Bike to work, track your trips and win cool prizes with Bike Commuter Challenge, June 12-19

Released Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Contact: 

Clare McDermott
Mobile: 773.391.7709
Office: 312.216.0466
clare@activetrans.org

Bike to work, track your trips and win cool prizes with Bike Commuter Challenge, June 12-19

The Active Transportation Alliance’s Bike Commuter Challenge, in partnership with Bike Chicago and Chicago Bike Week, is an annual celebration of bike commuting. Last year, more than 6,200 Chicagoland employees from 946 companies logged their bike trips during the week. Participating employers included Groupon, Orbitz, Motorola, WBEZ, Chicago Sun-Times, The Field Museum, Allstate Insurance, the Village of Niles and many others.  

This year, participants can track trips on the go with our new trip tracking app; they can also view other team’s current standings at www.bikecommuterchallenge.org – a great feature for organizations looking to add a little friendly competition into the Challenge. (We recommend social media sparring – and encourage participants to give their competitors a public nudge for a good cause!) 

It’s easy to participate. You don’t have to bike all the way every day, just one bike trip to your local bus or train stop during the challenge counts towards your team’s total. Anyone can sign up for free at www.bikecommuterchallenge.org. 

“Whether you bike commute every day or want to try it out, we can get you rolling to work,” said Ron Burke, Executive Director of the Active Transportation Alliance. “Nearly 20 percent of our participants last year were biking to work for the first time and nearly 42 percent were women. We’ve got all the tools and encouragement you need to get to work on two wheels.”

Throughout Bike Commuter Challenge, Active Trans will host morning Pit Stops for bike commuters in Chicago. We’ll have free Dark Matter Coffee, bike mechanical checks, morning snacks and cool bike-related give-a-ways. Get the full pit stop schedule at http://bikecommuterchallenge.org/page/pit_stop_schedule. Additionally, we will be set up at the official Bike to Work Rally at Daley Plaza Friday June 19. You can learn more about Chicago Bike Week events at www.bikechicago.us. 

Programs like the Bike Commuter Challenge are a core part of our organization’s mission – to make it easier and more fun for people to ride a bike, walk and use public transit. In addition to directly encouraging people to try out a two-wheeled commute, the Bike Commuter Challenge activates new champions for bringing healthy and sustainable transportation options to Chicago and showcases the broad-based support for streets that are safer and better for all. 

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The Active Transportation Alliance is a non-profit, member-based advocacy organization that works to make bicycling, walking and public transit so safe, convenient and fun that we will achieve a significant shift from environmentally harmful, sedentary travel to clean, active travel. The organization builds a movement around active transportation, encourages physical activity, increases safety and builds a world-class transportation network. The Active Transportation Alliance is supported by more than 7,000 members and 1,000 volunteers. For more information about the Active Transportation Alliance, visit www.activetrans.org or call 312.427.3325.