This past Saturday, June 20th, marked the longest day of the year. CalBike and the California Dream Ride invited our community to join us on a do-it-yourself, appropriately social-distanced and masked up bicycle ride to celebrate Summer Solstice. With our rides in the books, we thought we’d share a brief recap.

Let’s start with participation. Based on Eventbright registrations and Facebook RSVPs, 48 cyclists signed up for CalBike’s Summer Solstice Cycling Celebration. We know of a couple other riders who joined their registered friends (socially distanced, of course), so we probably can claim that 50 riders hit the road on Friday and Saturday for Solstice rides. That is a good-sized group ride! We are also pleased to note that the CalBike Cycling Club on STRAVA now has 32 members. If you haven’t, we encourage you to join (it’s free), ask your friends to join, and follow along.

Riders went near and far. While most of us pedaled from home on the streets within or near the big metropolitan areas of California (Bay Area, Sacramento, Los Angeles, and San Diego), some of our Solstice rides were scattered further afield, touching the state’s northern (Arcata area) border and the desert. Two bicycled in faraway locales, taking to the roads in South Dakota and Florida.

In terms of the adventures that Summer Solstice celebrators cycled, they were similarly diverse and interesting, ranging from short to long, errands to mountain bike rides through decommissioned military bases. Some even did multiple rides and some supplemented rides with runs or walks.

Finally, to wrap-up this recap, we would like to thank everyone who participated in the Summer Solstice Cycling Celebration and everyone who contributed to California Bicycle Coalition as part of your involvement in the weekend’s activities. We are planning future virtual bicycle rides and would welcome any ideas, suggestions or comments that you would like to contribute to make these future events better.

Note: If you had problems joining the happy hour on ZOOM, we sincerely apologize. There were a number of technical problems that were beyond our immediate capacity to control and resolve. We are reviewing other Internet-based solutions and expect to have a better on-line meeting solution next time.