Changing of the seasons…

We’re excited to welcome our December beneficiary, our friends at The League of American Bicyclists! Once again, every bike trip logged here on 2MC is worth $2, up to a maximum of $10,000 for the month (that’s 5,000 trips for anyone who needs math help like me). As Carolyn from the League noted:

Ride to work? That’s a trip. Pedal to a meeting or lunch with friends? That’s two trips (well, assuming you go back to the office)!

Joining the Ride is as simple as logging your bike trip here on the December Challenge.

Quick shout out to everyone for a great effort in November that benefits our neighbors here in NorCal, East Bay Bicycle Coalition. They will be getting the max $10,000 for their projects and programs helping get more people active on bicycles.

There’s much more in store throughout the month, so if you’re not already, keep in contact with 2 Mile Challenge on Twitter and Facebook if you’re so inclined.

In an ongoing effort to support the bike movement, CLIF Bar donates a total of $100,000 per year to bike nonprofits. Each month throughout 2012, the 2 Mile Challenge community will help to direct a portion of this money to those organizations building a more bike friendly America. Each monthly beneficiary is chosen by CLIF Bar.

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Welcome to November

We’ve traveled all around the country and it’s time to bring a little love back home.

For November, we’re proud to partner with our home-town team, the East Bay Bicycle Coalition. The EBBC is really leading the way with bicycle advocacy in our region as well as setting great examples for other communities working for a more Bike Friendly America. EBBC is working hard during this important election season to raise support for Measure B1. Voting YES on B1 helps ensure a better and more connected network of bikeways throughout Alameda County. This could set an incredibly high standard and precedent for bike/pedestrian funding all across the country.

Throughout the month, the EBBC is eligible to earn up to $10,000 for their good work, and all you have to do is log your bike trips. Each trip logged, CLIF Bar will donate $2 to the EBBC (up to $10k).

It’s easy to join the ride with us: register and log on to the November Challenge at 2milechallenge.com and you’re on your way. iPhone users should try out the official 2MC App, BikeBrain, to track your ride and link up easily with 2MC on the go!

There’s much more in store throughout the month, so if you’re not already, keep in contact with 2 Mile Challenge on Twitter and Facebook if you’re so inclined.

In an ongoing effort to support the bike movement, CLIF Bar is donating a total of $100,000 this year to bike nonprofits. Each month throughout 2012, the 2 Mile Challenge community will help to direct a portion of this money to those organizations building a more bike friendly America. Each monthly beneficiary is chosen by CLIF Bar.

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Motivation

I think it all comes down to motivation.

It’s why CLIF Bar employees came up with the idea for a game to encourage more bike trips instead of cars. We called it the 2 Mile Challenge, not because riding a bike 2 miles is that difficult of a task for anyone – but rather that we tend to get comfortable in our cars and it’s a challenge to rethink the drive.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my car. I love roadtripping … cranking Pearl Jam’s Yield (the greatest roadtrip album, and the band’s best, by the way) as the miles tick by en route to a great adventure somewhere.

The Challenge has always been about breaking the habit of relying on the same tool for every job. There’s serious potential in that idea, we thought. And with a company that was literally born on a bike ride, the premise seemed just right for a call to action. Join the ride.

This year’s ride has been pretty memorable … we’ve connected with many new friends, thanks to some of our old friends in the advocacy world. From Kansas City, Los Angeles County, Washington D.C. and, in August, Boston, it’s been awesome to see people gravitating towards the idea, whatever the motivation. And I’m proud to announce that the community has once again eclipsed the 10,000 trip mark that equates to another $10,000 helping to drive the grassroots advocacy work that the country so desperately needs for more bike friendliness. Congratulations to MassBike!

As we head forward into September, we’re still at it, with a new geographic focus in the Pacific Northwest. I’d like to welcome you all to the September Challenge and to our friends with the Cascade Bicycle Club in Seattle, Washington, serving the Puget Sound bicycling community!

Keeping true to our original premise, we’re out to keep the motivationa live:  every trip you log on 2MC during September is worth $1 for CBC up to $10,000! It’s easy to join the ride with us: register and log on to the September Challenge at 2milechallenge.com and you’re on your way. iPhone users should try out the official 2MC App, BikeBrain, to track your ride and link up easily with 2MC on the go!

There’s much more in store throughout the month, so if you’re not already, keep in contact with 2 Mile Challenge on Twitter and Facebook if you’re so inclined.

In an ongoing effort to support the bike movement, CLIF Bar donates a total of $100,000 per year to bike nonprofits. Each month throughout 2012, the 2 Mile Challenge community will help to direct a portion of this money to those organizations building a more bike friendly America. Each monthly beneficiary is chosen by CLIF Bar.

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Do you like apples?

We got (our) numbah! How do you like them apples?

What number? Where to start … over 14,500 trips logged in July. We eclipsed the 1 Millionth trip logged on 2MC since 2010. Not bad for starters?

