Hollister
– More than 50 bicycles of all colors and sizes filled the bike
racks at Sunnyslope school on Thursday morning.
Hollister – More than 50 bicycles of all colors and sizes filled the bike racks at Sunnyslope school on Thursday morning.
As student after student zipped up to park their bikes, first-grader Ryan Lampson tried to squeeze his bike onto the rack.
“There’s nowhere to lock my bike!” the 6-year-old said.
More than 300 students at four Hollister schools took part Thursday in Bike to School day, part of San Benito County’s Bike Week. Those working the 9-to-5 grind were also encouraged to trade in their four-wheel commutes for a two-wheel Bike to Work day.
“We are basically trying to promote alternative modes of transportation and trying to reduce emissions,” said Veronica Lezama, Bike Week organizer and transportation planner for the San Benito County Council of Governments.
While San Benito County does not have a lot of bicycle commuters, Lezama said she hopes events like Bike Week will encourage people to pump up their tires and grease up their chains.
Rob Campbell, who teaches English and multimedia at San Benito High School, took part in the events of Bike Week.
Campbell has been regularly riding his bike the one and a half miles to work since the weather has gotten nice. He said he started riding his bike in an effort to get in shape.
“It’s fun and it feels good – it’s a couple of minutes of freedom,” Campbell said. “I don’t think too much about the dollars it’s saving me, or too into the philosophical reasons, but I just enjoy it.”
Lezama said a lot of the emphasis during Bike Week is on encouraging students to bike to school. Perhaps some of the students will be influenced, like Campbell, to use their bicycles as their primary mode of transportation to work someday, she said.
“We want to work with the schools to plant the seed early, so that when these kids grow up they will see this as another mode of transportation,” Lezama said.
Many of the students already saw the benefits of riding their bikes to school.
Ten-year-old Sunnyslope student Michael Sosa said he had enjoyed Bike Week, and the health benefits of the ride.
“It gets energy in you and gets you ready for class,” Sosa said.
The students who biked to school on Thursday were rewarded with breakfast and free T-shirts, and each school had a drawing to win a new bicycle.
Kindergartner Hunter Haggett could hardly hide his excitement as he locked up his bike and helmet. His father, Sean Haggett, said he had been talking about Bike to School day all week.
“I was poppin’ wheelies on it all the way to school,” Hunter said.
Alice Joy covers education for the Free Lance. She can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 336 or [email protected].
