Natalie Salvador laughed nervously as she biked along South 12th Avenue Sunday afternoon with her dad, Cesar Salvador, jogging next to her.
The Salvadors attended Cyclovia for the second time Sunday, but it was Natalie’s first time properly learning to ride a bike, they said. Natalie, 11, rode her three-wheeled scooter to the event.
After seeing so many people around her riding bicycles, Natalie said she had to learn and borrowed her brother’s bike, riding along the road in front of Mission Manor Park.
Cyclovia Tucson, now in it’s ninth year, was held Sunday, with bicyclists, scooter riders, skateboarders and pedestrians riding and walking along South 12th Avenue between West 39th Street and Mission Manor Park, just south of West Drexel Road. Twelfth Avenue was closed to vehicles from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. for the event.
The Salvadors, who live near Mission Manor Park on 12th Avenue, rode their bikes and scooter from home north, enjoying the live music and stopping to admire murals along the route, said Angelica Salvador, Natalie’s mom.
“It’s been like a big party,” she said. “We started at the mariachi over there by Pueblo (High School) and moved out this way.”
After their ride, the family relaxed in lawn chairs under the shade of a tree at the park, listening to the sounds of the Hollywood Knights, an oldies and Tex-Mex group that played at the park.
Angelica Salvador said she enjoys the event because she grew up in the south side, walking to school in the same neighborhoods the event was held. She said having the event on the south side instead of downtown makes it accessible to people who can’t always go downtown, bringing a more diverse crowd out to the event.
“I love that it helps our businesses,” Salvador added.
Despite strong winds, the high temperature Sunday was 86 degrees, bringing about 40,000 people out for Cyclovia, said Emily Yetman, executive director of the Living Streets Alliance, the organization that has been putting on the event twice a year since 2013.
The organization rotates between four or five routes in April and October, with the intent of holding the event along the same route every two years.
The event moved into South Tucson in 2011 and was held along 12th Avenue for the first time in 2017, Yetman said.
Val Arzola sat in the shade Sunday afternoon with her two boys, Luke Hanson, 5, and Jace Hanson, 6, and her husband, Matt Hanson, after the family’s 5-mile ride. Arzola and Hanson have been cyclists for about six years, Arzola said.
“We’re trying to get our boys to enjoy what mom and dad like doing,” Arzola said.
This was their fourth time attending the event, she said. The family rides around their neighborhood often, but Cyclovia is a way for the boys to ride a longer distance, she said.
“They love the jumping castles and they get sweet treats,” Arzola said of her boys. “And they think it’s really cool that they can ride their bike a long distance.”
