Healdsburg on Bikes Day Thursday

Documentary screening and organized rides celebrate biking
Area cyclists, advocates and enthusiasts are set to enjoy a day of bike-related activities on April 25. A proclamation from the city council declared the day Healdsburg on Bikes day, something that organizers hope will continue in years to come.
Members of the Healdsburg High School Mountain Bike team, parents and cyclists had gone before the city council in March to request the creation of the event.
Central to the event is the screening of a new documentary, “Singletrack High,” being shown at the Raven Film Center at 7 p.m. The hour-long film follows six student athletes through the 2012 season of the
NorCal High School Cycling League is a non profit organization dedicated to keeping teens on bikes.
Vanessa Hauswald, executive director of the NorCal League, said the league attempts to meet its mission goals by recruiting high schools without mountain bike teams and giving them the tools to create one.
The NorCal League consists of about 65 high schools and 700 athletes, Hauswald said. Its efforts to grow the sport include regular races and development camps, including mountain bike skills camps and mountain bike coach certification.
Hauswald was excited about the Healdsburg screening and its accompanying events, she said.
“Anyone remotely interested in biking should come,” she said. “Cyclists and non-cyclists alike will walk away from this film utterly inspired.”
The documentary is the second film from Pedal Born Pictures, a production company composed of two brothers, Jacob and Isaac Seigel-Boettner.
“We wanted to make a movie that encouraged bike use in the U.S. but that did so by specifically targeting that age when kids stop riding bikes, which is high school because everyone gets a drivers license,” Jacob Seigel-Boettner said. “We followed these kids for about seven months … and we put about 20,000 miles on our car, zipping all over Northern California.”
The film has been screened in 12 different locations since premiering in February, he said, but Healdsburg on Bikes would be its first true partnership with a local mountain biking team.
“We’re super stoked to get the local teams involved,” Seigel-Boettner said. “Because in the end we want this film to be a tool to grow high school mountain bike racing but also a tool for teams like Healdsburg High to show it to their community, to raise some money and be able to explain to people what they do on the weekends.”
Bryan Davis, the Healdsburg High School Mountain Bike Team coach said the Healdsburg on Bikes event and film screening would help legitimize the the team, which is still a club, rather than an officially recognized high school sports team.
“Mountain biking is a good alternative sport for these kids rather than football, baseball and basketball,” Davis said.
Team members and filmmakers are also expected to join in other events such as the 4 p.m. ride launching from Spoke Folk Cyclery, open to riders of all skill levels.
At 5:30 p.m. a specially tailored Yoga for Cyclists class is being offered up by Yoga on Center (www.yogaoncenter.com), for free or by donation, with all donations going to benefit the Healdsburg Hounds Mountain Bike team.
After the screening, Campo Fina is welcoming Healdsburg on Bikes participants and offered to donate 25 percent of its proceeds to the NorCal League as well as the high school team.
For more information on the Healdsburg High School Mountain Bike Team, contact Bryan Davis at [email protected] or by visiting http://www.mrdavisonline.com/MountainBikeClub.shtml.