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Family Fitness Day

Ride your bike to Family Fitness Day!

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Bike Valet at Family Fitness Day

Looking for some healthy family fun this weekend? Our Digital Media Sponsor Race SLO, the organizer of the San Luis Obispo Marathon + Half Marathon has announced that its Family Fitness Day on Saturday morning, April 30 will benefit Jack’s Helping Hand, a local non-profit providing assistance and programs to children with cancer and special needs. The 5th anniversary SLO Marathon + Half edition, an Endurance Town USA running tradition, will be held on April 30-May 1.

Family Fitness DayWant to ride your bike to Family Fitness Day? Our free Bike Valet will be there at the iconic Madonna Inn property to park and watch over your bicycle while you enjoy the day’s events. Bike Valet will be there Sunday as well, so ride on down to watch the Marathon finish and let us keep an eye on your bicycle.

“Our free Family Fitness Day event has something for everybody from fun games, activities for the children and their families to three short run or walk races,” said Samantha Pruitt, Race SLO Founder & CEO. “This community event benefits our local non-profit Jack’s Helping Hand and its Camp Reach for the Stars that allows children fighting cancer and their family to attend Summer camp at no charge.”

Family Fitness Day Summary

The SLO Marathon + Half’s Family Fitness Day will have FREE activities for children of all ages and abilities, and on Saturday, April 30 the fun goes from 9:00am to 2:00pm at the iconic Madonna Inn property. Each family can participate in a variety of games and activities at no charge and will receive a Race SLO Champion sticker, play with all the local team mascots and get lessons in fun and sportsmanship from a variety of local sport teams and clubs. Food and vendors will be at the festival as well as all weekend long.

FREE activities for children and adults include:

    1. Soccer Ball Kick with Cal Poly and Musty Mustang
    2. Basketball Toss with Cal Poly
    3. Baseball Pitch with SLO Blues Baseball and Bluebelle the Bull
    4. Sack Race with Downtown Brown
    5. Cornhole, Ladder Golf, Croquet and Giant Connect Four with SLO Coast Shenanigans
    6. Golf Putt with Sunset Honda
    7. Rope-a-Steer with Cal Poly Rodeo

In addition, on Family Fitness Day, there are three running events:

    1. Kids One Mile (8:00am start)
    2. 5K Run / Walk / Strollers (8:15am start)
    3. Kids Quarter Mile Dash (9:30am start)

For more event information or to register for races before they sell out, go to: www.slomarathon.com/family-fitness-day

Plus, enjoy the food, beer and wine (adults 21 & older only!) garden all day!

 

Kidical Mass 2015

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Kidical Mass is back for 2015

Often called the family bike happening, Kidical Mass is a venue for parents to teach their kids how to ride safely. If you have ever wanted to ride your bike in a parade with kids of all ages, 2015-Kidical-Mass-Frontthis is the perfect chance to make it happen. No matter your age, the ride is a blast for everyone! The more the merrier as we introduce the next generation to the joy of bicycles.

How Does It Work?

Children of all ages ride side by side with their families during this monthly event to learn important bicycle safety skills in a fun, festive way. By teaching safe riding skills to children we can create a safer community of riders in the future. As we ride as a group we spread smiles and bicycle love to everyone we pass. Since the program began in 2010, over 900 people have participated in these family-focused events.

Where Do We Ride?

This year we have two different routes: Themed rides to The Mission and Blues Baseball rides to Sinsheimer Park. All rides begin at Mitchell Park in SLO for a brief safety talk before we start the group ride.

Themed rides (May 7, June 4, July 2, August 6) meet at Mitchell Park in SLO for a brief safety talk before we head up the Bike Boulevard (Morro St) then back downtown, ending in Mission Plaza.

What’s with the themes?

Having a theme is a great excuse to dress up and have even more fun! Costumes aren’t required but they are heartily encouraged. We can’t wait to see what you come up with! This year we teamed up with members of the bike community to help choose themes and act as hosts for each ride. Here are this year’s themes:

May 7th: Superheroes (Thanks to hosts Jonathan Roberts, Kim Lisagor Bisheff, Michelle Shoresman and PJ!)

June 4th: Red (Thanks to hosts Tom DiSanto and Heidi Harmon!)

July 2nd: Stars and Stripes (Thanks to host Tim Wilkinson!)

August 6th: Green and Foil (Thanks to host Dan Kallal!)

Blues Baseball rides (May 31, June 21) meet at Mitchell Park in SLO for a brief safety talk before we ride as a group on the Railroad Safety Trail to Sinsheimer Park Baseball Stadium to attend a Blues Baseball game. This ride is perfect for kids who have mastered the traditional Kidical Mass ride and are ready for the additional challenge of riding up and down the Jennifer Street Bridge on a ride almost 2 miles long. Please plan accordingly. On May 31st, thanks to the SLO County Air Pollution Control District and Rideshare, the first 200 adults who arrive by bicycle receive free tickets to the game (Kids get in to Blues Baseball games for free). While these Blues rides don’t have an official theme, we’re looking forward to seeing how everyone gets creative with your costume choices!

Route Maps for Kidical Mass rides to The Mission are available here: http://bit.ly/KidicalMission

Route Maps for Kidical Mass rides to Blues Games are available here: https://bit.ly/KidicalBlues

Sign up to attend the May 7th Kidical Mass Ride on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1404965329819639/

Special hearty thanks to our two fabulous Kidical Mass sponsors, Rahman Law and Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center. Their generous support helps us teach and inspire future generations of SLO County bicycle riders!

Like Bikes?

