This is our 5th year awarding the ‘Coveted’ Golden Helmet Awards, comprising of four categories: 1) Bike To Worship – highest participation, 2) Most Participants, 3) Highest % Participants with companies over 100 employees, 4) Highest % Participants with companies 100 employees or less. The tie-breaker in all categories is total mileage. It’s still not too late for your company to participate! For example, if you have 101 employees in your company, and 1/2 of them rode their bikes to work, and logged their mileage on Fri., before 5 PM, your company would most likely win a ‘Coveted’ Golden Helmet Award. It’s a good thing your company still has three days remaining to pull off an upset of the perennial ‘Coveted’ Golden Helmet Award Winners: SAP, Trane, and Downtown Mainstreet, Inc. Look at the leaderboards below and see if you can motivate more of your colleagues to ride their bike to work.

Total miles recorded per company:

Participants per company:

If you believe your company results should be higher, make sure you’ve registered a company with your user account. Or please contact info@driftlessbicycle.org for any other issues with the mileage tracker.

Finally, it seems the same companies win the ‘Coveted’ Golden Helmet award every year. Are the Golden Helmets not coveted enough except by these companies? Would the Golden Helmets be more coveted if they looked like the one below?

Future 'Coveted' Golden Helmet Award?

                          

You can interpret the BTWW total mileage in different ways: 1) How well is the DRBC doing in promoting BTWW, 2) How much less carbon is being produced by riding a bike to work, 3) How much money is saved from not driving a car, 4) Are the local municipalities improving its bicycle infrastructure and facilities to make it easier to commute to work, 5) Are businesses encouraging employees to ride to work, 6) How much arm twisting and prize incentives did we do to get people to log their commute miles?

Did you know that riding a bicycle 1 mile is approximately 1 pound of CO2 emissions saved? I never really paid attention to what a pound of CO2 looked like until I read somewhere that it was equivalent to a 2.5 ft stability exercise ball.

Any way you look at the BTWW miles, I always enjoy seeing an improvement from previous years. In 2010, bike commuters logged 5430 miles, in 2011 – 5746 miles. In 2012, let’s see if we can reach 7500 miles or 7500 stability exercise balls.

Be sure to make your mileage entries by 5 PM. Fri., May 18th so we can compile and present them at the BTWW Closing celebration at Cameron Park.

1 lb CO2 would fill up a 2.5 ft diameter stability exercise ball

                          

Especially mark your calendars for the Bike To Work Week Opening Celebration at Myrick Park on Sunday, May 13th 4-8 PM. Bring a picnic on your bike and enjoy live music. Then, after you’ve enjoyed all the BTWW events throughout the week, plan on joining us at the Bike To Work Week Closing Celebration at Cameron Park, May 18th 5-7 PM. We’ll again have door-prizes, root-beer floats and organic fruit, music by Grand Picnic, and “Coveted” Golden Helmet Awards presentation at 6 PM.

                          

Checking out the Golden Helmet Awards and prizes at the closing.

Wow! What a great Bike to Work Week it turned out to be. The weather other than a little bit of wind was spot on, perfect for bicycling. This year’s event saw an increase in participation, if not a large surge in miles recorded, but we still did manage to pull ahead of last year’s total miles at the end logging a total of 5,746 miles. There was a bit of competition for some people’s attention in the mileage recording area, which we think might have confused some people.

The kick off at Myrick Park this year was great fun, even if it was not actually in Myrick. There was a bit of a mix up with the shelter reservations, but even though it might have made attendance a bit lower than expected, everyone had a great time! Also of note this year was the new rides with local Mayors. The Mayors of La Crescent, La Crosse and once again Onalaska all hosted rides with community members. If you can, these are always a great event to attend, maybe next year? Also the neighborhood rides led by Eric Wheeler and our Bike Rodeo hosted by the La Crosse Public Library were very popular events.

At the closing celebration, Grand Picnic once again entertained attendees. This year the turnout was fantastic and it was really great to see so very many families riding down to enjoy the fun. Thanks to Farmers’ Market for hosting the event again. The Golden Helmets awards this year were not all that surprising. Here are the 2011 Golden Helmet Winners:

• Bike to Worship: First Presbyterian Church, La Crosse
  171 attendees, 52 bicycle riders, 30% ridership
• %  with less than 100 Employees: Downtown Mainstreet
  with 100% employee participation
• % with greater than 100 Employees: SAP Labs – La Crosse
  with 12% employee participation
• Greatest Number of Participants: Trane
  with 74 employees logging their miles

Congratulations to all the winners! Start planning now to win next year’s awards.

Lots of families came to enjoy the closing celebration

A week full of great bicycling events does not happen on its own. It takes a lot of planning and hard work and the DRBC Bike to Work Week Committee was at the leading edge. Ed, Paula, Scot, Susan, Aaron and more put a lot of time and effort into making it all happen. All the kudos for this year really should go to them. Also deserving of thanks are Dan Sebranek and Grand Picnic for providing the musical entertainment at this year’s events. Thanks everyone!!!

We also want to thank the very generous sponsors who also make Bike to Work Week possible: Gundersen Luther and Gundersen Health Plan, Franciscan Skemp, City of La Crosse & La Crosse Public Library, Dairyland Power and others. Without their financial support and generosity, the week would have been a bit less grand. Thank you!

