Senator Jarrett Barrios, dressed for Saturday’s modest temperatures in lycra bike shorts, a tee-shirt and scarf, encouraged public safety and alternative forms of transportation at the ‘Frostbike’ ride and rally in Cambridge, an event organizers hoped would attract local and state attention to the needs of bicyclists and the benefits alternate forms of transportation offer the city and the nation.

‘Bikers symbolize a fun, healthy and responsible lifestyle,’ said Barrios, who rides from his Cambridge home to the State House in Beacon Hill when weather permits.

Approximately 50 bicyclists, including the senator, participated in the first annual, 30-minute bike ride, which began at the Cambridge Common and ended outside City Hall, with free hot chocolate and a reading from the bicyclists’ proclamation. At the celebration that followed, mountain bikes, rusted town bikes, ten-speeds and tandems laid strewn across the green lawn as their owners gathered and cheered on the steps that were slick and wet from the melting snow.

‘We’re united out here today for fun,’ Jake Horowitz, an event organizer, told the crowd of cyclists wearing everything from spandex shorts to jeans and oversized sweaters.

‘We are here for health,’ Horowitz said, ‘for the health of our bodies, the strength and health of the city and the health of our nation.’

A member of the Joint Committee on Public Safety and co-author of the Bicyclist’s Bill of Rights, Barrios read from the bicyclists’ proclamation, a declaration of safety standards and biker responsibilities.

‘I want to urge bicyclists to practice safety throughout the community,’ said the senator to the attendants wearing bike helmets of various colors.

Barrios said with the bill of rights, he hoped to promote safety and eliminate some of the confusion bicyclists confront within the transportation network.

The somewhat political event intended to garner attention to bicycles as a vehicle of transportation.

‘We represent environmental interests, anti-consumerism interests and health interests centered around bikers who symbolize the answer to each of these problems,’ said David Noe, one of the five organizers.

Many participants wore cardboard picket armor bearing phrases like, ‘Biker Love,’ ‘Zero Emission Vehicle,’ ‘Green Machine,’ ‘Pedal Power’ and ‘Bike Cambridge.’

‘We’re trying to bring cyclists together to promote legislation change and to get the bicycling community involved in redevelopment projects aimed at creating environments conducive to bicycles,’ Horowitz said.

‘We want to urge state and local officials to support the bill of rights,’ Barrios said. ‘There has been an on-going campaign in Cambridge to include bike lanes in redevelopment projects in Harvard and Porter Squares where pedestrians and bikes come together in a potentially dangerous way.’

Bicyclists in Cambridge and throughout the Commonwealth must use bike lights at night and must follow the same rules of the road as cars when riding on the street, said Kathy Murphy, the sergeant of bike patrol in Cambridge. Riders who are caught without a light at night could be issued a ticket and a $20 fine.

‘We really want to encourage public safety,’ Murphy said, ‘so we would probably waive the fine if bicyclists prove they have purchased a light after being stopped.’

The recent attention to bicyclists and their presence on sidewalks and streets began with the advent of bicycle messenger services, which made the two-wheeled delivery vehicles more visible to the public.

‘The messengers really got things rolling in Boston,’ Murphy said, ‘because there was a lot of confusion over bicyclists and pedestrians. They really caught a lot of heat.’

Murphy said bicyclists can use either the street or the sidewalks, except in designated pedestrian zone, such as parts of Massachusetts Avenue, which cater to high-volume foot traffic. Whether they choose the sidewalk or the street, she said, bicyclists must follow the appropriate rules.

‘If on the sidewalk, they must disembark from their bike and walk through a crosswalk,’ she said. Conversely, if on the street, cyclists must adhere to traffic signals just like automotive counterparts.