Niles Canyon Stroll and Roll
The Niles Canyon Stroll and Roll is a biennial event (every OTHER year) on Niles Canyon Road aka Highway 84. (This means there is no Niles Canyon Stroll and Roll 2024. The next one will probably be in 2025 but there's no confirmation yet as of this writing. The Niles Canyon ride and roll is attended well enough that it looks like it's been around for a long time, but it turns out that it's only been in operation since 2015. It operated on odd numbered years until 2021, when it was postponed because of COVID. This led to a Niles Canyon Stroll and Roll in 2022, and another one in 2023 for back-to-back years. It was kind of a tease since there won't be one in 2024 :(. The event in 2023 was in September, as was the 2019 event.
The official webpage is 84strollroll.com but it looks like the domain has expired.
We rode it the Niles Canyon Stroll and Roll on September 23rd, 2023. The road was closed to cars but OPEN to people. And because of geometry, each event is probably the most well-used the road ever is. There are plans to build a parallel trail / multi-use path free of automobiles, but this project is still in the design phase and likely won't be ready for many years.
Getting there from Union City BART with Bike East Bay
We took BART to Union City and happened across the Bike East Bay group ride to the start of Niles Canyon. It was great riding with other people and not having to pay too much attention to directions, etc. We could just enjoy the ride. We took our tandem and did the "bag-and-drag" with my kid's bike. Most of the ride was along a nice path along the Alameda Creek Trail. Though a little narrow, there were nice views and we could ride away from cars.
Riding a bike on Niles Canyon Rd - what was our experience?
It was fairly crowded in the beginning, where some people were staging or, well, unstaging, as they had already finished the ride earlier in the day. People who like to ride fast usually start early so that they can ride without there being too many people in the way.
By the time we got there, there was plenty of strolling and rolling happening. The road was wide enough to go around folks, but there were a lot of different speeds, so we had to use much of the width for a good portion of the ride.
There were a couple of tents at the start with information about the ride and the area.
There were a decent number of kids on their own bikes. Many e-bikes and cargo bikes with kid passengers on the back. Lots of people were riding their own bikes too. There was a group of roller skaters who were fun to roll with.
I don't know if my kid didn't get much sleep the night before or what, but they were not feeling very energetic that day and were complaining mid ride. We pushed on because we were supposed to meet with another family who had gotten started earlier and were waiting for us at Sunol. It was really cool to ride under the rail bridges and see the features of the canyon.
Taking a break in Sunol
It was so cool to reach Sunol! Lots of people were out and about and it felt like a festive street fair. Restaurants and food vendors were packed, and there were fun bikes parked everywhere. We finally were able to find our friends there (I think near a portable climbing wall?) but by then, due to our slow pace, we had to leave again in order to get back in time for our soccer game later that day. I was a little bummed to not really get to hang out there.
The Ride Back
The ride back was faster. I hitched my kid's bike back to mine for the bag-and-drag and we powered back to the start in order to make it on time. It was one of those rides where you wish you had more time to enjoy it, but we had a soccer game to get to. My kid said they would try it again next year, but as mentioned above, the next Niles Canyon Stroll and Roll won't be until 2025. Despite us having a bit of a hard time, I thought it was a fantastic event and am looking forward to our next ride along Niles Canyon in 2025.
