The National Bike Challenge is on!
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Start your Pedals, America – The Get Up & Ride
National Bike Challenge Is On!
New online competition will engage and connect bicyclists from coast to coast.
Washington, D.C. – March 21, 2012 – Launched today by a powerful alliance of the Kimberly-Clark Corporation, the League of American Bicyclists, Bikes Belong and Endomondo, the National Bike Challenge aims to inspire and empower millions of Americans to ride their bikes for transportation, recreation and better health.
The Challenge is simple: Sign up as an individual or as a team, log your miles, share your stories and encourage others to join you. Riders will compete for prizes and awards on the local and national level, including a Grand Prize trip through California wine country from Trek Travel. Already, organizations in 26 states have committed to participate and have started warming up for the May 1 start date on the Challenge website: nationalbikechallenge.org.
“The League is excited about this unique opportunity to share the many benefits of bicycling and offer a fun, engaging entry point for new riders,” said Andy Clarke, President of the League of American Bicyclists. “There’s nothing like riding a bike with your friends and colleagues and the National Bike Challenge will create a new social network of cyclists stretching from coast to coast.”
The online initiative was piloted by Kimberly-Clark (K-C), Endomondo and the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin in 2011. The idea was sparked by K-C research engineer, Rob Gusky, and Kimberly-Clark extended the competition to its 57,000 global employees. The Challenge proved to be a great team building and wellness activity for K-C’s sustainability efforts globally. Participating K-C employees logged 357,739 miles globally, with U.S. employees pedaling 182,210 miles. The success in Wisconsin led to a bigger vision: Taking the challenge to the national level.
“We’re pleased to be the national sponsor of the Challenge as it supports the wellness of our employees and the communities we serve, while contributing to improved air quality by replacing car travel with clean, healthy bicycle trips,” said Jan Spencer, K-C’s senior vice president of continuous improvement/procurement/ sustainability. “This year, K-C is providing an extra incentive for our global team members: The Kimberly-Clark Foundation will donate 10 cents to the League of American Bicyclists for every mile logged by a K-C employee during the 2012 Challenge.”
The platform for the National Bike Challenge was created by Endomondo, a social fitness network with 7.5 million users worldwide. “Riding a bike for transportation is among the top five activities for our European users, and we look forward to helping expand this kind of biking in the U.S. with this campaign,” said Mette Lykke, Co-Founder of Endomondo. “Logging your miles is easy and the social interaction with co-workers, family and friends really makes it fun and motivating to get up and ride.”
“Bikes Belong is delighted to be a part of the National Bike Challenge, which provides all the tools to help more people ride bikes more often,” said Bruno Maier, vice president of Bikes Belong. “We’re looking forward to seeing all the different types of riders who participate. The Challenge is a great way to encourage people to live healthier lives.”
The Challenge runs from May 1 to August 31, 2012, but the public is invited to sign up now and get warmed up. For more information, visit http://www.nationalbikechallenge.org. Join us at facebook.com/nationalbikechallenge.
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@pfunkallstar 20329 wrote:
B-Team is rocking it right now, mostly thanks to Dirts insano mileage.
No-one likes me so I ride my bike instead of having relationships with humans.
@consularrider 20354 wrote:
I would never drive to my current office, except maybe as part of my wife’s carpool. For me the comparison is with public transit, Metro. The few times I have taken Metro in the past five years, I average about 40 minutes one way taking into account walking to EFC from my house, waiting for the train, the actual transit time, and the short walk from the Rosslyn station to my office. I can do the same commute in about 25- 30 minutes (including changing clothes) on my bicycle. Of course, for the past three years I’ve rarely taken the direct route and average better that 240 minutes each day on the bike.
One thing that astonishes people when they ask about my bike commute is the time it takes — they always respond, “why, that’s about how long it would take on metro or by car!” I’m quick to tell them it takes longer to go home (the uphill slog). I think of the time spent showering and changing as something of a wash, because I would have to do that every day anyway. But it is a good way to sneak in exercise if you have a full schedule of work and family obligations. So I justify the slight extra time on that basis. The husband and kid are very accomodating, although if I ramped it up to 240 minutes per day, that might be a different story. . .
Like vvill, I can’t justify it based on any money savings, because I manage to spend a ton on bike stuff. Compared to driving it is probably still cheaper, but not metro. Again, you can’t put a price on health though.
Liz
@eminva 20358 wrote:
One thing that astonishes people when they ask about my bike commute is the time it takes — they always respond, “why, that’s about how long it would take on metro or by car!” I’m quick to tell them it takes longer to go home (the uphill slog). I think of the time spent showering and changing as something of a wash, because I would have to do that every day anyway. But it is a good way to sneak in exercise if you have a full schedule of work and family obligations. So I justify the slight extra time on that basis. The husband and kid are very accomodating, although if I ramped it up to 240 minutes per day, that might be a different story. . .
Like vvill, I can’t justify it based on any money savings, because I manage to spend a ton on bike stuff. Compared to driving it is probably still cheaper, but not metro. Again, you can’t put a price on health though.
Liz
It actually costs me money to bike to work since my Metro costs would be fully covered under the federal Metrocheck benefit. Although now that my agency has a bike transportation reimbursement program, that may drop somewhat. I have my first reimbursement claim ready to submit.
@consularrider 20363 wrote:
It actually costs me money to bike to work since my Metro costs would be fully covered under the federal Metrocheck benefit. Although now that my agency has a bike transportation reimbursement program, that may drop somewhat. I have my first reimbursement claim ready to submit.
Me too.
My problem is that I’m a car geek as well as a bike geek. The hole “I spend any savings on bike stuff” thing is true, but if I was driving, I’d be spending money on bike stuff AND car geek stuff as well as regular upkeep on the car. Why would I possibly consider commuting in a car that doesn’t shoot flames out the back??? Come to think of it… why would I consider commuting on a bike that doesn’t shoot flames out the back. D’OH! I got some work to do…. and money to spend.
Love,
Dirt
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