Biking? Fun? Could it be true?!

If only our bike rides to work, to restaurants, to friend's houses, to the beach could be accompanied by DJ Sets, snack tables flanking bike paths, costumes and glow sticks. This is the day that I one day will plan for... but in the mean time, here are two fun events for those that love biking (and the causes it may support) and/or events that showcase alternative transportation. I have lived in San Diego for the majority of my life and have never heard of these events. Publicize, publicize, publicize these events, friends!!

In August, you're not alone -- if you sign up for these group rides

Bicycling can be a lone, solitary experience if you want it to be. The individual testing his or her right stuff against traffic, landscape and even your own abilities.
Or it can be just a kick ass good time with a thousand or more of your two-wheeler friends enjoying the camaraderie of the road, some in-motion socializing and maybe a nice t-shirt which finds its way to the back of a dresser drawer after a week or so.
Well, two of the latter events are coming up in the second half of this month.
The first, on Aug. 20 is the 38th annual Midnight Madness Ride.
Not kidding: 38th. That’s a tradition.
Midnight madness is a late-night 16-mile group bike ride for 1,500 registered entrants. It is also a costume party and a light-up-the-bike contest, according to event planner Tiffany Olson. (Alaska Airlines sponsors the costume contest and REI backs the bike light show.)
“People get very creative with Glow Sticks,” offered Olson. Although, there are some who harness the wheelpower and create some pretty impressive mobile light displays.

And they’re pretty inventive with the costumes, too, considering you need to be pedaling a bicycle – an arena in which mobility and creativity can sometimes be at odds.
Never the less, clever cyclists transcend. One of Olson’s recent favorites was a couple in wedding attire who managed to transform their adjacent cycles into a honeymoon bed.
Let’s face it, with all that oxygen and blood rushing to the head as they pedal, cyclists are pretty creative people.
The Midnight Madness ride is also the main fund-raiser for youth-outreach efforts of San Diego International Hostelling, which operates two hostels in San Diego and hosts as many as 15,000 guests a year. It has been a part of the San Diego landscape for 70 years.
The ride starts from the south parking lot of the San Diego County Administration building at 1600 Pacific Highway and travels along the shore to Harbor Island and Shelter Island before returning by way of Rosecrans, Old Town and Kettner Avenue to the county lot.
A bit of the course that reached to Seaport Village was lopped off this year at the recommendation of the police department which ensures the safety of the riders along the route, said Olson.
The whole show begins at 8 p.m. with food, coffee and vendor booths, a DJ and on-site registration. Olson says costume and bike decoration contest judging is around 10:30 to 11 p.m., depending on the energy of the crowd.
Registration on the night of the ride is $37 but you can save five bucks by going online up until the day before the ride, said Olson. “You’ll need a helmet, bike lights and a bib number to participate in the ride,” she said.
After 38 years, participants in this family-oriented ride know the drill. “It is just a great time with a wide array of costumes, good energy and a really good mix of people,” said Olson.

Over the bridge

Only one week later, in the early morning hours of Sunday, Aug. 28, some 3,000 cyclists depart from Embarcadero Park for a ride around San Diego Bay that includes a breath-taking pedal over the San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge.
Bike the Bay has been around in its present form for only four years now and celebrates the first-class Bayside Bikeway which is being built at what can seem like an agonizingly slow pace around the bay. The loop is around 25 miles with the iconic bridge being its steepest portion.
Cyclists in this non-competitive ride who return to Embarcadero Marine Park South can enjoy a nice festival with food, beverages and entertainment.
The ride is limited to those 12 years and older and nobody gets on the bridge without a helmet and bib number.
Online registration will close Aug. 27 and there is even walk-up registration starting at 5:30 a.m. on the day of the event -- if the ride is not already sold out. That’s a big “if.” Bike the Bay, like bicycling in general, has grown very popular in a short time.
Staging of riders begins at 6:30 a.m. and the first riders start out from the park in waves at 7 a.m. There will be several rest stations with water and refreshments along the 25-mile route.
Bike the Bay is fundraiser for the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition, the largest bicycle advocacy and education group in the county. Registration for members of the bicycle coalition is $52 and for non-member individuals it is $57 through Active.com. (A coalition membership is $25 and well worth the cost.) You can also sign up as a team if there are 10 of you.
Tandem bicycles get a slight price break.
There’s also a pre-race pasta party in Pacific Beach (say it fast – three times!) which you can sign up for at registration for a mere $10. Or pay at the door at Lotsa Pasta, 1762 Garnet Avenue.

Contact: bob.hawkins@uniontrib.com * Twitter: sdutTransport * (619) 718-5253