Growing the National Bike Challenge in the USA

Posted on by Christian Lampe Posted in Love To Ride

Why 37,000 people are riding in support of a Bike Friendly America

May is ‘National Bike Month’ in the US. Since 1956, Bike Month celebrates the joys and benefits of riding to encourage even more people to ride. Bike Month also marks the first month of the ‘National Bike Challenge’ which runs from May to September.

Every year, tens of thousands of people across the country take part in the National Bike Challenge to support a Bike Friendly America and see which state, community, business, team, and rider can ride the most. So far over 34,000 people have ridden for the Challenge this year and we’re looking forward to the final count when it’s all finished in September!

The League of American Bicyclists has been promoting Bike Month and the National Bike Challenge for years but in 2018, we partnered with the League to offer the Challenge on our dedicated bike challenge platform. Last year in the Challenge 43,000 people rode nearly 21 million miles – that’s 841 times around the world!

The National Bike Challenge is hugely popular with communities across the country who have traditions for taking part with and competing with each other to see who can ride most locally and to see which community can ride the most in the country.

It’s not just about the (friendly) competition though! By taking part and having fun in the National Bike Challenge, participants are also inspiring others find that old dusty bike hidden in the garage and (re)connect with the joys of cycling. When people begin riding more and driving less, it makes our communities healthier, happier, less polluted, and we can more easily connect with each other and our surroundings.

Community fun

In any cycling challenge, it’s important to reflect local needs and cater to local audiences.

At Love to Ride we’ve been offering custom-made local sites for communities and bike advocacy groups since the beginning. The flexibility with the Love to Ride platform allow communities to have their own custom site which can be flavoured with custom URLs, local leaderboards and custom route info.

2019 is our second National Bike Challenge and we’re super excited to see how far people, workplaces and communities will manage to ride over the summer months as we approach the finale in September – as part of the Global Bike Challenge (see below). We will be supporting everyone on their riding journey, no matter if they haven’t been on a bike for years or if they ride 100 miles a week.

Love to Ride really does have something for everyone.

September is ‘Cycle September – the Global Bike Challenge’

The grand finale in the National Bike Challenge takes place in September, where companies will be encouraged to sign up for the Global Bike Challenge and compete against other businesses across the globe to see which company can encourage most people to ride in the world!