For once Sitka had a bit of winter weather on International Winter Bike To Work/School Day, but there still were some hearty souls who braved the high winds, rain, hail, snow, ice and cold to ride their bikes on Feb. 9. We didn’t have a lot of snow, but it was cold and there was some ice.
Our numbers were down a bit compared to past years, but more than a dozen cyclists filled out tickets at Yellow Jersey Cycle Shop to be entered into our local prize drawing. There were a couple of full bike racks around town, so more people probably rode than entered. We only had a couple of people register to ride on the international website, so Sitka didn’t do as well in the overall standings as it has in past years. In 2014, Sitka finished second in per capita number of riders. This year there were 44 cyclists from the Anchorage area, three from Sitka, two from Juneau and one from Fairbanks who registered their rides on the international website (there were 16 tickets entered at Yellow Jersey).
After two straight years of finishing second in the overall standings, Novi Sad, Serbia, knocked off three-time winner Zagreb, Croatia, with a record 1,393 participants (including 115 kids). Two Colorado communities finished second and third this year, with Denver recording 1,165 riders and Boulder 817. Zagreb finished fourth with 621, followed by Skopje, Macedonia, with 471. Rounding out the top 10 finishers were 2014 winner Oulu, Finland, in sixth place with 334 riders, Hamburg, Germany, in seventh with 231, Stockholm, Sweden, in eighth with 224, St. Petersburg, Russia, in ninth with 223, and Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, in 10th place with 218 cyclists. (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, had the most riders in 2013, the first year, when the event was almost entirely Canadian.)
Here are the prize winners from Friday (winners can pick up their prizes at Yellow Jersey Cycle Shop, if they haven’t already):
- Sara Bergendahl — $25 gift certificate from Yellow Jersey Cycle Shop
- John Ingman — $25 gift certificate from Yellow Jersey Cycle Shop
Thank you to those who rode, and to Bill Hughes of Yellow Jersey Cycle Shop for donating the two prizes.
[…] We are still gathering door prizes, and businesses or people wanting to donate door prizes to the event can contact Charles Bingham at 623-7660 or charleswbingham3@gmail.com for more information. We are looking for items such as gloves, reflective safety vests, water bottles, helmets, etc., although some businesses donated gift cards, bike books, or non-biking and non-winter items in past years. […]