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And the grand prize winners are… #ghcc

Wednesday, June 8th, 2011 by

Thanks to all of you who took the time during Bike Month to shoot a video, capture a photograph or craft a story for our Group Health Commute Challenge multimedia contest. We’re delighted by the number of entries we received.

In choosing the grand prize winners, our judges considered both artistry and whether the video, photo or story made them want to climb on their bikes and ride. We received several fine entries over the course of the month that didn’t fit our weekly themes but that met the final criteria, and we decided to consider these, along with our preliminary selections, for the finals. You’ll find two such entries among the winning photos below.

And here they are: three winning pictures! We offer them to you as a way of saying, “Thanks for riding! Keep it up!” Congratulations go to Michael Wolf, Bryan Urakawa and Todd Miller for their fantastic work.

First Place — Michael Wolf
(can’t you just feel that sun?)

Second Place — Bryan Urakawa
(pure joy)

Third Place –Todd Miller
(realistic portrayal that evokes many an urban commute)

Posted in Bike Month, Commuting, Photos | No Comments »

Stacey becomes an advocate, featuring Phil Liggett #ghcc

Monday, June 6th, 2011 by

Phil Liggett. For those who don’t know him, Phil is the longtime Tour de France commentator whose distinctive voice and even more distinctive turns of phrase, or Liggettisms, have earned him countless fans among followers of cycle racing. He’s been called the “voice of cycling,” and during a recent visit to Seattle, he lent his famous voice to the fourth and final video in Cascade’s Bike Month series.

In the video, Phil narrates how Stacey, our first-time bicycle commuter, takes her cycling commitment to the next level.

Posted in Bike Month, Commuting, Video | No Comments »

Biking is fun! So are contests… #ghcc

Wednesday, June 1st, 2011 by

A hearty thanks to all who entered our Group Health Commute Challenge Video, Photo and Story Contest this month! We thoroughly enjoyed getting a glimpse of what cycling is to you. From our pool of weekly winners and honorable mentions — as well as some other noteworthy entries that didn’t quite fit our weekly themes — we’ll choose three grand prize winners to announce at the Pyramid Party this coming Tuesday, June 7. Hope you can make it! (There WILL be prizes.)

And now, this week’s winners on the theme Have fun and ride in style.

The smiles in Bryan Urakawa’s first-place photo, Xtracycle – Maiden Voyage, won over even the stodgiest of our judges this week. Plus we love the movement, sunglasses and eye-catching pink. Congratulations and thanks, Bryan. Enjoy that Xtracycle.

Photo submitted by Bryan Urakawa

Our honorable mentions explore different sides of fun. For example, we have the goofy get-ups in Lisa Adair’s photo of Gearheads and a Redhead team members from Boeing:

Photo submitted by Lisa Adair

Then we have the edgier (that was the word our judges used) photo submitted by Mike Wang:

Photo by Mike Wang

Thanks, again, everyone. Have fun out there!

Posted in Bike Month, Commuting, Photos | 4 Comments »

Kids and the Xtracycle

Wednesday, June 1st, 2011 by

Following up on our feature of Anne and her kids, we were reminded that a follower tweeted us in September with a good question about Xtracycles:

Are there laws surrounding the transport of my children on my Xtracycle?

While there aren’t laws specifically addressing the question, Washington state has the following regulation on the books:

RCW 46.61.760: Riding on bicycles.

(1) A person propelling a bicycle shall not ride other than upon or astride a permanent and regular seat attached thereto.

(2) No bicycle shall be used to carry more persons at one time than the number for which it is designed and equipped.

[1965 ex.s. c 155 § 81.]

This page from Xtracycle’s website specifically lists the child carrying capacity for four of its bikes: the FreeRadical BigStoker (one big kid), FreeRadical LittleStoker (one toddler), FreeRadical ComboStoker (one big kid, one toddler) and FreeRadical DoubleStoker (two toddlers).

If I’m reading the law correctly, then it’s A-OK to transport the designated number of kids on these models. As for other bicycle brands, carrying capacity would depend on how the manufacturer designs and markets its bikes.

Xtracycle wrote its own blog post about carrying bicycle passengers.

As a final note, Cascade recommends that however you choose to transport kids (or adults), make sure it’s safe and functional. Our Bicycling with Infants and Toddlers brochure has some helpful tips.

We concur with Xtracycle’s final message: “Ride safe, ride with love, ride on!”

Posted in Education, Kids on bikes | No Comments »

The first-time commuter arrives at work #ghcc

Friday, May 27th, 2011 by

In the third installment of Cascade’s Bike Month video series, first-time commuter Stacey (there’s still something so familiar about her to me) arrives at the office. We’d love to hear ways that your employer makes it easy for you to ride to work. One commenter on our blog this week wrote that there’s a spin dryer in the locker room at his workplace. That was one amenity I hadn’t thought of.

In case you missed them, here’s where to catch video #1 and video #2 in the series.

Posted in Bike Month, Commuting, Video | 1 Comment »

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