On Fri., May 29, San Diego county held a ‘Bike to Work Day’ event. Citizens from all around the county participated by riding their bikes around town instead of driving their cars to work in the morning.

“I bike to work because of the health benefits it offers,” math teacher Mr. Glazer said.

The purpose of this event is to encourage bicycling as a healthy alternative to driving to work. In addition to the health benefits, this promotes an economically and environmentally friendly option for transportation.

“Biking to work also helps save money and as long as you are vigilant of road traffic it is a great option,” Glazer said.

Not only is biking a form of healthy transportation, but it also offers less of a negative impact on the environment. Last year, at the 2014 Bike to Work Day, over 272,000 miles were recorded–saving about 11,800 gallons of gas. According to NBC 7 San Diego News, there were 8, 742 participants in this year’s event, and 18, 065 miles logged.

At any of the pit stop locations, exact stops outlined here, bikers received snacks and beverages as they made their way to their desired destination. Participants logged their trips through the TripTracker page found at iCommute where many different prizes can be won. Over 100 pit stops were available to bikers as they traveled to work between six and nine a.m. on Friday morning.

“Biking is a great form of exercise, it cuts down on pollution, saves money, and it’s good for you,” senior Meghan Decker said.

The goal was to log 25,000 miles from the traveled distance of all participants, which is equivalent to a trip around the world. This takes place as the bike lanes around Carlsbad are being installed on streets where they did not exist or widened in order to make the streets more bike friendly.