Bicycling advocates are gearing up for a Fall Foliage Ride this weekend in Saratoga Springs.
In a growing effort to add premier bicycling to the list of attractions that draw tourists to Saratoga Springs year-round, the non-profit Bikeatoga is running the second annual Fall Foliage ride.
30-, 50-, and 75-mile routes will run from Saratoga Springs to Fort Edward, Schuylerville, and Stillwater on Saturday and Sunday.
Bikeatoga Advocacy Chair Ed Lindner says upwards of 200 riders are coming from nine states and Canada.
“We’ve got the historic racetrack, concerts at SPAC, fine restaurants, great downtown shopping. But I don’t know that many people are aware that Saratoga Springs is also a fantastic place to come and ride your bike,” said Lindner.
The ride has become the organization’s main fundraising event. This year Lindner is hopeful they’ll be able to raise $10,000.
Much of that will go toward Bikeatoga’s workshop.
“Our volunteer mechanics take used bikes, they repair and refurbish them and then we get them back out to the community on a pay-what-you-can basis. So in 2023, Saratoga families adopted nearly 700 bikes from the Bikeatoga workshop. We also have a mobile repair bike that we take around the city and we do simple repairs for people who don’t have the tools or the know-how. Every year we do a pop-up bike repair event at the Saratoga Race Course backstretch and we fix bikes for the people who make the race meet possible. But we also hold events around the city,” said Lindner.
Anna Laloë runs Saratoga Shredders, a non-profit aimed at getting kids on mountain bikes, as well as Saratoga Trails Alliance, which is focused on connecting trails throughout Saratoga County.
She hopes the growth of Bikeatoga’s annual ride can help rally local support behind other biking-friendly initiatives.
“It definitely plays into what we at Shredders and STA would like is those connectors and being able to ride your bike across the city and not be worried about being in car traffic. How can we connect different areas by greenways? In the US, there are quite a few locations where they’ve really figured out this greenway system, like how to connect these different parts of a city and create a very bike-friendly and pedestrian friendly city. And so that’s what we’re hoping is to bring in that broader perspective,” said Laloë.
Saratoga Springs’ Complete Streets program began in 2016 and aims to create a more walkable and bikeable city while improving public transit.
Ted Orosz is the vice chair of the city’s Complete Streets Advisory Board. He hopes the growth of the region as a biking destination will translate into more support for biking-supportive infrastructure.
“I think of the Five Borough Bike Tour in New York City, while obviously a much bigger city, but a lot of people do go to the city to do that ride. I see this as an economic development thing that brings people, showcases the region, gets people to come here and with any luck gets them to come back,” said Orosz.
This month, members of Bikeatoga presented plans for a renovated Union Avenue that would incorporate pedestrian friendly infrastructure as well as dedicated bike lanes.
Registration for the Fall Foliage ride closes Thursday.
