There was a reward for those who finished the recent cycling event at Homestead High School. At the end of their four-mile route, all 26 participating students received free boba from Gong Cha.
“We were like, ‘Bike for free boba? That sounds like a deal,’” freshman Maya Yatziv said.
The Feb. 16 Boba Ride, sponsored by Bike Sunnyvale (a chapter of the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition), was the third one held in the last two years, though this time it was exclusive to Homestead students and run by the club Homestead Future Business Leaders of America. The previous rides included Fremont High School students because they also use Homestead Road, Bike Sunnyvale lead Sharlene Liu said.
Liu added that she was contacted by Homestead FBLA to help promote sustainable transportation and biker safety. Six adult volunteers helped keep everyone together and safe, lead the ride and play music along the way.
“The mission is to get Homestead students more used to biking,” Liu said. “Especially students who don’t usually bike, we hope they’ve joined us. We’re riding on streets they might be taking to school, so we’re hoping that they will choose to bike to school.”
Yatziv said she, along with friend and fellow freshman Chloe Dahl, are part of FBLA’s community service project and saw this event advertised on Instagram.
“I thought it would be a good idea to join because it’s biking for safety,” Yatziv said. “…The routes are sometimes kind of unsafe, especially because of how irresponsible some students can be.”
Junior Aayushma Adhikari, Homestead FBLA’s community service co-chair, helped plan this event alongside co-chair and sophomore Smyan Shanbhag. Through communicating with Liu, they found that a bike for boba event was successful in the past, and they wanted to get people at Homestead to sign up for this event by partnering with service clubs, Shanbhag said.
“I feel like so many people showed up, way more than we expected,” Adhikari said. “People went through the lengths of getting a parent permission slip signed all to participate with us. And obviously getting free food at the end of it was awesome, and many people liked it.”
Some participants plan to help with Bike Sunnyvale’s campaign to improve the Kennewick Drive and Homestead Road intersection, which Liu said is dangerous for students. They will attend future public city meetings and advocate for the safety of this intersection that allows cars, bikes and pedestrians to cross at the same time.
“I’m looking forward to meeting all the students because we need students like everyone here to advocate for better bike lanes,” Liu said.