Become a member of The Bike Coalition – it’s free to sign-up and we’ll keep you informed every month about bike events and issues in SLO County. Click this link to join: I Like Bikes!

Kidical Mass 2014 is finally here!

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We’re excited to announce that Kidical Mass kicks off the Summer season on June 21st at a new location for 2014, Sinsheimer Stadium. This month’s theme will be Heroes! What kind of heroes? Any kind of heroes! Super heroes? Sure! Sports heroes? Yeah! Brainiac scientists? Yuppers! Hero Sandwiches? Umm…..okay!

Arrive at 4 pm for a quick review of how kids and families can ride smart, followed by a safe, fun ride at 4:30.

After the ride, the Sinsheimer Stadium gates open at 5:00 for the Blues baseball game. All kids get in free and the first 50 Kidical Mass adults do too! Once inside we’ll set up our Family Biking Resources table, with helpful info about biking with kids in SLO County.

Check out our website for maps and information about other Kidical Mass events this summer.

May 2013.

2013 Kidical Mass Season Wraps Up

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The Last Kidical Mass of 2013 is next week!

September’s theme is UNICORNS! Bright white horns, magical sparkles, and mythical animals are welcome as we ride through downtown, to share in the joy of riding bicycles. We hope to see you Thursday for the fun, this is our last ride of the season.

When: September 5, 2013 … 5:30 pm
Where: Mitchell Park, SLO (for a brief safety talk before we ride)
What: View our easy route here

View even more information, and invite your family friends on our Facebook event page.

PLEASE NOTE:
ALL participants (kids & adults) must be on a bicycle. We cannot allow parents to walk next to their child on a bicycle, as it is illegal to walk in the roadway. The ride is just about 1 mile, please be sure your child has the ability to keep up with the group so we can ensure the safety of all participants.

Kidical Mass September 5, 2013

Help Expand Our Bike Education Program with a Year End Gift!

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2012 has been a year of incredible progress for the SLO County Bicycle Coalition. With 641 members and growing, the voice for bicycles in SLO County is the strongest it has ever been. This 20% increase in membership comes in tandem with an increased public interest in bicycles and the role they play in SLO County. We know that our work is certain to inspire more people to take to the streets on two wheels and we welcome everyone into our joyful community.

In our ideal world, people aged 8 to 80 would feel comfortable riding on streets and paths designed specifically to help everyone ride their bike more often. This is our vision, but we also know that knowledge is power. In 2012 over 30% of our members told us they want more bike education to empower people with the confidence to ride on our existing roadways. Help us expand our Bike Education program by making a year-end gift to the Bicycle Coalition.

The Bike Education program is our longest standing program. It has brought the message of safe riding to thousands of people through community workshops, business lunches, and school assemblies. Our plan for a bigger and better program has been in the works for months and recent developments have assured us we are on the right path. The Bicycle Coalition recently received numerous local grants, bolstering our ability to reach high-risk groups like college students and low-income communities. Your additional contribution will empower us to capitalize on the momentum created by grant funding.

We have ambitious plans for the Bike Education program in 2013 that will have a long lasting impact for bicycle riders of all ages and abilities in SLO County.
     ENHANCING the educational element of Kidical Mass will help make smart riding a family activity giving more moms the confidence to ride with her kids to the park.
     INCREASING educational efforts to Cal Poly and Cuesta will make incredible safety improvements for the age group that is most likely to be involved in traffic collisions resulting in injury or death.
     IMPROVING our existing materials and resources so they can be shared across language and socio-economic barriers to deliver important information to underserved populations.

Your donation will make you an integral part of the legacy that establishes bike education in schools, businesses, and throughout our great community. 

Our ambition, innovation and drive are on behalf of our members; we can’t wait to make you proud again in 2013.


Dan Rivoire
Executive Director

Click here to make your donation online, and to find information to mail your donation. All donations are 100% tax-deductible.

July 2012.

Kidical Mass This Thursday!

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Join us for the first Kidical Mass of 2012, just in time for the beginning of Bike Month!

When: Thursday May 3rd
Where: Mitchell Park, SLO (map)
When: 6:00 pm
Theme: Rainbows

We’re excited for our third year of Kidical Mass rides, and hope you*, your friends, and your entire family will join us for the ride! We meet at 6:00 for a brief safety talk before we ride as a group through downtown to the Mission Plaza.

If you’re a kid at heart, and want to be a part of the ride, it’s a great chance to volunteer and help get the little riders excited about their bicycles. Sign up to volunteer here, it’s only a 30-minute commitment, and is a blast!

*Everyone on the ride should be on a bicycle, including parents and guardians (walking in the street alongside is not permitted).

2012 Kidical Mass Themes

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We’re gearing up for the biggest Kidical Mass season yet! With rides planned the first Thursday of every month from May – September. Our first ride will be one month from today, on May 3rd.

The 2012 Kidical Mass Themes:

  • May 3 – Rainbows
  • June 7 – Fancy Pants
  • July 5 – Superheros
  • August 2 – Circus
  • September 6 – Music

Mark your calendars & we’ll see you at the ride in your best costumes!

Interested in volunteering? The more the merrier as we continue to make safety our #1 priority for all participants, sign up for volunteer updates online here.

2011’s Last Kidical Mass on Thursday!

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Join this Thursday for the LAST Kidical Mass of 2011, with a “School Spirit” theme! The ride is open to kids of all ages and is a great chance for parents to teach their kids to ride smart. Bring your friends, represent your school, the more the merrier!

Check out photos from this year’s Kidical Mass rides on our flickr photostream.