Team LovingtheBike takes on National Bike Challenge
On May 1st, we had 10 Team Loving the Bike members start off on the National Bike Challenge. This challenge is put on by Kimberly-Clarke, League of American Bicyclists, and Bikes Belong and the purpose is to unite 50,000 people to bike 10 million miles between May 1 and August 31. It’s a great program and I have Julie Starling to thank for getting Team Loving the Bike involved in this.
Teams for the challenge are limited to 10 people so before we could even advertise and recruit people to join our team, Julie already had it all together….we even unfortunately had to turn down a few more who wanted to take part. Below you will find Julie’s update on how the first month of this beautiful 4 month challenge has gone for team Loving the Bike.
National Bike Challenge — Team Loving the Bike — May 2012
by Julie Starling (Team Captain)
Our first month of the National Bike Challenge and Team Loving the Bike has started out strong with over 3,600 miles! We have been consistently been in the top 100 out of 2,370 teams nationwide and often in the top 50. One of us has already reached Titanium level (1,000 points), six of us have passed Gold level (500 points) and the other three have ranked Silver (150 points). Our members are Julie Starling (captain), Stephen Starling, Susan Swope, Laura Losey Faulkner, Glenn Crosse Sr, Yvonne Warren, Dave Braun, Joel Phillips, Krissy Nelson, and Susan Garfield.
Along with errands rides such as to the grocery store, hair stylist, Home Depot, post office, library, and even a driver’s license renewal, there have been plenty of park spins, trail rides, and regular commutes to work. Riding with family and friends is something our teammates seem to have in common. What better fun than sharing our Loving the Bike! Now I’d like to share some of the highlights of the month.
Julie and Stephen not only celebrated their Silver Wedding Anniversary on the bike, but they took their 2 beagles and little dachshund with them on their beach vacation to Delaware. They biked the pups around three beach towns and trails in their DoggyRide bike trailers for a total of 56 miles. Talk about tail waggin’ fun!
Laura’s “Bike School” has now enrolled her sister Mary, whose first bike ride was an astonishing 28 miles to Oberlin, Ohio. The sisters have been biking antic-filled rides ever since. We have also seen the return of young Sean from 30 Days of Biking to Laura’s “Bike School” and hope that we will catch sight of Kendall before the summer is up. After Laura discovered that her panniers were perfect for holding her two Yorkies for a ride, she upgraded to a trunk basket, so they could ride together. Now they are doing regular rides and turning heads wherever they go.
Laura and Glenn have both signed up to ride in the Tour de Cure in their local areas. Glenn has been doing training rides in Portland with his Schipperke in a doggy backpack. That pup has certainly seen miles of smiles. Glenn’s winter training has certainly paid off as he says he’s climbing hills better than ever.
Dave rode for the volunteer team in the 24 Hours Round the Clock mountain bike race in Spokane, Washington. He completed 4 laps of the course, doing almost 60 miles in about 6 hours time. What a great way to greet summer!
When she’s not commuting, it seems Susan Swope has been riding the Katy Trail in Missouri ever chance she gets. She even gets her husband Kerry to join her sometimes, but not when it’s 97 or 103 degrees like her last two rides. Way to beat the heat, Susan!
Oh, and last but not least, let’s not forget that Laura and Krissy just purchased new road bikes that make us all drool! You know they’ll be out Loving the Bike whenever they get the chance!
That’s it for May! On to June adventures!
You too can still join in the fun of the National Bike Challenge! It’s not to late to sign up or create a team! Details at: http://www.endomondo.com/campaign/national
Team Loving the Bike: May Winner
Thanks to the good folks at Road ID we’ll be awarding a gift card to one team member in May, June, and July. Then at the end of August we’ll be giving away a Pearl Izumi Select LTD Jersey.
Congratulations to Glenn Crosse who is the Team Loving the Bike winner for May. Julie will send you out your Road ID gift card. Good work…..and congratulations to everyone taking part in the National Bike Challenge.
Congrats you guys! Impressive- thanks for always inspiring me!
Nice summary – I am in as well and having a great time.
The National Bike Challenge is so much fun! This is it’s first year nationally, so it has a few minor hiccups, but the biking community on the site is very supportive. I love watching my stats and my Team Loving the Bike stats as the month progresses. And now with the new month, we have new goals to shoot for: more miles, more points, higher local and national standings. Gonna get hotter though… let’s just keep riding and smiling!