The one day a year it’s legal to ride a bicycle over the San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge is coming up on Sunday, August 23.
The San Diego County Bike Coalition has made some changes to its 19th annual Bike The Bay event. Yes, you can still sign up for the 25-mile morning ride that starts in downtown San Diego, crosses the Coronado Bridge and circles back on the Bayshore Bikeway.
This year you can do it twice. The new 50-mile route doubles the fun and lets riders cross the Coronado Bridge twice. Too much? Those who just want to participate in a bridge crossing also have a 5-mile course option. Pedal over the bridge and a ferry will be ready in Coronado to take you back downtown.
Also new: The San Diego Sun is a sponsor of Bike The Bay and is hosting a scavenger-hunt-style contest. Bikers can sign up to play “San Diego Sun Spotters.” It will entail getting clues to safely stop and take a number of photos along the route (not on the bridge) and answering some Bike The Bay trivia.
San Diego Sun Spotters is free to play. You must be registered for Bike The Bay and sign up for The San Diego Sun’s free, weekly newsletter. (A more detailed description of the rules will be available soon.) The winner will receive two tickets to the best local culinary event of the year, the Grand Tasting at the San Diego Food & Wine Festival!
The Sun Spotters winner will be announced at Bike the Bay’s new, upgraded festival on Embarcadero Marina Park South (the start/finish line). The festival will feature street tacos and a beer garden. There’ll also be all kinds of vendors, a guided yoga session and a cornhole tournament.
Live entertainment will include a mini-concert by festival headliner and award-winning country crooner Elizabeth Bowersox.
Never done Bike The Bay before? Know that it’s not a race. Rather, it’s a leisurely tour of San Diego’s downtown and South Bay. Bikes and e-bikes are allowed. Helmets are mandatory for all ages.
“Our motto is ‘Go slow and say hello,’” Bike Coalition Executive Director Chloé Lauer says. “It’s a ride, not a race, with a party at the end of the ride. We’re celebrating the joy of cycling in San Diego County.”
Riders will pedal through downtown San Diego, Coronado, Imperial Beach, Chula Vista and National City. The star of the course is the Coronado Bridge. It’s got a moderately steep ascent and then a downhill span capable of invigorating all your senses.
Bike The Bay is the Bike Coalition’s biggest fundraiser of the year, annually drawing roughly 2,000 riders. The nonprofit promotes bicycle education and safe-and-healthy bike experiences throughout San Diego County.
For more information about the bike route and to register for the ride, go to: Bike Reg. SDSun
