To all those who rode in the Group Health Commute Challenge: congratulations on a job well done! Nearly 12,200 people registered for the Challenge, with more than 80 percent of those logging trips over the course of the month. Collectively, we logged more than 1,500,000 miles, beating 2011’s record by more than 200,000 miles.Wow!
You all deserve a hearty pat on the back for riding in May. We’d also like to take this opportunity to recognize several teams, organizations and individuals who stood out.
Organizations
Workplaces that support bicycling are crucial to the success of the Group Health Commute Challenge. From small companies like SvR Design to major institutions like UW and Microsoft, organizations understand that bike commuting makes great business sense. Larger organizations dominate the standings in overall trips, riders and miles, but when categories are divided on a per rider basis, small businesses enter the fray.
Most Teams in an Organization
1st place: University of Washington (89 teams)
2nd place: Seattle Children’s (77 teams)
3rd place: The Boeing Company (61 teams)
Most Riders in an Organization
1st place: Seattle Children’s (656 riders)
2nd place: University of Washington (655 riders)
3rd place: The Boeing Company (498 riders)
Most Miles in an Organization
1st place: The Boeing Company ( 100,181 miles)
2nd place: Seattle Children’s (74,610 miles)
3rd place: University of Washington (64,088miles)
Best Commute Rate in an Organization
1st place : Montlake Bicycle Shop (89%)
2nd place : Ocean Beauty Seafoods LLC (85%)
3rd place (tie): Common Ground (81%)
3rd place (tie): Bike Arlington #1 (81%)
Teams
Many riders join the Group Health Commute Challenge because of the camaraderie and competition of being part of a team. Below are some of the team results.
1st place (tie): 100% Navy (100%)
1st place (tie): Bald and the Beautiful (100%)
2nd place: F5 for each day in May ride (99.7%)
3rd place: On-Your-Leftists (97.4%)
Most Trips for a Team
1st place: Top Gear (206.5 trips)
2nd place: Biketeremia (205 trips)
3rd place: On-Your-Leftists (202.5 trips)
Most Miles for a Team
1st place: Sterna Paradisaea (7,808 miles)
2nd place: Ferociter Psychos (7,026 miles)
3rd place: Biking At Dawn Around the South Sound (5,785 miles)
Most Team Miles on a Per Rider Basis (Average)
1st place: Sterna Paradisaea (780 miles/rider)
2nd place: Ferociter Psychos (702 miles)
3rdplace: Biking At Dawn Around the South Sound (578 miles)
Individuals
There were some incredible individual riders this year. Along with the folks below, a whopping 846 people rode 100 percent of their work days!
Most Trips Overall
1st place (tie): Christian Zouein (31 trips)
1st place (tie): Jaya Sahni (31 trips)
1st place (tie): Ingird Johnson (31 trips)
1st place (tie): Allee Hilton (31 trips)
1st place (tie): Kristin Welch (31 trips)
1st place (tie): Jerzy Gaciarz (31 trips)
2nd place (tie): Madeleine Carlson (30 trips)
3rd place (tie): Eric Madsen (30 trips)
3rd place (tie): Tory Kovacs (30 trips)
Most Miles Overall
1st place: Kristin Welch (2,210 miles)
2nd place: Izaak Kelly (1,906 miles)
3rd place: Paul Frederickson (1,634 miles)
New Riders
New riders are key to growing the bicycle community. The support and encouragement of current riders inspires new people to try bicycling everyday. Bring a friend on your next ride. This year, a record 2,478 brand new bike commuters participated in the Group Health Commute Challenge!
Most New Commuters in an Organization
1st place: Seattle Children’s (186 newbies)
2nd place: University of Washington(120 newbies)
3rd place: The Boeing Company (84 newbies)
Most Miles Among New Commuters
1st place: Fred Antonetty (1150 miles)
2nd place (tie): Josephine Luu (919 miles)
3rd place: Joe Marshall (895 miles)
Most Trips Among New Commuters
1st place: Ricky Lyman (28 trips)
2nd place: Lincoln Smith (27 trips)
3rd place: P.J. Mertz (25 trips)
I am not sure we should be glorifying working all 31 days in a month. Whatever happened to balance in life and taking time for non-work activities? One could say, “Oh, I did it just for bike to work month.” Just the same, it skews the stats about ridership and tells employers that you live to work as opposed to the other way around.
31 days including thru the Memorial Day weekend. Total scammers!
the Individual who rode 2209 miles in 31days ….total stretching of stats…the stats should be monitored and tracked…”Map my ride” stats daily imputed and locked at 11:59 before the next day starts…some people sandbagged their miles…..I saw this same person 1375 one week and the next week was all of a sudden 2209…nearly 1000 miles in one week… WTF???
