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Bike the Bay: The One Day a Year You Can Ride Across the Coronado Bridge
William Routt·Jul 12, 2026·5 min.
A 25-mile, non-competitive loop around San Diego Bay — and the only sanctioned ride over the San Diego–Coronado Bay Bridge all year.
There are a lot of ways to see San Diego Bay. Exactly one of them involves pedaling 200 feet above it on a bridge that's closed to bikes 364 days a year.
That's the pitch for Bike the Bay, and it's held up since 2007. The ride is a 25-mile, non-timed, non-competitive loop that starts and finishes at Embarcadero Marina Park South, rolls over the Coronado Bridge in the first few miles, then picks up the Bayshore Bikeway through Coronado, Imperial Beach, Chula Vista, and National City before returning downtown for a post-ride festival with food, drinks, a beer garden, and live entertainment.
Proceeds benefit the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition, the nonprofit that works on protected bike infrastructure and safer streets countywide. So the bridge is the hook, but the money goes somewhere useful.
The 2026 edition is the 19th annual, set for Sunday, August 23, 2026.
Event: Bike the Bay (19th Annual)
Date: Sunday, August 23, 2026
Start/Finish: Embarcadero Marina Park South, 200 Marina Park Way, San Diego, CA 92101 (behind the Convention Center)
Distance: 25 miles (standard); 50-mile and 5-mile options new for 2026
Terrain: Primarily flat, with one significant climb — the bridge
Start times: 6:30 a.m. (50-mile), 7:00 a.m. (25-mile), 8:00 a.m. (5-mile bridge-only)
Cost: $97.10 (25-mile), $118.40 (50-mile), $75.80 (5-mile) — including platform fees. Prices increase after August 1.
Age minimum: 10 years old
Helmets: Mandatory, no exceptions
Benefits: San Diego County Bicycle Coalition
Register: bikethebay.net
The bridge. Let's be honest — this is why people sign up. The San Diego–Coronado Bay Bridge is a 2.1-mile curve over the water with no bike lane and no pedestrian access, ever. Bike the Bay is the only day it opens to riders. You climb it in the first stretch of the ride, when your legs are fresh and the light is still soft, and the view across the bay to downtown is the kind of thing that makes people stop mid-pedal. (You can't, though. Stopping on the bridge isn't allowed, for obvious reasons.)
Five cities in one loop. The route threads through San Diego, Coronado, Imperial Beach, Chula Vista, and National City — five genuinely different communities with five different personalities, all strung along the same 25 miles of waterfront. Most locals have never seen the South Bay stretch of the Bayshore Bikeway. It's a quiet, salt-marsh-and-industry corridor that feels nothing like the Embarcadero you started from.
It's a ride, not a race. Nobody is timing you. The organizers' phrase for the culture is "go slow and say hello," which tells you what you need to know. You'll see carbon race bikes and beach cruisers, solo riders and families rolling four abreast. Nobody cares how fast you go.
The finish is a party. You come back to Embarcadero Marina Park South for a festival with food, beverages, a beer garden, and entertainment. A beer in the sun at 10 a.m. after 25 miles is a defensible life choice.
The 25-mile loop starts downtown, goes over the bridge into Coronado, then picks up the Bayshore Bikeway south — Silver Strand, Imperial Beach, Chula Vista, National City — and returns north along the bay to the start. It's a proper loop, not an out-and-back, and it's overwhelmingly flat once the bridge is behind you.
Three supported rest stops are on the course:
Water and aid at each. On-bike course marshals ride the route for rider and mechanical support.
The ride added two formats this year:
Important timing note: the bridge closes at the conclusion of the 8 a.m. start wave. If you're rolling the 5-mile option, don't be late — there's no second chance.
If 25 miles of pavement isn't enough, there's an optional 8.5-mile dirt loop in Otay Valley Regional Park, hosted by the Eastlake High School and South Bay Composite Mountain Bike Teams. Wide dirt trails, gravel roads, a touch of singletrack, and under 300 feet of elevation gain. It's $15, and the money goes to those two teams. You'll want a mountain, gravel, or cross bike with knobby tires — this isn't a road-bike section.
Parking downtown on a Sunday morning is its own event. If you're coming from Coronado, the ride offers a one-way ferry ticket ($12.78) from the Coronado Ferry Landing to the start, with special departures at 6:30 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. Return ferry service runs on the regular schedule afterward, paid on your own. [CONFIRM: recommended parking lots / trolley guidance for start area]
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