Nearly 1,500 bike riders pedaled through Tempe Sunday morning for the 16th annual Tour de Tempe Bike Ride.
City of Tempe Community Outreach and Marketing Coordinator Sue Taaffe said this year is the largest ride Tempe has seen since the event began in 1995.
The 10-mile annual bike ride is part of the Tempe Mission Program, which showcases Tempe as a bike-friendly community and offers support as an eco-friendly environment within the city.
“It’s just a good way to get people familiar with all the amenities Tempe has to offer for bicycling,” Taaffe said. “We try to promote alternative (uses) of transportation like riding a bus and biking.”
Industrial design sophomore Kelsey Keberle has attended each Tour de Tempe and the event has turned into a tradition for her and her family.
“I think it’s important because a lot of people don’t understand the convenience of bicycles and how important they are in our community and how awesome bicyclists can stick together,” she said.
Riders got to enjoy breakfast by restaurants such as Sunflower Farmers Market, Wildflower Bread Company, Starbucks and Tempe’s own Back East Bagels.
Riders could also receive a complimentary massage from licensed massage therapists, including Tanya Raineri, who volunteered to help rider’s get loose before the 10-mile ride and ease the pain afterward.
“It’ll help to prevent injuries if you warm up the tissue and stretch beforehand and afterwards if people are sore we can reduce healing time,” Raineri said. “Most athletes are too tight, so it’s cool to come out and work with them.”
ASU alumnus James Gregg came to the event for the second time to enjoy an October morning with his 7-year-old son, Porter.
“It’s a good community event,” Gregg said. “It’s nice to see everybody out and enjoying the nice October weather. Everybody’s got cool bikes and it’s just kind of relaxing.”
The League of American Bicyclists has named Tempe a Bicycle-Friendly Community at the Silver level since 2003.
Yvonne Morrison, owner of Tempe Bicycle, said it took the city a while before becoming bicycle friendly.
“It’s come a long way from being un-friendly to being friendly,” she said. “Improving a city takes time so you can’t just do it in a minute, it takes years, but it can be done.”
Morrison said the process included changing the views of traffic engineers and receiving funding to restriping streets.
Taaffe said there are many factors that go into the bicycle-friendly designation but having ASU in the city is a major contributor.
“It certainly helps to have college students since on campus you have thousands of bikes everyday,” she said. “It definitely helps that ASU is down here, obviously it only contributes to us being a bicycle-friendly community.”
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