July proved to be a pretty dang memorable month in 2 Mile Challenge history, keeping true to the thought that “good things happen when you get out of your car and on your bike.” Our thanks go out to our July beneficiary, WABA, who inspired a great deal of activity throughout the month that went beyond the “goal” of 10,000 trips and their resulting donation from CLIF Bar of $10,000. The love flowed beyond the borders of the DC area and, thanks to the additional trips above 10,000 that were logged, we were collectively able to help May and June beneficiaries BikeWalkKC and Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition catch up to their maximum donation of $10,000 each, too!

We think that one good turn deserves another – so we’re headed up the I-95 corridor just a bit to find our next stop for August. We’re excited to announce that our August beneficiary organization will be MassBike! Serving a large constituency of bikers and pedestrians throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, MassBike has been at the forefront of helping to build a more bike friendly community since 1977.

Once again throughout this month, every trip that is logged (up to 10,000) will be worth $1 going towards bicycle advocacy in Boston and surrounding areas served by MassBike.

It’s easy to join the ride with us: log on to the August Challenge at 2milechallenge.com and you’re on your way. iPhone users should try out the official 2MC App, BikeBrain, to track your ride and link up easily with 2MC on the go!

There’s much more in store throughout the month, so if you’re not already, keep in contact with 2 Mile Challenge on Twitter and Facebook if you’re so inclined.

Let’s go ride bikes!

In an ongoing effort to support the bike movement, CLIF Bar donates a total of $100,000 per year to bike nonprofits. Each month throughout 2012, the 2 Mile Challenge community will help to direct a portion of this money to those organizations building a more bike friendly America. Each monthly beneficiary is chosen by CLIF Bar.

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Ladies and gentlemen, can I please have your attention.

cannonball!

We are just over halfway through July and it looks like the community will collectively blow through the goal of 10k trips for the month later this week!

The cool news is that means that Washington Area Bicyclist Association will be awarded with the full $10,000 maximum monthly challenge donation from CLIF Bar for July. I’m thrilled about that.

Equally thrilling, I got an email from WABA Executive Director Shane Farthing yesterday. He had a great idea; he asked if WABA could help its bike advocacy comrades-in-arms from the previous two months “catch up.” The thought was to have CLIF Bar commit to continue donating $1 per trip for the rest of the month above the 10,000 mark to allocate funds towards Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition and BikeWalkKC reaching the maximum $10,000 donation. I thought that was a great idea – a perfect example of our 2MC mission.

So, I’m proud to announce that all trips logged after WABA reaches 10k trips will be split equally between LACBC and BikeWalkKC up to the maximum donation allotments of $10,000 each. To remind you, BikeWalkKC earned $6,590 and LACBC earned $8,891 in May and June, respectively. We were just getting things going here on 2MC, so I think this is a fantastic way to help these great organizations out.

Thanks to all of you for continuing to help yourselves motivate to ride bikes – and help CLIF Bar support the good organizations across the land that make our communities more bike friendly.

Be on the lookout next week for our announcement of the upcoming August beneficiary organization – and some good prize giveaways as well. We’re just getting started …

Ride on,

Ryan

 

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Land of the free, home of the bike

 

Photo Credit: Quinn Dombrowski

When we think of July and bikes, we think of independence. And in the ol’ U-S-of-A, you can’t spell “independence” without “DC.” Bet you didn’t know that.

What I’m getting at, of course, is that we are proud to welcome our July Challenge beneficiary organization, Washington Area Bicycling Association, the harbingers of bike friendliness in the place where Independence was born: Washington D.C.

As always, every trip you log on 2 Mile Challenge is worth $1 that, in July, will go to support the good work of WABA in the DC area (spanning into Maryland and Virginia). While there is growing fervor for cycling in the region, we’re excited for their good work as an advocacy organization to continue the effort to become a top bicycle friendly community for the future.

Learn more about the good work that WABA is doing; and continue to log those trips for the July Challenge!

In an ongoing effort to support the bike movement, CLIF Bar donates a total of $100,000 per year to bike nonprofits. Each month throughout 2012, the 2 Mile Challenge community will help to direct a portion of this money to those organizations building a more bike friendly America. Each monthly beneficiary is chosen by CLIF Bar.

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June begins “National Bike Life”

You’ve got to love the month of May when it comes to biking in the U.S. There’s some serious rallying going on between the coasts under the premise of “National Bike Month.” We have been proud to kick the 2012 2MC off this past month, with some great effort going out there to help us support the good people at BikeWalkKC. Thanks to the trips that we all logged throughout the month, they will receive a donation of over $6,500!

One of the big reasons that CLIF Bar has put so much emphasis on the 2 Mile Challenge over the past five years has been to try and capture that fervor for riding the bicycle during the month of May and extend it to more months of the year. So before we get too far ahead of ourselves for the rest of the year, we’re just going to talk about the month of June!

