SeeCalifornia.com

May is National Bike Month, established in 1956 to promote riding bicycles.  Though a Travel Channel columnist ranked only two cities in California as bike friendly (San Francisco #6, and Long Beach #23,) among the top in the nation,  Californians would beg to differ. In a week AMGEN Tour of California will pass through dozens of cities in the state bringing one of the world’s biggest bike races and top athletes to the Golden State. California deserves much credit for hosting this event.

In addition to that, nearly every major city in California has developed and filed a bike master plan with goals to increase bike opportunities and safety.  Many cities are encouraging cyclists ride to festivals and events to save money and lighten impacts on local roads. Californians are seeing more & more bicycle valets, free services to park your bike. L.A.’s South Bay, Huntington Beach, Berkeley and many other popular destinations are offering this amenity at special events to encourage locals and tourists to come on bikes.

California was one of the first states in the nation to create bike lanes and just recently San Diego and Los Angeles held events in which the streets were closed to motorized traffic for a day so bicyclists could enjoy riding car-free.  UC Davis campus is off-limits to cars so students typically take bikes to class. It’s no wonder they call it Bike City. There are more bicycles per capita than any city in the nation, and Davis houses the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame (usbhof.org).

With the price of gasoline so high, bicycling looks more appealing each day.