The 2015 MassCommute Bicycle Challenge is Here! May 9-17th (Bay State Bike Week)

Registration now open for 2015 MassCommute Bicycle Challenge May 9-17

Last year’s Challenge showed 30% increase in overall participation, avid bicycling among young women

(May 7, 2015) The 21st annual MassCommute Bicycle Challenge (MCBC) will take place May 9-17, 2015 during Bay State Bike Week in Massachusetts. Participants can now register on the MCBC web site.

For the 21st consecutive year, Massachusetts residents and employees are challenged to take some or all of their commutes and other trips by bicycle for a 9-day period. The Challenge is a free and friendly competition between businesses, communities, and institutions for fun and fitness, and seeks to encourage bicycling as a viable mode of transportation.

MCBC participants register and log their miles online. Winners receive their awards at the MCBC’s annual Bike Bash event held the week following the Challenge, and all participants are invited to participate in the Bike Bash door raffle. The 2015 Bike Bash is set for May 27 at Flat Top Johnny’s in Cambridge, MA from 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Over 3,700 commuters signed up for the 2014 MCBC, a 30% increase from 2,800 in 2013. Participants from 293 zip codes, 208 businesses and 26 educational institutions logged over 138,000 miles in 2014. MCBC winners in 2014 included the communities of Somerville, Cambridge, and Arlington, and first place businesses included Digital Lumens, MassDEP, Biogen Idec, and MIT Lincoln Lab.

MassCommute - who seeks to promote sustainable transportation, reduce vehicular traffic congestion and emissions, and improve access and quality of life for commuters - hopes that occasional or recreational bicycle riders may use the Challenge as an opportunity to try bicycling as a regular mode of transportation. Participant data from 2014 showed strong participation from women, especially in the younger age clusters. In the 19-24 age group, 59% of participants were female, and of the 25-34 age group, 49% female. MassCommute hopes to build upon strong participation from women – across all age groups – and on last year’s 30% participant increase.

“It’s not just sporty men in spandex participating in these challenges. Every year more and more people are making the conscious choice to hop on their bikes during the MCBC and leave their cars at home, and often times that choice becomes a year round habit” -Julia Prange Wallerce, Executive Director of MassCommute

The MCBC is organized by MassCommute - the councilassociation of Massachusetts transportation management associations (TMAs), and is generously supported by Gold Level sponsors MIT Commuter Connections and Harvard University Commuter Choice.