Keeping with our new-found tradition of awarding $1 for each bike trip logged to a bike advocacy organization, we’re excited to announce that our June beneficiary is the Los Angeles County Bike Coalition! As a community of nearly 10 million residents, Los Angeles County is the most populated county in the United States. Spanning over 4,700 square miles, there are some serious challenges needing to be faced when it comes to safe and accessible roadways for cycling as a mode of transportation.

We salute the LA County Bike Coalition for their continued good work, and are excited to bring you, the 2MC community, to help us support their good work!

So let’s celebrate the successful end of National Bike Month of May by using June as a springboard towards National Bike Life?

Join the ride and log your bike trips on the June Challenge!

In an ongoing effort to support the bike movement, CLIF Bar donates a total of $100,000 per year to bike nonprofits. Each month throughout 2012, the 2 Mile Challenge community will help to direct a portion of this money to those organizations building a more bike friendly America. Each monthly beneficiary is chosen by CLIF Bar.

By Ryan On In r@nd0m View Comments

One week to go in May Challenge!

With one week left on the clock for the 2MC May Challenge, benefiting the good folks over at BikeWalkKC, it’s time to kick this action into high gear. Remember – every trip you log with 2MC this year is worth $1 to benefit bike friendly communities. Let’s see if we can’t bring the donation in strong for them in these final 7 days!

National Bike Week is behind us, and do you know what that means? It means it’s time to get on your bike even MORE than you did last week!

As this weekend is Memorial Day, I’m going to celebrate by opening up the Prize Giveaway Vault for some great incentives to avoid your car this weekend. Anyone who logs at least TWO TRIPS between tomorrow (Friday) through the Monday holiday – as proven by the all-knowing Genie who rules our database – will be up for one of 10 2MC prize packs, to include:

  • A CLIF Bar Bike Love Trucker Cap (pictured above)
  • A box of your favorite CLIF Bar flavor*
  • A pair of stylin’ 2MC socks

*subject to availability

I will send out winner notifications on Tuesday. Your address must be on file in your 2MC account to be eligible.

You ride, you log it, you win! Good luck, be safe out there and enjoy the weekend.

-Ryan

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Forward into The Future

At CLIF Bar, we just really love bikes. As anyone who’s familiar with our company story knows, our existence as a company is owed in large part to the bicycle. So there’s some romance to our history with bikes – but it goes much deeper than that. We love bikes for all the reasons you can muster. It’s a complete blast to get behind the handlebars and not be encumbered by traffic or parking, enjoying the ride at a slower pace on the backroads and paths of this great country. So it’s our job as a values-driven organization to support things that matter to us so that there is a better future ahead!

Our little project in 2 Mile Challenge began to help motivate ourselves and our friends to get out of our cars more often: to do right by the environment and our health by replacing car trips with a bike. And five years later, CLIF Bar is proud to continue the “2MC lifestyle” in 2012 by renewing our commitment to the future of biking.

When it comes to the good work being done for the “bike movement,” it really comes down to the inspiring work being done at the grassroots level. The bike and pedestrian advocacy organizations are the ones that are fighting the good fight from sea-to-shining-sea. We’re frequently inspired to hear the great work that’s being done across the country, increasing the number of “bike friendly” communities along the way. Three cheers for that good work, for sure!

As it goes, there are an equal (or even more) number of American communities with a much larger climb ahead of them in the push to be truly “bike friendly.” We believe it can and will improve to that state with time (and a little help from friends!). To that end, CLIF Bar will give away $100,000 again in 2012 to invest in the future of biking. But we need your help! In efforts of getting more funds to the future best biking communities slow build; we’re here for the long-haul!) throughout the rest of the year, all your activity on 2 Mile Challenge will actively support some younger and smaller communities within nonprofit bike advocacy. CLIF Bar will be highlighting a new beneficiary group each month throughout the remaining 8 months of 2012, and beyond.

If you’ve joined us on the 2 Mile Challenge before, the way to participate will feel pretty similar (and much simpler!): register or login, ride your bike and log those bike trips, manually or from our new official iPhone App. Each bike trip you log is worth $1 (*up to a pre-determined dollar cap each month*). The nonprofit beneficiary will rotate each month with the hope of spreading the love as much as possible. Speaking of love: it floweth to you, too! As always, follow us on Facebook and Twitter to hear about our giveaways for great prizes along the way.

To kick off the May Challenge, we’re excited to welcome our first 2012 beneficiary organization, BikeWalkKC.  Learn more about them on the Challenge page.

We welcome you back to the 2 Mile Challenge. Join the Ride!

New this year for iPhone users, log your trips on the official app of the 2MC, Biologic BikeBrain.

By Ryan On In 2MC community, from the homeoffice View Comments

Bike theft is the lowest crime

A great read from Outside Magazine’s Patrick Symmes this month on bike theft.

“In America’s rough streets, there are four forms of currency—cash, sex, drugs, and bicycles.”

You can find this fascinating and incredibly frustrating story here.

How do you secure your ride in public? Join the conversation on our Facebook page!

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