![\"A](\"https:\/\/sandiegodowntownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/ciclosdias-650.jpg\")
<\/a>Called \u201cCicloSDias,\u201d the car-free event is a first for San Diego, but the city will be joining other major cities across the country and throughout Latin America when it hosts the \u201ccycle days\u201d that focus on bike- and walk-friendly neighborhoods.<\/p>\n
Organized by the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition (SDCBC), CicloSDias is being fashioned after those other events, including Los Angeles, which is now in its fourth year and saw an attendance of 180,000 last April.<\/p>\n
The SDCBC was launched by the Sierra Club in 1987, and has since grown into an official 501(c)3 non-profit advocacy group, acting not only as the voice of bicyclists, but a protector of their rights.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe needed to evolve to reflect the changing bicycle movement and who\u2019s bicycling and why,\u201d said Executive Director Andy Hanshaw. \u201cWe\u2019ve always been a recreational hub here, we\u2019ve got the coast, we\u2019ve got the bay, we\u2019ve got trails, and things like that, but we\u2019ve also got a growing population of transportation riders and commuters. \u2026 So our organization needed to evolve to serve both of those populations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hanshaw credits Bogota, Columbia, with starting the CicloSDias movement.<\/p>\n \u201cThey shut down certain parts of the city to cars and opened it up to active movements, biking, walking \u2013 any sort of activity \u2013 playing in the streets, for a certain amount of time so people could get the idea that our streets are really about all modes of travel and all types of users,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n SDCBC worked with city officials on the CicloSDias map, which consists of a 5.2-mile route that begins in City Heights and makes its way down 30th St. all the way to Logan Heights, with a short loop at Fern Street.<\/p>\n \u201cWe think the communities that the route showcases were probably the primary motivation for [the route],\u201d he said. \u201cThese are great urban San Diego communities representing a wide range of people and a lot of areas where people like to bicycle, too.\u201d<\/p>\n SDCBC is encouraging all businesses along the route to actively participate in the six-hour event. Pedestrians, their children and even their animals are also invited to attend.<\/p>\n \u201cThe key goal is to patronize the businesses,\u201d Hanshaw explained. \u201cThere are no official vendors for this event; the point is the movement and the journey. The businesses are the ones we hope will benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n One thing Hanshaw said they want everyone to understand is that CicloSDias is not a race. There is no official starting point and no finish line; it is just five miles of open road to do whatever you wish outside of motor vehicle activity.<\/p>\n Traffic will still be two directional and four hubs will serve as rest-stop areas. Although there will be no parking allowed on any of the streets involved during the six-hour period, Hanshaw said periodic crossing points will exist along the route so drivers can pass through the area into their own neighborhood. Parking alternatives will also be offered to those inconvenienced.<\/p>\n To help fund the expenses for its San Diego debut, SDCBC has established a crowd-funding page and hopes to raise $15,000. Visit fundly.com\/ciclosdias<\/a> para m\u00e1s informaci\u00f3n.<\/p>\n DecoBikes of Florida, the company recently awarded the bike share contract for San Diego which begins its installation in 2014, will also be on hand for the Aug. 11 event.<\/p>\n “We are very excited about participating in CicloSDias where we will be displaying our new bike share system,\u201d said Colby Reese, chief marketing officer. \u201cIt’s going to be a great community-driven event for San Diego that enables residents to enjoy cycling, rollerblading, and walking in an open-street format while having fun shopping, dining and enjoying the outdoors without worrying about cars and trucks trying to dominate the roadways.”<\/p>\n Hanshaw feels the growing popularity of these events demonstrates that people want to move about in a car-free and safe environment.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a bold statement if you really think about it,\u201d he said, adding that he hopes to grow the event to several days per year, the way Los Angeles and San Francisco currently operate.<\/p>\n \u201cThese types of things are popping up all over the country and it\u2019s nice to see [San Diego] embrace the idea that we should get on board with this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n For more information, visit the event website, ciclosdias.com<\/a> o sdcbc.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cCycle Days\u201d to take over San Diego city streets Morgan M. Hurley | Downtown Editor Over five miles of San Diego city streets will be closed to motor vehicles and only open to foot traffic and bicycles, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 11. Called \u201cCicloSDias,\u201d the car-free event is a first […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":236364,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"It\u2019s 'a movement and a journey'","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11551,11600,11550],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-236363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-news","category-sdnews","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236363\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/a>