Cyclists relish ride on bridge over bay

Bicyclists take part in the annual Bike the Bay ride for the camaraderie, sure. There’s also the exercise, the weather, just the zen of it all. But the biggest draw: riding over the bridge.

Crossing the San Diego-Coronado Bridge on a bicycle is a treat made possible through the annual event, which takes riders on a 25-mile loop around the south end of the San Diego Bay.

“It’s a beautiful ride, and the only way I ever get to bike across the bridge,” 76-year-old cycling enthusiast Will Cronyn said Sunday morning. “That’s one of the major attractions.”

With roughly 3,400 cyclists taking part, Bike the Bay event enjoyed a record turnout this year, said Andy Hanshaw, who leads the San Diego Bicycle Coalition, the group behind the ride.

The amount of money raised by this year’s event — a fundraiser for the coalition — could top $80,000. Last year brought in roughly $70,000.

There were plenty of old hats at the ride, including Andre Phillips, who completed the course in under an hour and a half.

“It’s perfect biking weather, and San Diego is the perfect biking city,” Phillips said.

The 54-year-old Phillips and his friends said they ride portions of the Bayshore Bikeway routinely, but jumped at the chance to bike the bridge.

Some riders were Bike the Bay novices, including Texas resident Cindy McCarragher, who flew out at the urging of her sister.

“It wasn’t a hard sell,” the 47-year-old McCarragher said, adding that she bought her plane ticket in February and started training in June.

Also in from out of town Tucson resident Steve Hughes, who scheduled his annual Coronado vacation around the event.

“I just crossed another one off my bucket list,” Hughes said of the ride. He was among about two dozen people who rode the course on an EllipitGO — think elliptical machine on a bike.

“It was a good little workout for me,” he said. But the best part: “finishing.”

The course runs from Embarcadero Park South (behind the San Diego Convention Center), over the bridge (lanes were divided between motorists and cyclists) and down the Silver Strand before it loops around the south end of the bay and heads back to downtown San Diego.

It follows the path of the Bayshore Bikeway, a still-in-the-works regional corridor for bicycles. Some 15 miles of dedicated paths have been built on the bikeway; the balance of the route puts riders on streets designated either as bicycle lanes or bicycle routes.