Bike workshop set for July 15

The City of Sonoma is sponsoring a free one-day bicycle training event featuring Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition’s Bicycling Family Workshop from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, July 15.

The class will be held at the Sonoma Community Center, 276 E. Napa St. in Sonoma.

Want to make sure that both you and your children know how to ride your bicycles safely and confidently for transportation and/or recreation? The Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition’s free Family Bicycling Workshop offers parents and their kids the opportunity to gain bicycling skills and confidence in a fun, safe, and supervised environment.

The first portion of the workshop takes place on a blacktop, where adults and children receive instruction on safe cycling strategies and practice riding through drills and maneuvers. The second portion of the workshop consists of a supervised half-mile neighborhood bicycle ride, where family members receive real world experience riding with traffic, under the guidance of experienced League of American Bicyclist Certified bicycling instructors. Each participant receives a free blinky light for participating.

Parents and children must participate in the workshop together, and participating children must be able to ride a bike and be ready to take the road with their parents. All participants must bring working bicycles and helmets.

“On the neighborhood ride, parents and kids learn about things they may not learn from a manual, like where to best position themselves on roads of varying widths and traffic volumes, how to most safely make a left turn, and exactly how far away they should ride from parked cars,” said Tina Panza, Education and Safe Routes to School director for the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition. “Parents and kids also get guided skills and handling practice before the ride, which can help determine a child’s readiness for riding in groups and/or on their own.”

The City of Sonoma is offering this class free to attendees. Space is limited. Online pre-registration is mandatory at bikesonoma.org/family-bike-workshops.