When organizers of Levi's GranFondo wanted to bring the mass-participation bike ride to Sonoma County five years ago, they surveyed some of the rural west county roads and knew they had a problem.
The pavement on the proposed route was so potholed in places that it posed a safety risk to riders.
Organizers could have bailed on Sonoma County, but the ride's founder, former professional cyclist Levi Leipheimer, is from Santa Rosa and has sought to promote the county as a cycling destination.
They could have asked the county to fix the byways on the route, but the Public Works Department has consistently come up short on such requests, upgrading only a small fraction of its 1,382-mile network each year. The repair backlog over the entire network is more than $920 million, according to the latest estimate.
Instead, after getting county permission, organizers hired their own contractor to fill in potholes. In the process, they forged a unique partnership with the county - a private organization stepping up to maintain public infrastructure.
"Sitting around tapping our feet waiting for the county doesn't get potholes paved," said Greg Fisher, marketing director for Bike Monkey, the group that runs the GranFondo. "We're addressing safety issues so that we aren't banging bike rims or car rims. We all use these roads."
The organization also created a bit of good will for cyclists, who some drivers criticize as freeloaders, using public roads without paying their fair share for upkeep. Bike advocacy groups counter, saying cyclists also drive cars and pay for roads through gas and property taxes.
In the past five years, Bike Monkey has pumped $40,000 into county road maintenance and patched 48 miles, some of which are not even on the GranFondo route, according to Fisher.
As the start of spring ushers in this year's cycling season, drawing thousands of riders to the area's backroads and byways, county officials say they welcome the help with pavement upkeep.
The county focuses on preserving roads that are essential to tourism and agriculture and does not have the resources to patch rural residential roads, Tom O'Kane, the county's deputy director of public works, said. Many of those roads are popular with bikers because they are not heavily traveled by cars.
This year's county spending on pavement preservation, $8.6million in total, will go toward main thoroughfares such as River Road, Arnold Drive and Petaluma Hill Road.
Those roads draw their share of cyclists, but the numbers don't compare to the crowds now drawn to King Ridge and Coleman Valley roads - west county farm routes the GranFondo has put on the map and now helps to maintain.
Others on the Bike Monkey list include Cavedale Road, rising above Sonoma Valley, Sweetwater Springs Road in the hills west of Windsor and Mill Station Road through rural Graton.
Without the outside help, such routes likely would not receive much of the work needed to make them passable to bikes, O'Kane said. He did not mention conditions for vehicles.
"We're not geared to focus on heavily traveled bike corridors," he said. "Their organization has helped a lot."
Though some say Bike Monkey's contribution is tiny compared to the budgetary shortfall, bike advocacy groups say the gesture has helped the cycling community's image.
"It's like adopt-a-highway," said Gary Helfrich, executive director of the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition. "It shows we care about the roads."
Other cycling groups have also worked to improve Sonoma County roads. The Santa Rosa Cycling Club twice a year organizes a roadside cleanup along routes such as Chalk Hill Road and Dry Creek Road, said Sarah Schroer, the group's president.
"There's been some backlash to large groups of cyclists riding on rural roads," she said. "It's a good idea to do whatever we can as cyclists to say that we are all in this together. Let's share the roads and the responsibility."
Advocates for more road spending say that groups such as Bike Monkey are making a positive contribution, but they would like to see the county do more to fix its roads.
"I think it's fantastic," said Save Our Sonoma Roads co-founder Michael Troy, an avid cyclist. "They've taken it upon themselves to fix the roads. They're doing the right thing in our book. But it's a sad statement about an essential county function."
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