Berkeley hasn’t quite ridden to the heights of Portland as a bicycle mecca, but it remains a very bike-friendly city. You can celebrate bikes and Berkeley several ways this Sunday, courtesy of the Bicycle-Friendly Berkeley Coalition.

First up on Saturday is the Grizzly Peak Cyclists Family Ride. There are two rides starting from Aquatic Park: one group will ride down the Bay Trail to a playground in Richmond, while the other group will continue to Pt Richmond and back. There is an optional tunnel in Pt Richmond that will cut out a few miles and hills. The 14-mile round trip out-and-back is appropriate for older kids and adults with trailers/trail-a-bikes (and anyone else who wants a relaxing ride). Other families have the option to go shorter distances and turn around. After the ride there is an optional lunch next to the foot/bike bridge and more play time in the Aquatic Park playground.

If that sounds too much, or if you’re eager for more, you could join the Kidical Mass (like Critical Mass, but with kids) ride at 2:30 p.m. at Cedar Rose Park, on the corner of Cedar and the Ohlone Greenway. Parents and kids will bicycle about three miles along the bike boulevards of Berkeley and will have an opportunity to share good ideas for improving the boulevards for parents bicycling with their kids to school.

Finally, the day finishes with the spring bike social from 4 to 8 p.m. The social will take place at the Berkeley Center for Appropriate Transportation at 1336 Channing. Again, it will be a family-friendly event, with food, drink, local entertainment and bicycle short films.

Photo by My Standard Break from Life on Flickr

Lance Knobel (Berkeleyside co-founder) has been a journalist for nearly 40 years. Much of his career was in business journalism. He was editor-in-chief of both Management Today, the leading business magazine...