City-sponsored bicycle safety workshop in Sonoma

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

On Saturday, July 13, the City of Sonoma is sponsoring a free one-day bicycle training event featuring Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition’s Bicycling Family Workshop. And each participant receives a free blinking light.

The first riding portion of the workshop takes place on 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 1 to 2 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.

Parents and children must participate in the workshop together, and participating children must be able to ride a bike and be ready to drive on the road with their parents. All participants must bring working bicycles and wear helmets. Helmets may be available on load or for purchase for $8 at the workshop.

“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,” says Tina Panza, Education and Safe Routes to School Director for the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition.

The City is sponsoring the class free to attendees. Space is limited. The class will be held at the Sonoma Community Center, 276 E. Napa St., from 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Online preregistration is mandatory. Register today at www.bikesonoma.org/family-bikeworkshops.