I have a hard time believing those stats, too. It makes no sense to log 31 days or many 1,000s of miles. What are they doing? Going on a long ride, checking email at some point along the way via their phone, and calling it “work”? How silly. These folks can’t have ridden that many hours and still worked and slept. It makes the commute challenge less meaningful for those actual bike commuters who slog through a ride and then do a day’s work and then slog home. I know that the competitive aspects of the challenge bring out the worst in some people, but it also can bring out the best.
My congratulations to those riders with the personal integrity to not fudge their stats. They are my heroes!
Why so grouchy?
It was actually 834miles in 11 days. If you can digest Izaak Kelly’s commute of 100miles RT, and I can, then why the fuss over 76 miles RT? My goal was to push myself and hopefully enspire some other women along the way. After completing 1800miles last year I decided to challenge myself to working/riding everyday this year. Perhaps you should consider the motive before you make hurtful accusations. What would I have to gain by deceiving anyone? There weren’t any grand gesture or prizes bestowed apon me when I won last year, so why bother? I imaged that the same would be the case this year. So instead of questioning my integrity perhaps you should be asking how I stayed motivated, how many flats did I have, how little sleep did I get, what did I listen to for 6hours a day on my iphone, did I sleep with an icepack, did it suck leaving at 7a and getting home after 10pm, there a huge feeling of accomplishment when I finished or here’s one, WAS IT WORTH IT? To be honest it was grueling and not nearly as fun as I had imagined. But I am proud of the accomplishment and no matter how doubtful or down right rude some riders have decided to be it doesn’t matter. I didn’t do it for you. I did it for me!
Always, Kristin
“what did I listen to for 6hours a day on my iPhone.”
-I don’t know, but the fact that you think it’s important to state that you own an iPhone and that you wear headphones that prevent you from hearing “on your left” calls signifies to me that you don’t get the true commuter vibe. Some of us ride 400 miles every month of the year and respectfully say “goodmorning” when a fellow musicless commuter passes by.
Riding a fancy bike and listening to music for 31 days is the same as going to a private gym, as far as I’m concerned. Personally beneficial.
Now in some ways I have to defend “Kristin”…I too doubted her validity, but I have to give her props for her stamina and her boss props for working her 31 days without a day off…betting that is a Starbucks record.(“Congratulations Kristin, you beat 2 trees!!”)….but as a true “year round” commuter from Downtown Everett to Seattle I seriously question ones ability to “fudge ones numbers” on this website…I agree with the fella whole heartedly that miles should be put in daily and locked at 11:59..so you have to be on top of you game..and not miraculously pull 1000 mile leap in the last second stretch …I can back my play….I see the same 15 or 20 commuters 5 to 6 days a week on my commute…some team members “Go Bikesale.com!!!” some bikeshop owners and Mechs “Bothell Ski & Bike…and some everyday joe’s going to work…..Yesterday pouring down rain…on my 58 mile Rt route… I noticed barley anybody….so my goal for next year is ghost riding a few of these “Fair weather commuters that crawl out for BTWM only and check the validity of their claim…safe riding everyone and GoUnionbaycycling/ Bikesale.com!!
it’s good to know that all of you care.
keep the rubber side down.
“Life is all about enjoying the Ride.”
It amazes me, or rather disturbs, that people are so willing to attack the credibility of other riders. We already have to defend ourselves on a daily basis from motorists, now we have to worry about fellow riders. The contest is called the Commute Challenge for a reason, to challenge whatever your par level is. I ride year round rain or shine, but not in the snow (props to Superbee, I don’t know how you do that. I tried a couple of times, but after a couple of heart attack moments decided not to do it anymore). I will be the first to admit that my “normal” ride is not 100 miles round trip. It averages 30 miles by bicycle and 70 miles by Sounder. When the contest arrives in May I stop riding the train just to see what type of mileage I can sustain. It would be nice if everyone would post their miles on a daily basis, but even if they don’t it doesn’t change the miles that were available for my commute or anyone else. 21 work days, 2100 miles available, unfortunately due to mechanical failure and a couple of “why am I doing this?” days I lost some mileage. Overall, I am happy with what I achieved and that is all that really matters. So congratulations to Kristin, Superbee, Sterna Paradisea, and everyone else who rode during the month of May. I think it really says something about what can be accomplished on a bicycle.
