Seriously…how did it get to me May already? I’m not sure, but apparently it’s bike month. So, let’s see how I do!
The Bike Everywhere Challenge Recap
The Bike Everywhere challenge is over! Our team captain, Jessie (also a Wooleater) led our team of 10 riders to logging no less than 1550 miles! Between the 10 of us, we took 283 riding trips in one month. Not bad for a bunch of nerds! I personally rocked it. I usually ride about 65 miles a week, but I exceeded that this month somehow. No wonder I've been so tired!
Happy Cinco de Mayo!
I earned all 8 tacos for Bike Everywhere Month in just 3 days! I set me goal next week for 12 tacos! Will I make it? Only taco will tell!
Tacos!
It's "Bike Everywhere Month" once again. Bike Month happens every May, and each time I feel bittersweet about it. This year I have a new goal. Tacos! Can I burn/earn 8 tacos in 1 week? I am new to the taco measurement system, so I am not sure what it takes. Needless to stay, I'm already 1.41 tacos down and it's the first day. Looking good!
Bike Everywhere Day!
Today is #bikeeverywhere day! The warm, spring air and sunshine blessed all cyclists this morning in Seattle. I got up early with grand plans to ride by 10 stations on the way to work. This is one of the greatest advantages of working downtown and commuting along a major (if not the most popular) bike corridor in a large and largely bike-friendly city.
The first 2 stations I planned to visit couldn’t be found. Either I read the map incorrectly, or they simply weren’t there. I began to wonder if getting up early was such a good idea. Then I stopped at the F5/Cascade Station. I danced around to some fun tunes from the DJ and filled my face with energy food. I passed the PEMCO station across the street, but made it to the Facebook Station. Facebook nonchalantly handed over a high quality bag full of high-quality goodies. I made a point to engage with other riders. This is community building, right? I’m usually rushing into work. The sooner I get to work, the better the day! The harder I ride, the better the work out! No time for chatting! Today, I had to concentrate on kicking bakc in pointless banter. Then I got some fun snacks at the next station. Kilroy made my day, though. They had a large banter that said something about “Bike to Work Day”! Sometime back, the name of this celebration changed to “Bike Everywhere Day”. But I’m biking to work! I’d I were simply biking everywhere, I wouldn’t need doughnuts to entice me, the ride in itself is reward enough. Biking to work everyday is a different kind of hard. I stopped at Oculus Eye Care and entered a raffle to win a pair of sunglasses. I could really use a pair of prescription glasses for biking, so I am secretly crossing my fingers for the win on that one. I veered one block off my route for the SubPop stop. They tried to give me a CD and I instantly didn’t feel cool enough to get a free CD from SubPop. But they gave me one anyway. All in all, it was a wonderful morning. I could have veered even more off course and gotten cans of cold brew coffee and other wonderful things, but I am happy that so many people and businesses are out there supporting cycling and cyclists. Thanks for the loot, Bike Everywhere Day!
Keeping up with Bike Everywhere month stats
Not only is the team I ride for in 1st place of all of the City of Seattle teams, individually I am in 4th place! Now, the placing is based on "number of trips" and since I ride to the health club and to work, I am riding more "trips" than I have in the past. However, I must mention that City Employees have to log their miles into the Bike Everywhere month system through a portal website maintained by the city. This particular portal does not accommodate anything other than 2-equally distant commutes per day. It's based off the outdated model that bike month was about commuters and rides to the grocery store, etc. are not counted. There is a tedious and time consuming work around that I took the time to deal with, but I imagine most employees don't bother. I certainly wouldn't have in the past. So, really, my being in 4th place has more to do with my logging methods than my actual biking. One thing I can for sure be proud of is miles ridden. So far I am in 16th place overall for the city in mileage. And 3 of the people ahead of me are on my team! Whoo hoo!
We're number 1!
The bike team I ride for is currently NUMBER 1 out of all the City of Seattle bike month teams. Since the City of Seattle employs some 10,000 people, it's pretty remarkable to be number 1 at something. Feeling a little bit of pride about right now!
Bike Everywhere month
It appears I am more active on the saddle than the average participant. Pretty cool! But, wow, the average participant is pretty awesome, too! Other than folks that bike more than me, I don't really know anyone who bike 56 miles in just a couple of weeks. You rock 'em, Seattle!
Are you ready for Bike Everywhere Month?
The first 2 years I participated in Bike to Work month, I reveled in riding more miles than everyone else on my team. While I couldn’t compete in number or percentage of trips, I easily shot over everyone in miles. I consider myself only mildly competitive, but I was pretty proud of this fact. It made spending 40 hours a month commuting worth something. Then, the focus changed from “Bike to Work” to “Bike Everywhere”. Inclusiveness is the goal, and it doesn’t make sense to exclude those who don’t work or they do and have a job that is flat-out not bikeable. That’s cool. I’ve had those jobs before and admittedly felt like I was missing out. But now, I can’t compete. Nearly all my miles are commute miles, and while I have a long commute, it doesn’t compare so the single joyride ridden by my peers. I like to blame this on me working more weekly hours and having half the vacation of most of my co-workers, but that probably isn’t actually true. Needless to say, I look forward to this year’s Bike Month with more trepidation than I had in the past. The biggest hesitation is the timing of my ride. Now that I commute during rush hours, I am leery about the increase in bike traffic. More riders and newer riders add hazards that can be a hassle. However, I still endeavor to make the most of it. Because free bagels!