The San José Bike Clinic at the San Pedro Square Market

Just last Sunday on April 29th the San José Bike Clinic set up shop for the second time. Held in front of the brilliant San Pedro Square Market sign, the Bike to Work Gear Up was a smashing success, packing a lot of learning and a lot of fun into a mere four hours!

In addition to over a dozen volunteers staffing the event, several visitors returning to the Bike Clinic for the second time, and many folks just dropping by to see what we’re about, we had 40+ newcomers stop and stay a while to participate in Bike Clinic activities.

The Bike Clinic offered classes to help people get their bikes ready for Bike to Work Day, covering everything from tuning your bike up and checking for safety before heading out, to planning your route through the city of San José, to properly locking your bike once you get there — and making sure you have proper lights for your trip back home!

The Bike Clinic even took the education out onto the streets in coordinated safety rides through the city, emphasizing proper riding practices and how to effectively share the road and get by with your bike as a viable mode of transportation.

Back at the workshop, our skilled bike repair ‘medics’ diagnosed problems with many a drop-in patients’ bike, and wrote ‘prescriptions’ to empower those in need to fix their bikes themselves.

At the end of the day attendees unwound by playing fun group biking games like Last Bike Standing, and weaving around cones in a slalom run. For some it was plenty just to enjoy an afternoon hanging out with a bunch of other bicycles enthusiasts.

The San José Bike Clinic is all these things — free bike education, a place to learn and to work on your bike, and a biycycle fan hangout spot — and more! We know we’re doing something right when people keep asking us when we’re going to be back! We are very excited at our positive feedback and are proud to be working towards establishing a permanent fixture for the greater San José bicycle community.

Watch this space for news of the Bike Clinic’s next event!