2 MILE CHALLENGE BLOG

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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!