The National Bike Challenge

The National Bike Challenge is a nationwide initiative to inspire and empower Americans to ride their bikes for transportation, recreation and better health. The idea was unveiled in March at the National Bike Summit 2012 held in Washington DC. The friendly, online competition kicked off May 1 and runs through August 31, 2012. Its goal is to unite 50,000 bicyclists to ride 10 million miles in communities across America.

The National Bike Challenge is sponsored by the League of American Bicyclists, Bikes Belong, Kimberly-Clark Corp. and Endomondo.

The Challenge is simple, free and open to everyone. Sign up as an individual or as a team, log your miles, share your stories and encourage others to join you. You accumulate 1 point for every mile and 20 bonus points for every day you ride.

Smartphones users can download the free, GPS-enabled Endomondo mobile app to record travel distance and automatically upload their miles. Riders will compete for prizes and awards on the local and national level, including a Grand Prize trip through California wine country from Trek Travel.

Already, the Challenge has engaged thousands of participants. During the warm-up period from February to April, more than 12,000 residents from more than 500 cities across the U.S. registered and they logged more than 1 million miles and burned nearly 30 million calories. By encouraging healthy living and active transportation, the Challenge provides an innovative tool to address America’s obesity problem and save American families money as gas prices stay high.

Leonard Wright, a retired General Motors worker, won the warm-up period with the most miles logged. “I’ve been riding for years, and I was looking for something to get me motivated,” he says. “When I saw the National Bike Challenge, I thought, ‘This is something I can do.’ And anyone can do it. I’m involved with a number of other senior physical groups and I always encourage people to try biking because it’s so easy.”

In addition to encouraging individual riders, the Challenge provides a free and engaging wellness tool for businesses. It’s already proven successful. During a pilot run last year, employees from the Kimberly-Clark Corporation embraced the Challenge and logged more than 182,000 miles. Recognizing the tremendous resource to boost employee health, more than 3,000 companies and nonprofits have already signed up for the 2012 Challenge, including Facebook, Verizon, Mars, Harley Davidson, IBM, Texas Instruments and National Geographic.

“The National Geographic Society supports biking both for recreation and as a part of our daily commute, so we’re proud to participate in the National Bike Challenge,” said National Geographic Society CEO John Fahey. ”The Society provides resources and incentives for employees who bike to work, and a number of staff, including me, enjoy a regular lunchtime ride.”

Other challenges

There’s the People for Bikes, sponsored by Bikes Belong and SRAM. So far, nearly 500,000 people have signed a pledge to support a bike-friendly future.

There’s the 2-mile Challenge, sponsored by CLIF Bar. Participants sign a pledge to ride their bike on short trips under 2 miles.

There’s also Bike to Work Day. It’s May 18 in Seattle and the corporate challenges associated with that.