Bike to Work Week is a rather large undertaking for any group, especially when you are trying to host events in multiple communities. With that in mid we are well aware that there is always room for improvement and we welcome your comments and suggestions to improve next year. Please use the comments section below this post or send your ideas to info@driftlessbicycle.org, we will try our best to incorporate your ideas next year. Perhaps you will be willing to host/coordinate an event next year in your town?

                          

Other congregations in the competition included:
* Unitarian Fellowship, La Crosse with 13% ridership
* English Lutheran, La Crosse with 10% ridership
* Viroqua Church of Christ with 8% ridership

Thank you to all who participated.

                          

Bike Rodeo at La Crosse Public Library

Wednesday was a busy day this year. In the morning was the ride with the Mayor of La Crescent, in the afternoon there was a Bike Rodeo and in the evening there were neighborhood rides. From what we hear, everyone had fun!

Eric Wheeler leads a neighborhood tour.

For the second year in a row the DRBC worked with La Crosse Public Library to host a Bike Rodeo at the South Community Library in La Crosse. We love to do Bike Rodeos, working with the kids is so much fun and despite the threat of rain we had a good turn out. This year we were once again able to give out free helmets to participants that did not have a helmet or needed a new one. If you have never participated in a bike rodeo, you need to.

Monday-Thursday this week there we neighborhood rides in both La Crosse and Onalska. Neighborhood rides are a great way to see your community by bike, perhaps ride in a place you never would have though of going and are a great deal of fun.  In Onalaska, there was both an ice creama nd $1burger ride. These were a lot of fun for those who participate. In La Crosse, Architectural Historian Eric Wheeler lead several tours of La Crosse neighborhoods of historical significance. Talk about educational, Eric gets paid to do tours like this and is currently working on a book about La Crosse’s Prairie Style homes. Thanks for being so generous Eric and thanks to everyone who participated.

Ride with La Crosse Mayor Harter

Thursday morning saw a small group of riders, including La Crosse Mayor Matt Harter, riding through downtown La Crosse and Stopping for a brief cup of coffee and a snack. DRBC members took the mayor along some of the more congested and poorly maintained streets in the downtown area to point out issues that bicyclists face almost daily.

                          

Getting Ready to Bike to School

Mayor Mike with some of the bike bus kids.

Early this morning DRBC members working with La Crescent Active Living hosted a biking school bus in La Crescent, MN. La Crescent mayor Mike Poellinger was our celebrity rider. The Mayor led a group of about 20 kids and adults rode from Hickory Park on the north end of La Crescent down the bike lane on Elm to the elementary school. It was a lot of fun and the kids obviously really enjoyed being on their bikes.  I must say that even with the morning traffic, the drivers in La Crescent treated the kids and adults with respect and lots of space. This is something that should be done more often in all of our communities.

Next time you see Mayor Pollinger be sure to thank him for all the support he has given to bicycling in the Driftless Region!

                          

Pat Nitti, Jody Roes and Ken Beutler participate in the BTWW Commuter Experiment

It was a nice, sunny morning for the Bike to Work Week Commuter Experiment. I enjoyed a pleasant 8 mile, 30 minute bicycle ride to Onalaska from the central area (The Village/K-Mart) of La Crosse because I had to be the bus commuter. Once the bus got to Onalaska City Hall, the experiment was on. Ken headed to his car, Jody and Pat took off on their bicycles, and I loaded my bike on the bus rack and got on the bus. We departed at 8:17 as we all headed towards work.

As I headed down Hwy 35/2nd Ave on the Onalaska bus, I saw to my left Pat and Jody as they were just getting passed the Onalaska Public Library. The bus made good time to the transfer point on the N. side of La Crosse(Clinton and Caledonia). Once I took my bike off the Onalaska bus, the downtown bus had just arrived and I was able to quickly place my bike on its bike rack. The downtown bus had a lot more people in it, and we made about 4-5 stops to pick up people along the route. The bus even waited an extra minute or two for a man to run and catch up to the bus.

Once downtown, I took my bike off the bus rack and pedaled two blocks to the office bicycle racks. I walked to the lobby and I saw Ken getting his morning coffee at River Rocks. I took advantage of the free coffee special for bike commuters, and it was only a few minutes later that Pat and Jody arrived.

Results

Looking at the arrival times, getting to work by car is definitely the faster commute. If you want to combine your commute with a workout, go by bike. The bus is a good option for those who may want to ride just one-way, or for those who live farther out than Onalaska but still want to get biking in. I think next year, we’ll have to recruit a boat commuter to be part of the experiment.

Editors Note: Using Google Maps the most direct route for the car would have been about 5.7 miles. While the bike was a few minutes slower I think that taking 15 minutes extra on your morning and evening commute is a great way to actually enjoy your commute, more than just a workout. Plus with gas hanging around $4 a gallon right now it is certainly a lot cheaper.

                          

Last year you logged 5,430 miles using the mileage tracker, which was more than twice the year before. This year we are shooting for 7,500 miles so make sure you ride your bike and log your miles!!

                          

Update 5/16/11

Despite a mix up with our venue reservations the Kick-Off for Bike to Work Week 2011 went really well. Lots of people found their way over to Weingent Park and enjoyed the sunshine, live music, bike powered smoothies and much more! Live music provided by Dan Sebranek was fantastic and really sent a fun mood for the evening. Lots of folks really had fun using the bike powered blender to make raspberry and blueberry smoothies. Even more enjoyed drinking them. We hope to add this fun tool to our arsenal and thank Active Living La Crescent for allowing us to use their blender bike! Don’t miss any more of the great events and rides we have lined up for this week! Below are some images from the fun.