Hopedance

by Lisa Quinn

Bike Month was a celebration in San Luis Obispo County and nationally of human-powered vehicle transportation. The campaign encouraged people of all ages and abilities to ride bicycles to their destinations instead of driving. Perhaps you heard a Bike Month radio announcement, saw a banner, or read an article that piqued your curiosity to “Shift Gears.” Or maybe you noticed the increase in bikes on the road cycling to work, school, church, library or market. Whether it was the gas prices or the motivation to improve health, it didn’t matter. Folks were inspired to leave their car keys at home and hop on their bicycle.

Captains for the Commuter Bike Challenge created teams of 4-10 people countywide. The teams counted miles and trips and tracked their results against others. So, how did they do?  Collectively, the 368 participants took 12,003 trips and rode 43,254 miles, saving 2,060 gallons of gasoline. You can breathe easy knowing their efforts were equivalent to taking 1,500 cars off our roadways for just one day! If you were one of the participants, you know you were riding in good company, with 39 executives who pledged to take the Commuter Bike Challenge.

The Bike Month, developed by SLO Regional Rideshare and its pod members, provided over 20 biking events throughout May, including the Community Bike Happening in San Luis Obispo and North County’s first Family Freewheeling Fun night.  Both events included a Bike-In Movie. Other happenings drew cyclists to the Blessing of the Bikes, Bike Breakfast on the Blvd, Bike Fest and the second annual HopeDance Bike Film Festival.

Always a favorite, this year’s HopeDance Bike Film Festival included the Amateur Bike Shorts. A full house of bike enthusiasts were treated to 90 minutes of 10-minute or less bike shorts that energized and motivated people to ditch their car and ride and just possibly inspired people to make their own film for next year’s festival. The films were reviewed by 14 filmmakers from New York, Arizona, and San Luis Obispo. The winners were Danny, Cody & Russell from San Luis Obispo for their film Cars Suck & Bikes are Better. The winners received $150 from Gaia Graphics & HopeDance.

SLO Regional Rideshare gave out seven mini-grants of $100 to organizations for projects ranging from supplying a Bike Valet at an event, to providing incentives to students who ride to school. Santa Margarita held its first “Biking School Bus” event, which attracted more than 50 students who rode along a designated route to the park for a pancake breakfast and random drawings. Other schools, including Paso Robles High and Laguna Middle School, received a $100 grant to use for prize drawings. While to some, driving to school might be considered a right of passage, Paso Robles teacher Mark DiMaggio, who cycles from Cambria to Paso Robles, made bicycling the better way to go. He doubled the grant dollars from a local pizza shop and K-Man Cyclery.

Take a look at what Hawthorne Elementary in San Luis Obispo did to promote cycling and walking to school. Two parents, Rod Hoadley and Bonnie McKee, gathered a handful of other parents, the principal, and community groups and used Bike Month as an opportunity to launch their Safe Routes to School program. The national movement to enable and encourage elementary- and middle-school children to walk and bicycle to school engaged 61% of Hawthorne’s students who arrived in walking or biking groups, used carpools, rode skateboards or scooters, or the bus. The number of cars dropping off students was greatly reduced. These students were welcomed by volunteers on Fridays and awarded for their efforts with a “jewel” displayed on their classroom door. The new Safe Routes to School Program enriched the quality of the children’s lives and benefited the community by reducing traffic congestion, improving air quality and enhancing neighborhood safety.  Community partners included the City of San Luis Obispo, the Air Pollution Control District and SLO Regional Rideshare. Hawthorne will be ready to start the program again in the fall and will add School Pool (a carpool matching program for parents) developed by SLO Regional Rideshare.

As a part of Bike to Work & School Week, May 14-18, twenty-two local coffee houses throughout the county provided free coffee and a Bike Month T-shirt. Alongside events during this week was the infamous “Make the Grade Ride.” Cyclists were riding with Jim Patterson, Board of Supervisor and Ron DeCarli, Executive Director of San Luis Obispo Council of Governments.

Half of the cyclists who took part of the Commuter Bike Challenge were new to cycling. While Bike Month got them going, it’s their own free will that keeps them motivated to continue making cycling the best part of their day. For more information call 781-1385 or visit www.rideshare.org/bikemonth .


Lisa Quinn is the Program Coordinator for SLO Regional Rideshare. Lisa has over 10 years of experience in the transportation field. Most of her experience comes from the Pacific Northwest most recently in Vancouver, Canada working for a nonprofit developing sustainable transportation programs throughout the Greater Vancouver Region. She can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .