Tip your helmet to these notable San Francisco bike commuters

The San Francisco Bay Area celebrates Bike to Work Day today. I'm struck by a group of remarkable bike commuters and especially one in particular.

She is Kerri Kazala, 47, of Mill Valley who pedals 50 to 60 miles a day roundtrip to her job at a medical treatment center in Daly City.

The patient care coordinator is one of nine bike commuters honored from each of the Bay Area's nine counties as Bike Commuters of the Year. More about those bicycle commuters and San Francisco Bay Area Bike to Work Day is available at the 511.org website.

Kazala spends about 90 minutes on her bike in the morning and 80 minutes on the way home; the difference due to the hill on Skyline Boulevard she has to climb on the way in, she told the Marin Independent Journal.

“It's a beautiful, amazing ride. I see so many great things – the buffalo in Golden Gate Park, I can stop at the beach, it's great.”

Kazala doesn't limit her bicycling endeavors to commuting, however. She is team manager for Team Spine, an amateur racing team sponsored by her employer.

There's more about the Bay Area Bike to Work Day at Cyclelicious.

The other Bike Commuters of the Year are:

— Lisa Lestishock of Alameda County, who averages 30 miles a day;

— Robert Haas of Contra Costa County, who uses the bike lockers and rides BART on his commute. He's been bike commuting for 19 years;

— Joel King of Napa County, who has encouraged many friends into commuting by bike and formed a challenge team;

— Marvin Johnson of San Francisco County, who carries scraps of lunch food collected from coworkers to his home compost pile;

— Craig Horak of San Mateo County, who pedals 50 miles a day roundtrip and participates in local government advisory committees;

— Jack Miller of Santa Clara County, who has commuted by bicycle for decades and is coordinator at the Mountain View Bicycle Exchange, which repairs bikes for needy families;

— Scott Morrison of Solano County, who signed up to begin bicycle commuting just last year and since then has logged 2,500 miles and lost 80 pounds;

— Christine Byrne of Sonoma County, who is a high school student who bicycles to school and encourages other students to do so.