One of the teams last year that really made me smile was a team called the MsFITs or something like that. They were run by a team captain who encouraged everyone to ride as much as they could, even though the average commute distance was only 8 mi or so for individuals. They ended up being 3rd or 4th overall for the number of team members they had with an incredibly high (95+%) participation rate.
I recently ran in to one of their members (Angela) who started contract work again at Microsoft. Where did I run in to her? Making the hilly commute from her house off the Sammamish River Trail back to Microsoft on her bicycle, because she was a member of the GHCC team. Now that is awesome.
Here’s a request for the GHCC folks – a pat on the back for the super mileage guys, or the guys that commute 18 days a week, sure – but what about really acknowledging the super-joe average guys who commute every day they work? The guys with a 5 mile commute, normally shelve their bikes for winter but started again because they were invited to a bike to work team…
Why can’t we all just get along!
I’m really disappointed by the responses I’m reading here. The tone of reader response forums is generally pretty low, but I hope for better from the cycling community. Why is it so important to you what other people do for their commute challenge? This is obviously not a real contest. It’s for fun. It’s a mechanism for getting people up, out, and on their bikes — to show that it can be done, to promote a healthy lifestyle, to emphasize the environmental benefits of cycling, and to raise visibility of cycling.
People who criticize other participants’ work schedules, their choice to ride insane distances, or who accuse others of “cheating”, miss the point and erode the mission. Everyone rides for his or her own reasons — not yours. Your ride is about your ride.
Snobs like Evan Williams who think they’re the arbiters of what “proper” cyclists should and shouldn’t do are at the pinnacle of arrogance. Having your own cycling style is fine, but please don’t presume to tell others who don’t do the same things you do that they aren’t “real” cyclists.
“I know that the competitive aspects of the challenge bring out the worst in some people…”
Like making unfounded accusations of cheating?
Don’t look at the numbers and assume that, just because they’re way higher than yours (or mine), that the individual logging them cheated. Also, as far as people complaining about work/life balance, consider that some people love their jobs and the combination of a long ride and a great job IS their idea of a good time. Maybe they did work extra because it was May but don’t accuse people of cheating without evidence…
Congrats to all the riders!
I rode my bike 8 times this month. I averaged 15 miles per commute. I was around 50% commuting by bike, no where near the stats of those listed above. I had a great time. I felt like I made a difference. I saved money. I exercised. All because of BTWM. What’s not to like about BTWM?
Hey people, chill out and smile. All that matters is –
“Every time that wheel turn ’round
Bound to cover just a little more ground”
The Grateful Dead
Peace out.
I started Sterna Paradisaea in 2008. I asked Boeing Company bike riders that I knew already commuted almost everyday of the working year to join the team and 10 did. As captain in 2008 I never had to ask any of the riders to get their miles in because they commuted in any weather all the time, hence our success each year. I’m not captain any longer but still ride for the team. All 12K+ riders during Bike to Work Month challenged themselves some just more than others. Hats off to all the riders but its too bad that more of them don’t continue commuting into June and on. I’m sure that most of Sterna Paradisaea will be on the roads and trails almost year round but it would be nice to say good morning/evening to an unknown commuter passing in the opposite direction even on a wonderfully rainy day like today.
In many countries around the world, commuting by bicycle means getting yourself to work without gasoline, and sometimes hauling chickens, vegetables, bales of hay—without clip-ins, $120 shorts, padded gloves, slick helmets, and aerodynamic sunglasses.
Why do we turn normal activites into competitions? Some small slice of us are super-fit, gung-ho milage accumulators, and the rest of the population who can’t possibly keep up with athletes or can’t afford the gear don’t try—and become part of the obesity epidemic.
We need to promote a culture of cycling as enjoyable, safe, moderately paced and useful. Riding to work on crummy streets among impatient drivers is none of these. And cyclists who talk and text while obliviously plugged into i-tunes don’t help our cause.
As a team captain and commute challenge participant, reading these comments critical of Kristin’s phenominal achievement makes me ashamed of my affiliation with the Seattle cycling community and this FUN event.
Congrats, Kristin, on your win and for riding Tour de France miles last month! You are an inspiration.
Jen
I don’t expect or ask my team or even myself to ride like the top tier riders, they have kids to drop off or pick up and lives outside of riding. So it really doesn’t make sense to ask them to dedicate 3 or more hours of their lives every day to getting to work. The people on my team were happy with their riding and quite proud of it whether they live 2 miles away or 35. As my teams captain I’m trying to encourage my team that you can keep riding beyond May.
