Despite afternoon showers, about 100,000 people rode bikes, walked or ran an 18-mile carless course on Sunday through the streets of the San Gabriel Valley as part of the largest ciclovia-type event in North America.

The 626 Golden Streets brought out parents pedaling rusty Schwinn cruisers with their kids on bikes with training wheels, spandex-wearing racers, unicyclists, riders on tall bikes, teenagers balancing on one-wheeled electric skateboards, plus 600 runners of a half marathon.

• Photos: 626 Golden Streets

More than a dozen streets were filled with a colorful array of human-powered vehicles along such major thoroughfares as Mission Street, Huntington Drive and Foothill Boulevard through seven cities: South Pasadena, San Marino, Arcadia, Monrovia, Duarte, Irwindale and Azusa.

“There were a lot of folks out there,” said Wes Reutimann, executive director of Bike San Gabriel Valley, the organizer of the event. “But the most gratifying was seeing all the families.”

Police agencies in cities along the route reported no significant collisions or issues connected with the event.

Reutimann said his group consulted with law enforcement for the “early estimate” of riders that “far exceeded expectations.”

South Pasadena Mayor Michael Cacciotti, who came up with the idea more than three years ago, rode the route with other mayors, elected officials and residents.

“It is everything I envisioned, even more,” he said during a stop at the Arcadia Gold Line station. “I’ll always remember that kid I rode by in San Marino who said: ‘Dad, this is so much fun!’”

• Video: 626 Golden Streets

The unique ride was conceptually wrapped around the one-year anniversary of the Gold Line Foothill Extension from Pasadena to Azusa, which attracts 51,000 daily riders on weekdays. However, Gold Line station parking garages have been filling up before 7 a.m., causing some to skip the train and stay in their cars.

“Part of our goal is to ensure citizens have a safe alternative to get to the Gold Line and it is not constrained by the lack of parking,” said Chris Ziegler, a member of the bicycle and train advocacy group Move Monrovia.

Founder Bill Schieff said he and Ziegler experienced a high volume of people stopping by their booth at Monrovia Station Square, a stop along the route.

“We were not expecting these kinds of crowds,” Schieff said. “This was a wonderful surprise for all of us, considering the weather. If the sun were out, you would’ve had a lot more.”

About noon, light rain began to fall, turning into a steady rain through 2 p.m., when the rain stopped and sunshine returned, Reutimann said. Many had cut rides short, hopping onto Gold Line trains packed with bicycles and passengers. He was grateful the rain stayed away as long as it did.

The event was originally scheduled for June 26 (6-26) but twin fires burning in San Gabriel Canyon and above Duarte led the organizers to reschedule.

Karen Klemens, owner of Mother Moo Creamery in South Pasadena on Mission Street near the Gold Line Station, was ready last June. This time, she upped her store’s social media presence, brought in a full staff and was brewing coffee and lattes in the morning followed by gourmet ice cream and pastries in the afternoon and evening.

“We’ve been busier than on a normal Sunday,” said Klemens, in between making milk-and-coffee drinks. “It fits in with the green theme of our store. Many of my employees bike to work and a lot use the train.”

Perhaps no one was more prepared than 8-year-old Ivory and her dad, Nathan Pierce, who sold homemade lemonade on the edge of their lawn on Mission Street. “Yes, we pressed all of the lemons yesterday,” he said, adding he moved his family to South Pasadena for its small-town atmosphere.

Crowds grew along the westbound lanes of Huntington Drive in San Marino closed to car traffic. Some bicyclers ate snacks sprawled on the wide, grassy median, while 50 cars queued up to make a left turn onto San Marino Boulevard.

In Michillinda Park in east Pasadena, bike riders swarmed food trucks and free bike service stations. There, Mark Bierotte, franchise owner of Velofix, a mobile bike shop, was pumping air in people’s tires and fixing stuck gears for free.

“This has been much busier than I thought,” Bierotte said. He bought 40 bananas from Trader Joe’s store, cut them in half and handed them to riders to ward off muscle fatigue. “They will be gone in a few minutes,” Bierotte said, anticipating a second banana run.

Riders said the point was not just to help local businesses. But to see the world differently.

Joanne Lazzaro, 56, and Nik Arkimovich, 56, both of Pasadena, rode traveling, folding bikes. They were veterans of many LA-based ciclovias. “It is great to see people in Los Angeles get out of their cars,” said Lazzaro.

VIP speakers, including state Sen. Anthony Portantino, D-La Cañada Flintridge, said they believe the state should spend more money on bike lanes and mass transit than freeways.

Frank van Joolen, 66, of Pasadena, wearing a baby blue Los Angeles Chargers jacket and riding a vintage, steel-framed, two-wheeler had a simpler message: “It brings people together,” he said, adding: “You can see them smile.”