High school charity ride caught up in Woodside bike flap

The inaugural Tour for Woodside, a fundraising bike ride benefiting the Woodside High School Foundation, is off to an inauspicious start.

Organizers, who hope to make the September 23 bike ride the centerpiece of its annual fundraising campaign for the public school, have found themselves squarely in the middle of escalating tensions between bicyclists, town officials and a contingent of Woodsiders who say the town is being overrun by hordes of two-wheelers.

“We’ve worked very hard at making this a successful ride — a top-notch ride,” said Jackie Ballinger, a Woodside resident who is serving as the director of the bike ride.

But instead of an enthusiastic response from local bicycle organizations, Tour for Woodside organizers found their e-mail inboxes full of scathing messages from irate cyclists, she said.

“I wonder if this ride is being promoted by the same Woodside residents who don’t want us riding on their roads?” said one e-mail. “And now it appears they’re inviting us to spend our money to participate in a ride that benefits their community?”

Another writer suggested riders boycott Woodside businesses.

“The high school really has nothing to do with the town of Woodside,” said Diane Carr, president of the Woodside High School Foundation. “We’re looking to raise money for the school. None of the money is going to the town of Woodside.”

Not only that, she said, relatively few Woodside High School students are Woodside residents.

Lorri Lown, the founder of the 1,200-member bicycling group Velo Girls, said the ride’s Web site, tourforwoodside.com, makes it appear that the ride benefits the town, not the school. News of the ride also came on the heels of two major charity bike rides being canceled after the Woodside Town Council wouldn’t issue them an event permit, she said.

“Woodside is the centerpiece of most rides through the Peninsula,” Ms. Lown said. “My hope is that they heard what I had to say.”

However, she said that since her initial reaction to the ride, which was announced last month, the high school’s representatives have done a good job of educating her about the purpose of the ride and its lack of affiliation with the town.

“I’m very aware that a small minority of residents in Woodside are very vocal, and really wish cyclists were not allowed in their town at all,” said Ms. Lown.

She said she leads many rides for Velo Girls members through the town, including a weekly Tuesday ride that ends with dinner at Buck’s restaurant.

“Unfortunately, there are people who are so annoyed that they run cyclists off the road with their cars, and generally make us feel uncomfortable,” she said.

Woodside Mayor Deborah Gordon, who has been doing outreach to bicycle groups in the hopes of reaching a detente between the town and cyclists, said the school fundraiser is getting hit from all sides.

“The town folks are taking down their signs, and the bike folks are saying, ‘Gosh-darn those Woodsiders, they don’t want us to ride our bikes but they want to take our money,'” Ms. Gordon said.

She pointed out that Woodside High School isn’t even in the town of Woodside.

“It’s a shame for all the kids who go there, that their fundraiser is having a problem because of what adults are doing,” she said. “I really feel for them.”

Ms. Gordon said she wants to see every road in the town be safe and pleasant for all users, whether in a car, on a bike or riding a horse.

She also said that at the October 11 meeting the Town Council will be revisiting its special events rules that limit permits to two a month. The charity bike rides that did not receive permits, the Ride to Defeat ALS and one benefiting the South Peninsula Hebrew Day School, would have exceeded the two-a-month limit on events.

Ms. Carr, who is a Woodside resident herself, said Tour for Woodside organizers went to great lengths to be sensitive to Woodsiders when planning the ride’s three routes, adding that the response has been great from volunteers and sponsors.

Cycling teams from Stanford University, U.C. Berkeley and U.C. Davis have said they will attend, but so far the response from other bicyclists has been lackluster, Ms. Carr said. Organizers are hoping to attract at least 500 riders; so far about 20 are signed up, she said.

However, she said she’s staying optimistic, because she’s been told that it’s typical for most signups to happen at the last minute, with about 30 percent occurring on the day of the ride.

“I just hope we don’t have more volunteers than riders,” Ms. Carr said.