Bike Day a Slow One for Healdsburg

Richard Peacock stood watch at the Healdsburg "" two stacks of promotional shopping bags with goodies inside all but untouched.

His tally sheet at 8:30 showed only 9 riders had showed up in the past two hours, his thermos of coffee (Thanksgiving's Rise and Shine roast) still half-full. Or was it half-empty?

"Most people came earlier," said Richard Peacock of the Spoke Folk, which co-sponsored the energy station with the Healdsburg Chamber of Commerce. "Some just wave, they don't stay."

He explained that if people are truly biking to work, they're often headed to Windsor or Santa Rosa, where there are other energizer stations.

"It's about education, scools and businesses need to encourage people to ride. I think only General Dynamics did this year, or that's the only one I heard about," said Peacock.

At General Dynamics, human resources manager Sarah Gevirtz said they did have good participation in Bike to Work Day - 21 this year, almost as many as the 23 last year. "The longest round trip distance this year was 48 miles," she said. She noted they have facilities for bicyclists, including a bike rack and showers, at their Grove St. offices.

Jordan Winery, which lasted year fielded a team of 13 employees riding their bikes to work, come up with fewer this year. According to brand communications manger Lori Green, "Unfortunately, this year only one employee was able to participate. Some of our more avid riders were out of town and one had recently had his bike stolen. I’m sure we’ll be back on track for next year!"

If participation was down in Healdsburg, it was not true elsewhere. "Healdsburg was the outlier this year for some reason," said Aileen Carrol, outreach director for the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition. 

"Santa Rosa, Sonoma, Sebastopol, Cotati, Cloverdale, and Petaluma all saw an increase of riders from last year though."

Still, it was a slow morning - by half - from last year at the Healdsburg energizer station. Part of it might have been the location, near the five-way intersection at Vine St., Mill St. and Westside Rd. 

"Next year I think we'll have it at the shop," said Spoke Folk's Peacock. "Then we can have a Bike Home gathering afterward."

This year there are Bike Home Celebrations at Trek Cycling in Santa Rosa and Sonoma's MacArthur Place. The usually involve raffles, music, and beer.

Did you Bike to Work today? Do you often? Tell us about your bike commute, or add a photo to this story.