What’s even better than riding your bicycle on a warm summer evening around Pasadena’s beautiful neighborhoods?
For Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition, that’s riding with a group – and ending with food and drink! And they’re doing just that for three summer nights with the vone set for Saturday, July 23, at 6:30 p.m.
Summer Night Rides begin at Pasadena’s Central Park and end at a local eatery at around 9 p.m.
“People really enjoyed the bike rides we hosted during Pasadena Bike Month so we wanted to continue that. Saturday’s ride is the first of three Summer Night Rides that we are hosting,” said Topher Mathers, who has been with Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition for over half a decade.
“The point of the rides is to have fun, create community, and enjoy our warm summer ,nights together and of course, to ride bikes.”
Summer Night Rides is great for beginners, Mathers said. It’s about a 10 mile ride with just a little bit of climbing.
“It’s a free community bike ride, so anyone who wants to ride their bicycle with us is encouraged to join,” he said.
Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition is an all volunteer-run organization of Pasadena residents who advocate for the Complete Streets concept where streets are designed for safety first and for people of all ages and abilities to walk on, scoot, skate, bike, drive and use public transportation on.
The group is currently advocating for the Pasadena Greenways project, which will designate four North/South residential streets in the city “Greenways” that will support all forms of mobility: El Molino Avenue, from Atchison Street to Bonita Drive; Wilson Avenue, from Washington Blvd. to California Blvd.; Sierra Bonita Avenue, from Washington Blvd. to Colorado Blvd.; and Craig Avenue from Orange Grove Blvd. to Del Mar Blvd.
“They are supposed to be safe neighborhood streets that connect the City north and south,” Mathers said. “We have eight recommendations on how the current designs can be improved, including bringing back safety measures that were previously proposed, but are missing from the current designs. We have a petition with over 400 signatures, and if you’d like to support the Greenways as safe neighborhood streets, please sign our petition.”
The petition is online at www.pasadenacsc.org/greenways-petition.
For this family-friendly summer night bike ride, helmets are required for kids under 18 and recommended for everyone. Bike lights are also advised. You can ride e-bikes as well, Mathers said.
“I’ve definitely noticed an increase in the number of e-bikes in Pasadena,” he said. “It would be great if Pasadena could do something to support the adoption of e-bikes as they are really fun and can really reduce some barriers to bicycle riding.”
Active San Gabriel Valley, where Mathers is also a member, has an e-bike rental debuting soon called GoSGV.
To sign up for Summer Bike Rides, visit www.eventbrite.com/e/summer-night-rides-tickets-382378964777. It’s free to register.
For more information, visit www.pasadenacsc.org.
