Bay Area Bike to Work Day: The Event List

Contrary to popular opinion, cycling does not require Spandex. It does demand two wheels, legs, lungs, fair reflexes, working brakes, lights if it's dark, a little patience, a love of the wind in your face, a sense of humor, a fondness of camaraderie, a sense of adventure, tolerance of the unexpected, occasional tact and diplomacy, and joy in exploring new surroundings.

Bike to Work Day--also known as today, May 12, 2011 CE--is a little less high-flown than the above description. It's about getting people to try an alternate mode of travel in our crowded cityscape. It's about finding remedies to some of our persistent and seemingly intractable urban ills: traffic congestion, pollution, inefficient use of resources, and all the problems that grow from them.

With that as preamble, here are a few places to find Bike to Work 2011 events. (An Energizer Station, for what it's worth, is all or some of the following: a combination food and drink spot, open-air bike repair shop, a place to meet a Bike to Work convoy, or a spot to snag a bag of Bike to Work Day swag.)

Bay Area

• 17th Annual Bike to Work Day: regionwide guide to events and services.
• Bay Area Bike to Work Day Twitter feed: Tweet your stories, pics, and/or videos.

San Francisco

• San Francisco Bicycle Coalition
• Map: San Francisco Bike to Work Energizer Stations and commuter convoy locations

East Bay

• East Bay Bicycle Coalition Bike Away from Work Party: 5:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m., Old Oakland.
• Map: Alameda County Energizer Stations
• Map: Contra Costa County Energizer Stations

North Bay

• Marin County Bicycle Coalition: Bike to Work Day After-Party and Expo, 5:30 p.m.-8 p.m., Marin Country Mart, Larkspur Landing.
• Bike Sonoma Calendar of Bike to Work Day events.
• Map: Marin County Energizer Stations
• Map: Sonoma County Energy Stations
• Map: Napa County Energy Stations
• Map: Solano County Energy Stations

Peninsula and South Bay

• Silicon Valley Bike Coalition Bike Away from Work Bash(es): 6 p.m.-8 p.m.: San Jose and Palo Alto.
• Map: Silicon Valley Energizer Stations