Looking for a way to motivate yourself to ride this spring and summer? Check out the National Bike Challenge, sponsored by Bikes Belong, the League of American Bicyclists, and Kimberly-Clark.
It runs from May through August, you can join as an individual, with a team of friends, or through your workplace.
Every time you ride, you earn points (20 points per ride, plus 1 point per mile – so one 5 mile ride = 25 points), and at the end of every month, depending on how many points you accumulate, you are eligible for a prize drawing.
The Challenge’s goal is to have 50,000 participants ride a total of 10 million miles by August 31. And on the Challenge’s website, they track miles, calories burned, pounds of carbon dioxide not released into the atmosphere, and gas dollars saved.
It’s a great way to challenge yourself to ride every day – you can see how you stack up against other riders at your workplace or in your town, and compete for the highest overall point total. It’s a way to bring a little competition to your daily rides, without having to get out and race or chase down other commuters on your way home.
And since for rides under 20 miles, you get more points for the ride than for the mileage, it’s a great way to encourage yourself to use your bike even for shorter trips, or if you do a Park & Pedal commute.
Are you participating in the National Bike Challenge? Have you before? What are your riding goals this spring?
Great idea! so last week-end I rode my Montague Swissbike, LX SE from the Irish Sea to the North Sea, (UK Coast to Coast Ride) over the Northern Pennines, Workington to Tynemouth, 140 miles, included climbing Hartside at 1,903 feet above sea level.
Feel great and we plan to do it again, this time lower down on a ride called ‘Way of the Roses’ (Lancashire through Yorkshire)
That sounds like an incredible ride Michael! Great to hear you use a Swissbike for your touring rig. We’d love to see some pictures from your rides if you have any. Send us an email to bicycle @ montaguebikes.com and perhaps we can feature you here on our blog. Keep riding and stay safe!
I’m not sure exactly why but this weblog is loading incredibly slow for me. Is anyone else having this problem or is it a issue on my end? I’ll check back later and see if the problem still exists.