The 2017 Annual Mayor’s Bike Ride was to set off from Spreckels Park on Saturday at 12:30.
Where was the mayor? It was ten minutes past start time and Richard Bailey, the 51st Mayor of Coronado, was nowhere to be found. Dan Orr, former chair of Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC) was there. City Manager Blair King was there. Allie Scrivener, the city’s active transportation planner was there. Former Councilman Mike Woiwode was there. King texted and phoned Bailey. There was no response. “Let’s go,” Orr said. “We can pick him up at [his home]. It would be a slight detour and was a plausible plan, except nobody knew Bailey’s apartment number. The group, which numbered around 12, headed out of Spreckels Park and down Orange Avenue with an alternative name — the city manager’s bike ride.
The ride went the way most Coronado circumventions go – Orange Avenue to First Street, to Alameda Blvd., to Sixth Street, to Country Club, to Ocean Blvd, to Glorietta Blvd, to the Ferry Landing. Riders traveled at a comfortable pace. There was plenty of time to chat and soak up the village atmosphere. At around Orange and Churchill Place someone suggested stopping for ice cream. Another person suggested gelato. Both were ignored. There was tradition to be honored. The previous rides always ended at Village Pizzeria, where former Mayor Casey Tanaka always sprang for a round of drinks. This time there was no mayor to buy a round though. “He owes us one,” Orr said.
While drinks weren’t to be had, a text sent to Scrivener revealed the mayor’s location. He was with the BAC’s new chair Alex Fitzpatrick and ten other people going the opposite way. That group had headed south on C. They turned left on Tenth Street to Glorietta Blvd., to First Street, to D Avenue and onto Sixth Avenue back to Spreckels Park. A shorter, more conservative route.
While those riders had the mayor, they missed the thrill of riding in traffic on Orange and Ocean. They also missed pedaling the “forbidden route” as Orr calls the Country Club area. It had been part of the city’s original bike path plan. A handful of residents protested. Being included on the route, they had argued, would bring hordes of bicyclists racing through their neighborhood. The city council bowed to their concerns and removed Country Club from the route.
Though their journey was less adventurous, folks riding with Bailey had “good fun,” Fitzpatrick said. “We had a nice casual conversation, I really got to know him as a person.”
The mix up occurred right from the beginning with two starting points on opposite ends of the park. Those on the city manager’s ride met on Sixth and Orange near the restrooms. The mayor’s group met at Sixth and C near the playground. Fitzpatrick wondered where Orr was. “I thought Dan was in touch with the mayor,” Fitzpatrick said. He wasn’t. Nor was any other ride official, except Fitzpatrick.
Bailey is not alone having things go awry on his first official bike ride. Tanaka’s began inauspiciously as well. He went to the right place, but arrived on a borrowed bike with flat tires. He persisted nonetheless. For his part Bailey arrived on his own bike. “It was an old beach cruiser,” he said. Yes, the tires were fully inflated.
It’s not clear who caused the mix-up. No one is taking ownership. Given what happened on Tanaka’s first ride, it maybe the fate of Coronado mayors to encounter a glitch leading their first official ride around the island.
