Archive for the ‘Bike Month’ Category

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2012 Event dates announced

Saturday, October 22nd, 2011 by M.J. Kelly

Here’s how to register.

Seattle Bike Swap
A bike bargain hunter’s paradise!
Feb. 12, 2012

Chilly Hilly
Join us on Bainbridge Island for the first event of the 2011 season!
Feb. 26, 2012

Seattle Bicycle Expo
Be one of the 8,000 attendees to enjoy more than 300 exhibits and an array of presentations on all aspects of the sport.
March 10 – 11, 2012

Group Health Commute Challenge
One of the largest bike commuting events in the nation!
May 1 – 31, 2012

Vulcan Bike to Work Breakfast
Come join us! We promise good food, great conversation, networking, and an insight into why bike commuting makes sense for you, your business, and our community.
May 4, 2012

F5 Bike to Work Day
A huge hit in Seattle! Celebrate bicycle commuting as thousands of your friends, neighbors and co-workers take to the streets by bike.
May 18, 2012

Flying Wheels Summer Century
Washington state’s largest century. This event also offers shorter distances for full-on fun, no matter what your speed. Held in Redmond.
June 9, 2012

Group Health Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic
Cascade’s cornerstone event, offering riders a one- or two-day double century. The largest multi-day event in the Northwest.
July 14 – 15, 2012

Cyclefest & BikeMania
The biggest Tour de France party on the West Coast! Enjoy kids’ games and activities, a BMX stunt show, and a free showing of Stage 19 of the Tour on a 20 ft wide inflatable screen
TBA: July 2012

RAW – Ride Around Washington
On our multi-day tour held in August.
Aug. 4 – 11, 2012

RSVP – Ride from Seattle to Vancouver (B.C.) and Party!
The name says it all!Aug. 17 – 18, 2012

RSVP2 We’ve sold the first event out for long enough. We’re adding another!
Aug. 18 – 19, 2012

HPC – High Pass Challenge
A challenging 114 mile 7,500 foot elevation gain event through the pristine Gifford Pinchot Wilderness Area (not for novice riders)
Sept. 9, 2012

Kitsap Color Classic
Pedal into autumn with a lovely ride around the Kitsap Peninsula.Sept. 30, 2012

Posted in Bike Expo, Bike Month, Bike Swap, Bike to Work Day, Chilly Hilly, Cyclefest, Events, Flying Wheels, Kitsap Color Classic, RSVP, Ride Around Washington, STP | 3 Comments »

Bike to School rocked it!

Thursday, June 30th, 2011 by Erica Hann

It’s a known fact that kids like to ride bikes. There is something satisfying and freeing about being able to plant feet on pedals, balance confidently on two wheels and propel forward with the wind whipping at your face! During Bike Month, Jenny Almgren and I set out to make sure that all kids and teens were encouraged to experience that feeling on their daily trip to school.

We ran separate programs – Jenny worked with elementary schools, and I worked with middle and high schools. Although the programs were separate and different in many ways, we shared a common goal: getting kids to form the healthy habit of riding their bikes to school.

All 34 elementary schools, 12 middle schools, and 10 high schools that participated in Bike Month deserve a high-five and a pat on the back for their outstanding participation. Through the great efforts of school coordinators, Bike to School Month 2011 was exciting and incredibly successful. The numbers prove it.

There were 3,300 elementary school kids who rode their bikes on Bike to School Day, more than triple the number of kids who rode last year! How exciting to reinforce that kids love to ride (and parents love to ride with them)! Just to give an example of how many riders there were, Bryant had 185 participants, enough that volunteers were scrambling to try and find extra ‘parking spots’ for all the loved and happy bikes. All students who rode their bikes to school received an ‘I love bikes’ sticker to proudly show that they rode their bike to school that day.

Coordinators have been actively turning in trackers from the month, rewarding kids and thanking them for choosing to ride their bikes. The 750 students who rode 1 to 14 times received a cool bike key chain. And the 600 students who rode 15 or more trips received an awesome red reflector blinky light. It was a fantastic event, and Jenny is beyond thrilled with all the volunteers and students who helped make this possible.

While the Bike to School Challenge was different for the older students, it too was very successful. Because middle and high schoolers have more autonomy, less parental influence, and more access to the internet, we decided to set up a Bike to School Challenge website just like the Group Health Commute Challenge website. We had 60 middle and high school students register for the online challenge. Together, they logged a total of 2,291 miles, saving approximately 2,245 lbs. of CO2 from our air and burning approximately 112,000 calories! That is more than we have ever had in the past, and is no small accomplishment!

Special recognition goes to Ben Corwin, a senior at Garfield High School who rode 386 of those miles himself and won the grand prize (an Ortlieb Messenger Bag). Garfield High School and McClure Middle School tied for the highest number of participants with nine students at each school. We held an ice cream party for Garfield on June 13 and brought the bike blender smoothies to McClure on June 23. The rest of the participants were entered into a prize drawing with the probability of winning based on the number of trips each student made by bike. They won Jamba Juice water bottles and Amazon gift cards. Who doesn’t love prizes??

