewalk across the bridge. You know, the one that has signs posted saying not to ride bikes on the sidewalk.
Saw maybe two or three different bike riders on the platform, and there may have been more bikes on more BART cars, but couldn't tell for sure. There was at least one more muttering weird guy, however.
To my astonishment, there was an energizer station set up and functioning just outside the turnstiles at the San Leandro BART. I eschewed the coffee and pastry - like I said, I have eleven minutes to get from the station to my desk - and collected an "I biked to BART" sticker which didn't stick terribly well to my fleece jacket and a more-or-less useless canvas musette bag. Said bag has a very long strap for cross body slingage, is open topped with no way to close it and too small to carry much. It was found to contain a Clif Bar*, a tiny little tire patch kit, and a bunch of literature on being green and healthy and granolacrunchyawesome in the Bay Area. (*I read the ingredients and seriously, I'd just as soon have an apple or something.) There was also a raffle entry form which will have to go into the mail as there was nowhere to drop it off on my return run in the afternoon.
There was a raffle by our company's "green committee" just before lunch. Despite the fact that I was the only person on the property actually locked up at our cheesy little bike rack, there were probably ten people who showed up for the raffle. (I spotted at least one bike parked in the owner's cubicle on my way to the mail room in the main building, who knows where the rest got stored. Though riding mass transit also qualified one for a ticket whether bikes were involved or not.) I won no swag, (water bottles, gift certificates for a local deli or a bike shop), however, folks have noticed the recent appearance of a spiffy little two tone vintage bike parked at the back of the building several days a week and there were several positive, "Oh, that's YOURS?" comments.
Saw no additional bikes on the road or the platform, though I did have to walk Mimi toward the back of the BART to find a car that had space for her, indicating a few more bikers taking that route. Saw precisely two strange bikes on the Alameda leg going home, one a guy who was carrying something large in front of him and moving slowly ahead of me, the other, a tiny middle aged Asian woman on a cruiser with wicker pannier baskets.
Despite the whining on the Chronicle's bike blog about "amateur hour," I didn't see any massed hordes of newbies on bikes. Granted, my rides are between 6:15-7:00 AM and 4:00-4:45 PM.
