Name: Virginia Panlasigui
Employer: SAP
Job Position: Senior User Assistance Developer
Where did you grow up? I was born and raised in San Jose, California.
Where do you commute from? I commute from Mountain View to Palo Alto—about 6 miles each way.
How many years have you been commuting by bike? How often? I started biking as a kid, and I used to help my brother with his newspaper route. We used to pull each newspaper out of the canvas bags draped over the banana seat of our Stingray bikes and throw it onto the porches of homes in San Jose.
I first started bike commuting in 1996 when I worked in Menlo Park—that was a 14-mile commute one-way. I biked three times a week as I was training for a bicycle vacation in France. Now I work from home most days, but I bike into work twice a week.
Why do you bike? I bike (instead of driving my gas-powered car) to reduce CO2 emissions. Plus it’s great exercise. I started with a goal to bike anywhere that was within five miles of my house, but I’ve since expanded that range to 25 miles.
What other kind of cycling do you do? I’ve done all kinds of cycling, including many, many charity rides, starting with the Tour de Jour for MS in 1997 on a tandem with my son, Christopher, and daughter, Juliana, on an attached Burley Piccolo. With Team SAP, I now bike the Tour de Cure and Cycling 4 Veterans rides every year since 2012.
On my birthday and Mother’s Day, I always bike with my family to a restaurant. Three years ago, my brother and I biked from Mountain View to San Francisco where we met our children at Ghirardelli Square for lunch, and then did a few more miles on the Golden Gate Bridge for a metric century (62 miles). That was my longest ride at that time!
I bike dressed up in heels to attend concerts at Bing Concert Hall and Annual Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition dinners.
I volunteer with the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition to park bicycles at public events, such as 49er home games at Levi’s Stadium and Music in the Park in San Jose. Of course, I bike to these bike parking shifts.
I participate in San Jose Bike Party (SJBP), which occurs every 3rd Friday of the month. I attend the three or more test rides per month and recruit volunteers to help direct the hundreds of cyclists that participate.
For the past eight years, I’ve organized our SAP-Tesla Energizer Station on Bike to Work Day.
What would you say to new cyclists/those interested? Start biking with a group, like a San Jose Bike Party test ride or go on a Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition ride, where no one is left behind. Seriously, if you’re stopped at a red light, they will wait. If you get a flat tire, they will fix it for you.
Besides biking, what do you do for fun? I race-walk half marathons and full marathons.
Are you willing to help new cyclists in any way? Yes, I can bike newbies from home to work.
Contact me at virginia.panlasigui@sap.com with any questions!