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Bike scavenger hunt helps San Diego businesses, promotes riding

Posted at 4:10 PM, Aug 23, 2020
and last updated 2020-08-24 14:11:53-04

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (KGTV) - The City of San Diego has a new challenge that promotes bike riding, exploring the community and supporting local businesses. The Better by Bike blog is website that features everything from bike routes, to bike repair tips, to features on local bike riders.

Part of the new program is a scavenger hunt that takes riders through the mid-city area. It ends Aug. 30 and is a competition to see who can get the most points after visiting local businesses and answering questions. The challenges range from taking pictures of specific spots to describing murals painted by local artists. It uses the Scavify application. Winners will then be awarded prizes, including gift cards to local restaurants.

Anisha Gianchandani is the Climate Advisor for the City of San Diego and said this is part of a bigger-picture project to decrease greenhouse gas emissions and make San Diego more livable.

“So it’s really just a fun way to get outside safely, enjoy your neighborhood and support small local businesses,” she said, later adding that “when you slow down, you get to see so many parts of your neighborhood that you normally wouldn’t see in a car.”

It also helps local businesses. Stores and restaurants had the chance to submit their locations to be part of the scavenger hunt, which brings foot traffic to the area.

Juan Pablo Sanchez’s family owns Super Cocina, one of the stops on the scavenger hunt. They had a local artist paint a mural on their wall outside, and their question pertains to that art.

“We want to encourage you to use these streets, to go through us, to see our culture, to see the people that live here,” said Sanchez.

Rudy Vargas, a native to the City Heights area, has embraced the challenge, heading up the leaderboard. He said even though he is familiar with his home, he’s still learned new facts about his neighborhood.

“It was a good way to revisit some of my favorite places in City Heights but also visit some places I didn’t even know existed,” said Vargas.

Vargas said he first picked up a passion for riding bikes when commuting to SDSU as a student, and has since kept up the passion.

“My hope is that we continue this culture change and we step away from our vehicles because like I said there’s no other feeling like it,” he said.