Every year I am incredibly impressed by those teams who can get out and ride every day, I’m also impressed by those individuals who are out there trying hard to make their commute their ride. I look forward to every May because it brings out more riders and often makes my own commute a little less lonely, I really don’t see to many people riding in from south king county. And not to tarnish their accomplishment at all, but 31 trips or even anything over the standard work month seems like it breaks the spirit of the commute challenge. Yes its a personal challenge, but working days that in any other month you would not seems at least slightly not with the spirit of the event. Props to those people who just love to ride and are riding every single day of the month, but does it really need to count as a commute?
Congratulations to all the winners! As a 100% commuter, I too feel I won. I don’t really doubt the stats of others. I imagine they all pushed themselves to do it. I certainly did to get to 100%, even though my commute is only 16 miles. 31 work days? Maybe they had two jobs, maybe they only worked a few hours a day. Whatever. 2100 miles? It’s only 70 a day, I’ve ridden that far plenty of times.
What I’ve learned from pushing myself to 100% for an entire month was, in the end, how easy it really was. I’ve biked year round for a couple of years now, but would usually drive here and there. But not in May. And now, I don’t really see myself driving to work for quite some time. I’m going to see how long I can keep it 100%! Thank you CBC and GH!
BTW, had a blast at the Captain’s Bash, and the Ballard Street Party (which was right on my daily commute). Wish the “Energizer Stations” were a little more accessible. My team liked the prize patrols, and I think they were a little demotivated when they found out they were cancelled.
I had fun, got my legs ready for upcoming rides and saved money on gas. Congrats to all 12k riders! Hope that most of you continue to commute by bike as you primary means of transpotation this summer! See you on the trails!
Fred Fred Burger!
I hated missing days that I could have logged trips – a day I needed to take vacation, an afternoon that I needed to be somewhere else that I couldn’t go by bike. One of my teammates missed pretty much the whole month due to business travel. But I know there are some whose work might call them in all 31 days in May – last year’s grad student, for example. There are really people who work every day, and some who truly have to. I’m glad to ride when I can year-round, encourage others to do so, and have fun along the way. I’d love to win prizes in GHCC, but my 14 RT commute won’t ever get me in on high-mileage, and I actually like having free weekends and a paid holiday in May for other things – including non-commute rides.
I started bike-commuting before my first GHCC, but that first year helped encourage the habit. And bike commuting has been the ‘gateway drug’ to longer rides – including Chilly Hilly, Chuckanut Century, Tour de Pierce, May Day Metric, and my first STP this summer.
It’s not about winning; it’s about riding, staying fit, saving some petro-bucks and, mostly, having some FUN! (And a free beer tonight)
I understand goal oriented riding – most miles, trips, days, etc. That is how I train for bigger rides. However, I don’t try to count, audit, or worry about the personal riding goals other people set for themselves – except to support them. If they want to work and ride more days, then go for it.
It was another fun commute challenge – Congratulations to all.
I had a great time on the commute challenge. Because of chemotherapy, I couldn’t ride nearly as much as I did last year. However, I did have a great time when I did go and my team is sooo supportive. I am a very competitive guy and motivated by the challenge aspect but I most enjoyed the comraderie and the extra incentive to get out of my car and onto a bike.
Please stop criticizing and judging eachother. This GHC challenge is about community togetherness. That’s what I got out of it. Didn’t we all have a great time on the road and at the different big group meetings like Ballard?
Let’s keep working together to make Seattle more of a bike friendly city and help us all get out of our cars more often.
Congrats to everyone who biked in May! For those people with really long commutes I say, “Way to go!” I’ve been doing this since 2005, and have enjoyed
The most fun I get is collecting bike stories: like when a tree was laying across the trail; seeing all the crazy bike lights in the rain and realizing that I’m one of them; getting stung on the eyelid by a bee/yellow jacket and living to tell about it; catching up to a rider going across the floating bridge; seeing the same cyclist/walker every day; entering my miles at the end of the day (though I use bikejournal.com too); enjoying a shower at the end of a dirty ride; sharing bike tips with others at work; riding with a friend part way; the list goes on…
Congratulations winners and those who have taken this month to challenge their limits, whether it meant 70 miles every single day, figuring out how to coordinate riding with the kids’ activities, or getting out there for the first time ever. Wow!
Whiners, hmm, maybe, instead of bashing everyone who doesn’t do the challenge exactly the way you do, you might consider getting off your computers and being those wonderful examples for society that you’re preaching about? Just a crazy thought.
Great Post Izaak, thanks for adding some sanity to this thread. You are correct in pointing out that we have to defend ourselves from motorists each and every day. How will they respect us if we cannot even respect each other.
