The National Bike Challenge is on!

[KLizotte]

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.

Topic

[creadinger]

@rcannon100 21576 wrote:

What would be the fun of a rain storm if you didnt get wet and get to go splashing through the puddles??

I can deal with being soaked. I’ve done it many times. I do not like having to clean and lube my bike afterward though. It’s not easy in a high rise with only a balcony and a bucket. A hose and a driveway would help a lot.

[Certifried]

I don’t remember which year it was, but Cycle Across Maryland was in Southern Maryland one year, and it poured. Every. Damn. Day. I was a teen-challenge mentor, and our tent city was just flooded. There was nothing you could do but take a lot of extra time in the restroom so you had, at least, a few minutes of not being rained on.

[PotomacCyclist]

Winter only comes around here every other year or so. Not that I’m complaining.

I did not particularly enjoy the blizzards of 2009-2010. The above-ground Metro stations were shut down early during one storm so there was no Metro service to Pentagon City, Crystal City and National Airport. No taxis either.

In more recent events, I seem to have run over a small pebble yesterday. There is now a small but noticeable divot in the tire. I just had the tires installed a few weeks ago. I’ll have it checked out at the LBS. I won’t be happy if I have to replace it already. It’s a Continental GP4000 too. That’s supposed to be a nice tire, and relatively sturdy without being too heavy.

[Mark Blacknell]

@PotomacCyclist 21589 wrote:

In more recent events, I seem to have run over a small pebble yesterday. There is now a small but noticeable divot in the tire. I just had the tires installed a few weeks ago. I’ll have it checked out at the LBS. I won’t be happy if I have to replace it already. It’s a Continental GP4000 too. That’s supposed to be a nice tire, and relatively sturdy without being too heavy.

Sure that’s not your wear indicator? I bet there’s an identical divot on your other tire.

(And that’s a great tire. Been riding them for years.)

[PotomacCyclist]

That’s possible, but I don’t see a divot on the other tire. Maybe they only put it on the rear wheel. I’ll ask the bike store guys for confirmation. The divot does look smooth, as though it were stamped intentionally.

[DaveK]

@PotomacCyclist 21589 wrote:

In more recent events, I seem to have run over a small pebble yesterday. There is now a small but noticeable divot in the tire. I just had the tires installed a few weeks ago. I’ll have it checked out at the LBS. I won’t be happy if I have to replace it already. It’s a Continental GP4000 too. That’s supposed to be a nice tire, and relatively sturdy without being too heavy.

GP4000s just have those in the tread pattern. Hang on, let me turn around… I bet it looks a little something…. like this.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]1168[/ATTACH]

[PotomacCyclist]

Yeah, it looks like that. Odd that I didn’t notice it before. After most rides, I will pick up each end of the bike and slowly spin the wheel while holding my gloved hand on the tire, to brush off any pebbles and bits of glass. Before most rides, I spin the tires slowly to check for any cuts.

[TwoWheelsDC]

Although my points total is decent enough, I’ve been a worthless teammate this week. I’m just having one of those weeks where I have pretty much zero desire to get on my bike. Could be wedding planning now compounded by dog sitting for a friend whose dog is much more energetic and high strung than my own dog…it’s exhausting.

[americancyclo]

@DaveK 21595 wrote:

GP4000s just have those in the tread pattern. Hang on, let me turn around… I bet it looks a little something…. like this.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]1168[/ATTACH]

When I first noticed those on my GP4000s I was worried I might have a vampire problem in my bike shed.

[rcannon100]

It’s 8.15 pm. The sun is going down. Spent the day exploring why the garden drain was not draining (turns out the garden drain pipes have probably not existed for 20 years… nothing but mud). Do I give up on NatBikCha? Do I give up my 20 points per day on a bike?? HELL NO! Drag the carcass onto the bike. Forget my helmet (oops) and forget my glasses (oops). And put in 2 long painful mournful terrible despicable atrocious miles! #IWillNotBeDropped #WellMaybeNextWeek

[Mark Blacknell]

Not without a helmet!? Oh noes!

[vvill]

@rcannon100 21720 wrote:

It’s 8.15 pm. The sun is going down. Spent the day exploring why the garden drain was not draining (turns out the garden drain pipes have probably not existed for 20 years… nothing but mud). Do I give up on NatBikCha? Do I give up my 20 points per day on a bike?? HELL NO! Drag the carcass onto the bike. Forget my helmet (oops) and forget my glasses (oops). And put in 2 long painful mournful terrible despicable atrocious miles! #IWillNotBeDropped #WellMaybeNextWeek

On those days I usually do just a smidge over 0.5mi so I get my 20 points. And yeah usually without anything bike specific, other than a bike and my Garmin.

[eminva]

@rcannon100 21720 wrote:

It’s 8.15 pm. The sun is going down. Spent the day exploring why the garden drain was not draining (turns out the garden drain pipes have probably not existed for 20 years… nothing but mud). Do I give up on NatBikCha? Do I give up my 20 points per day on a bike?? HELL NO! Drag the carcass onto the bike. Forget my helmet (oops) and forget my glasses (oops). And put in 2 long painful mournful terrible despicable atrocious miles! #IWillNotBeDropped #WellMaybeNextWeek

Ah, the joys of an older home (and yard).

But thanks for the laugh — I have a hectic week and will not be on the bike as much as I have been so far, so I WILL be getting dropped. Maybe we can hope all the front runners have a sudden need for a vacation, huh? Someplace without miles and miles of bike trails?

Liz

[PotomacCyclist]

I’m finding it hard to get out for even an easy 15-minute daily ride this week. But I’ll try. I can just coast most of the time, and do some very easy pedaling. I need to calm down after the busy weekend (5K and Crystal Ride). Then the plan is to do a moderately-long ride this weekend, and crank up the training volume for the next 3 weeks after that.

[Mikey]

Huzzah to the A-team!

You guys are really giving us killer B’s a run for it this month. Great to see so many local teams doing so great.

[Author]

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