Modesto celebrates all things cycling

It’s all about pedal power this week as a series of events celebrate cycling in Modesto.

May is National Bike Month and the city annually joins in the fete. This year is no different with a series of events Wednesday through Saturday touting biking’s benefits.

First up is a new twist on the city’s participation in the annual Amgen Tour of California bike race. The 12-city course begins Sunday, May 15, in San Diego and ends Sunday, May 22, in Sacramento. While Modesto has been part of the race route in the past, this year the city serves as a pit stop on Wednesday for the bicyclists and their crews as they spend the night before continuing the tour. To welcome crews, the city will hold a Modesto Cycling Expo.

The Amgen ride Wednesday will travel from San Luis Obispo to Monterey. After arriving in Monterey, the teams will drive to Modesto before heading out Thursday morning for the beginning of the next leg, starting in Lodi. While the bikers aren’t expected in town until evening, many of their crew members will head from SLO straight to Modesto, according to Laurie Smith, the city’s economic development and administration business manager.

While here, crews will work on the Tour of California bikes, doing maintenance and repairs in the parking lot adjacent to Modesto Centre Plaza. Expo-goers can watch the activities while also enjoying giveaways, food trucks, kids activities and more, Smith said.

“This is our attempt to reintroduce the community to the thrill of the Amgen Tour,” Smith said. “... and to remind them of how exciting the tour is for California.”

As the pros pedal out Thursday morning, the city will shift gears to commuting for the yearly Bike to Work Day.

With a new mayor comes a new route for the annual non-motorized commute into downtown, according to the city’s Rideshare coordinator, Megan Distaso. This year, Mayor Ted Brandvold will meet fellow pedalers at Village Baking Co. in McHenry Village on Thursday morning. From there, they’ll bike en masse from the Village onto Granger Avenue to the Virginia Corridor making their way via Roseburg Avenue over to College Avenue and into downtown, ending at Tenth Street Plaza for a continental breakfast, information booths, prizes and giveaways.

Participation in the annual event “tends to be fairly steady,” Distaso said. “We’re doing a little more advertising this year so we’re hoping to boost those numbers.”

You don’t have to go to work to join in the commute, she added – last year, there were families participating who stopped downtown before riding on to drop off their children at school.

Bicycle week coasts to a close on Saturday at the Family Cycling Festival & Criterium in downtown Modesto. I Street between 10th and 12th streets will transform into a biking-themed street party with vendor booths, bicycle helmet giveaways, BMX bike demos, races and other festivities.

New this year will be a Community Bike Ride led by members of the Stanislaus Bike Club. The crew and anyone who wants to pedal along will help the city break in its new bike route from Modesto Junior College East to its West Campus before finishing downtown at the festival. A shorter route also will be offered straight from the East Campus to the street fair.

Bicycle safety and education are emphasized at the cycling festival. Returning this year, Distaso said, will be a “very interactive” public works display for children. The city’s public works department will bring in some of its heavy equipment and give youngsters a chance to inspect the big machinery while also playing games and winning prizes.

In conjunction with the festival is the Modesto Downtown Criterium, a biking road race held on the streets just to the northeast of the street fair. The criterium features a series of races for men, women and children.

This story was originally published May 14, 2016 at 3:12 PM with the headline "Modesto celebrates all things cycling."