Home Stretch for Bay Area's Team Bike Challenge
Posted on: Thursday, 28 May 2009, 19:09 CDT
"We have a competitive dynamic going on this year, in which the top half-dozen teams are all from
As of
"Our entire team hasn't missed a single work day (of cycling) this whole month. We all ride to work every day," said
For Mora, the month-long experience has been life-changing. "I'm going to keep riding even once the challenge is over," he said. "This month started with a couple rainy days, and we all rode to work in the rain. If I can do it in the rain, I can do it all the time!"
Top teams in each of the nine Bay Area counties are (as of
In all, a record 521 teams signed up for the annual Bay Area-wide contest, in which groups of friends, coworkers and neighbors band together and pledge to bicycle to the maximum extent possible during the month of May. In keeping with the friendly nature of the event, teams tend to pick whimsical names, or monikers that play off their company's name or line of business; included in this year's crop are the Bikercrats, self-described as "Oakland Public Works Environmental Services desk jockeys" (and whose motto is "we've got a form for that"), and the i-Riders, pedaling for Apple Inc.
"The Team Bike Challenge has continued to grow every year since it began in 2006," said Casteel. "We have over five times the number of teams we had in our first year."
Participants earn points every time they ride, with novices and "big wheels" - company executives, local elected officials or journalists - getting extra credit for their rides. The teams sign up at the Bike to Work Day Web site (http://btwd.bayareabikes.org) where they also can track their bike trips as they compete against other teams. For the first time, contestants this year logged in the number of miles covered. While they don't earn points for distance, the feature adds another dimension to the competition. "Even if a team doesn't win, they can feel good about the miles they covered and the amount of carbon they removed from the air," said Casteel.
In a related event, the Company Bike Challenge has returned for its second year, with companies vying to amass the most teams and points. As of
The region's overall top-scoring team will earn the privilege of placing a bike rack in a public location of the members' choice. Top teams in each county will also be recognized, as will the top team in each of the three Company Bike Challenge size categories.
Team Bike Challenge is an outgrowth of the Bay Area's Bike to Work Day promotion, which MTC sponsors. To track team standings, go to: http://btwd.bayareabikes.org/tbc_standings. The grand prize winner will be announced the first week in June.
MTC is the transportation planning, financing and coordinating agency for the nine-county
SOURCE Metropolitan Transportation Commission
Source: PR Newswire
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