On Bike to School Day, more than 450 middle and high school students rode their bikes throughout the Puget Sound area. I was at Ballard High School that morning and the enthusiasm was a thrill to see. Students in Ballard’s Earth Service Corps club procured donations of coffee and donuts to give to students as they rolled in and the school’s bike racks were absolutely packed.

I can’t wait to hear from students who have stuck with it, and see these records broken again next year!

Posted in Bike Month, Education, Kids on bikes, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Group Health Commute Challenge Official Standings #ghcc

Wednesday, June 8th, 2011 by Mary Collins

There is a LOT to celebrate this year. For one, we debuted a brand new Commute Challenge website and heard from many of you that it was a vast improvement over last year’s. And then participation reached another all-time high.

More than 11,000 folks registered for the Challenge, with 82 percent of those logging trips over the course of the month. That’s fantastic. Collectively we rode 1,306,014 miles, smashing last year’s record by a whopping 222,000 miles. Congratulations everyone!

Now, on to the standings.

Workplaces are really important to the success of the Group Health Commute Challenge. From small companies like SvR Design to major institutions like UW and Microsoft, businesses 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.

Team members at Pacific Science Center

Most Teams in an Organization
1st place: University of Washington (73 teams)
2nd place: Seattle Children’s (64 teams)
3rd place: The Boeing Company (53 teams)

Most Riders in an Organization
1st place: Seattle Children’s (458 riders)
2nd place: University of Washington (454 riders)
3rd place: The Boeing Company (420 riders)

Most Miles in an Oraganization
1st place: The Boeing Company (92,065.1 miles)
2nd place: Microsoft Corporation (60,051.8 miles)
3rd place: Seattle Children’s (56,513.2 miles)

Best Commute Rate in an Organization
1st place (tie): Montlake Bicycle Shop (100%)
1st place (tie): The Stratford Company (100%)
1st place (tie): Green Depot (100%)

Most Miles per Rider in an Organization (Average)
1st place: The Stratford Company (1,404 miles/rider)
2nd place: Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC (790 miles/rider)
3rd place: Columbia Bank (445 miles/rider)

Most Trips per Rider in an Organization (Average)
1st place: The Stratford Company (27 trips/rider)
2nd place: Montlake Bicycle Shop (24 trips/rider)
3rd place: Target (22.1 trips/rider)

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.

Team NMML Non-Essentials

Commute Rate for a Team
1st place: Montlake Bicycle Shop (100%)
2nd place: SCHARPer Cyclists (99.5%)
3rd place: On-Your-Leftists (97.4%)

Most Trips for a Team
1st place: Montlake Bicycle Shop (216 trips)
2nd place: SCHARPer Cyclists (203 trips)
3rd place: Sterna Paradisaea (198 trips)

Most Miles for a Team
1st place: Sterna Paradisaea (8,722 miles)
2nd place: Windows Phone Dark Theme (6,128 miles)
3rd place: Product Pedalers (4,825 miles)

Most Team Miles on a Per Rider Basis (Average)
1st place: Sterna Paradisaea (872 miles/rider)
2nd place: Windows Phone Dark Theme (613 miles)
3rd place: Product Pedalers (483 miles)

There were some incredible individual riders this year. Along with the folks below, a whopping 713 people rode 100 percent of their work days!

Most Trips Overall
1st place: Juan Valero (31 trips)
2nd place (tie): Jim Troy (30 trips)
2nd place (tie): Neil Wechsler (30 trips)
3rd place (tie): Redentor Balansay (29 trips)
3rd place (tie): Steven Case (29 trips)
3rd place (tie): Sanjay Hari (29 trips)

Most Miles Overall
1st place: Kristin Welch (1,800 miles)
2nd place: Izaak Kelly (1,650 miles)
3rd place: Roger Crawford (1,430 miles)

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 2,200 brand new bike commuters participated in the Group Health Commute Challenge!

Most New Commuters in an Organization
1st place: Seattle Children’s (122 newbies)
2nd place: The Boeing Company (79 newbies)
3rd place: University of Washington (78 newbies)

Most Miles Among New Commuters
1st place: Anna Bershteyn (732 miles)
2nd place (tie): Greg Pepper (660 miles)
2nd place (tie): Kartik Murthy (660 miles)
3rd place: Bill Stauber (642 miles)

Most Trips Among New Commuters
1st place: Sanjay Hari (29 trips)
2nd place: Egor Trilisky (26 trips)
3rd place: Bob Rivet (25 trips)

Posted in Bike Month, Commuting | No Comments »

And the grand prize winners are… #ghcc

Wednesday, June 8th, 2011 by Stacey Panek

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 »

2011 Captains of the Year #ghcc

Tuesday, June 7th, 2011 by Mary Collins

The weight of the Group Health Commute Challenge is borne on the backs of the 1,402 team captains.  Team captains are the heart and soul of the Group Health Commute Challenge. Their desire to share their love of bicycling is the reason why the 2011 Challenge has been the most successful yet.

