By BOB NORBERG

THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

A group of 125 bicycle riders left Fortuna bound for San Francisco on Sunday as part of Climate Ride California, a 320-mile ride that is a

Andy Bunnell, Jane Kurtz, Ellen Bauer, Sandra Lupien, and Vicki Duggan. (COURTESY OF SANDRA LUPIEN)

benefit for environmental organizations.

 

That was the only sunny and pleasant day, said Sandra Lupien, outreach director for the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition and a ride participant.

“The second day was insane, it poured and poured and poured the entire day, it was very cold,” said Lupien, who has organized a five-person team for the ride. “It was also the day of the biggest climb.”

They arrived in Duncans Mills on Tuesday, waking up with wet tents on Wednesday for a ride to Olema, stopping midday at Ragle Ranch in Sebastopol for lunch.

The ride continues from Olema to San Francisco on Thursday.

“We are doing these for many reasons,” said Lupien, a bicycle commuter. “I came to cycling out of concern for climate change and the environment. So to do fund-raising to draw attention to the serious issue of climate change that we all have to face makes sense to me.”

Lupien, a Graton resident, organized a team that includes Andy Bunnell, Ellen Bauer and Jane Kurtz, all of Graton, and Vicki Duggan of Santa Rosa, who also sits on the coalition board.

Together they raised $21,000 in pledges.

Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition will be a beneficiary of the ride.

Other beneficiaries include the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, 350.or, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, Natural Resources Defense Council, Alliance for Walking & Biking; 1% for the Planet, East Bay Bicycle Coalition, League of American Bicyclists, Grist, Alliance for Climate Education.

Climate Protection Campaign, World Resources Institute, Green America, Environmental Working Group; ClimateCounts.org, Solar Living Institute, Will Steger Foundation, International Green Industry Hall of Fame, School for Field Studies, Sierra Club California.

Center for Resource Solutions, Acterra, Renewable Energy Long Island, Save Our Snow Foundation, Washington Area Bicyclist Association, Transportation Alternatives, Active Transportation Alliance and Walk San Francisco.

You can reach Staff Writer Bob Norberg at 521-5206 or bob.norberg@pressdemocrat.com.

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