This portal page includes links to all pages of the HER Helmet Thursdays section. HER Helmet Thursdays is a long-term project launched in Monterey County in November 2009.

On this page: HER Helmet Thursdays video and audio intros, project history, link to listings/FAQs, staff reference sheet for participating spots, and more.

The HER Helmet Thursdays Project

10-50% discounts on Thursdays for people who bike!

HER refers to 🌎 Mother Earth, who benefits from more people biking.

H-E-R is also an acronym for Hotels, Educational and Entertainment spots, and Restaurants. Also participating are spas, wineries, bicycle shops, and more. 

The award-winning HER Helmet Thursdays Project is one of many Bicycling Monterey projects. HER Helmet Thursdays is a long-term sustainability project, not a short-term discount promotion. And no, it’s not about wearing a helmet! 

1-min audio update on 10th anniversary:

2-min video intro from KSBW, January 10, 2010:

“Project Economy:  Bicycling Monterey“

12th Anniversary Poster:

Click here for a special note on the 12th anniversary of HER Helmet Thursdays (November 2021). 

Learn more about the project below.

Listings, How to Get

the Discounts, and FAQs

2-min audio intro:

“What’s up with the bike helmet buzz?” 4/14/10, KUSP

History—how HER Helmet Thursdays began, in Nov 2009:

“Wheel the Earth” by Mari Lynch, Monterey County Weekly, 4/22/10

 

Below: a Monterey County Weekly full-page ad 

honored the project’s 5th Anniversary. 

In 2017, HER Helmet Thursdays was recognized with a Golden Helmet Award from the Transportation Agency for Monterey County.

The project was also cited when Bicycling Monterey’s founder was awarded a 2011 Transportation Excellence Award from TAMC.

HER Helmet Thursdays was recognized by the California State Senate in 2013.

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Goals, Overview, History

includes more media intros, plus

“Catch the Vision” for people 

outside Monterey County

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Shortcuts to Date Restrictions and Lodging Discounts

Stories and Specialties

 specialty participants (e.g., wineries, sustainable seafood)

and stories about participating businesses and organizations

HER Helmet Thursdays participants are in many stories on bikemonterey.org. Among these:

• Charter Participants (the early leaders—those who joined in the first year)

• Bike security tips

  

• Wineries

  

• Sustainable Seafood spots

• and more stories, or mentions, about HER Helmet Thursdays

Get involved

How to PARTICIPATE: Details for Businesses and Organizations

• Business/Organization Online Sign-Up

• Business/Organization Staff Reference Sheet

• Wineries Welcome

How to PARTICIPATE: For People Who Bike, and Others

• For people who bike, including “How to invite additional businesses and organizations to participate“

•  For anyone who wants to support this long-term ecology-economy sustainability project

PARTICIPATE by sharing Posters, Mini-Fliers, Logos, Web Links, and More

Contribute or volunteer

Since 2009—and still the case at the end of 2023— the work of Bicycling Monterey’s founder on this website and on all other Bicycling Monterey projects —including HER Helmet Thursdays—has been done as an unpaid volunteer. There is still no fee charged to HER Helmet Thursdays participating businesses and organizations. 

Consider making a financial contribution or volunteering your time to help maintain and expand this project. To contribute to this work, and for FAQs, click here.

From the Monterey County Weekly’s first special bike issue, May 12-18, 2011: “What started as Dehmler’s [Mari Lynch Dehmler’s] personal blog two years ago quickly evolved into an umbrella website for all things two-wheeled in Monterey County.” To learn more about the Bicycling Monterey site and other Bicycling Monterey projects; see About.

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Questions about The HER Helmet Thursdays Project?

Contact Mari.

Looking for the 6-min video featuring 2-min intro from 2010, followed by a sampling of participants? We apologize that video is no longer available. (We deleted it to make room for a newer video on Bicycling Monterey’s video platform.)

Below, HER Helmet Thursdays received a special welcome at the Laguna Seca raceway.