Everyone was welcome, even the suit--Can you find him?

Kudos to Coronado!  The Orange Avenue Bicycle Metric Century came off without a hitch.  Your correspondent is pretty sure that no one was late for church, and everyone was able to drive up and down Orange Avenue with minimal inconvenience.  The motorists couldn’t have been more courteous.

At 7:00 a.m., Sunday, February 10, about fifteen bicyclists, of all abilities, joined Bicycle Advisory Committee members Larry Hofstetter, Bruce Davidson, Pat Callahan, and your humble Scribe for twenty-five laps of Orange Avenue, 100 kilometers, a metric “century,” 62 miles.  The purpose of this little exercise was to prove the hypothesis of the Bicycle Advisory Committee that bikes, buses, and cars could peacefully co-exist on our main thoroughfare.  The committee would love to hear opinions, but the observation from the street was that the bikes felt safe and the cars moved along just fine.

We also have the “horn and expletive index” for confirmation.  In four hours of riding and five hours on the street (there are a lot of signals!) we counted one honk and zero, “get off the effing roads.”

As noted, there were cyclists of every ability, and every type of bike, who started with us or joined us for a couple of laps.  So, we were spread out a bit with cyclists making the round trip at various speeds.  And, let the Chamber of Commerce types also note that our cyclists stopped for coffee and refreshments at Boney’s, Café 1134, and Claytons so there was even some economic benefit to the community.

Law abiding cyclists waiting for the green light.

We saw lots of locals and non-locals traveling up or down Orange on the sidewalks and invited them join us for safe transit in the street.  Imagine if all our visitors coming over on the ferry felt welcome and safe riding up to our business district?

This may become the breakfast burrito ride!

In the end, thanks to all the cyclists who came out and a special thank you to the drivers of Coronado who dealt with us as we knew they would; safely and  with patience and courtesy!  Thanks for Sharing the Road!

Article by Dan Orr and photos by Pat Callahan

Participant Larry Hoffstetter had this to say about the event:  "Dan, great event. I clocked 63 miles on the odometer on my last time by Orange and 6th at high noon. I lost track of laps."

Kellee Hearther

Online Editor

eCoronado.com

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