Alliance > Media center > People Powered Blog

Entries tagged: Bicycle Tour

Imagine pedaling through dense stands of towering redwoods; cruising along a dramatic, rocky coastline; stopping next to lush vineyards and taking a sun-drenched ride over the Golden Gate Bridge.

It’s not a dream. It’s not a luxury vacation. It’s the Climate Ride — a 320-mile bicycle adventure that raised $300,000 for nonprofits like the Alliance for Biking & Walking.

Now in its fourth year, the Climate Ride was created by Geraldine Carter and Caeli Quinn as a means to leverage their decades of professional experience leading high-end bike trips to raise awareness and funds for climate protection. Since 2008, the ride has engaged hundreds of riders from across the nation who, instead of simply opening their wallets, raise money from friends and colleagues, which is directed to a number of nonprofit groups that work on renewable energy and active transportation issues.

As a participant in the 2011 California Climate Ride this month, I was impressed from the second I showed up in the parking lot to catch the shuttle from San Francisco up to the start of the ride in Fortuna. The riders were a diverse group — from restaurant owners to NRDC attorneys, people who work in greening the music business to a singer who had only ridden a bike 25 times before she got off the plane. But they sure had one thing in common: They were all fired up to pedal a stretch of the most scenic landscape in the U.S. and, along the way, talk shop about how, in our diverse capacities, we can build a more sustainable energy future.

First of all, even for someone who lived and traveled in California as a kid, I was constantly speechless at the incredible beauty of the route:

• The first day we rode through the redwoods, stopping for lunch among the thousand-year-old trees and writing postcards to President Obama under the canopy of the giants.
  
• On day two, we braved a driving rain, conquered the legendary Leggett Hill — a five-mile ascent — and were rewarded with views of the foggy, frothy waves of the Pacific.
  
• On the third day, the route snaked through eucalyptus trees as it hugged the coastline and more than two dozen Climate Riders completed the optional century ride — some tackling the mileage for the first time.
  
• By day four, a mere 50 miles seemed like child’s play, so many lingered amongst the vineyards, sipping the sweet stuff (at 10 a.m.!) at a sustainable winery and sampling oysters beach-side near the entrance to Point Reyes National Seashore.
  
• And on day five, the rain cleared just in time for us to glide over the Golden Gate Bridge with stunning views of the Bay and roll into San Francisco in our matching jersey’s, chanting Climate Ride all the way to city hall.

But the route was really just the sugar on top. The substance of the ride was also about networking and knowledge sharing. All along the way, as we stopped for snacks or relaxed over dinner, I got to know about the personal and professional efforts of countless climate and bicycle advocates. I rode down the Avenue of Giants with a gentleman who rode across the country on an electric-assist recumbent. I listened to an IT consultant talk about Richmond Spokes, a new community bike shop and education space, as we dodged cow patties on a steep ascent through a stretch of farmland. I took every opportunity I could to glean insight from the communications director for 350.org and the media team from Mighty Bytes in Chicago over breakfast and dinner.

Geraldine and crew made that resource sharing and relationship building even easier with evening sessions that allowed riders and supporters to share their work in a more formal setting. We got an insider look at the growth of 1% for the Planet; we got an author’s reading from Farmer Jane: Women Changing the Way We Eat, a book penned by one of the wonderful riders from Team Clif Bar; we even got an intimate concert from singer and ukulele player Victoria Vox, who played on even as a blustery storm blew her tent away out in the campground.

Yes, it rained. A lot. But that just made the enthusiasm, professionalism and — there’s just no other word for it — awesome-ness of the support crew all the more apparent. From Blake and Geraldine — the ride directors — to the van drivers, bike mechanics and other volunteers, we were showered (sorry, bad pun) with humor, joy and energy even when we awoke to soaked tents and gloomy forecasts. And they didn’t just keep us well-fed and wrenched up: When I tweaked my knee on day two, just about everyone on the crew kept checking in the rest of the week to make sure I was feeling strong and taking my Vitamin I (ibuprofen).

Best of all, this incredible experience will have a lasting impact, even beyond our collective memories and photo collections. The ride raised more than $300,000 for a variety of nonprofits, including the Alliance and member organizations like the East Bay Bicycle Coalition and Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition. A special THANK YOU to everyone who chose the Alliance as one of their beneficiaries — your dollars will help build the capacity of advocate leaders across North America. And, thank you, of course, to Geraldine, Caeli and Blake for putting together such an ingenious fundraising initiative and putting on such a phenomenal event.

Want to participate in the next Climate Ride? Registration is already open for the 2012 New York City to Washington, DC ride. Learn more here.