Kristin didn’t win any money for riding all those miles, so kudos to her for setting the bar high for the rest of us to shoot for.
Your numbers inspired me to have a personal best of 1205 miles last month. Hopefully, my numbers with my team helped me inspire others.
Kris…. you said…. “but what about really acknowledging the super-joe average guys who commute every day they work? The guys with a 5 mile commute, normally shelve their bikes for winter but started again because they were invited to a bike to work team…”
I totally agree with you.
In addition to that, I think it is important for the elite athletes in any type of event to set an example of leadership. Be supportive of everyone who is “giving it a shot”
Years ago, I ran my first Marathon in 2:39 and I thought I was a superstud. I spent the next 3 hours watching the finish line, and by the end of the say I was in awe of the 5+ hour marathoners. During my run, I was in pain for 1 hour, how long were they in pain for?
Amazing!
I am a year round commuter, yes even in the snow and I have scars from going down to prove it. I do shift work and get off at 3am sometimes. For me, the reward is riding alongside all the cars in a snow storm at 3am, wondering if they feel as sheepish as I do when I drive and see another bicycle commuter getting it done. By the way, I did get a prize… Seattle posted the highest national gas prices at $4.28/gallon… I saved a TON of CASH and didn’t even have to switch to Geico.
It’s all for fun folks, just enjoy the ride.
All great efforts! Cascade, let start a new initiative. let do it for one year. Measure monthly. Enjoy Your Ride!
Exactly. I’m firmly in the ‘lighen up everyone’ category here. Checking in on riders like Izaak and Kristin during the CC inspired me to try and keep up with my own 22 mile RT ride. This is about personal challenge, and also doing what is right generally – from the environment to the wallet to the waistline (and frankly I’m nicer at work and home when I’ve biked). Personally, BTWM is the inspiration needed to get me in shape to bike the rest of the season. Sniggering at both extremes -bike mileage BA’s and fair-weather BTWM folks is just ridiculous. I’m super proud of both, for some folks a 3 mile ride to work for the first time on city streets is a massive leap and getting out there the first time is huge. Thanks Cascade (not affiliated!) and all who volunteer to make it happen.
whew!!…why is that when it rains or snows… all the nardos in their Super Duty’s feel they need Hog the roads, push people around…I got a mouth full of diesel exhaust…pushed to the side of the road by a line hogger not observing the clearly marked bike lane on 527 and got a pinch flat from running over the debris ….JFC!!! and once again I noticed more bikes on buses than on the road…gotta love those “Seattle Fair weather commuters” jk….yeh…this was great!!! BTW just Bustin balls here…I am not being serious by any means….love the fact that all my cycling friends are out there…tearing it up!@!
I fully agree with Izaak that it’s a commute challenge so it’s really up to every individual as to how they perceive it and set their POA accordingly. To the ones who doubt whether people really worked 31 days or not, who are you to judge them? I am in research and I know people who come to work every single day (just like the grad student last year) and that for them is “normal”:)
As to “whatever happened to balance in life and taking time for non-work activities?”….well, maybe it doesn’t apply to everyone and whatever work these folks do either it gives them enough balance that they don’t feel like taking out time for any non-work activities or for personal reasons they don’t want to do much non-work stuff in the BTWM.
I had a great time riding, thanks to GHCC! Congrats to Izaak, Kristin and Superbee as well all the teams that won…you guys rock!! Woo hoo!!
We’re supposed to be a cyclist’s community … I sense some hostility and frustration in the comments … why waste your energy on that. The whole point of this Bike Month efforts was to raise awareness for bike commuting and biking in general … that awareness leads to safety for all … don’t you agree. If there is any frustration to be had, it is for the practices of running signals and stop signs, wearing earbuds so you can’t hear what’s going on around you, blazing down the trail / hogging the road, etc., etc., not about people getting out and riding. Happy and Safe riding to all … summer weather is almost here (I hope).
“WE have met the enemy and it is us”- Pogo
It was a great month of commuting and I enjoyed the extra riders on the B-G Trail from Kenmore on in. The more of us out on the paths and lanes, the more aware the automobile drivers get. Hopefully many new bike commuters will continue right on through the year into winter- there’s strength in numbers!
I love BTWM but i do not like cyclists wearing headphones and BTWM newbies who really shouldn’t be on the road/trail. If you do not know the rules of the road, you are not only a danger to yourself, you are a danger to other road/trail users as well. I had a head-on collision with a fellow cyclist who was on the wrong side of Burke Gilman. We could have easily avoided the collision if he had realized that instead of moving to his left the last second, he should have moved to his right.