All captains dedicate time and energy to their teams. With our Captain of the Year and New Captain of the Year awards this year, we want to recognize those who have taken it to the next level . Thank you to everyone who submitted a nomination! We received many nominations with many inspiring stories, and it was difficult to select two winners.

The winner of the Captain of the Year award is Rich Trimble of team Naval Base Kitsap Building 467. We want to recognize Rich for his work recruiting new bike commuters at Naval Base Kitsap. He was nominated by a co-worker who said, “It was Rich’s nudging that turned me from bus rider to bike rider last June…He helped me by showing me a locker room in our building that even had showers and laying out that it really isn’t that big of a deal.  I still didn’t believe him… but what do you know?  He was right!”

Rich became a team captain after a colleague told him about the Challenge. He is a year-round bike commuter and a natural fit in the role. He based his team around a group of co-workers who got together last fall to remedy their building’s lack of bike parking. The previous rack was inadvertently removed, so Rich and seven to eight others banded together and carried the rack “like pallbearers” to a new site.

The team members are not planning on hanging up their bikes for the summer. Far from it. To help new riders continue biking, Rich and five others have committed to ride 600 miles over the summer! This is a great way to keep the support and motivation of the Challenge going year round.

The winner of the New Captain of the Year award is Troy Kasper. Troy is the captain of the Shred Betties team at Starbucks headquarters in Sodo. Troy’s teammates nominated him to take the place left empty by their previous captain’s departure. He was the obvious choice, having been the team cheerleader since he joined four years ago. Troy designed a “Shred Bettie” T-shirt for the team (see photo) and provided snacks and regular motivational emails throughout the month. Troy continues to inspire teammates and other Starbucks cyclists throughout the year.

“He provides many words of wisdom, support, inspiration and encouragement as we head out for our commutes,” a teammate said.

Troy commutes 22 miles to Bothell on a converted Giant mountain bike. He rides regularly during Bike Month and combines his bike commute with transit during the rest of the year. Troy takes the bus to work and bikes home two to three times a week.

Congratulations to both of our winners!


Posted in Bike Month, Commuting | No Comments »

Stacey becomes an advocate, featuring Phil Liggett #ghcc

Monday, June 6th, 2011 by Stacey Panek

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 Stacey Panek

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 »

Bagels and biking to work for the first time #ghcc

Wednesday, June 1st, 2011 by Mary Collins

Like many bike commuters, Stephanie Pure got her start riding during Bike Month. She commuted from Fremont to Downtown for the first time this Bike to Work Day.

“I thought I would be alone, but I definitely wasn’t!” she said afterward.

F5 Bike to Work Day may be the best day of the year to ride, but that didn’t stop Stephanie from riding regularly the next week. She did wonder, however, where all the people were the next time she biked over the Fremont Bridge.

Stephanie is External Relations Director at the Seattle chapter of the American Institute of Architects. After the company decided they wanted to participate in the Group Health Commute Challenge, a board member recruited Stephanie to his team. Luckily, her team captain was on a mission to turn the company into bike commuters. Architect Rick Browning, an avid cyclist, offered to fix everyone’s bikes and taught a self-devised “Biking 101″ class. Stephanie said the support of her team and the example set by the executive director got her on the bike for the first time since the 90s.

Visitors enjoy bagels at AIA Seattle "Bagels for Bikers" commute station

After deciding to ride on Bike to Work Day and picking a route, Stephanie had to choose what to wear. On her first few trips she cycled through a variety of options, the full four seasons of bike-wear. The first day she was decked out like “a kid going to the pool the first time, with those water wings.”  Sure, you can never be too visible, but Stephanie felt her outfit was overkill for her daylight commute.

Next she tried biking in street clothes. She wore a dress and regular shoes. She looked good while riding, but the balance wasn’t right. She didn’t feel comfortable.

After a couple trial runs, Stephanie decided that for her, the best option is to bike in comfortable clothes, like an athletic top, and bring a change in her bag. She found a dress that rolls up without wrinkling and matches it with a pair of boots. Simple and easy.

When Stephanie arrived at work after her first bike commute, all her co-workers cheered and clapped. Plus, her company had set up a “Bagels for Bikers” station at the office. Not a bad way to arrive to the office.

“The whole thing was fun,” Stephanie said. “Not only was the opportunity great for all the bikers who joined us, the effort brought out many of our very close neighbors, some of whom had never been into our place before, even though they are right next door!”

Here’s to Stephanie, and all new commuters, continuing to ride over the summer!

Posted in Bike Month, Commuting, Profiles | 3 Comments »

The first-time commuter arrives at work #ghcc

Friday, May 27th, 2011 by Stacey Panek

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 »

Surprise bagels and coffee tomorrow! #ghcc

Thursday, May 26th, 2011 by Serena Lehman

Let’s celebrate! It is almost the end of Bike Month and many of us have been riding alot. We are at the home stretch and to help you get there we have a small surprise for all you downtown commuters.

Free coffee and bagels for all bicycle riders!*
When: Friday, May 27, 7:30 a.m. – 9 a.m.
Where: West Lake Center
Why: Because you are all awesome.

*while supplies last

Posted in Around town, Bike Month, Commuting | 2 Comments »

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