Bike To Work Day

by Don Shipman, Western Regional Manager



On Bike to Work Day, May 15, I worked an Energizer station in downtown San Jose. Energizer Stations are set up throughout the Bay Area on Bike to Work Day to encourage bicyclists to ride. An Energizer Station is a small booth set up along the roadways of major bike commute routes that has food, goodies and free stuff to hand out. Every year, bicyclists who stop by these stations receive a free re-usable Bike to Work Day bag full of tips on safety and useful bicycling information.

This year, some of the Energizer Stations had Odwalla, CD's and the one downtown had free helmets. Yep free helmets! They weren't Giro's but they were good quality and it was about as good as free gets!

This year, there were roughly 200 Energizer Stations setup throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, conveniently located on major bike commuting routes. Hundreds (or close to a thousand) riders stopped by the downtown San Jose Energizer Station to take a break, grab an OJ, Bagle or even a helmet and spirits were high as the 80 degree morning weather could not have been better for getting on your bike.

At the end of the day the Silicon Valley Bike Coalition hosted a "Bike Home from Work" party in downtown San Jose that drew a packed house at Gordon Beirsch in downtown San Jose. The police had cordoned off the entire block with barricades for bike parking and it was filled with hundreds of bikes. The weather cooled to about 80 degrees again for a perfect ride home.

All in all, I put in about 40 miles that day riding on my urban bike. It was a work day but it sure didn't feel like work!