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Thousands Of Bay Area Residents Participate In Bike To Work Day

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) – There might be a few less cars on the road on Thursday as workers use a different mode of transportation to get to work on this the annual Bike to Work Day in the Bay Area.

Molly Gordon, who works at Mike's Bikes in Sausalito, said sales of commuter bikes is going up.

"You get people in here every week who are new riders or just trying it out," Gordon said. "Their commute may be four or five miles and they're looking to save a little money on gas."

Thousands Of Bay Area Residents To Participate In Bike To Work Day

It's becoming easier to bike in the Bay Area, with more trails and dedicated bike lanes and the numbers of bike commuters have soared in both San Francisco and San Jose.

A number of events are planned throughout the Bay Area for Bike to Work Day. In San Francisco, the San Francisco Bike Coalition will have a theme of "Bikes Count," a celebration of the Market Street Bike Counter, to be unveiled on Thursday.  It has been installed on Market Street between 9th and 10th streets and aims to encourage commuters and others to ride bicycles by keeping track of ridership and displaying the number of riders who pass by.

There will also be a commuter convoy from the 24th Street BART that will finish at Google in Mountain View, that according to San Francisco Bike Coalition spokeswoman Kristin Smith.

Energizer stations will be set up throughout San Francisco and in other parts of the Bay Area, with food, coffee and refreshments available for bicyclists along with information about biking.

In the South Bay, employees at Lockheed Martin will celebrate Bike to Work Day by riding from the Santa Clara Convention Center to the Space Systems Company in Sunnyvale.

And in the East Bay, the East Bay Bike Coalition has a number of events scheduled, including a ride with Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates and other elected officials. The city of Berkeley is also scheduled to start updating its bicycle plan for the first time in more than a decade on Thursday.

More information on Bay Area Bike to Work Day events can be found on the website http://www.youcanbikethere.com/.

(Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco and Bay City News Service. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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