Bike to Work - 2011 Team Bike Challenge

At the end of April, I was approached by a coworker looking to form a team for the 2011 Team Bike Challenge here in the Bay Area for the month of May. Not really having a competitive bone in my body...I am not sure why they would ask me but heck I was up for a little challenge ;)

The whole challenge revolves around substituting you bike for any trip that you might use a car for instead. Like commuting to work, running an errand, going shopping or just running over to a friends house. Being new to the area, I was a little skeptical about trying to commute by bike. I had done it a few times back home but never on a consistent basis so I was going to do my best to give our team points.

4 Members of our 5 Member GU Crew Team
Me, Mel, John and Jeremy

You get points for each commute and then additional points if it is over a certain distance. For example, a commute to work for me is 6.1 miles each way for a totally of 12.2 miles. I get one point for the commute to work and I get one point for the commute being over 10 miles total. I would only get 1 point for my trips to the store since the total distance was only 2 miles.

Over the month of May, I tallied 35 different commutes by bike with a total of 370 miles of riding which includes 21 straight days to work. That doesn't include any "exercise" rides or miles since those would be done in lei of a car. I was able to rack up a total of 65 points and won some cool "medals" along with way...well I am not sure how cool they are but you get them as your totals add up. Though we kind of faded at the end, I think it is pretty awesome that we were able to ride over 1,700 miles...pretty awesome.

All in all, I think this was a pretty cool event. I was able to save between $50-$60 bucks in gas commuting and was able to get some recovery rides in for my legs. And honestly, I was surprised how much more awake I would feel in the morning once I got to work. There were days that it was tough to get out the door when you have a nice warm car sitting right there but once I started peddling, I was good to go.

PS: As I am typing this, I am looking at the weather for tomorrow and it is suppose to rain all day. (Special Note- I have been told no less than 50 times that it doesn't rain like this in California and this weather is not normal...though I am not sure an entire week has gone by without some rain) I think I might take this opportunity to drive myself to work for the first time since April...the challenge is over right ;) But I honestly plan to commute many more days by bike, so really this is just the beginning.