(File photo © Jonathan Maus)
Tonight in Southeast Portland — just yards from one of the city’s busiest bikeways — the BTA will hold their annual Bike Commute Challenge after party.
Thousands of bike commuters from companies throughout Oregon (see the impressive list here) “challenged” each other to see who could log the most trips by bike. The event lasted all of September and all signs point to it being another smashing success.
I asked the BTA’s Events and Outreach Director Michelle Poyourow for an early scoop on some of the numbers and winners that will be announced tonight. She was pretty secretive but she did let on that, “one of the presenting sponsors will win — and there was no funny business involved!” (That would meant either OHSU or Metro). She also said that one of the bike shops, “had every single employee bike every single day, no exceptions. Which is huge. And yes, they won.”
It’s sure to be a fun and spirited night full of raffles, prizes, pizza and more… Won’t you join us?
BTA Bike Commute Challenge After-Party
Organics to You warehouse (606 SE Madison St.)
5-7pm
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I\’m proud to report that, thanks to having to work three weekends in September, I dominated my firm\’s internal competition. But we won\’t come close to winning our category, as we were at about 7% participation. Sad, but you try getting overweight, middle-aged people to bike! It\’s hard.
Anyway, should be a good time tonight.
7% would be a blessing for where I work. It was about 1.6% here and I\’m sure Marquam Hill has something to do with it but I also think all the overwieght people had an impact.
Yo.
I\’m overweight.
And middle-aged.
And I ride.
(Now I know how the fixies feel when I paint them all with a like brush…)
Especially the \”fixie\” riders who are overweight and middle-aged…
Sorry. No offense intended. Perhaps I should have chosen my words differently. I\’ve found that, among people I\’ve talked to, resistence to the idea of riding to work increases with pounds overweight and age. But those aren\’t the only relevant variables (e.g., political affiliation) and obviously explain only some of the variability in this behavior.
Just giving you a raft, aO.
Non taken.
We\’re a jolly people. Everyone knows that.
😉
Our coordinator is overweight and middle aged. And rode two times last month (and probably the entire year as well.) Not that I\’m bitter or anything.
Yeah, I had the same problem. But you try getting a bunch of accountants who live within 5 miles of the office to ride their bikes. Shyeah, right! 🙂 Out of 12 people, I was the only one who participated.
Admittedly, for some of them, there aren\’t any safe routes to the office from their homes. And I\’m not about to ask novice riders to brave Johnson Rd and Childs Rd during the commute hours. Heck, I won\’t ride on those roads, and I\’ve been doing this for a few years!
I admit that I did not reach my goal of riding 3-4 days each week; my other hobby intruded severely. That, and evening/night meetings and an overprotective boss. 🙂
wow, a bike shop where people rode their bikes to work! for a whole month straight! how impressively underwhelming! sorry to be a negative nelly, but i feel like a lot of this is just green washing. what, people want a pat on the back and a cookie for biking to work once a week?
yes yes, i know, \”it\’s a start, blah blah\”, and i realize the BTA is doing what they can to encourage people to rides bikes, and I appreciate that.
but the environment doesn\’t have much more time for these gentle nudges toward a start though. we should be focusing our efforts on raising the bar a little. this is just more appealing to the lowest common denominator, like giving people awards for recycling \’most\’ of their waste.